The Future of Technology?

Last night I finished writing an article for LifeWay on the future of technology. I had agreed to do the article a couple of months ago, but didn’t realize how difficult of a task it was actually going to be.

The roadblock hit first when I remembered that the article isn’t going to be published until next spring. It was supposed to be coming from the angle of new/next technologies that are cutting edge or right around the corner. Problem is that 10 months later anything I wrote about would no longer be so ‘edgy’ by the time the article was actually read.

Technology is changing at compounding break neck speeds. Take these figures, for example, from the “Did You Know?” video that’s been circling all over the place:

Years it took to reach a market audience of 50 million:

• Radio: 38 years
• Television: 13 years
• Internet: 4 years
• iPod: 3 years
• Facebook: 2 years

Or my favorite…

The amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years… For students starting a 4 year technical degree this means that half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study.

So, how do you approach an article on the future of something that has such a short half-life?

I approached it from the viewpoint that “We Are What We Create” - that technology is a form of expression for each generation. We create and innovate according to the needs and interests that we see around us, and with a desire to help move us from where we are to where we want to be.

Where do we want to be? That’s different for each generation, thus, technology is approached differently from each successive generation.

It was a fascinating challenge for me. I can’t post the full article here because it doesn’t belong to me any longer, but I’d be happy to email you a copy if you’re interested.

Posted 07.01.2009

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