Wednesday, January 17, 2007
One hundred years from now
I watched with interest on the New Year's day a series of TV (Japanese national broadcasting association) programs "Proposals for the future." Dr. Lisa Randall, a leading theoretical physicist, mentioned the extra dimention or the fifth dimention. Mr. Michael Crichton is skeptical about carbon dioxide emission as a reason of global warming. Other stories include "nanorobot," which injected via vein could reach the focus and cure the disease, and genocides or ethnic conflict still existing.
Among them, I was really impressed by Mr. Crichton's comment "We can't tell what it will be like at 100 years from now." In fact, no one would have imagined today's world 100 years ago. Cars, airplanes, nuclear powers, and computers have been developed over the past 100 years. Human beings have traveled to even outer space and the moon.
And information revolution including maturing of the Internet. Information technology (IT) has developed tremendously, and will continue to forever and ever. Do you know the term "Moore's law"? Accordig to the law, the performance of semiconductor (computer) doubles every 18 months, meaning 10 to the 20th power (1E+20)-fold improvement over 100 years, unbelievable.
We can't see the earth, the world and Japan at 100 years from now. How far will the IT have developed? Will the human being have discovered an astonishing technology? Will the world have turned into one without wars, conflicts, or nuclear weapons? Will the human beings be using efficiently limited natural resources or have invented new resources? Imagining that distant future makes me excited but a bit scared.
I believe that the truth, even at 100 years from now, is that human beings procreate, nurture and leave offsprings. And parents' love for their children will not forever change at all.
I introduce a Japanese poem written nearly 1,300 years ago by Yamanoueno-Okura, a famous Japanese poet.
All shining silver
Gold or jewels in the world
Mean nothing at all
Compared to one's own child
The most precious of all treasures
[Translation: VOX POPULI VOX DEI (International Herald Tribune/The Asahi Shimbun)]
by Hide ¶ 4:47 AM
I watched with interest on the New Year's day a series of TV (Japanese national broadcasting association) programs "Proposals for the future." Dr. Lisa Randall, a leading theoretical physicist, mentioned the extra dimention or the fifth dimention. Mr. Michael Crichton is skeptical about carbon dioxide emission as a reason of global warming. Other stories include "nanorobot," which injected via vein could reach the focus and cure the disease, and genocides or ethnic conflict still existing.
Among them, I was really impressed by Mr. Crichton's comment "We can't tell what it will be like at 100 years from now." In fact, no one would have imagined today's world 100 years ago. Cars, airplanes, nuclear powers, and computers have been developed over the past 100 years. Human beings have traveled to even outer space and the moon.
And information revolution including maturing of the Internet. Information technology (IT) has developed tremendously, and will continue to forever and ever. Do you know the term "Moore's law"? Accordig to the law, the performance of semiconductor (computer) doubles every 18 months, meaning 10 to the 20th power (1E+20)-fold improvement over 100 years, unbelievable.
We can't see the earth, the world and Japan at 100 years from now. How far will the IT have developed? Will the human being have discovered an astonishing technology? Will the world have turned into one without wars, conflicts, or nuclear weapons? Will the human beings be using efficiently limited natural resources or have invented new resources? Imagining that distant future makes me excited but a bit scared.
I believe that the truth, even at 100 years from now, is that human beings procreate, nurture and leave offsprings. And parents' love for their children will not forever change at all.
I introduce a Japanese poem written nearly 1,300 years ago by Yamanoueno-Okura, a famous Japanese poet.
All shining silver
Gold or jewels in the world
Mean nothing at all
Compared to one's own child
The most precious of all treasures
[Translation: VOX POPULI VOX DEI (International Herald Tribune/The Asahi Shimbun)]
by Hide ¶ 4:47 AM
