How many times have you looked around you and wondered how much science and technology has changed the life around you? It has become such a clichéd question and doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Imagine your life without mobile phones, aero planes, electricity and internet and things fall in perspective. Really, they do. Don’t they?
Every time I make my trip to India, almost 16 hours of flying time from US, I never fail to appreciate the great piece of innovation that Wright brothers gave us. And it would be so naïve to thank just the two of them. When the captain is making the announcements, have you taken note of the outside temperature? Mere thought of a - 40 oC temperature just inches outside my seat makes me go paranoid with all kind of scary thoughts. I guess you have gone through a similar feeling and have silently, maybe subconsciously, thanked the scientists and engineers who have made flying possible for you. What a piece of work an aero plane is?
One question I often ask people is “Which technology do you think has changed life the most in your time?” Without doubt, for our times, I think it’s the wireless technology. It would be an understatement if I said that I am fascinated by the change wireless technology has brought to our life. From the time (1877) when Edison uttered the word “Mary had a little lamb” in his mouth piece to the time when Neil Armstrong’s “A giant leap for mankind” (1969) from moon, it has been one hell of a ride for the communication science and technology. Communication technology made tremendous strides during this period but it was only in our generation that it became affordable to the masses. There was a paradigm shift in the efforts made by the business class to bring the technologies available in labs and universities to our households and to our finger tips. And it’s working.
In my opinion, the hallmark of a good technology is the impact it has on our quality of life. And the hallmark of a great business idea is to make this available to us at affordable prices. This brings me to the next question. What technology would that be? What is the technology-business liaison, if successful, is going have the highest impact on our livesto be the future? I am a great admirer of the way research has changed our life and probably that is the reason I am in research. However, sometimes we get so engrossed in our research that we lose the bigger picture and this is when nihilism sets in. As a trained engineer and an individual who calls himself a researcher, a question that keeps popping up in my mind is " What are the next life and lifestyle changing technologies that are going to change the way this world of ours operate? " We all know that this can not be answered in few lines. So, please wait for my next post on this. I can assure you that I have given it a lot of thought and we may agree on what I have to say. If not feel free to comment. As a preemptive measure, you can also make suggestions if you like ;-)
So long,
Anand Srivastava.
