Disruptive Technology

Today, we'll take a look into emerging technologies.   Prompt: Come up with a list of 10 emerging technologies, and pick out three to go deeper in.  Source:  Unsplash Ten Emerging Technologies Not ranked in any particular order.  Satellite Internet  - The ability to access the internet from anywhere - even in places where fiber and broadband simply don't exist. Could be the key needed to connect rural communities together.  Cloud Technology - Removing the need to buy hardware, and the transition over to SaaS and IaaS (software as a service, infrastructure as a service) 3D Printing - We can already print medical grade components for some use cases. Gone are the days where our best 3D printers make sloppy, fragile plastic toys - 3D printing is rapidly evolving and will only continue to grow.  5G / Mobile Connectivity - At the moment, I honestly don't see much of a difference/improvement with 5G, and if anything more controversy than with previous ce...

It's always interesting to think about what our cities will look like down the line. We took a look at various entrepreneurs' ideas in class the last couple of days, and I'm ready to share some of my own thoughts going forward.  Source:  Unsplash 5-10 Years Automation is accelerating at a rapid pace, and in the near future I think we can expect to see a lot more in terms of concepts such as the "smart home", AI-driven processes, and more.  In regards to some of these topics:  IoT is a rapidly evolving field, with things as mundane as light switches already automatable. While this also opens up plenty of security gaps (which will also become a more significant issue down the line), it allows for us to, say, turn the lights off without physically being at home.  AI is used on the consumer level to help predict things for people and suggest tasks before you even think of them yourself! While it sounds a bit creepy, we could very well just get accustomed to it and e...

Background I've been fortunate enough to grow up around technology, such that it was always readily accessible - whether it was at the computer lab in school, or on a family computer at home. This was likely a large factor in my passion for computer technology.  Going to the more broad term of "disruptive technology" in general, I'd say that they have had a very large impact on my life. I'm typically one of the first to try out and/or embrace something new, even if said idea ends up flopping later on. Kickstarter and Indiegogo have made exploring new ideas a lot easier nowadays.  AI + The Future "How do you think disruptive technologies will impact your life in the future? How might AI impact your job?"  The point of disruptive is something so different that you wouldn't be able to predict it ahead of time, no? If that's the case, then one can't really predict what will happen 5-10 years down the line.  AI on the other hand has already been a...

In Professor Clayton Christensen's book The Innovator's Dilemma , Christensen spends a lot of time talking about "sustaining technologies" versus "disruptive technologies". Both forms of innovation are good for society, but the two differ in one key way: whether said innovation "improves" (sustaining) or "revolutionizes" (disruptive).  We discussed this topic in our humanities class this week, comparing and contrasting the two. What are they, really?  Sustaining technologies improve upon an existing technology. Pfizer is commonly brought up as an example of this, as their main business model is developing new and improved drugs.  Disruptive technologies  disrupt an industry. They introduce technology that has never been seen before, or use it in ways never thought of before, such that a successful "disruptive" innovation will force existing companies to either adapt or die off. Netflix is a good example of a disruptive innovatio...