ITWALES.COM - Ian Pearson, Futurologist: The ITWales Interview - The Diigo Meta page

• 04 Mar 07
  

  Jouni

  articles future science

• 10 Oct 06
  

  Ann Feeney

  future technology futurist

• 08 Oct 06
  

  Werner Trotter

  article innovation future trends predictions technology Visions

  • an Pearson works as a Futurologist for BT, where he tracks technological and societal developments to make predictions for the future. Specialising in the long term, Pearson uses his background in science and engineering, together with analytical tools, business skills and good old fashioned common sense to develop his predictions.
• 29 Sep 06
  

  Matt Vance
• 28 Sep 06
  

  linkmess

  another dystopian who's probably wrong. But probability has a funny way of making people right sometimes.

• 

  Marcelino

  web2.0

  • There are a couple of million old ladies in the UK who hardly have any social contact because they've outlived their husbands, maybe they can't drive anymore, and the only people they see regularly
    are the shop assistants in the supermarket. This kind of technology will enable them to interact with their families or friends on a more regular basis. People could be "beamed in" for Christmas dinner, or
    you could get together with people you've met with similar hobbies or interests.

    
    

    Loneliness is a major issue in this country, and technology like this will allow people to have greater social contact. It's a problem that we can fix - it's never going to be as good as someone actually
    coming to your home and giving you a hug, but it's a start.

    
    

    Another area is something we call "ultra simple computing". Computers are currently too complicated - they crash regularly, are expensive, and have security risks, but it doesn't all have to be so
    complex. Computers can be redesigned from the ground up with tens of thousands of little chips to distribute the load. It will mean there will be no need for an operating system or even a hard disk, as
    everything can be saved on the chips with no risk of hacking. These computers will be extremely robust without a hard drive, and they can be smaller with more computing power. The cost will also be
    very low, with computers costing around £5 - £10. I really believe that ultra simple computing is a great idea for the future.

  • So we're looking at technology based on instant voice messaging, where someone could say, "Jane, are you free now?", and as soon as you say that person's name, you instantaneously
    connect with them via an earpiece and the voice goes straight there. The concept of having to dial up and make a connection will become a thing of the past, it will be automatically connected all of the
    time, and just need to be routed on the basis of the first name in the sentence.
  • 1 more annotations...

  • • In terms of writing software, we've already got a lot of software being written by machines using techniques based on evolution, where you give a fairly basic algorithm to the computer and you let it
      evolve it until it comes up with something that works a bit better. Those techniques have been used for the last 5 or 10 years, and they work in some areas, and we're getting the techniques gradually
      sussed and I think there are some grounds for optimism, and we can develop a lot more software with those techniques as well.

      
      

      Once computers start catching up with us in terms of over all intelligence, and start understanding things in the same way as we do, they'll be able to figure out how to write computer programs in the
      same way as someone doing a Computer Science degree could, and it won't just be based on evolutionary processes, it will be based on human intellect, and then at that point, in around 2015-2020, you
      could say that we won't need people to write software, because you just explain what you want to a computer and it will write it for you, and there's no reason then to have people working in that job.

• 

  Randal X

  future article

• 27 Sep 06
  

  abditus

  Ian Pearson works as a Futurologist for BT, where he tracks technological and societal developments to make predictions for the future. Specialising in the long term, Pearson uses his background in science and engineering, together with analytical tools,

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  • Ian Pearson works as a Futurologist for BT, where he tracks technological and societal developments to make predictions for the future. Specialising in the long term, Pearson uses his background in science and engineering, together with analytical tools, business skills and good old fashioned common sense to develop his predictions.
    
    Sali Earls indulged in a bit of crystal ball gazing and spoke at length to Ian Pearson, discussing the sometimes dark, often controversial visions for the future brought about by technological advances. She vows never to eat yoghurt again...

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