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Emerging Technology Timeline
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Monthly Archives: August 2014
Quote of the week
“And it occurred to me that in this new millennial life of instant and ubiquitous connection, you don’t in fact communicate as much as leave messages for one another” Chang-Rae Lee
Apologies, no idea where the above image is from. Found it on an old computer.
Ageing and the NHS
It’s not often that you’re in the car and have to pull over to write something down that you’ve just heard on the radio. A few days ago I did exactly this because someone said that a King’s Fund study had said that the average age of a patient in NHS hospitals in the UK was 80. Moreover, 2 out of 3 admissions are for people aged 65+
More here.
Idea of the month
This is interesting. Text streaming technology. Not sure if I want to do it, but it’s certainly radical. Interesting implications for libraries, publishing, education and, of course, reading.
What is it? The company explains it this way:
“The time consuming part of reading lies mainly in the actual eye movements from word to word and sentence to sentence. In addition, traditional reading simply takes up a lot of physical space. Spritz solves both of these problems. First, your eyes do not have to move from word to word or around the page that you’re reading. In fact, there’s no longer a page – with Spritz you only need 13 total characters to show all of your content. Fast streaming of text is easier and more comfortable for the reader, especially when reading areas become smaller.”
Thanks to Luke who put me onto this.
The lights are on but nobody’s home
This makes a lot of sense to me. I’ve been writing Future Files 2 from my home office for the last few months and things are going well. I can pick tomatoes from the greenhouse on the way to work and the office is full of natural light. Contrast this with the situation six months ago when the office was dark and I couldn’t seem to get anything done.
I read today that a study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine says that working in a windowless, or dark, office can result in disturbed sleep patterns. Workers who sit close to a window, or other source of natural light, have better moods and more focus.
Prolonged lack of natural light can result in poor sleep, which is itself linked to obesity, diabetes and heart problems. Interestingly, positive effects are only achieved with exposure to daylight, which contains what’s known as blue light, and not with exposure to general office or household lighting, which does not.
Overall, my home office (the other one is on a ship in the Thames) is great for six months of the year (when it’s warm and light), but even then there’s something important that’s missing. It’s people. I think this is what the whole telecommuter, flexi-working, work anywhere you want thing misses and why it’s so hard to get a seat to drink your coffee in Starbucks – because the place is full of people working.
There are times when a lack of people is a really good thing. There are times when peace and quiet reign supreme. But at other times we need to interact with people, even if all we do is sit alongside someone and say nothing.
A Generation on Fire
“The American Psychological Association released a report in 2013 that found the millennial generation – those aged 18-34 – had a higher rate of stress (5.4 out of 10) than the U.S. population as a whole (4.9). Moreover, nearly 40 percent of young Americans said their stress levels had increased in the past year, while 52 percent admitted that anxiety keeps them awake at night. Stress and anxiety are manifested as themes in modern youth entertainment.
In our 2012 probe A Generation on Fire, we noted the immense popularity of teen dystopian fiction and film series. The Hunger Games was highly symbolic of the chasm between youth and the ruling generation, which evolves into a David versus Goliath narrative. In this case, the young prevented from participating fully in a system tilted by the old for those growing old at the expanse of the young.This generational theme is observable and throughout the culture. Entertainment provides the clearest window into the dynamic. Veronica Roth’s Divergent series is the next dystopian tale to hit the big screen. Teens are forced into a form of academic testing that determines their place in the world for life. The symbolism is straightforward. Standardized college tests – SAT and ACT – are stress producing in part because they are separators. The fact the tests can be gamed by the rich – high-priced test preparation classes, private tutors, and financial ability to take multiple tests is a source for even deeper anxiety, even among the rich. Divergent’s main character “fails” her test. She vows to subvert “the system,” and eventually helps to create a classless society.
Aside from dystopian fiction, we have observed the rise of a decidedly realistic genre of young adult fiction dubbed “sick-lit,” which has quietly replaced stories of werewolves and vampires on best-seller lists. This genre employs themes of illness, particularly cancer, bullying, and self- harm. Several of the genre’s novels have millions of copies in print, have been optioned for film, are in production, or have already been released.
Three of the most popular are:
• By the Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead – A bullied girl contemplates suicide and is befriended by a boy with cancer.
• Thirteen Reasons Why – A teen girl commits suicide, but leaves a trail of reasons that remind others of the harm that can be caused by their callous actions.
• The Fault in Our Stars – Tells the story of two cancer-stricken teens who fall in love in a cancer support group.
The depth of anxiety in young people is anomalous. So too is the way this anxiety is being satiated: via narratives based on particularly grisly forms of actual, psychological death. The depth of connection within these themes is striking. The top nine books on Amazon’s bestsellers list include: Dark Souls II – the guide to a video game “that is darker” than ever and “this time death is certain”- (No. 1); The Fault in our Stars (No 2); Divergent (No. 4); Divergent 3-book Series (No. 6); Divergent – second title in the series (No. 8); The Book Thief – a young girl’s life is narrated by “Death” (No. 9). Another title in the Divergent series ranks No. 12.
The mind requires harmony between the inner and outer world. Significant and fundamental change is in motion.”
Taken (with permission) from Williams Inference A Generation on Fire (2012)
Idea of the month (folk in a box)
I’m in love this this idea. Live music in a box. One musician. I audience member. Britain’s smallest live music venue. Apparently some people have come out of it crying due to the intimate nature of the experience. Huge respect to Emily and Dom who came up with the idea and did it. Read more here. If you need something innovative for a party or event throw your money at this. BTW, how about poetry in a box? Or love in a box (blind dates).
Australian version at the Sydney Festival here.
Reality
I do like this (well I don’t, but you probably know what I mean). Might sit nicely against ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ as an iconic image of the early part of the 21st Century.
Source: Unknown.