Concept car
A mind game that uses a brain-scanning headset to measure brainwaves and levitate a ball. A phone that changes shape depending on the task and is self-cleaning. A car whose wheels turn 90 degrees and cabin 360 degrees so the driver faces forward at all times. These are just some of the fascinating futuristic inventions we learned about in the lecture today. As we discussed these upcoming ideas, a topic that kept coming up was whether we should be concerned about these new inventions and whether there should be limitations on science. This made me think about the Terminator movies.
Artificially intelligent machine
A science fiction and action film, The Terminator takes place in 1984. But to understand the main idea of the film, you have to jump ahead to the year 2029, also known as the Year of Darkness. The people in charge of the planet came up with what they thought of as the ultimate plan–– change the future by altering the past. In order to do this, they created the Terminators, artificially intelligent machines with only one thing on their mind— to kill the entire human race. Two figures from this time, a cyborg assassin (the terminator) and a man named Kyle Reese, are sent back in time to 1984. One programmed to kill. One programmed to protect. The result… well, you have to watch the movie to find out.
The Terminator
The point though is that this movie conveys what happens when science takes on new paths, which many fear even as simpler inventions like the game Mind Flex or the Nokia Morph phone are being thought of. While The Terminator is a pretty extreme example of what can happen with advancements in science, it does show that the future is open to a wide range of possibilities. As Arnold said, “I’ll be back.” We are the future, and we must brace ourselves for new and unexpected inventions, hopefully not as powerful as the Terminator. Be prepared; a real robot has already been modeled after the Terminator robot (see LiveScience link).
http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia/research/demos/the-morph-concept
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2007/10/dreamy-concept-cars-at-tokyo-motor-show-2007/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terminator
http://www.livescience.com/technology/050816_term_robot.html