Update

Now that I've gotten my pile of backlogged technology articles posted, I figure I should give a little more information on the topic of this blog.

For anyone interested in seeing where technology may ultimately lead, I recommend reading K. Eric Drexler's "Engines of Creation" and "Unbounding the Future," as well as Ray Kurzweil's "The Age of Intelligent Machines," "The Age of Spiritual Machines" (my favorite), and "The Singularity is Near." Both these writers have an impressive track record on technological prognostication.

Basically, they point to the double exponential growth of various technological benchmarks and extrapolate on where they may lead over the next couple of decades. These include reverse engineering the human brain (which should allow the creation of true artificial intelligence), achieving mature nanotechnology (which should allow us to create almost any material objects for very little cost), and eventually reaching the Singularity (when computers and robotics far exceeding human capabilities in all areas, leading to a technological and sociological change so drastic we cannot predict the outcome in any meaningful way). Eventually, we may need to either become our machines or be left in their technological dust.

We've already hit a number of the predicted milestones, so I'm inclined to believe the projections stand a reasonable chance of coming true. At the very least, the next couple of decades should prove very interesting. Most of us should still be alive to witness what happpens, so keep your eyes open and brace yourselves....