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Whiz Kids
Partaking of the tree of knowledge has always been dangerous. As the Bible points out, eating forbidden fruit can lead to a fall from grace. History has shown us that scientific discovery and technological innovation can be forces for good or ill. Given the ubiquity of new technology it is easy to forget that technology is made by people. The Sophists of ancient Greece said, "man is the measure of all things." But who exactly are the creators and purveyors of today's technology and in what direction are they leading us?
Gregor Noriskin of Microsoft one of our leading futurists discusses some of his current projects: "I am working on two different projects. The one is a mass personalisation and customisation project in Sweden with 3.5 million users. I was facilitating a company in the implementation in one of our products, called Site Server, which manages very large sites with membership requirements. Basically what I am doing is facilitating companies to develop applications around our technology."
With so many young minds grappling with the technology, there are bound to be rising stars. These will be the innovators of the future. Lawrence Dubowitz is eighteen years old. He has already designed advanced software for his father who is a podiatrist, and is presently working in one of the most sophisticated areas in computing: neural network programming. Laurence explains the software: "What the software does is when filming a patient running on a treadmill from the back, it measures the angle that they run at, their gait. The new software will use a neural network to detect the foot by itself and will create a histogram of the whole gait."
Laurence discusses his typical day: "I will spend about 8 hours a day programming, now that I've finished school. Most of it is spent studying new technologies and concepts. At the moment I've been developing what they call Com modules, I've been developing the parts that fit together for my software." The advantage of abstract thinking is that it opens a gateway through which the future might be glimpsed. Laurence discusses the new millennium: "The next century I think will be dominated by advancements in communications, and computers within those communications. Telephonic communication with computers has not been exploited fully, and I think this will be big area next century, along with using interfaces."
Laurence tells In Touch about his future: "I was going to study electrical engineering, I went to meet the professors at Wits University. I showed them my software and they looked at it and suggested that I go and program, not go to varsity because I wouldn't be learning much in the line that I want to be doing." The hallmark of modern science is objectivity: science is based on fact, not fiction. However, no amount of knowledge about the facts will enable one to say anything about their value. One still has to choose what to do with that knowledge. Someone who makes science has a chance of making history. Their choices may have implications for all of us.
As technology advances, so greater consciousness is brought to bear on the problems of the age. Whether the solutions are ripe fruit or poisoned apples depends on the discernment of the picker. And discernment is not something that can be learned from a textbook.
CONTACTS
Lawrence Dubowitz, Cybix Software developments |
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Created and maintained by Intekom works Copyright © 1998 Intekom |
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Contents and images © 1998 All rights reserved |
The past several decades have witnessed an unprecedented expansion in one area of technology - computing. Computers have transformed almost every aspect of modern life - from factory floors to shops, banks and homes. As new technology trickles down into the marketplace, more young people are gaining access to it. Today's generation are growing up with computers in much the same way as their parents grew up with television or radio.
Computers are distinguished by the degree of abstract thinking required to program them. Abstract thinking is at the heart of scientific endeavour - new applications or hypotheses must be conceived in theory before they can be tested in practice. It can make for an isolated existence, particularly when there are so few people who can converse in the same language.
Intellect can have its drawbacks. According to the Irish poet William Yeats, modern science began on the morning Descartes decided that he could think better by staying in bed than by getting out of it. It is a comment that highlights one of the dangers of abstraction: that in the pursuit of objectivity and fewer distractions scientists often find themselves separated from everyday life. The irony is that everyday life is exactly where their ruminations will find application. Another danger that besets the scientific community is that of increasing specialisation. Even universities, once the champions of an all-round education, have succumbed to the market demand for skilled specialists, capable of splitting atoms but knowing nothing about Greek tragedy.
Gregor Noriskin explains: "I think my role really is to take technology that has lived in the realm of academia, if you like, and bring it down and find applications for it in the real world. The most important understanding that I have come to in my career is that technology really only facilitates human relationships or human interaction."
Geniuses are ordinary people who have particular talents that set them apart from their peers. That is no guarantee that they will make the right choices. As often as not, their skills are simply purchased by the highest bidder. Ever since the rise of scientific materialism in the seventeenth century, the scientist has replaced the clergyman as the ultimate arbiter of truth. However, scientists are fallible. Einstein, considering the atomic bomb with the benefit of hindsight, said: "If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."