Yesterday was a look at the amazing technology of the past. A past that was in some ways dependant on the giant size of some things to get the job done. Today is a look at some very small things that have the potential to change our lives in ways we cannot understand at this time. If you wonder if that is true look back 50 years and think about how we listened to music. It was on 45 or 33 1/3 rpm vinyl discs. On a handheld Japanese made AM radio listening to Uncle Tommie on WLS. Then came eight track tapes, cassette tapes, walkmen, satellite radio, iPods, and I'm sure some things this 60 year old has never used or heard about. Times changed and we didn't see how something like music would be a part of our lives in the ways it is today.
We live in an increasingly wireless world yet if you looked under the desk I'm sitting at you would find that statement hard to believe. Wires running everywhere. In the 1980's cellular signals were 1G. It didn't matter to me then because I didn't have a cell phone. It seemed nice in my world at the time to leave work or the house and have some time away from the phone. Now I have no landline. We haven't had one for about 10 years. It strikes me as odd now when someone asks for my home phone number. I stopped correcting them some time ago and just give my cell phone number. In the 1990's we went to 2G and it was another 10 years to get to 3G. It took less time to get to 4G and most of us hear about 4G LTE without thinking about what LTE means. It is Long Term Evolution. The change to 5G is starting and it has taken less time than the change from 3G to 4G. If you look at it the change becomes exponential. 1 becomes 2, 2 becomes 4, 4 becomes 8. When graphed it looks like a hockey stick. A long gradual line that suddenly turns up. I wonder what all this speed means. The tech folks say 5G will be 1,000 times faster than 4G. If you want to look at that in terms that mean something in the real world this should be your eye opener. It takes 40 seconds to download a full length feature film onto a 4G device. It will take one second on a 5G device. Tech people wonder what we will do with 5G. It seems simple to me. We will become an increasingly impatient society. I can have a movie downloaded to my iPad in 1 second but I have to sit at this traffic light for 4 minutes. I have to wait at McDonald's for 3 minutes for my crappy hamburger. Come on folks lets get moving. We won't take time to slow down and smell the roses because life will move at the speed of light. The devices that bring that speed to us are going to be wonders as well.
Graphene. Have you ever heard of it? Chances are that you have made some. Probably as far back as grade school. When graphene is layered it forms graphite which is found in pencil lead. Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms and when that happens things get wonderous. Graphene is purported to be 100 times stronger than steel. It can stretch by 20% which makes it pliable like rubber. It is resistant to water. This would allow the construction of flexible displays that do not have to be sealed against water. Graphene can be made thin enough to stretch over 28 football fields so devices could be as thin as a piece of paper. They could be folded and put in your pocket when not in use. Graphene and silicon have been combined to make a battery which lasted for a week on a single charge and took only 15 minutes to recharge. Graphene transistors are on the near horizon. The other big plus for graphene is that it is one of the cheapest materials around.
So there is our future. High speed wireless devices made with graphene. Fast, flexible, and light. If we could just go George Jetson and avoid that 3 minute wait at the traffic light. Where the hell is my flying car?
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