Rhymes of History

“The affect or impact of a new development rekindles something from the distant past,” is how Dr. Thornburg (2014h) describes Rhymes of History. When examining the criteria for Rhymes of History it is important to look at what it is bringing back and not necessarily how the technology was developed in the first place. The impact that the new technology is striving to bring back is the most important aspect of Rhymes of History. It is possible for technologies to fall into more than one of the six forces that drive emerging technologies.

 In Kevin Kelly’s talk he The next 5,000 days of the web he states “We will increasingly be dependent on the Internet and it will increasingly be dependent on us.” The technology that we see and utilize today will not be the same as what our children or grandchildren utilize. Technology will surpass the capacity of the human mind.

The technology that we use today was not available to previous generation but the ideas and what they represent bring back past fascinations. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) is an example of technology that demonstrates a Rhyme of History. GPS devises allow for man to further their quest for exploration and travel. GPS though originally used by the military has come into mainstream society with car GPS navigation systems and cell phone GPS systems (Mio Global, 2014). GPS bring back man’s fascination with space. In that man looked to the night sky in order to navigate the waters and make it safely across an ocean. GPS utilize the sky to have satellites orbiting earth in order to triangulate position so that ships don’t get lost at sea (Mio Global, 2014).

Resources:

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014h). David Thornburg: Rhymes of history [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Mio Global (2014). History of GPS. Retrieved from www.mio.com/technology-history-of-gps.htm

TED. (Producer). (2007, December). Kevin Kelly: The next 5,000 days of the web [Video file].