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The Newest 'Information Technology' Is Actually the Oldest
10/27/2004
During a trip to Portland last week, for the North American Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education, I read several books. (I always carry reading material to handle any amount of down time at airports or in the air.) One of them was a science fiction novel that reminded me, in terms of the science involved, of the sort of stuff that was being written about mechanical space travel in the decades before we actually ended up going to the moon.
More specifically, this book extrapolated out from some of the current research that is either minimally-developed or only now seen as near-term possible due to the sequencing of the human genome and the kinds of multidisciplinary research that is going to be happening in all of those "life sciences centers" popping up on campuses. At some point down the line, and not in the far future, we're going to have to be thinking a little more carefully about what we now consider to be "technology."
And I don't mean the old saw about "Blackboards and chalk is a technology." What's happening in the nanotech area and in various kinds of biological research is pointed directly toward a "biotechnology that isn't just prosthetic arms and artificial hips but instead aims to duplicate, and maybe do better, some of the stuff other technologies now do.
Brain/Computer Interfaces
Nathan Remmert, the oldest son of one of my family's best friends, experienced a broken back last spring and is paralyzed from the chest down. We're all in awe of how well he and his family have adapted to the changed circumstances and it makes it all pay more attention to not only stem cell research, but the various research tracks which involve electronics that mediate between a human brain and the outside world in place of defective body parts or organs.
One researcher, who is both deaf and blind, is working on a keyboard that will be capable of simultaneously turning anything she types into both speech and Braille. Many researchers are working on ways to use eyeball tracking to control computers, and some are even working on ways to implant electrodes that will, interacting through computing devices, let people like Nathan control appliances, doors, moving parts of his house, and more, using what would have in the past been called telepathic powers.
But these kinds of applications just touch the surface of what's going on, and what's going to happen.
Rat Neurons Piloting Fighter Jets
"Somewhere in Florida, 25,000 disembodied rat neurons are thinking about flying an F-22." Yep, that's right. This research involved taking a clump of disembodied rat neurons and letting them grow in an electrode array and form their own "brain." So what? Well, I just can't write it better than the article puts it, so I'll quote it. This disembodied clump of rat neurons, which is electronically hooked up to a flight simulator are:
"…able to control the pitch and roll of the simulated F-22 fighter jet in weather conditions ranging from blue skies to hurricane-force winds. Initially the aircraft drifted, because the brain hadn't figured out how to control its 'body,' but over time the neurons learned to stabilize the aircraft to a straight, level flight." Full article here.
Recommended Reading
- Campus Security :: June 27, 2008
:::::: NETWORK SECURITY
: Delivering Slices of Network Securely at USC
:::::: CAMPUS SECURITY NEWS
: VMware Finds Home on Campus in Disaster Recovery Planning
: Microsoft Advisory Targets SQL Injection Attacks
: Mobile Security To Surface in Sybase iAnywhere Suite
: Southeast Missouri State Says Former Employee Took Student Data
: Universities Deploy Procera Hardware to Prioritize Network Traffic
: Dartmouth Launches 2-Week Crash Course in Security
: Survey: Many Microsoft Patches Are Going Uninstalled
: New Bluetooth Patch Fixes XP Security Hole- IT Trends :: Thursday, June 26, 2008
:::::: FOCUS
:: Lyon's 1:1 Laptop Program Aims To 'Level the Playing Field' for Students
:::::: IT NEWS
:: Windows XP's Death Is for Real, Microsoft Rep Explains
:: Temple To Deploy Wireless LAN Across 8 Campuses in Philly
:: Adobe Releases Acrobat 9, Creative Suite 3.3
:: Microsoft Open XML Converter Arrives for Mac
:: Pentaho's BI Platform Released Under GPL
:: New Bluetooth Patch Fixes XP Security Hole
:: New 11.0 openSuSE Linux OS Released- C-Level View :: June 25, 2008
:::::: EXECUTIVE VIEW
: The Educational Software Paradox - Can We Learn to Unlearn?
:::::: WORTH NOTING
: D2L: Blackboard's Comments 'Contempt(ible)'
: Ohio State Installing Interactive Technologies in Campus Incubator
: New Green Supercomputer Powers Up at Purdue
: Western Governors U Offers New Online Degree in Health Informatics
: Foothill-De Anza CC District Deploys Abaca for E-mail Protection- SmartClassroom :: Wednesday, June 27, 2008
:::::: VIEWPOINT
: Podcasting in Instruction: Moving Beyond the Obvious
:::::: NEWS and PRODUCT UPDATES
: D2L: Blackboard's Comments 'Contempt(ible)'
: Ohio State Installing Interactive Technologies in Campus Incubator
: Samsung Launches Pint-Sized Projector
: Mediasite 5.0 Debuts; New Classroom Recorders Coming in July
: Mitsubishi Launches Wireless, Short-Throw Projectors- News Update :: Tuesday, June 24, 2008
:::::: NEWS
: Sao Paulo University Taps Sun Technology for Computing Cluster
: Ohio State Installing Interactive Technologies in Campus Incubator
: New Green Supercomputer Powers Up at Purdue
: Mediasite 5.0 Debuts; New Classroom Recorders Coming in July
: Intel 'Holding Back' USB 3.0 Spec, Says Nvidia
: Allegheny College Launches Energy Reduction Program
: Virginia Tech Automates User State Management with Kaseya
: Tokai U Uses PTC MCAD Software To Design Car that Competes at Le Mans- IT Trends :: Thursday, June 19, 2008
:::::: CASE STUDY
:: Job Scheduling Software Smooths Data Transfers at IUF
:::::: IT NEWS
:: Blackboard Continues Pursuit of Desire2Learn
:: IBM Launches 'Carbon Strategy' Service in Project Big Green
:: Microsoft Joins Open Source Census Group
:: Swedes Deploy Dual-Boot 'Green' Supercomputer with IBM, Intel Chips
:: U North Texas To Roll Out ImageNow for Document Management
:: Cambridge Installs Panasus Parallel Storage System for Research Support
:: Novell Joins Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program, Runs Windows Server 2008 On SUSE Linux Enterprise
