Most all of the present day marketing studies are now saying tht mobile phones and other devices will replace our pc’s and laptops for getting on-line. This makes sense, although it is hard for me to envision a world without my laptop.  We carry around our laptops as though they are appendages of our body, despite the fact that most of us are storing our information on-line where it is accessible from any computer and using e-mail and our social networks, also accessible from any computer. So it makes a lot of sense that we will soon be free of this box, at least the one in its present size and shape. There will probably be a phase down, where the laptops gradually shrink in size, as we are already seeing and eventually become part of our environment and clothing and eventually connected to us so we are always able to connect on line. Amazingly, this is not so far away. The technology for computers is getting smaller more quickly than Moore’s Law would tell us it might. In some ways, there has been a sort of lethargy to integrate the computer into our environment — perhaps a consumer resistance to it.

I am, for example, somewhat surprized that we do not already have flexible computer screens to replace our newspapers. This has been in development for  a while and the time is ripe for their acceptance. In existing technolgies, the screen is able to change the print upon command from a computer controlling the nano-particles inside. In addition, it amazes me that videoconferencing has been so slow to integrate into our lives. I would be shocked if we didn’t have a videconferencing screen in every car, plane and mobile device within five years. It is a must now for medical care.

I am of the belief that advances in the speed, capabilities and evolution of computer systems and analytics are a critical component to the development of technologies to help us deal with the daunting issues now at hand. Sustainable non-fossil fuel energies and conservation of energies are surmountable issues but problems requiring the attention and focus of a greater number of our thinkers. Communication, information exchange, simulation modeling and machine learning will be critical parts of this process and without the computer and the internet probably would not occur quickly enough.

If I am accurate in my assessment of the need for more integrated, more creative uses of computer technologies then we ought not leave this evolutionary process for conceptualization by science fiction writers. Instead, the process requires a kind of stewardship–which will enable and enhance these changes but not stifle them through over-control. Rather than setting out my auggestions for how this can occur, now, I invite your comments on this topic.

A swifter integration of computer technologies into our environments will mean a swifter evolution in how we view its use. We are limited now only by our imaginations and need to find more creative ways of solving our global dilemmas by advancing this evolution.

Good authors of science fiction read alot about science and then use their minds to extrapolate on what could be. Scientific and technical advances are usually generated through evolutionary stages based on new technological breakthroughs which aren’t conceived as part of an overall scheme but rather individual entries in the chapters of a technological book. Perhaps there is a better way to enhance the timing and scope of change.

In the mean time, I recommend Ender’s Game and I am on a rabid hunt for another novel which might open my mind to new possibilities. I open the floor to recommendations.