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Technology // CommunityweeboJul 8, 2003, 4:18am
Where is technology really taking us?
I watched on TV a few days ago where virtual lap dances are right around the corner. I'm sitting here thinking of things like...catching the kids, catching the spouse, cat and dog i'm sure. Where did the technology for medicine go to...like I would like to see kids getting a feel of what it would be like moving an arm or seeing for the first time than worrying about catching a lap dancer. Is there more money dumped into the bowels of technology for fun than the good for mankind. The things that we can do in what i've seen just in the NG's is amazing. I can clearly see why Lucrezia Borgia pushed so hard with AWEDU. Just hope a few had some of the same visions. Thanks Lu, Weebo builderzJul 8, 2003, 12:42pm
Oh boy, where to begin?
Help find new drugs for cancer and other things by simply using your computer: http://www.ud.com http://www.find-a-drug.org Read about the latest medical studies: http://www.scienceblog.com And there was an article yesterday on http://www.slashdot.org about a wand-type device that had an 80%+ success rate of detecting certain types of cancer in five minutes (instead of about 45 mins in an MRI). As for people seeing again, I haven't read anything new about that. But I did see on TV about this one person who lost their hearing for five years and got a cocular (sp?) ear implant and they can now hear pretty well again. These things take time. Just as one company or group throw lots of money at a "fun" tech device, there are others that are throwing just as much money (if not more) for more beneficial things. In a recent PC magazine, they listed about a dozen different things in development that'll make great strides -- such as organic LEDs, biosensors, self-driving cars, fuel cells, etc. Go study some nanotech and quantum physics, Weebo, and get us some quantum computers up and running and then should speed things up. ;) Builderz http://www.3dhost.net e n z oJul 8, 2003, 1:51pm
Nice comments. Lately there has been quite an increasing interest in the
use of AW technology for the training field. Corporate, educational and especially medical uses are being examined by quite a few people in the Eduverse. E [View Quote] johnJul 8, 2003, 3:50pm
What about lending me a 3.4 universe?
These are the specs I want: 0 simultaneous users, 0sq metres land, er, 0n,s,e,w coordinates oh and for the price of $0.... oh and I won't need the server. Deal? ~John LOL! [View Quote] shredJul 8, 2003, 3:50pm
[View Quote]
Medicinal research is out there, but it isn't as visible as recreational technology. There's good reason for that - fun stuff needs attention to survive, whereas most serious research organizations get funding from the government or from very large corporations with thick pocketbooks. They can afford to avoid the public eye and get some real work done.
Something else you need to remember is that hospitals are scared of adopting new technology, even when it's available. You can give your thanks to the abuse of the United States legal system. These days people will sue over anything, and more frighteningly, win. Medical practitioners have always been one of the prime targets of lawsuits, and they aren't anxious to try out experimental technology unless the patient signs enough paperwork to legally enslave himself. Usually those cases are terminal, where the patient is going to die anyway and so agrees to an experimental procedure. Secondly, there is a very good reason that medical technology moves slower than the rest of the technology market. The human body is hideously complex, and there's no way to predict long term side effects of new treatments without waiting a few years to see what happens. Even drugs that go through the rigors of FDA approval sometimes get put onto the market and end up killing a few people. That's when the lawsuits fly, and again one of the reasons it takes so long to get new medical procedures/drugs out onto the market. This extreme caution ensures that very few new treatments are dangerous, but it also slows down development tremendously. Give it some time, and we might even see some fresh new legislation issued to protect research and development in the future. Democracy is slow, but it gets things done. Eventually. codewarriorJul 8, 2003, 4:07pm
The fact is that most of the 'fun' technology we all enjoy started out
as research for medical, scientific, industrial or other uses. It's the commercialization of such technologies that pays for the research (government funding is a pittance compared to the private research money) and eventually lowers the cost of everything so we can afford to use it in 'toys', but that benefits the serious uses as well by lowering their costs too. <friendly sarcasm> Don't bother replying. Just take the moral high ground and get rid of your computer. You shouldn't have such a useful piece of technology simply to use it as a toy. Donate it to a hospital or something. :-) </friendly sarcasm> [View Quote] strike rapierJul 8, 2003, 8:09pm
For anyone wishing to visit the Eduverse you can either download the browser
from (www.activeworlds.com/edu/) or alternativly you can copy your existing Active Worlds folder except its cache to a new folder, and in your aworld.ini file in the new folder add these lines: [universe] host=edu.activeworlds.com port=5670 There are lots of worlds, ^centre^ is the start world and Showcase is the primary demo world, have fun looking around :) - Mark sweJul 9, 2003, 12:33pm
sweJul 9, 2003, 12:35pm
sweJul 9, 2003, 8:42pm
why you think it was 0 seconds, huh? huh? huh? huh?
smack you now! make you look like O_X* -SWE [View Quote] sweJul 9, 2003, 10:05pm
but why did you choose 0? hmm, figured you cant keep me out for any longer i
bet? :) -SWE [View Quote] strike rapierJul 10, 2003, 5:29pm
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