technology can be applied to make them better satisfy people's needs. Posted on 01/14/2012 6:20:38 AM PST by Kaslin
All technology eventually becomes obsolete.
Think of things like buggy whips, or Commodore 64 computers, or newspapers, or DVDs. What all these things have in common is that they either have already been replaced by something that works better to satisfy people's needs, or are in the process of being replaced by things that work better to satisfy people's needs.
Some technologies last for a really long time before they become obsolete. Newspapers are a still current example of things that are becoming obsolete that have been around for centuries, but which are unlikely to continue existing in anything like their old, familiar form thanks to the onset of newer, better technologies.
And then some technologies hang on because there really isn't any way they can become obsolete, although technology can be applied to make them better satisfy people's needs.
One example of that is the wheelchair. Designed to make it possible for people who cannot walk to be able to move themselves around, or so that others can move them around more easily, wheelchairs today are essentially unchanged from what they looked like over a hundred years ago.
It's not that technology has been idle. Wheelchairs are now made from different materials so they can hold up to use better than older designs could. Some have been paired with electric motors, which makes it easier for some to move around. Others have been optimized to be used in sporting events.
But no matter its current form, the wheelchair of today would be instantly recognizable to a time traveler from the past for what it is: a chair that rides on wheels for transporting people who can't walk.
But then, suppose that one day, the wheelchair as we have known it suddenly became obsolete. What could possibly replace it?
The day of the wheelchair's technological obsolescence may be here sooner than you think (HT: Core77):
This year, California-based Ekso Bionics will begin shipping their eponymous product, a robotic exoskeleton that will enable paraplegics to do the unthinkable: Walk. New York's Mount Sinai Hospital and other rehabilitation clinics in the U.S. and Europe are expected to purchase commercial models once performance and reliability trials are cleared--trials overseen, interestingly enough, by America's Food & Drug Administration.
Ekso Bionics began as Berkeley Bionics in 2005, and early military cooperation helped the firm produce the HULC, a militarized version of the exoskeleton designed to help able-bodied soldiers tirelessly lug heavy payloads through rugged terrain. Lockheed Martin (whose somewhat creepy company motto is "We Never Forget Who We're Working For") licensed the technology in 2009, freeing the company now known as Ekso to begin focusing on its civilian version. The company's work has since earned it a 2012 Edison Award nomination.
It's hard not to be moved by the video of an early product tester, a woman who has not walked since sustaining a spinal injury nearly 20 years ago. For some reason Ekso has rendered the video unembeddable, but it can be freely viewed here.
Can you imagine what might replace the exoskeleton that makes it possible for paraplegics to walk? Because that's something that will happen someday.
All technology eventually becomes obsolete.
The really great thing about this potential technology is that, if they can get to a spinal cord injury early enough, it may be possible to use this technology to help the spinal cord regenerate.
I read up on that, at one time.
Really?
Knives?
Wheelbarrow?
Mirrors?
Fire?
Shoes?
etc.
“In the long run, we are all dead.” — Keynes
Really.
Knives?
Banned in Britain, soon to be replaced with the molecular string held in stasis.
Wheelbarrow?
Truck.
Mirrors?
Webcams and close circuit TV
Fire?
Atomic fusion.
Shoes?
Antigravity plates.
What could possibly replace the wheel, the incline, the lever, the pulley...stuff like that. Technology can’t replace those basic machines, just enhance them.
The video with the woman made me tear up. Very touching. Then I watched the video with the HULC! Very different video! Thanks for posting.
Wheelbarrow?
Mirrors?
Fire?
Shoes?
Allow me to introduce you to the first cousin of obsolescence, relegation:
While knives have continued to serve a purpose, they have been relegated for the most part to food preparation.
Wheel barrows have been relegated to home gardening. Construction sites etc have all gone with motorized replacements.
Fire is still fire, but it ain't what it used to be. Microwaves are faster, electric stoves more common, and even heating is moving more and more to high efficient floor based electric heating.
Shoes will never be replaced, but they do get more and more high tech. Except for women's shoes, which by design seem to be made cause pain, although my wife swears they aren't as painful as they look.
“All technology eventually becomes obsolete.
Really?”
No kidding. I still remember the beginning of the movie Top Gun where they explained that missiles made dog-fighting skills obsolete. The only problem with that the Soviets and their allies had not read the same report...
I keep getting told here by Perry supporters that freeways are obsolete, now that we have the ability to track people’s driving for tolling purposes - which is much more efficient than paying for roads through a gas tax. Hopefully they’re wrong.
Funny, that cartoon is now obsolete as more & more people instead of staring at a monitor with a keyboard are now have their heads down starring at a hand held touch pad
Obsolescence only comes when you make a “better mousetrap”.
For example, while wheelchairs are still in use, far more people who would have used them on a long term basis are using battery powered “mobility scooters” instead.
A better comparison would be old style medical walkers, with the new wheeled versions with hand brakes and a seat that can be used when not moving.
And DVDs are far from obsolescent, as their industry created replacement’s quality improvement is relatively much less than the jump from VHS to DVD. And it is a far more expensive technology that will be a decade before it drops to the low price of DVDs. And also because the vast majority of content out there shows no improvement from DVD quality. Or even most of the movies being made today.
I am reminded of the effort to introduce Hi-Fi music to the US public. Only audiophiles with sharp hearing, and those who bought it just for the sake of having the new technology cared about the Hi-Fi sound. And pretty soon manufacturers were calling ordinary music Hi-Fi just for the market.
Today, Blu Ray is only a little more relevant than 3D, as an unneeded, but expensive, improvement. Few movies actually benefit by HD.
So DVDs are going to be around for a long while.
Ok, why is that creepy? Especially considering that they make a boat load of stuff for the US military?
Or is that the point, people who make military equipment are bad?
Yes and no.
Yes, there is technological innovation. However, there will always be someone somewhere using and manufacturing things using previous technology.
I remember hearing this on the radio somewhere. The reporter was incredulous, so he told the person insisting that all technologies are still being made and used somewhere to show him where they’re still making Stone Age hand axes. Sure enough, there are clubs with members that make hand axes and actually use them. The reporter then went on to talk about typewriters that are still being made and used, and fountain pens, and a host of things that most of us never see any more.
The guy down the street from me has a blacksmith shop and has a machine that can be used to create milled screws and other machined parts. People around here still collect spruce roots to make handmade baskets. Folks mill their own lumber, some of it by hand.
Technology marches on. But it’s never gone.
I recently dusted off my 1977 Apple II, haven't used it since I got into Macs. Had heavily modified it, but am returning it to original state as a vintage museum piece as a hobby. Still works. So I'm wondering how to get data in and out; I used to have a communications bridge with my old DOS PCs, long gone. Imagine my surprise to find others still using Apple IIs, and a guy that created an Apple II to iPad interface. My 34-year-old computer talks to the web via my iPad! Like the blacksmith example, some people keep the old technology alive and in use.
I had read up on, what scientist call, “pixie dust”.
Fantastic stuff.
They are also coming very close to figuring out how to get the body to grow a new set of teeth, which is also fantastic.
Sometimes the replacement does the same thing, but it's made out of different material. For example, man used to use sharpened bone as a knife, but now we use metal. I've seen ceramic replacing the metal in knives. At some point, the ceramic will be replaced by something else.
The knife might still be around, but the material used goes into obsolescence,
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