- #1
A Day Made of Glass (very intriguing vision of the near future)
Click For Summary
Discussion Overview
The discussion revolves around the vision of a future dominated by advanced glass technology, including applications in everyday life such as humanoid robots and smart environments. Participants explore the implications of such technologies, their feasibility, and potential societal impacts.
Discussion Character
- Exploratory
- Debate/contested
- Conceptual clarification
Main Points Raised
- Some participants speculate on the future availability of affordable humanoid robots and self-driving cars, suggesting these technologies could become commonplace.
- Concerns are raised about practical issues, such as the maintenance of anti-viral glass and the accumulation of fingerprints on surfaces.
- One participant expresses skepticism about the widespread adoption of advanced glass technology in public infrastructure, questioning the necessity of such materials when smartphones are readily available.
- Another viewpoint suggests that rather than developing highly capable generalist robots, it may be more practical to create specialized machines for specific tasks, like robotic vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers.
- A participant mentions the potential for significant advancements in robotics, referencing IBM's neuromorphic chip and predicting the emergence of advanced robots in the near future.
- Concerns are voiced about the overwhelming presence of screens and advertising in such a future, with one participant expressing a negative view of the envisioned scenario.
- A light-hearted comment about the abundance of rocks is made, possibly indicating a humorous take on the discussion.
Areas of Agreement / Disagreement
The discussion features multiple competing views regarding the feasibility and desirability of the proposed technologies, with no clear consensus reached among participants.
Contextual Notes
Participants express various assumptions about technological advancements, practical applications, and societal impacts, but these remain unresolved and depend on future developments.
- #2
Biosyn
- 114
- 0
I'm just thinking of all those fingerprints...p.s. How would anti-viral glass be made?
- #3
CAC1001
Biosyn said:
The maker of Windex will love this future
- #4
- 5,964
- 727
Cool videos. I've no doubt that a low of this could be made and probably will, I watched a video last year which demonstrated a shop window that could project images and be used like a touch screen. I doubt it will be as ubiquitous as this suggests for various simple reasons, for example: why make a whole bus shelter out of a complex material that is going to require power when everyone has a smartphone? They aren't going to need to be told how to get somewhere or when the next bus is. Also the first thing that normally comes to mind when I think of a bus shelter is this.
Also regarding humanoid robots I highly doubt we'll be getting them any time soon. Rather a range of things that we now wouldn't really consider as robots will probably see introduction like hoovers that drive themselves round the floor, ditto for lawnmowers etc and already we do have a bunch of appliances that could be considered robots for specific tasks like coffee machines, dish washers, washing machines etc. Rather than building one highly capable, generalist machine why not just stock a home with a series of specialised machines? Makes much more sense practically and economically.
Also regarding humanoid robots I highly doubt we'll be getting them any time soon. Rather a range of things that we now wouldn't really consider as robots will probably see introduction like hoovers that drive themselves round the floor, ditto for lawnmowers etc and already we do have a bunch of appliances that could be considered robots for specific tasks like coffee machines, dish washers, washing machines etc. Rather than building one highly capable, generalist machine why not just stock a home with a series of specialised machines? Makes much more sense practically and economically.
- #5
wuliheron
- 2,154
- 0
Those are more advertisements for the upcoming computer revolution then glass. IBM has just finished its first trials for its new memristor neuromorphic chip and within ten years we should have the first terminator robots walking off the assembly line and starting to teach each other new tricks. That's when things should really start to get interesting and make commercials like this look like something out of the 1908 world's fair.
- #6
Ben Niehoff
Science Advisor
Gold Member
- 1,891
- 170
That looks like a nightmare. No escape from screens, email, advertising!
- #7
Biosyn
- 114
- 0
Got Rocks? :P