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Emerging technologies and converging technologies are terms used to cover various cutting edge developments in the emergence and convergence of technology.
Emerging technologies are those which represent new and significant developments within a field; converging techologies represent previously distinct fields which are in some way moving towards stronger inter-connection and similar goals.
Overview[]
Over time, new technological methods and topics are developed and opened up. Some arise due to theoretical research, others due to commercial research and development or new tools and discoveries.
Technological growth includes incremental developments, and disruptive technologies. An example of the former was the gradual roll-out of DVD as a development intended to follow on from the previous optical technology Compact Disc. By contrast, disruptive technologies are those where a new method replaces the previous technology and make it redundant, for example the replacement of horse drawn carriages by automobiles.
Emerging technologies is a general term used to denote significant technological developments that in effect, broach new territory in some significant way in their field. Examples of currently emerging technologies include nanotechnology, biotechnology, cognitive science, robotics, and artificial intelligence.[1]
Converging technologies are a related topic, signifying areas where different disciplines are converging and to an extent merging or developing broad links, towards a common direction. Thus as computers become more powerful, and media becomes digitized, computing and media are described as being converging technologies.
Debate over emerging technologies[]
Many writers, including computer scientist Bill Joy, have identified clusters of technologies that they consider critical to humanity's future.[2] Advocates of the benefits of technological change typically see emerging and converging technologies as offering hope for the betterment of the human condition. However, critics of the risks of technological change, and even some advocates such as transhumanist philosopher Nick Bostrom, warn that some of these technologies could pose dangers, perhaps even contribute to the extinction of humanity itself; i.e., some of them could involve existential risks.[3][4]
Much ethical debate centers on issues of distributive justice in allocating access to beneficial forms of technology. Some thinkers, such as environmental ethicist Bill McKibben, oppose the continuing development of advanced technology partly out of fear that its benefits will be distributed unequally in ways that could worsen the plight of the poor.[5] By contrast, inventor Ray Kurzweil is among techno-utopians who believe that emerging and converging technologies could and will eliminate poverty and abolish suffering.[6]
Acronyms[]
NBIC, an acronym standing for Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information technology and Cognitive science, is currently the most popular term for emerging and converging technologies, and was introduced into public discourse through the publication of Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance, a report sponsored in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation.[7]
Various other acronyms have been offered for essentially the same concept such as GNR (Genetics, Nanotechnology and Robotics). Journalist Joel Garreau in Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies — and What It Means to Be Human uses "GRIN", for Genetic, Robotic, Information, and Nano processes,[8] while science journalist Douglas Mulhall in Our Molecular Future: How Nanotechnology, Robotics, Genetics and Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Our World uses "GRAIN", for Genetics, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Nanotechnology.[9] Another acronym coined by the appropriate technology organization ETC Group is "BANG" for "Bits, Atoms, Neurons, Genes".[10]
See also[]
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References[]
- ↑ other examples of developments described as "emerging technologies" can be found here - O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2008.
- ↑ Joy, Bill (2000). "Why the future doesn't need us". Retrieved on 2005-11-14.
- ↑ Bostrom, Nick (2002). "Existential risks: analyzing human extinction scenarios". Retrieved on 2006-02-21.
- ↑ Warwick, K: “March of the Machines”, University of Illinois Press, 2004
- ↑ McKibben, Bill (2003). Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age. Times Books. ISBN 0-8050-7096-6.
- ↑ Kurzweil, Raymond (2005). The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Viking Adult. ISBN 0-670-03384-7.
- ↑ Roco, Mihail C. and Bainbridge, William Sims, eds. (2004). Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance. Springer. ISBN 1402012543.
- ↑ Garreau, Joel (2005). Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies — and What It Means to Be Human. Doubleday. ISBN 0385509650.
- ↑ Mulhall, Douglas (2002). Our Molecular Future: How Nanotechnology, Robotics, Genetics and Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Our World. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1573929921.
- ↑ ETC Group (2003). "The Strategy for Converging Technologies: The Little BANG Theory". Retrieved on 2007-02-09.
External links[]
- Nerac WEBINAR | Emerging technologies, trends, and solutions in medical devices; [1]
- Collaborating on Converging Technologies: Education and Practice
- Converging Technologies NSF-sponsored reports
- EU-funded project CONTECS
- EU-funded project KNOWLEDGE NBIC
- EU-funded summerschools on ethics of emerging technologies
- EU High-Level Expert Group on Converging Technologies
- European Parliament Technology Assessment on Converging Technologies report
- ETC Group
- Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
- Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future
es:Tecnologías emergentes de:Converging Technologies