Interesting read on the Technology Review with their list of 10 emerging technologies which they predict will have a significant impact on how we live our lives in the future. I was fascinated by the entry about surprise modelling which combines data mining and machine learning to help people do a better job of anticipating and coping with unusual events. The whole idea of how we can harness the collective power of information that we now have the ability to collect and process with such speed has interested me for a while, and the example in the article about solving traffic problems is a useful illustration of the principle at work. Another example if this is Reality Mining in which data from cell phones is used to learn more about human behaviour. It’ll be interesting to see where this one goes, given the concerns about privacy and the storage of personal information as illustrated here in NZ by the recent announcements by the leading mobile service providers that they’ll no longer store text messages that are sent and received across their networks.
Technology Review have been publishing their predictions on emerging technologies now for a number of years, and you can find links to previous predictions at the bottom of the article – worth browsing these also to consider (a) the accuracy of these predictions, and (b) the pace of change that is occurring!