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ETICA Already Missed These SF Comm Predictions
A team of boffins at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK has been tasked with predicting the next big thing in communication technology. They call themselves the Ethical Issues of Emerging ICT Applications (ETICA) group.
Dr Bernd Stahl, reader in critical research in technology in the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility at DMU, said: “There is a large public interest in the type of ethical issues that new technologies may raise, in ways of understanding and classifying such issues and ways of avoiding or addressing them.
“Some technologies and their applications, such as social network sites like Facebook or Twitter, are easily identified as areas of future ethical problems.Analysing the ethical issues that may result from them is a difficult but important task if we want to be proactive in developing technology that is beneficial to individuals and society.”
I'm betting that, whatever they think up, science fiction writers have already gotten there and predicted it first AND talked about some of the limitations or ethical problems in use. Here are just a few of the predictions that these boffins are already too late to make. Just for fun, click the links to see if you are right about who predicted it and when.
Presentation of everything known about a given individual
Networked wand that forms dust into hard copy news stories
Implant for directly talking with computers
Kiosks distribute news and papers instantly
Totally free, advertiser supported communication
One satellite passes messages everywhere in the solar system
Directly translate your thoughts to anyone else electronically, destroying language barriers forever
Tiny wearable device makes everyone an on-the-spot television news reporter
Communicate (briefly) with the recently dead
Personalize all mass media and make all news anchors address you directly
Buried loudspeakers talk to everyone whether they like it or not
You want MORE science fiction communications predictions? Gorge yourself.
Under the two year project... researchers at De Montfort are aiming to identify information and communication technologies that are likely to emerge in the next 10 to 15 years and spot any unforeseen drawbacks ahead of their widespread adoption.
Surgically implanted cell phones that use bone conduction
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/16/2009)
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