The perils of prediction
A while ago, the folks at Corning glass released a video called A Day Made of Glass in which they illustrated some near-future technology (all using glass!) that they saw us using. It was a pretty cool video and got them a fair amount of attention, but of course, reality catches up with near-future predictions, so they've made a new video called (not very creatively) A Day Made of Glass 2.
I happened to see it on a blog I follow called The Digital Reader (a cool blog if you're at all interested in ereaders and tablets). Nate, the blogger, predicted that by the time we could actually make some of the tech in the video we would actually use tablets very differently. I think that's probably true. Predictions are tricky things; it's even possible to hit one nail on the head and knock another sideways. Look at 2001: A Space Odyssey. That movie was totally wrong about space travel, but it did show a "news tablet" that's very similar in concept to an iPad or other tablet. I confess I never read the short story on which it was based, so I don't know whether to credit Clarke or Kubrick, since he helped develop the script.
But anyway, the Corning video is a cool video. One of the things shown that I covet most was actually very simple. The cars of the future might have windows where you can tint them on the fly, when the sun is from the wrong directcion, and untint them the rest of the time. Privacy glass was also cool. Who needs curtains in the future?
I also like the concept of a teaching tool that let you see dinosaurs in place as you walk though the woods. Of course, it would work as well for tigers and other real but endangered wildlife, not just those that are actually extinct.
Anyway, here's the video. Enjoy and let me know what you think of the future as envisioned by a glass manufacturer.
I happened to see it on a blog I follow called The Digital Reader (a cool blog if you're at all interested in ereaders and tablets). Nate, the blogger, predicted that by the time we could actually make some of the tech in the video we would actually use tablets very differently. I think that's probably true. Predictions are tricky things; it's even possible to hit one nail on the head and knock another sideways. Look at 2001: A Space Odyssey. That movie was totally wrong about space travel, but it did show a "news tablet" that's very similar in concept to an iPad or other tablet. I confess I never read the short story on which it was based, so I don't know whether to credit Clarke or Kubrick, since he helped develop the script.
But anyway, the Corning video is a cool video. One of the things shown that I covet most was actually very simple. The cars of the future might have windows where you can tint them on the fly, when the sun is from the wrong directcion, and untint them the rest of the time. Privacy glass was also cool. Who needs curtains in the future?
I also like the concept of a teaching tool that let you see dinosaurs in place as you walk though the woods. Of course, it would work as well for tigers and other real but endangered wildlife, not just those that are actually extinct.
Anyway, here's the video. Enjoy and let me know what you think of the future as envisioned by a glass manufacturer.
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