Nano-Fabrics and Nano-Coatings in the Future

Posted by admin on March 25th, 2011
Some Thoughts on Nano-Fabrics and Nano-Coatings
Nano-Netting – Super strong nano fibers so small they are invisible
to the human eye, giving the illusion of being suspended in air
Imagine walking into a store in the future, a store whose business is comprised solely of applying coatings to your clothing. All of the coatings will be invisible to the human eye.
As the consumer, you will have to choose between 32 different attributes that can be mixed together and applied to the fabric. So what are these 32 different attributes?
Today’s high-tech fabrics are either treated with chemicals or polymers and specially engineered with features such as durability, stain-proofing, wrinkle-resistance, and weather protection.
In addition to these characteristics, scientists are producing smart fabrics, with built-in data flow systems, that connect sensors and imbedded microprocessors with features that improve wearability and provide protective and medical diagnostic abilities.
So what’s next?
With the advent of Rayon in the 1920s, an era of high-tech fabrics was born.  Rayon, introduced by DuPont as a “continuous filament viscose fiber,” has become the durable and silky-soft alternative to silk.
 
The abilities of high-tech materials to keep athletes dry and comfortable have sparked a $9-billion market for high-performance outdoor apparel.  An excellent example of the power of this market niche is the wildly successful Gore-Tex fabric produced by W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.  The fabric is a fluoropolymer, a manufactured fiber that forms a barrier to wind and water but still allows air to pass through it.  Body heat and moisture can evaporate through Gore-Tex even while it protects from wind, rain, sleet or snow.  It’s used in everything from jackets to shoes to backpacks.  Gore-Tex often costs three times as much as non-treated pieces.  W.L. Gore’s annual revenues are about $2 billion, employing nearly 8,000 people.
 
A surprising material adapted to apparel recently is silver.  Long known to fight bacteria and odors, silver has been used historically to store foodstuffs.  However, many manufacturers are finding new ways to use the metal.  In March 2006, Samsung Electronics launched a washer that utilizes silver ions to sanitize laundry without using hot water.  In clothing, Adidas, Brooks Sports and Polartec are using a silver-coated nylon fiber called X-Static produced by Noble Biomaterials, Inc. The fibers, used in shirts, caps and socks, protect against odor and promote thermal regulation, since silver is a natural energy conductor.  NanoHorizons, Inc. is furthering the cause of silver for use in apparel by developing an engineering process that disperses silver pellets uniformly through the materials used for textile applications.  The process prolongs the silver’s presence in fabric even through repeated washings.
Specialized fabrics in the future will be sensitive to a wide variety of external substances, including harmful toxins or chemical agents.  The U.S. military has already incorporated patches worn on uniform cuffs that change color when harmful agents are detected in the surrounding air.  Scientists at MIT have created smart fabrics that filter or shield wearers from radiation by combining synthetic fibers with an optical device called a dielectric mirror.
Pushing the Limits
As we push the limits of our thinking on nano-fabrics and nano-coatings, it may begin to sound like something out of science fiction. But, putting this into perspective, the ideas I mention below are not as far out as some may think.
Nano-Netting – Using super strong fibers so small that they are invisible to the human eye, nano-netting will provide a fibrous support structure that is visually non-intrusive but capable of keeping out insects, birds, and other unwanted animals.  The density of the netting can be adjusted to match specific requirements.  Objects can be suspended in air with seemingly invisible support.  Invisible fences, invisible screens, and invisible cars and windmills will all be possible.
Liquid Shells – Ultra-fine shells will be created for liquid products sold in retail stores.  These shells will range from completely flexible to totally rigid, with some offering a shape changing option to better accommodate the particular space needs of an individual. Alternatively, water, soft drinks, energy drinks, wine, beer, and a variety of other drinkable liquids will begin to experiment with “one gulp” or “quarter gulp” micro containers.  Containers with sixteen one ounce, gulp packs will make it easy to pop a quick drink into someone’s mouth.
Indestructible Coatings – Bearings that never wear out, highways that never deteriorate, and buildings that last forever are the promise of indestructible coatings.  But indestructible materials will lead to indestructible trash some day.  So every durable coating will need an “off” switch.
Food Coatings – Based on an individual’s dietary requirements, food particles will be coated in a way to increase or decrease the body’s absorption rate.  Smart surface coatings will be able to anticipate the digestive system’s reaction to a certain food, and adjust the coating interface accordingly.
Organ-View Clothing – As part of our on-going effort to monitor our own biological functions, it may be possible to design a fabric that serves as an optical lens into our inner selves.  Think of this as a wearable CAT scan system with variable-adjust focal point settings, zoom powers down to a near-nano scale, and flexible data-capture sensors built-in. The fashion options here will be incredible.
Memory Inducer Coatings – A specialized coating placed on a product will activate a person’s senses in a way to link the product with positive memories.  Simply touching the surface will trigger a series of images and memories inside a person’s brain.  As an example, some people will smell fresh baked pie, others will hear a song that reminds them of their mother, and still others will feel like a warm blanket has been draped over their shoulders on a cool fall evening.  This kind of coating will take the experience marketing industry to a whole new level.
Self-Moving Fabrics – It will no longer be good enough for smart fabrics to merely collect and transmit information, the next generation will have the ability to take action.  Dirty clothes will pick up after themselves, snuggly fitting shirts and pants will readjust themselves for maximum comfort, and torn clothing will send themselves out for repair.  Beds will make themselves, sheets will change themselves according to a set rotation, and pillows will have the ability to sense pressure points and reform themselves accordingly.
Super Skin Coatings – If you can imagine a flexible skin coating that will allow us to swim to depths of 2,000 feet or more below the ocean surface, walk across the surface of the moon without a suit, enter into caustic chemical environments unphased, and survive a nuclear blast, then you have the idea of what super skin coating will be like.
Some Final Thoughts…
As with other posts on the future, my goal is to help stimulate your thinking on what’s possible.
It is often the extreme options that spark our imagination the most, and give us ideas that are outside the normal limits we place around our thinking.  In much the same manner that outrageous ideas from 20-30 years ago are now in common use today, some of today’s extreme options will be the commonly used products of the future.
By Futurist Thomas Frey

Nano-Netting 672

Nano-Netting – Super strong nano fibers so small they are invisible
to the human eye, giving the illusion of being suspended in air

Imagine walking into a store in the future, a store whose business is comprised solely of applying coatings to your clothing. All of the coatings will be invisible to the human eye.

As the consumer, you will have to choose between 32 different attributes that can be mixed together and applied to the fabric. So what are these 32 different attributes?

Today’s high-tech fabrics are either treated with chemicals or polymers and specially engineered with features such as durability, stain-proofing, wrinkle-resistance, and weather protection.

In addition to these characteristics, scientists are producing smart fabrics, with built-in data flow systems, that connect sensors and imbedded microprocessors with features that improve wearability and provide protective and medical diagnostic abilities.

So what’s next?

Read the rest of this entry »

business trends, future scenario, new strategy, powerful idea, prediction, technology trends 2 Comments »

Creating Holes in the Fabric of the Future

Posted by admin on March 18th, 2011
Creating Holes in the Fabric of the Future
I often get asked the question, “How do you become a futurist?”
When I get this question, I know that the person asking is secretly thinking that being a futurist is one of the coolest professions of all times, which it is. And that they want some concrete process for becoming a futurist, which there isn’t one.
Becoming a futurist is really a calling. You are being called by the little voices in your head to spend slightly over 24 hours a day researching and thinking about the future. And if you run out of time, your only option may be to build “time-expanders” into your day to unearth just enough additional time to add brain spectrum to any area you’re lacking.
Until now, the process I’ve used has always been a secret. I’ve been debating for month whether I should reveal these secrets. Usually the debate is taking place between the little voices in my head, but lately they’ve gotten so loud that I’ve had to make a decision so I can get some rest.
After several months belaboring this point, I have finally decided to reveal my secret process for understanding the future. So here it is. (Drum roll please.)
My secret to understanding the future comes from something I always carry around in my pockets – my “holes.” Whenever I lack some level of understanding of the future, I simply reach for a “hole” to gain more clarity.
My First Encounter with Holes
I spent my childhood on the edge of reality.
On the outside, I looked like a perfectly normal child, but on the inside my brain was filled with all sorts of ideas that were so crazy I felt I couldn’t talk about them. Whenever I tried, people tended to laugh and ridicule me.
I was born and raised on a farm in South Dakota, so maybe it was my isolated childhood that caused all these ideas to happen. Maybe I was dropped on my head a few too many times as a baby. But whatever the reason, all I knew was that if someone else had the opportunity to step inside my head while I was sleeping, it would have been a total mind-warping adventure for them.
Most people go to sleep to get some rest, but I go to sleep to find my next adventure.
One night when I was 12 years old, I remember having a wrestling-match dream. This is one of those dreams that seemed so intensely real it caused me to spend the whole night wrestling with the bizarre concepts that were simultaneously insulting my intelligence, and revealing great truths about the world around me.
The dream I was having showed me how to make holes.
All night long I found myself making holes. One hole, after another, after another. And they were all different.
No, I wasn’t making holes inside of anything or through anything. Instead, I was making some sort of magical holes for later use.
Throughout my dream I was filling my pockets with ready-to-use holes, and these holes gave me powers – the power of perception, the power of discernment, and most importantly, the power of understanding.
Whenever I came to a closed door, I could simply pull out a hole and insert it into the door and I would see what was on the other side.
Whenever someone creepy was following me, I simply pulled out a hole, stretched it until it had reached the appropriate size, and threw it down on the ground so they would fall into it.
Everywhere I looked, I found more uses for my holes. I could look under things, I could see behind things, and if someone started arguing with me, I could even put holes in their arguments.
These holes that I was carrying in my pocket became my source of power. They became my muse, my source of creative inspiration.
Society of Gatekeepers
Being raised as a child of the 1960s, it seemed that everything I wanted to know was somewhere else.
Information was hidden, locked up, or protected by people whose job it was to prevent the rest of the world from seeing their information. The flow of ideas was being barricaded and imprisoned behind the walls of corporate and academic control, and only those who could afford it were granted the rights to see it.
The closest distance between me and the things I wanted to know was invariably through a series of gatekeepers on this toll-ridden information highway.
I needed my holes to see inside.
Our greatest enemy in life has always been the “unknown.” Even today with vast improvements in communications technology, we are constantly being blindsided by things we don’t know.
We live in a cruel and unforgiving world. Yet we are continually being separated from the simple solutions that could prevent mass chaos and even death, by toll-booth operators whose job it is to extract payment from us for answers we don’t even know exist.
The Cost of Ignorance
According to the USGS National Earthquake Information Center, the death toll for earthquakes in 2010 was 226,729, with 222,570 deaths occurring in Haiti, and additional deaths happening in Chili and Tibet.
2008 was a disastrous year in Myanmar (Burma) where over 140,000 people were killed by a single storm – Cyclone Nargis.
The recent earthquake in Japan and the resulting tsunami has spurred not only an enormous death toll, but also a series of problems with massive ripple effects extending around the world in ways that will only become clear in the coming months.
All of these disasters could have been greatly reduce if we had the ability to see the situation more clearly, and with a little forethought, move people out of harm’s way.
The cost of ignorance is staggering.
I find myself constantly wanting to ask Charles Darwin the question, “Why have we evolved so poorly?”
Ignorance is Bliss
Yet for all the wringing of hands and lamenting of our own limitations, there is also tremendous value in hiding behind the great unknown.
Hidden in the clock-ticking minutes before life’s greatest disasters are peaceful serene moments of people at their best; laughing, hugging, and giving generously of themselves.
Even after a disaster, before anyone knows the extent of the damage, we see people instantly transformed from people-helping-themselves into people-helping-people mode. We suddenly think “less about us” and “more about them.”
So while many have paid the ultimate price for our own ignorance, we can also view ignorance as a tremendous blessing. In a world seeking balance, we cannot live at peace without experiencing the extreme polar opposites.
If we had a lens that could give us a clear understanding of the inner workings of the earth, how differently would we live our lives?
The Complexity of the Hole
As I mentioned earlier, my toolkit as a futurist consists of a pocket filled with magical holes.
Every time I peer through one of my holes, I gain a new perspective. In much the same way photographers change lenses on their cameras to gain a new perspective, my holes allow me to see the world with insights and revelations not afforded to others.
In this moment of full disclosure, revealing the secrets I once said would never be revealed, here are a few of the remarkable holes that I typically have poised and ready for use:
• See-Through Hole: Perhaps the most useful of my holes is the one that enables me to see through walls, doors, and even inside metal file cabinets.
• Movable Hole: Distance is relative when you have insight, but very often the answer you are seeking lies only a few inches away from the place you’re looking. That is why the movable hole is so valuable. Simply move the hole and you will find your answer.
• Data-Encryption Hole: Sometimes I have to adjust the viewing angle of the hole, and even twist it a few times to bring it into focus, but even the best encryption is no match for a truly gifted hole-user.
• Answer Hole:  Behind every situation that causes us to ask “why,” is an answer. Staring through an Answer Hole is a very revealing experience when we know the right questions to ask.
• Backward-Looking Hole:  Too often what we think is in front of us is actually behind us. The real trick is to know whether to look forward or backwards.
• Stretcher Hole: If your perspective is too small, the best option may be a stretcher hole to expand your thinking. However, in most cases, the perspective is far too big, requiring a much smaller hole to bring things into focus.
• Nano Holes: The problem with nanotechnology is remembering where you put your work. The devil is always in the details and details are far smaller than most people can imagine.
• Slow Hole: Very often the answers I am seeking are traveling far too fast, so a “slow hole” will slow things down to just the right speed.
• Hidden Agenda Hole: When trying to understand politics, few holes are more useful than the “hidden agenda hole.” Motivations and agendas are often layered into the complex intermeshed turmoil happening inside many of our key decision-makers. This one takes practice because there is seldom just one agenda in play.
• Future-Vision Hole: Today, as I spend time studying our relationship with the future, I love nothing more than being able to reach into my pocket, pull out a “future-vision hole,” and place it between me and this field of knowability that separates us from the future.
Some Finale Thoughts…..
Now I know what you’re thinking. “Why do you get to use magical holes and not me?” and “If you really have magical holes, why are you wrong so much of the time?”
To answer your first question, these holes can be dangerous. As Stan Lee, creator of Spiderman once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” I am taking a great risk even revealing these holes exist. So no, you can’t have them. And don’t ask me if you can borrow one because the danger is far too great.
As for the second question, I have never been granted the ability to see the big picture, just pieces of it. And my ability to extrapolate the missing pieces is often fraught with misdirects and misguided conjecture leading to wrong-headed conclusions.
What I am still missing is the ability to create a hole-within-a-hole, a simultaneous big-picture, little-picture hole. There is exponentially greater power that can be unleashed with overlapping holes; ones that will enable me to have a backward-looking, future-vision hole that is concurrently stationary and movable, permanently square but with flexible, stretchable sides, combining the powers of fast and slow into a left-handed, right-handed multi-perspective hole that I can call upon on at a moment’s notice.
No, I don’t have that one yet, but I can always dream.
By Futurist Thomas Frey

Creating Holes in the Fabric of the Future

I often get asked the question, “How do you become a futurist?”

When I get this question, I know that the person asking is secretly thinking that being a futurist is one of the coolest professions of all times, which it is. And they want some concrete process for becoming a futurist, which there isn’t one.

Becoming a futurist is really a calling. You are being called by the little voices in your head to spend slightly over 24 hours a day researching and thinking about the future. And if you run out of time, your only option may be to build “time-expanders” into your day to unearth just enough additional time to add brain spectrum to any area you’re lacking.

Until now, the process I’ve used has always been a secret. I’ve been debating for months whether I should reveal these secrets. Usually the debate is taking place between the little voices in my head, but lately they’ve gotten so loud that I’ve had to make a decision so I can get some rest.

After several months belaboring this point, I have finally decided to reveal my secret process for understanding the future. So here it is. (Drum roll please.)

My secret to understanding the future comes from something I always carry around in my pockets – my “holes.” Whenever I lack some level of understanding of the future, I simply reach for a “hole” to gain more clarity.

Read the rest of this entry »

new strategy, people making a difference, powerful idea 14 Comments »

The Day of the Drone is Upon Us

Posted by admin on March 11th, 2011

Future Drone Technology 674

The Day of the Drone is Upon Us
Sometime over the coming months you can expect to see a version of the following help wanted ad:
“Help Wanted: Full-time aerial drone drivers needed to help manager our growing fleet of surveillance, delivery, and communication drones. We are also looking for drone repair techs, drone dispatchers, and drone salesmen.”
In 2010 the U.S. Military spent $4.5 billion on drones. This has been a rapidly growing budget item in the military’s arsenal with $4.8 billion requested for 2011.
With this kind of focused spending, drone technology has improved dramatically over the past decade, but as a technology, the future for drones will go far beyond military uses. The stage is being set for thousands of everyday uses in business and industry all over the world.
A few months ago I speculated on how flying delivery drones could be added to the FedEX and UPS fleets. As it turns out, we are now moving well past the speculation stage.
Current Uses
Google recently purchased a small fleet of micro-drones to help with their mapping projects. At the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Parrot unveiled a series of games that could be played with their iPhone-controlled AR Drones sold in all Brookstone stores.
In preparation for London’s 2012 Olympics, the UK is making plans to have a fleet of flying drones in place to monitor the crowds. But they are considering taking it one step further by equipping some of the drones with non-lethal weapons in case violence breaks out.
With military and police forces being the primary customers of drone technology so far, it’s only natural that most of the industry’s thinking has been skewed towards surveillance and weaponized drones.
However, flying drones are an incredibly flexible platform for new technology to emerge. Simply adding elements like cameras, lights, audio, sensors, or even a robotic arm can increase the utility of a drone exponentially. Here are a few unusual possibilities to help tweak your imagination:
Onboard wireless communications
Cruise Ship Drones:  While the rest of the world has shifted from place-to-place to person-to-person communications, the cruise industry remains woefully behind. Cell phones and other handheld devices are not usable on ships without paying exorbitant connection fees. This can be solved with flying communication drones hovering above each ship. Since the airspace at sea is unregulated, this can be implemented with or without the okay of the cruise ship below. Doing some quick math, if 1,000 people were willing to pay $10 a day to stay connected, the income streams will be huge.
SATCOM Drone
Communication Drones:  Operating like communication satellites in space, flying communication drones will be a quick way to eliminate the shadows and dead spots common with today’s tower-based cellular networks. The only things preventing more experimentation in this area has been legacy systems and the existing spectrum allocations that favor telecom incumbents such as AT&T and Verizon.
In a recent conversation I had with an executive in the aerospace industry, I was told that the entire U.S. could be blanketed with high speed wireless connectivity with a formation of 19 well-positioned communication drones hovering overhead.
Surveillance drones in Los Angeles
Surveillance Drones: Criminals fleeing the scene of a crime will have an entirely new set of police tracking devices to contend with when drones are brought into the mix. This may also be extended to border-crossing drones, prison-watching drones, and open-sea pirate and smuggler drones. Add a set of speakers to the drone and an operator can start yelling at anyone engaged in vandalism, graffiti or littering.
Tiny video projector
Video Projector Drones:  Once a video projector is added to a flying drone, you suddenly have a marketer’s dream tool with the ability to project images on the sides of buildings, on sidewalks, or even on the side of a moving vehicle.
Lighting Drones:  We’ve been trapped into thinking that lighting can only be managed from stationary positions, but that is about to change. Concerts and stage shows with flying spotlights or pyro-burst effects, TV sets, political speeches, and opening night galas can all be enhanced when our lights start flying.
Xenon strobe drone
Strobe Drones:  High-intensity strobes can cause dizziness, disorientation and loss of balance making it virtually impossible to run away. As a weapon to disrupt or disable crowds, this kind of technology added to a drone is just now becoming practical.
Flying strobe lighting on a movie set will open a different set of options and floating concert strobes can create stage shows effects never before possible.
Audio Drones:  Drones outfitted with speakers are already being experimented with. Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD) are being used as loud hailers to emit warning signals, or when the volume is turned up, as weapons to deafen opposition forces with a jarring, discordant noise. Some ships now carry LRAD technology as an anti-pirate measure. As an example, LRADs were used to drive off pirates attacking the Seabourn Spirit near Somalia in 2005.
Audio drones, however, have far more potential in the marketing and entertainment fields. Floating and flying sounds create a far different sensation than stationary speakers. Floating messages over nearby crowds may be the solution to draw attention to a mobile business, a time sensitive special such as hot bread just pulled from the over, or situational conditions such as announcing the sale of umbrellas during the start of a rainstorm.
The Hawk Eye by Air Hog
Advertising Drones:  Planes towing advertising banners are a long-standing tradition for outdoor stadium events and wherever large crowds gather. But scaled smaller in size, with more maneuverability, drones towing banners or equipped with side displays for advertising are distinct possibilities.
Air Drone with an Aerial Photography Package
Photography Drones: The fine art of photography takes a new twist when flying camera drones become affordable. Photographers have long dreamed of being able to find the perfect angle for every shot, regardless of elevation or precariousness of the vantage point. Going beyond the military’s need to spy on people, photography drones are headed for more mainstream uses such as photojournalism, catalog photos, real estate photos, scientific research, slow-motion sequences, and hobbyist experiments.
AR Drone by Parrot
Gamer Drones:  In January, Parrot introduced a number of games that could be played on their AR Drone quadricopters using an iPhone as the controller. This layout and design is setting the stage for many more smartphone-controlled drones with app developers providing a never-ending stream of new games.
For parents worried about their kids spending too much time playing games in their basement, the new concern will be about kids getting lost in the forest playing “drone wars.”
Delivery Drones:  Thinking beyond traditional delivery systems, flying drones could be used to deliver food, packages, water, change out the batteries in your home, remove trash and sewage, and even vacuum the leaves from your front lawn. For some people, the drones will allow them to live off the grid, and even off the net.
Robotic Probe Drones:  Add a robotic arm to a flying drone and a person’s mind begins to swirl with possibilities. A “flying arm” can be used as a probe in hazardous environments, a transport for dangerous chemicals, or a rescue mechanism for someone dangling off the side of a mountain.
Fleet of micro drones
Sensory Drones:  Many of today’s drones have the ability to monitor air quality and map pollution flows. Future drones will have the ability to chart a wide variety sensor-based data such as soil quality; moisture content; micro-temperature variations of air, land, and sea; air densities; particulate matter; and chart the spread of plant diseases and micro-organism infestations.
Fireworks Dropping Drones:  When fireworks are manufactured, a large portion of the overall weight is dedicated to the propellant needed to launch the pyro-display into the sky. The propellant is also one of the least stable and least controllable components of the assembly. Fireworks designed specifically to be “dropped from the sky” would have far more stable characteristics, and produce spectacular visuals for a fraction of the cost.
Search and rescue drones
Search and Rescue Drones:  Very often weather and visibility issues prevent a manned-rescue team from venturing into turbulent waters to attempt a rescue. For this reason a number of unmanned rescue drones are being planned and tested to overcome our own “human” limitations.
Lasers used in surveying drone
Surveying Drones:  The process of surveying land and documenting the terrain can be greatly speeded up with the introduction of flying drones designed specifically for taking all of the measurements. Laser measurement systems coupled with topography mapping systems are a natural extension of current drone tech.
Aerosonde Mark 4
Weather Drones:  NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had been testing the use of an Aerosonde Mark 3 drone aircraft to fly into the heart of hurricanes for more accurate storm predictions. In 2008 it was used to fly into Hurricane Noel, but was purposely sacrificed to the turbulent winds of Noel as part of the process.
Next generation weather drones will be smaller, smarter, faster, and more survivable to match the needs of virtually any research projects.
Micro Drones
Drones are getting smaller, and for some applications, nearly invisible. When drones begin to approach the nano-scale, traditional laws of physics begin to break down, and when flying in a nano-aircraft, air molecules are too far apart to provide consistent buoyancy. But as always, our current limitations create an excellent opportunity to uncover the true laws of “flight physics“ when dealing with nano-particles.
While some science fiction writers have already speculated on the upside and downside of super tiny drones, the true potential is beyond our ability to image it. In the next section on swarmbots, I will attempt to think through a few of the possibilities, but in reality will just be scratching the surface.
From Flying Drones to Flying SwarmBots
The term swarm is applied to fish, insects, birds and microorganisms, such as bacteria, and describes a behavior of a group (school) of animals of similar size and body orientation, generally moving in the same direction.
The term “swarmbot” is used to describe this same type of behavior when it is coded into groupings of robots, in some cases, flying robots.
From a science standpoint, swarmbot technology is still barely peeking its head out of the birth canal, because the tools available to examine life in its most rudimentary form – DNA sequencing, bioinformatics, gene chips – are quite new. We are just now scripting basic models of life processes at this fundamental level, and as we re-create these processes in binary form, we’re starting to see how they work in inorganic settings.
SwarmBots were the evil villains in Michael Creighton’s book Prey, but today they also form the basis of ongoing research at places like MIT, UCLA, George Mason University, and several other universities.
So how will SwarmBots be used in the future, and what are some of the more extreme possibilities for these multi-unit robot teams?
1.) SwarmBots on the ground can form communication networks, conducting pattern-based searches for missing people and objects.
2.) Microbe-sized SwarmBots can be built to “chew their way through” landfills and fields of toxic material as a way of improving the rate of decomposition and lowing toxicity levels.
3.) Flying and swimming SwarmBots can be made to target and neutralize unwanted airborne or waterborne emissions such as carbon, lead, radioactive isotopes, or other unwanted pollutants.
4.) Flying SwarmBots will be capable of forming shields to protect people from too much sun, too much wind, and even temperature extremes. In person to person situations, SwarmBots will form a protective shield around people, keeping them safe.
5.) Flying SwarmBots will serve as our clothing, flying into “clothing formation” on command, reconfiguring themselves according to our fashion moods, changing color on a whim.  Once we step out of the shower in the morning, the SwarmBots will dry our skin, fix our hair, and take their place as part of our ever-changing wardrobe.
6.) SwarmBots will serve as an information conduit for our minds, forming antennae to capture wireless transmissions, forming an information processing array for the data, a floating visual display that only we can see before our eyes, and channel information to our minds.
7.) Remote viewing from anywhere, at any time, from any angle, will be possible as the swarm moves into whatever position we ask it to. This “eye in the sky” can range from several miles across on one extreme to a micrometer across on the other extreme.
8.) With flying swarms that serve as our clothing, the next step will be for them to evolve into an exoskeleton of sorts for physical enhancement.  Flying swarms will give of superhuman strength, superhuman durability, and even the ability to fly.
Wasp III launch
Final Thoughts…
Over the coming months we will begin to see the convergence of air technologies that enable a drone to fly and onboard capabilities that give each drone its own unique set of characteristics.
With basic drone hardware being matched up with smartphones, and the bottom-up design capabilities of app developers around the world, drones will quickly move from the realm of personal toys to functional necessities that we interact with on a daily basis.
For those of you looking to switch careers, this will become a hot one in the near future, and it won’t be just in the military.
By Futurist Thomas Fre

Sometime over the coming months you can expect to see a version of the following help wanted ad:

“Help Wanted: Full-time aerial drone drivers needed to help manager our growing fleet of surveillance, delivery, and communication drones. We are also looking for drone repair techs, drone dispatchers, and drone salesmen.”

In 2010 the U.S. Military spent $4.5 billion on drones. This has been a rapidly growing budget item in the military’s arsenal with $4.8 billion requested for 2011.

With this kind of focused spending, drone technology has improved dramatically over the past decade, but as a technology, the future for drones will go far beyond military uses. The stage is being set for thousands of everyday uses in business and industry all over the world.

A few months ago I speculated on how flying delivery drones could be added to the FedEX and UPS fleets. As it turns out, we are now moving well past the speculation stage. (pics)

Read the rest of this entry »

business trends, future scenario, new strategy, powerful idea, scary future, technology trends 7 Comments »

The Laws of Transparency

Posted by admin on March 4th, 2011
The Laws of Transparency
Can you feel the layers being lifted? Transparency is entering our lives in unusual ways and much like having individual veils lifted from a multi-veiled garment; we are now seeing the world around us with far greater clarity.
At the same time, the people who are being watched and observed are feeling the light of exposure as never before.
Our ability to see things causes us to take action. With this in mind, I am proposing the first two laws of transparency.
1st Law of Transparency: The clarity with which we understand the world around us is directly proportional to the likelihood we will respond.
2nd Law of Transparency: For people being observed, the clearness with which their actions are being revealed is also directly proportional to the probability they will change what they are doing.
No matter which end of the transparency spectrum you to find yourself on, transparency increases awareness, and awareness causes action.
If you are wondering why so many changes are happening simultaneously around the planet today, we need look no further than the concept of transparency itself.
My wife and I often argue about the purpose of windows. I believe windows are designed for people to look out. But she feels that windows are equally well-designed for outsiders to look in.
As an example, if we hear noise coming from our neighbor’s house, we may be concerned. But if we have a clear view and see our neighbor fall an get hurt, we will instantly react by offering help.
Similarly, if we suspect someone is stealing from us, we will proceed with caution. However, once we know for sure, we will be compelled to take action.
As humans we are constantly radiating information, and this information is being detected, logged, and analyzed for use in startling new ways. Information about us is going out, and at the same time, outsiders are taking it all in.
At the forefront of exposure are the power elite.
No longer are they able to live a life shrouded in mystery. Not only are their acts and intention being exposed, but also the acts and intentions of everyone around them.
The Power to Act – The Motivation to Act
What exactly is a cause worth fighting for? Each of us will naturally have a different answer to this question.
Every time we are motivated to act, our response will be directly related to the emotion shift in our perceptions. The stronger our emotions, the greater our response.
If you see someone being rude to your friend, it will elicit a reaction to the rudeness. But if that same person pushes your friend down a flight of stairs, you will react in an entirely different manner.
To better explain the different categories of action-reaction responses I put together the following list. As you read through this, think of the phrase “unleashing the hurricane within us.”
1. Category One Response: Talk to others, send emails, tweet on Twitter, post something on Facebook
2. Category Two Response: Move money, change investment strategies, write articles, post editorials, launch whisper campaigns
3. Category Three Response: Change jobs, organize an event, hold hearings, convene a task force
4. Category Four Response: Sell assets and leave, organize an exodus,
5. Category Five Response: Go to war, kill people and break things
Small action, small response. Big action, big response. We are all powerful in our own unique ways.
Growing Fluidity
Transparency today is comprised of a series of data points, all of which become clearer and more viral with each improvement in our communication and social networks. Knowing the details is only part of the equation. Having the ability to expose the details and organize a response adds an entirely new dimension.
Leveraging the power of the Internet, a single response by a person today can have a profound impact. And an impact in one part of the world can create a ripple effect around the world.
We live in an increasingly fluid society, with money and ideas being transferred around the world at the speed of light. Even the movement of people is being handled with far greater efficiency.
With growing transparency comes rapid response.
Transparency and the Collapse of Countries
News of uprisings in Tunisia quickly spread to the rest of the world. Thousands of information sources sprang to life as the people of Tunisia concluded they could no longer live in their present conditions.
Protests and rioting in Tunisia quickly spread to Egypt, Iran, Bahrain, Libya, and others.
BBC News – Egypt: The camp that toppled a president
When the BBC published the interactive photo above with the caption “The camp that toppled a president,” people throughout the Middle East viewed it more as a “how to” manual for overthrowing their leaders.
Whether on purpose or just through happenstance, the camp became an emotional cauldron of activity for inspired activists to leverage their networks to overthrow their governments. The insidious acts of the country’s leaders had been growing in clarity with stories, photos and videos surfacing at every corner. But what changed was their ability to connect with others around the world and organize their efforts.
Every leader’s attempt to shut down communications on one level was met with a fresh new communications channel to keep the flow of passion and ideas moving.
In the future, the most liberating technology may well be a series of communication drones that are impervious to the country they are hovering over. At the same time, they may also be the most unsettling piece of technology for anyone who is currently in power.
When the Puppet Master has no Clothes
Over time we will begin to see the concept of leadership dramatically morph into something far different than what we think of as leadership today. And the people pulling the strings in the background will no long have the veil of secrecy to hide behind. We are entering an era where the puppet masters no longer have clothes.
Whenever to a country’s “happiness index” gets turned upside down, and people can clearly see they have been wronged, we will see a near-instant response. Many countries in the Middle East have attempted to use payoffs to quell the rising dissention. Leaders are distributing large cash payments as well as reducing the cost of food and healthcare in a bid to regain the people’s favor.
This, however, cannot be a long-term solution. As soon as people think that every time they protest and riot they will receive more money, they will turn protesting and rioting into a full-time business.
Perhaps in the future, the most powerful people in on earth future will be those who can organize a response the quickest.
Final thoughts…
A month ago I wrote an article titled “The Coming Transparency Wars.” At the time, I was looking at it through the lens of micro-transparency and how we are being probed on a personal level with far greater precision.
What I am talking about today falls more into the category of macro-transparency and the big picture of human response to a world that monitors every details. It’s no longer “big brother” watching. Instead, it is “big citizenry” in the observer seat.
The greatest danger of too much transparency is that we will become consumed by watching each other, and somewhere along the way, we will lose sight of the big picture. Each day will be filled with constant drama and we will exhaust ourselves trying to right every wrong, and solve every problem.
We are all terminally human and have very limited ability to improve who we are simply because someone else may be watching.
So is there some optimal level of privacy we should be aspiring to? I’m guessing there is, but at the moment, I really don’t know what that would be.
I do, however, think this is a matter that deserves our immediate attention, before we implode from our own scrutiny.
By Futurist Thomas Frey

transparency 785

Can you feel the layers being lifted? Transparency is entering our lives in unusual ways and much like having individual veils lifted from a multi-veiled garment; we are now seeing the world around us with far greater clarity.

At the same time, the people who are being watched and observed are feeling the light of exposure as never before.

Our ability to see things causes us to take action. With this in mind, I am proposing the first two laws of transparency.

1st Law of Transparency: The clarity with which we understand the world around us is directly proportional to the likelihood we will take action.

2nd Law of Transparency: For people being observed, the clearness with which their actions are being revealed is also directly proportional to the probability they will change what they are doing.

No matter which end of the transparency spectrum you find yourself on, transparency increases awareness, and awareness causes action.

If you are wondering why so many changes are happening simultaneously around the planet today, we need look no further than the concept of transparency itself.

Read the rest of this entry »

business trends, future scenario, historical perspective, powerful idea, social trends, technology trends 7 Comments »