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den232
Not only air would have trouble penetrating it. Photons as well ... so it would ...
Larry Shafer
A few inventions I’d like to see - press a button and an impenetrable shield ...
A few inventions I’d like to see
Rick Merritt
7/20/2012 2:28 PM EDT
SAN JOSE – I wish an engineer would develop a mobile force field. You could carry it in your pocket like a key fob, press a button and an impenetrable shield forms around your body.
It should cost just a couple dollars so everyone could have one. I would give one to all the people I love.
I wish an engineer could develop heart X-ray glasses, like Google Glasses for emotions. They let you see into the feelings of the people around you, so you know if they are hurting and need help.
I’d like to see a movie, full of amazing effects, about how people use these inventions and others to end violence. The story could be full of bravery, people learning how to stand up to their full potential and wonderful images that capture my imagination.
There would be no need for explosions or shattered glass.
There could be a loving man named Alfred who mentors and parents a handsome man named Bruce. There could be a love story. There could be moments of great excitement and acrobatics combined with music—like the moments I love in Cirque du Soleil.
There are so many things we can build. There are so many stories we can tell ourselves.
What would you like to build? What story do you want to tell?
It should cost just a couple dollars so everyone could have one. I would give one to all the people I love.
I wish an engineer could develop heart X-ray glasses, like Google Glasses for emotions. They let you see into the feelings of the people around you, so you know if they are hurting and need help.
I’d like to see a movie, full of amazing effects, about how people use these inventions and others to end violence. The story could be full of bravery, people learning how to stand up to their full potential and wonderful images that capture my imagination.
There would be no need for explosions or shattered glass.
There could be a loving man named Alfred who mentors and parents a handsome man named Bruce. There could be a love story. There could be moments of great excitement and acrobatics combined with music—like the moments I love in Cirque du Soleil.
There are so many things we can build. There are so many stories we can tell ourselves.
What would you like to build? What story do you want to tell?
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elPresidente
7/20/2012 3:27 PM EDT
Yet we waste our time,as engineer, building the tools for the destruction of democracy, personal freedoms, and lives themselves. If engineers simply said "no", and we would simply foresee the consequences of the technologies we give to politicians and MBAs, the world would be a much better place. Instead, engineers mindlessly build UAVs, face recognition algorithms, smart munitions, and assault rifles, and then wish upon a star for even more technology to fix what stupid, head-in-the-sand, engineers broke in the first place. But, since most engineers are high functioning autistics, social implications don't bother them in the least bit.
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JonD
7/20/2012 3:46 PM EDT
Engineers build empowering tools. How tools are used is more a reflection on the values of the people using them than a reflection on engineers. Practically any technology can be used for both destructive and constructive purposes.
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rick.merritt
7/23/2012 7:00 PM EDT
I completely agree
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Bert22306
7/20/2012 4:17 PM EDT
... and world peace.
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prabhakar_deosthali
7/21/2012 7:01 AM EDT
In the mythological stories that I read in my childhood, all those magical things had a curse. Just by uttering that curse the whole magic of the things would vanish or the thing could get destroyed in an instant if in the wrong hands
I wish engineers would have power to implant such magical keys in whatever they construct, invent to enable those things to self destroy in case of misuse
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hm
7/21/2012 7:31 AM EDT
I want we first achieve all that is employed in Star Wars. After that, we can try for more inventions.
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Luis Sanchez
7/21/2012 11:20 AM EDT
You got me thinking with that portable force field.
And I'm thinking... what would happen if someone was grabbing you when you activate the force field? Would his hand be cut :( or would the force field have a way to include all living things touching the key fob's porter? Will the force field be only a sphere of a fixed radio or would the system make a 3d scanning of it's surroundings and cognitively determine what's the best shape and volume to assign to the force field?
Please provide a requirement's list so I can put a team to work right on it ;-).
I dreamed too with the Star Wars lighsaber, and with the Back to the future hoover board.
Including the portable force field, I think all these three inventions require the knowledge of something we humans have yet to discover. I think this will be related with the research on fundamental physics as it is currently being done in places like CERN where the next sub-particles are being sought. Strange new theories are in the minds of physicists these days. Some of these theories have to be confirmed in order to get us closer to this science fiction marvels.
Good challenge!
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t.alex
7/21/2012 1:57 PM EDT
How about tele transport ? I would love to have it
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KB3001
7/23/2012 12:51 PM EDT
- A truly cheap and sustainable food production technology that every human society can afford to eradicate hunger for ever!
- A truly cheap and sustainable energy source that every human society can afford
That's the core of human needs...
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pixies
7/23/2012 5:41 PM EDT
Well, human being produce enough food for everybody. It is the distribution system that is inadequate.
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KB3001
7/24/2012 7:39 PM EDT
Current production methods are not "sustainable"
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rick.merritt
7/23/2012 7:01 PM EDT
Right on!
I'd love to hear any stories about EEs making significant contributions to these crucial areas!
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BobsView
7/23/2012 4:23 PM EDT
Back in the 1960's they used to say, "in the future, everything would be made by machine and people would have tons of free time to pursue other interests, like art, sports, etc".
Well, we're almost there, with automation soon to be buiding everything. The problem is, economists are now scratching their heads wondering how to get money to the masses so they can actually buy the things that machines make.
So what we need is a way to distribute money to the public from the corporations that own the machines so the people can buy the items the machines produce (since people won't be needed).
And no one has a clue how to do this...
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Bert22306
7/23/2012 4:44 PM EDT
Except that this supposed conundrum has been fussed over ever since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. ~200 years earlier than the 1960s. And yet, not more than 5-6 years ago, unemployment in the US was at about 3.9 percent.
It's possible that machines will begin designing and improving their designs on their own, in the future, to the point that human intervention in the actual production process will be counterproductive.
But then again, humans are willing to pay to watch sports, or at least some are. Others are willing to pay for other forms of entertainment, like going to the movies. Maybe robot machines will take over those functions too?
We're only in trouble if humans can't "add value" to anything.
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cdhmanning
7/23/2012 6:42 PM EDT
That 3.9% unemployement was not productive.
The only thing that kept unemployment so low was the debt-fueled, high consumption economy that employed tens of millions of people in retail etc where they don't really add any tangible value.
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Bert22306
7/23/2012 7:10 PM EDT
We don't need to quibble over numbers. The main point is, unemployment has historically been quite low, certainly in the 4 and 5 percent range, in the centuries since the Industrial Revolution began.
Even if the number a few years ago was lower than it "should" have been, it's still impossible to rationalize how more and more and more production has been automated in these past centuries, and yet we have unemployment that has not been increasing steadily.
People have a funny way of assuming that was is true in this snapshot in time must be true for all time. When the economy was going crazy, with day traders becoming millionaires overnight, the press was having a hay day saying that this was the "new economy." Ridiculous, of course, because it was phoney wealth. But in that short time span, lots of people were fooled.
Same now. We have a long recession, being made to last longer by bad government policies, so now we're supposed to believe that this is the result of automation? You wanna bet?
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Robotics Developer
7/24/2012 2:15 PM EDT
The solution is simple (for some), just tax the rich corporations. It appears to me that currently there are some who think that the way to distribute money to the public is through the government either in taxes or "give-a ways". Not a new invention mind you but one that is trying to redirect cash flow, economists don't have to scratch their heads any longer, UNLESS they want to come up with a way that works(pun intended).
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Gil Russell
7/24/2012 5:12 PM EDT
Hey Rick! I already dreamed it up. I'm still in debug. Theory of operation is rather tricky...,
P.S. The force field generated emits Extreme UV - requires SPF 50K to operate...,
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iniewski
7/24/2012 6:35 PM EDT
Google glasses for emotions!?...you say you would see who is hurting and helped them...but you would also see all these people that don't like you, are rude inside, find you boring, make fun of you etc...not sure whether the world would be a better place...if that is truly the case we all should be very transparent with our emotions and we are clearly not...Kris
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I_B_GREEN
7/26/2012 11:05 AM EDT
You only get one after death...on earth
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Larry Shafer
7/30/2012 1:52 PM EDT
A few inventions I’d like to see - press a button and an impenetrable shield forms around your body.
If this is impenetrable, will suffication soon follow?
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den232
8/4/2012 8:01 AM EDT
Not only air would have trouble penetrating it. Photons as well ... so it would be rather dark inside.
The upside of that might be invisibility, though.
Like being pitched into a different universe. Maybe that is how it might work. Although then you'd hope for a benign destination universe - not the center of a sun or a den of saber-tooth tigers.
Ah, options, options!
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