Innovation

One of the biggest questions about any emerging technology is “will it make it?” In other words, will it become popular enough to became an actual, sustainable “thing”? This question has profound effects (not always in good ways) on whether or not new technologies have a future in learning innovation. The more popular an idea becomes, then more companies will starting make products, and increased competition drives down prices while increasing options. And hopefully, a low-cost easy to use option will arise.

Virtual Reality seems to be (slowly) crossing that barrier into mainstream adoption. Depending on how one maps the growth of VR, its been on a traditional trajectory, or a highly unusual one. But the signs that it is reaching more adoption are things like the Virtual Reality fueled promos (like the one above for the most-awesome Stranger Things series on Netflix) as well as new Virtual Reality films in production. From Lucasfilm making a Darth Vader virtual reality movie to a panoramic alien invasion movie starring Wesley Snipes that might have VR-like sections, it seems that at least Hollywood is taking notice. And it probably won’t be too long before we unfortunately see “How VR will disrupt Education!” sessions at Ed-Tech conferences. But it seems that VR is actually going somewhere.

Fans of Science Fiction are probably familiar with microbots (aka nanobots) – small robots that are usually injected into the body to fix any number of plot holes…. errr… medical conditions of the future. But why aren’t we using these bots in real life? This article looks at some of the current advances in dealing with the problems that are holding microbots back from widespread usage. The short version is that these tiny machines are hard to control once released. As the video above points out, nanobots were first successfully used in animals just last year (wonder why they had to point out “successful”?). Most people think of microbots in terms of medical advances (such as unclogging arteries or making chemotherapy more targeted and safe), there are also many ways that technology could be implanted inside of our bodies to bring about some form of Trans-humanism.