The Laser Revolution
The digital age is producing waves of technology that were completely unimaginable just a few short years ago. At the top of my list are advances in microchips and in biotechnology the sure and steady mapping of the human brain. The results, I predict, will completely change who we are as a species.
In the meantime exciting things indeed are happening in developments in hardware technology and we are about to enter an age in which lasers are ubiquitous and integral in almost every thing around us. In fact, they already are really (though overwhelming there are now being used as simple sensors in our remote controls supermarket scanners). Similar technological advances use infrared and ultraviolet light, but the laser is multifarious applications and among countless other uses will become the eyes, ears, and noses of the robots we are about to see explode on the scene. From personal computers to surgery to rugged industrial work, lasers will be everywhere.
In fact, they already are. If you feel that your privacy isn’t what it once was and that a lot of information about your personal habits is being gathered about you all the time, you are right. And when you shop with your credit card at a retail shop or fly on a trip somewhere, lasers play a role in scanning your purchasing habits. But not to worry- everyone else is being scanned too, and while your information is of course used for marketing purposes, it is also used to improve service.
So far, we haven’t managed too well to harness the power of light, while we have done wonders with electricity. But we have with lasers, which after all are highly concentrated beams of light. There is no doubt that we have built a firm foundation with laser technology and the applications are tremendous. Lasers will soon be everywhere.