FREE ESSAY ON FUTURE TECHNOLOGY

FUTURE TECHNOLOGY

F U T U R E O F T E C H N O L O G Y
Dr.Nenno / Economics
Research Paper
Turkka Hirvonen 
May 5 2000 
People often think that future is all about flying cars, robots and space travelling.
Maybe it will be like that, who knows, but at least until this day the changes haven't
been remarkable. Companies are all the time investing more money on research and
development. This indicates that companies and government are interested to achieve and
find new technological inventions that would change the markets. All ready one of the
computer related inventions, Internet, has changed the spreading of information globally.
E-companies' are stocks are rising in the stock markets like rockets. This is a great
example how future technology will change the economics around the world as it affects
greatly our everyday life. "Internet is worldwide network of connected computers. This
network enables you to communicate with the rest of the world in different ways."(1) Has
been approximated that the total amount of information globally doubles every 18 months,
which indicates that internet, as an important part of media nowadays, affects everyone
of us though we might not have a possibility to be on-line. The approximated number of
people who are on-line daily is more than 18%. "As you can imagine and as you probably
may have seen, there are a lot companies. You can find the big ones like Coca-Cola,
Disney, Xerox, IBM. Apart from supplying (product) information and amusement, they mostly
use the web for name and product branding (recognition). There's a completely new
industry with lots and lots of Net based companies like the search engines, banner
exchanges, hosting services, (Net) marketers and software enterprises. And there are
others, which have expanded their originally offline business field to the Net (Credit
Card companies, Researchers, Marketers, Yellow Pages). Small and medium business
companies selling to consumers. A great part of them use the Net to expand their offline
business, others try to make a living on it. And some of them see the necessity to
transfer from one to the other in the future. Business-to-business companies are also
found on the Net. In short, all kind of enterprises have taken the step to the online
world."(2) Internet is not only a way to spend time surfing, but it is also an very good
way to make money by transforming products, services and markets. It is an easy way to
reach people when thinking advertising and it is an easy way to people to reach the
information wanted, but the competition between companies in the virtual reality of
Internet, is as hard as in the real world.
Government's space program also influences and will influence economics of the future.
U.S. government's NASA (North American Space Association) has done great job exploring
space and research new opportunities in outer space and other planets. The question is
how the new future technology will change the direction of economics and by that our
living on Earth or maybe on some other planet... The world population is growing fast.
The room to live on earth might be a problem in future, and Earth might not be able to
feed the upcoming population. This is one of the reasons why we have to explore the space
for new opportunities. The problem is the money. Are taxpayers willing to pay? After the
resent failure of sending a $266 million Pathfinder to Mars, taxpayers started doubt is
the space program worth it, but mistakes that are caused by understaffed and overworked
space teams are not unique to interplanetary missions, like NASA's Pathfinder mission. A
single broken cord can turn to a $400 million cost, but who said it is not risky.Is this
$450 billion plan going to give taxpayers their moneys back? No, because the new
technology will help their children and grandchildren to live their everyday lives in
polluted and overpopulated environment caused by the past generations. "In recent years,
cost-reduction efforts throughout America's space industry have had profound effects on
the workforce. Older and more experienced workers were the predominant target of
cost-conscious layoffs or of contract swapping prior to retirement-benefits vesting. But
even the younger workers, supposedly their eventual replacement, were victimized by the
cuts."(3)This is what the taxpayers should understand; their selfish use of money on
researching new technology might be a threat for the future generations. "If we were to
bring back a rock in 2005 that clearly shows evidence of ancient life on the planet or fi
we were to find evidence of life on Mars, that would be great impetus for a human
program. A manned mission must have a compelling scientific or economic rationale", said
Alan Ladwig, NASA's associate administrator.(4) 
The greatest effect of future technology has is on the productivity. Technological
change, or innovation, is a contributor to the growth of productivity. From the
development of plows to the invention of computers, history shows many example of
technologies that have increased productivity. New products, new methods of production,
new ways of organizing production(Ford's assembly line) or marketing products and new
methods of communication can each demonstrate how productivity increases. And when
productivity increases faster than the population, standard of living increases. This
makes people's everyday life easier and the quality of living is higher. One example how
technological change has changed our living past 10 years have been reusable products and
materials. Recycling and reusable materials have made our quality of living better by
minimizing the production of trash. Also the technological changes in agriculture have
increased productivity of our basic need products.
"One of the most dramatic high-tech developments arriving at the millenium is the
obsolescence of money. The advent of the Internet and other new media marketplaces, like
interactive TV, demands a new kind of currency that is secure, virtual, global, and
digital. The death of hard cash, and its rebirth as digital currency, will transform all
transactions in society and touch industry worldwide. The emerging digital market and the
new interactive consumer challenge our assumptions about how to conduct business. 30
million people today with a spending power of over$100 billion, represents a serious
market no business can afford to ignore. This new consumer is virtual, global,
interactive and multimedia-driven."(5) The digital money has taken over. The simple cash
has changed into numbers on the computers. People pay their bills from home by using
computers and Internet, people pay their grocery with a plastic credit card and people go
shopping from home and they don't even have to move, just use the keyboard. 
A huge problem in the future will be the energy. Already we are noticing that our sources
of energy will be empty someday. A team of scientists and engineers have predicted that
the technological trends that will shape the world in next 50 years will be high powered
energy packages. "On the energy front are highpower energy packages such as
microgenerators of electricity that will make electronic products and appliances highly
mobile; environmentally clean, decentralized power sources; batteries linked to solar
power; and small generators fueled by natural gas."(6) 
As the population of the Earth keeps increasing we have to figure out how to feed all the
people who are going to live here. Globally thinking we are already suffering of the lack
of the food. All over the world hunger is a big problem. Clean water will be a problem
too if technological changes won't help us. "Designer foods, genetically engineered foods
that are environmentally friendly and highly nutritious, will fill the stores. Even
cotton and wool will be genetically engineered. Water worldwide will be safe and
inexpensive because technology will provide advanced filtering, processing, and delivery.
Desalination and water extraction from air are also possible. In the years ahead new
technologies will become much more personalized, and they will closely affect almost
every aspect of our lives."(7) This was an very optimistic prediction of the future, but
until then we have to keep people worldwide alive without the new innovations. The money
countries are using to military should go to the people who suffer hunger and to the
research of cures of globally spread diseases like HIV and cancer.
No one knows what's going to happen in the future, but the new future technology can at
least give us a direction. Our actions have a great effect how we and the upcoming
generations are going to live on Earth. Putting money now on research and development
gives a better economic base that we can rely on. The biggestchange to our economic will
have the increased productivity. By increased productivity our standard of living will be
higher and our everyday life will be easier. May everyone of us be there to witness the
flying cars and talking robots, so that we can be proud of our achievements.
FOOTNOTES
(1) "What is Internet?" p.1 
(2) "What is Internet?" p.5
(3) Obreg, USA Today p.3
(4) Allen, Canoe p.2
(5) "Premiere Speakers Bureau" p.1
(6) Sixeas, "Whither 2020?" p.1
(7) Sixeas, "Whither 2020?" p.1
Bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Allen Jane E. "Pathfinder ignites interest in human Mars travel:But is worth it?"
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2000
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