Applications Of Technology In The Twenty-First Century

A quote I heard many times when I was in high school and which I now know traces back to Sir Francis Bacon, one of our earliest scientist or philosophers as they were then called, is the statement "Knowledge Is Power." Today, I believe that the fuller, more correct statement is to say, "the application of knowledge is power." The study of science, and technology subjects will broader our opportunities in life. As we continue to advance through the 21st century we are well aware that technology is possibly the hottest industrial commodity around the world today. In the years ahead, it will be an increasingly critical factor in determining the success or failure of businesses. It is the fuel many of us are looking at to help us win this race to the 21st century. To do that, we should make technology matter. In this paper I am going to share my technology forecasts. I try to focus on my new forecasts a decade into the future - the first decade of the 21st century, because that is how far most businesses need to be looking ahead.

There has never been a neutral or value-free, technology. All technologies are power. They evoke economic and social consequences in direct proportion to their dislocation of the existing economy and its institutions.

I believe that technologies such as: biotechnology and genetic engineering, intelligent materials, the miniaturization of electronics, and smart manufacturing systems, and controls, will be the hottest technologies in the next decade. I am going to put together a list of what I think as the top ten innovative products that will result from those technologies.

Number one on the list is something we call genetic. There are pharmaceutical products that will come from the massive genetic research going on around the world today. In ten years, we will have new ways to treat many of our ills - from allergies to ADIS. We may see the discovery of new methods of treatment for various types of cancer, for multiple sclerosis, osteoporoses, Lou Gehrig's and Alzheimer's disease, to name just a few.

The biotechnology frontier, especially developments in the field of genetic, promises- and to some degree has already archived - a revolution in agriculture and human health care. But proving the means to develop plant species that are more disease-and-pest-resistant, more tolerant of drought, and able to grow during extended periods of adverse conditions.