2022

I was feeling bored in a class and just to keep myself occupied started thinking about what shapes technology might take in the times to come and how it might impact our daily lives.... Read on

1. Information transmission: Attaching RFID tags to the items we use on a daily basis. Eg. toothpaste, deodorant, soaps, provisions.. whatever. Let these tags transmit the information about the remaining weight/ quantity of these items on a daily basis to the place where we shop. The shop can then deliver these goods directly to our homes based on our agreed reorder points.

2. Early morning health scan: Automatic health monitoring systems attached to toilets. These take our health readings on a daily basis and transmit them to our family doc. The doc can then suggest corrective/ preventive measures based on that.

3. Nutrition/ Diet: Sensors which read our brain cells, outside climate and health readings and fix our ideal diet for the day taking into account nutrition and health requirements, taste preferences etc.

4. Organizers: We should have digital secretaries which track

a. News/ happenings in the world
b. Changes in our wealth position - stocks, mutual funds, bank accounts
c. Schedule for the day - Appointments, reminders..
d. New products of interest in the market etc..
e. Other customized information which we would like to see early in the morning

and present a crux of all these stuff in a single A4 sheet to us which can be read while we are brushing in the morning


5. Mood lifters: Sensors which are able to read my mood and change lighting, TV channels, temperature and music accordingly

6. Time optimization - The digital secretaries (described above) should be able to talk with the digital secretaries of the people with whom i need to interact during the day and should be able to optimize my time. For eg, if need to meet Mr. X today and if Mr. X is planning to visit a local store today and i also intend to visit the same store today, may be it is optimal for both of us to meet at the store rather than visit each other in our offices and waste our times.

7. Energy needs: Carrying multiple chargers is a pain - laptop, mobile, Ipod, PDA.. what not? A simple wireless charging device, which can charge all these devices would be great

8. Pocket convergence - This simply means that a single device should be able to combine the utilities of all the items you generally keep in your pockets - Palmtop, MP3 player, PDA, Mobile. This device should also be in a position to substitute my car keys, home keys & office keys. May be if i send in a message/ signal from this device and upon authentication with a password i should automatically get entry into my car, home etc... I should also be able to use this device
for doing my shopping i.e as a substitute for carrying my debit/ credit cards, loyalty cards etc.

9. Physical Google - I should be in a position to search things in the real world using my PDA. Let me explain. If I want to buy a Allen Solly shirt of a particular colour if the price is less than Rs. 1000, then i should program this into my PDA. The sellers can use a spectrum and transmit their advertising messages through radio waves. If for example a particular seller, lets say Shoppers Stop is indeed having a sale and it meets all my purchase criteria, then my PDA should pick up this radio signal and intimate me, If i happen to pass Shoppers Stop. It should be able to send me a message like "Hi, the light Blue Allen Solly shirt (size 40) which you wanted is available in this Shopper's Stop (100 meters from here... address....) in fourth floor. It is not crowded now, and you will approximately take 8 minutes to complete the shopping".

10. End Of Day health scan - When i come back from work late at night and sink into a refreshing hot water bath, the bathroom should automatically do a complete health scan and give me a crisp report suggesting preventive and and corrective measures which i should adopt before going to bed, so that i get up refreshed the next day... It should also give me a quick summary of the health status of all my family members...

One thing is sure in the digital world. Nothing is impossible... May be i would read this post of mine 15 years from now and wonder, how primitive was I in my thinking...