ATTENTION NERDS
So, I've been watching a bunch of this show, Continuum, which has a narrative that is 60 years in the future, and it got me thinking about film and sci-fi (always) and how exciting it is to see all the fictional gadget ideas out there and how sometimes those things can be predictive of future technologies. For example, surveillance, iPads, Bluetooth's, radar, atomic bombs, moon landings, and even flying cars (real now) are all things that first existed in science fiction. What I specifically ended up thinking about was computer screens and how lately I always see sci-fi tech in movies/shows that is based on some 3D, movable imagery (think iron man's tech stuff). It's super cool and I'll leave the tech geniuses to figuring out its application, but it also makes me think of ways to take it even further.
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| 3D, movable, touchable expandable (Iron Man) |
While super awesome looking, our concepts of these ideas are still rooted in todays idea of touch, hence have not crossed the boundary of not just touch, but what you can FEEL. I'm talking about texture. What if these 3D super cool models had build-able, tangible data with physical texture? It could be for when vision can't be used. It could be for painting aps where you lay down the paint on your tablet and it rises with grit you can touch, architecture you can feel (think Jenga and only pull the loose piece), and ways to flip these tangible surfaces on and off with our beloved little swipe. Out to dinner and need to know the time? What if you could check your phone to see it or if you've received a notification, without looking or being * noticeably* rude, but simply reaching in your pocket. Do you think people would start watching for pocket grabs?
I've always been intrigued by how the senses can mingle with our use of technology. Like Willy Wonka's smell-o-vision (they're working on it), or built-in item transporters in phones where you can send items directly to the person you're talking to (3D printers are the future), or as an childhood friend of mine predicts (while still offering companies ways to make money), fileshare capabilities of 3D printable items with easy access to the printers once they're better mastered, meaning never-ending access to cheap, freeshare gadgets; just buy the materials.
We get seriously closer all the time to such cool technologies, so why not relax our overtaxed eyes and outstretch our hands to my imaginary tactile tech? Tv so often predicts future technologies (Star Trek pretty much got the flip phone, iPad and bluetooth in one swoop), and I want to see this one in action. Something tells me that I'm not too far off to potential futures and I'm curious what you all think. Problems and conflicts, (obviously technology, but what else in practical application), benefits, other ideas? Where could you see this going in a plot? My mind goes all over the place!
I totally think that even by contemplating these ideas I am just helping us all get one step closer to a Black Mirror (UK fiction show) style world that could mean devastating things, but that doesn't mean I'm not curious what's coming in the process... I mean it's gonna happen whether I talk about it or not...
| A fictional room in black mirror that everyone must live in and be bombarded with constant imagery. |
At a deeper glance there both potential wonders and horrors in the idea of being able to touch any image. What happens when we can physically touch any body image? Would that just increase objectification of others and things like rape culture? Or could it increase positive bonds with those thousands of miles away? Would it just be used for sex? Or would it's applications bring beauty, trees, landscapes and art to whole new technological levels? Would the point in which this technology exists be one where access to the outside world may no longer even be possible? Would we need the imagery to remember what we'd lost?
Obviously, I am thinking in very fictional terms, but I'd like to see someone play with these ideas because I'm a nerd not a screenwriter. Please, find a way to give me credit if you do something with them in the process. Meanwhile, I just hope I got someone thinking and bringing in more awesome things to contemplate.
Thanks loves,
xoxo... Ella
