Technological innovation is all the little failures, trivialities’ and not quite – solved mysteries that make success possible.  – Maggie Koerth-Baker

Analyzing how technology will change the future is quite interesting, one would think you may need a crystal ball, however if you look at past history of technology I believe that history has a way of repeating itself.  It’s the failures and bad blueprints or belly up companies of the past that we in the future embrace and approve upon and make worldly famous.  In some cases it can take 30 to 40 years for a new invention to make it big.  Like the light bulb Humphry Davy began in the early 1800s, it spent nearly 80 years being passed from one initially hopeful researcher to another.  In 1879, Thomas Edison finally figured out how to make an incandescent light bulb that people would buy. But that didn’t mean the technology immediately became successful. It took another 40 years, into the 1920s, for electric utilities to become stable, profitable businesses. The incandescent light was a 19th-century failure and a 20th- century success. Now it’s a failure again, edged out by new technologies, like LEDs (Inventor Strategies Group, 2012).

Technology is driven by the needs and wants of society or the consumers, a lot of factors will influence how technology will change society.  For example the current global financial crisis demonstrates how advancing computer technology can–by enabling the creation of new plagiaristic securities magnify risk within our financial system. That, in turn, has had a dramatic impact on our economy, society, and quality of life.  According to experts it is likely that technology will ultimately bring about dramatic, permanent changes to both society and our economic system (TheLightsintheTunnel, 2012).  A great book that looks in-depth into this is called “The Lights in the Tunnel” by Martin Ford.  That is just one aspect that advancing technology could play on society in the future.  Think about the amount of online shopping that is currently taking place it is reported by JP Chase Morgan that approximately 38% of us buy online at least once a month and that is predicted to increase by 19% a year (Rao, 2012).  With that statistic and the rapid rate that online sales are increasing the wonderful people who deliver all those prize procession we order will no doubt have to increasel, supply and demand.  If the companies that deliver these items hire more drives, then the people that make the trucks, planes and trains to deliver will have to increase and so on and so forth.  This will have a dramatic impact on society economics as it will allow more people to be employed, more schools to train craftspeople, this is called trickle down and in this instance will have a major positive impact on society world wide.

There are some technologies that will have an impact maybe not as dramatic as on-line shopping but will impact.  Take for example the invention of Electric Clothing.  This is clothing lined with Rubber films called nanoribbons.  The silicone sheets are embedded with ceramic nanoribbons (piezoelectric ribbons) that generate electricity when flexed, converting mechanical energy to electrical energy (Inventor Strategies Group, 2012).  They could line your shirt, your pillowcase or even your office chair. It converts differences in temperature across the clothing, say for example from your cuff of a shirt to your armpit.  You could power up a Mp3 player or a ipod simply by sitting still.  Another example would be lining a cell phone case with the material it could boost the phone’s battery life by 10 to 15 percent simply by using the heat absorbed by being in your pants pocket (New York Times, 2012).  These nanoribbons are highly efficient in converting about 80% of mechanical power into electricity.  They are very small and about 100 of them fit side by side in a space of a millimeter.  For those of us concerned with being “green” this is a great example of just that, similar to that of solar and wind power.  According to the story done in The New York Times this invention is slated to hit the market in approximately 2 years (New York Times, 2012).

The future will be what we as society make it, and technology will be the ring leader in my opinion.  It will be quite interesting to save these writings and refer back to them in 10 years.  When my daughter was in the 5^th grade (10 years ago) she did a similar assignment in class and sealed it and we have it in the safe, the front of the envelope states open in 15 years, now that will be a very interesting read especially because it was written by a child; only five more years!

“Take the tools in hand and carve your own best life.”— Douglas Lurton

 

References

Inventor Strategies Group. (2012). Future Inventions. Retrieved 2012, from Inventor-Strategies-.com: http://www.inventor-strategies.com/future-inventions.html

New York Times. (2012, June). Innovations that will Change your Tomorrow. Retrieved December 2012, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/06/03/magazine/innovations-issue.html

Rao, L. (2012). J.P. Morgan: Global E-Commerce Revenue To Grow By 19 Percent $680B. Retrieved 2012, from TechCrunch: http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/03/j-p-morgan-global-e-commerce-revenue-to-grow-by-19-percent-in-2011-to-680b/

TheLightsintheTunnel. (2012). How does technology affect society. Retrieved 2012, from TheLightsintheTunnel.com: http://www.thelightsinthetunnel.com/How-does-technology-affect-society.html

For this week’s blog we are attempting to choose the best and the worst of technological advancements from the past decade.  Technology by shear definition is very wide-ranging.  While technology to some seniors may be the coffee pot that brews their fresh coffee every morning or maybe the phone still plugged into their wall that jingles when the kids call.  The younger generation feed on the newest and fasted technology advancements like the smart phones, new gaming systems and powerful computer systems.  While both are correct these are all forms of technology and are invented to make our lives less complicated and better if you will while affording us immense amount of entertainment.

 For the purpose of this blog we are going to touch on gadgets and gizmo technology of the past decade.  Let’s take look at my choice for the worst; I chose the Twitter Peek.  Are you thinking what the heck is that, I don’t blame you most consumers have never heard of this hand held device?  The Twitter Peek is a device used to, read or write tweets, yup that is it.  Launched in 2009 by a company called Peek is designed to work in conjunction with Twitter, and only with Twitter. It’s that simple. Essentially it presents a stream of Tweets as if they were the subject lines of emails.  The Peeks User Interface is very slow and is constantly trying to catch up with the user (June, 2009). The price of the device initially hit the market at $200 and then a $99 six month membership or a $199 lifetime membership (June, 2009).  Why would you want to carry around an entirely separate device meant to do one thing and one thing alone that still doesn’t really work that well when most cell phones are designed to handle the tweets much more efficiently?  With the launch of the smart phone also in late 2009 early 2010 the Twitter Peek was fighting a losing battle right out of the gate.  Poor marketing, poor design, poor UI all together I would rate this device at a D-, just like “Friends”, it was out.  On February 1, 2012, Peek announced that it had terminated service for all its dedicated hardware in a move to cloud-only service. Peek’s CEO, Amol Sarva stated that the abandoned products were “seriously old” and have reached their end of life, with only a “handful of users” left (June, 2009).

As for the best technological gadget or gizmo of the past decade I will stay on the year 2009.  This year is part of the decade that is argued  if it wasn’t the decade of gadgets, it was certainly a decade shaped by gadgets and gadgets to shape the future.  2009 was the year of connectedness.    I choose the Nook for the best of the decade.  In 2009 it was listed on the top ten lists of best gadgets of the decade thus far by Time magazine (Ha, 2009).  At this time this was new to the market it is a full-featured tablet with a vibrant 6-inch touch screen, built-in Wi-Fi, 8GB of built-in storage, all run on a powerful Android operating system. In addition to a plethora of books and magazines, it offers more than a thousand apps through its integrated (and growing) Nook Store and is optimized for Netflix and Hulu Plus video playback. The built-in Web browser works well and offers Flash support (Ha, 2009).  The Nook hit the market selling for $260 in November of 2009 (timely wouldn’t you say) which for many was much more affordable in comparison to the iPad that was launched in March of 2010 selling from $500 -$700 (but already taking pre-orders at the time of the Nook launch) (Ha, 2009).  The Nook in my opinion was affordable and just enough technology for some.  This device has advanced over the past three years and now has more bells and whistles and offers several different styles but remains  to be very affordable from $179 – $199 which is still considerably cheaper that the iPad.

Picking the best and the worst of technological advancements of a decade is very daunting, as technology encompasses our world in almost every aspect, from toy industry to the medical industry and everything in-between.  What is very impressive for one may not be for another, as Steve Jobs stated “One more thing”, in technology there will always be one more thing that is bigger and better.  I am considering archiving these blogs and saving them for my kids children to enjoy when they are my age, as yesterday’s cutting edge technology looks somewhat silly to todays children and much of today’s technology will look silly to tomorrows children.

References

Ha, L. G. (2009). Top 10 Everything of 2009. Retrieved 2012, from Time Lists: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1945379_1944278_1944289,00.html

June, L. (2009). engadget. Retrieved 2012, from Twitter Peek Review: http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/05/twitterpeek-review/

Social Media has encompassed society as we know it today.  How many times have you thought to yourself wow I wish I would of thought of that?  The idea of “social discovery” is the discovery of the social media that allows us all to discover data available on the web, including news, customer reviews, location, lifestyle and entertainment and, of course, people. Powerful forces are at work, helping us to find information, products and services to enjoy (Rucker, 2012).

There are a number of social networking sites that are available to us in an instant.  One of great interest is Pinterest.  While some still think the site is a passing fade step back a moment and think about it.  One of the coolest components is the discovery; you can encounter content from all over the world, and share everything from a recipe to gardening to baby tips and tricks.  Where with Facebook, we get to see interesting content that our friends post, however not the rest of the world, Facebook it’s not nearly at the level of Pinterest (Rucker, 2012).

Simply put Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board that lets people display what they are interested in.  People “pin” interesting websites they find onto a category. The pins both show up on their personal bulletin board for them and their friends to see and it is placed on the system-wide bulletin board for everyone anywhere with internet access see (Pinterest, 2012).  Currently they have over four million registered users, 80% are women ages from 25-34 (Rucker, 2012).  There are already puns popping up like; Pin-intervention – someone who gets hooked and spends far too much time on the discovery web-site.  Pinterest is expected to double in size and traffic potential in the coming months. While the majority of Pinterest users are women, more men are starting to journey over due to its easy usability and creative content.  If you think back to when Facebook hit the social media market experts said Facebook would never take over Myspace and Twitter would be useless to social marketing, look where they are now (Rucker, 2012).

Like stated Pinterest is everything from soup to nuts and everything in-between:

Social Media and Discovery is here to stay and non-escapable; if you are a business owner or in marketing or perhaps just starting out in business and you have a trade, item, skill or something else of  interests you would be a fool to not utilize all tools available to you.  “Social discovery sites certainly are not reinventing human behavior; these tools allow people to consume/share information faster and more efficiently (Rucker, 2012).”  We live in the Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest era and for now it is not going anywhere soon.  What time has shown us with most major businesses is that the life span of companies is decreasing by half.  There will be a next “big thing” unless the Mayan calendar is correct the world ends on December 12, 2012, take advantage while you can.

References

Pinterest. (2012). Pinterest. Retrieved 2012, from Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/about/

Rucker, J. (2012, April). How “Social Discovery” Is The Next Big Thing In New Media. Retrieved November 2012, from Fast Company: http://www.fastcompany.com/1834171/how-social-discovery-next-big-thing-new-media

Communication as defined by the old fashioned dictionary is:

1. The act or process of communicating; fact of being communicated.

2. The imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.

3. Something imparted, interchanged, or transmitted.

4. A document or message imparting news, views, information, etc.

5. Passage, or an opportunity or means of passage, between places.

(Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011)

Communication takes all shapes and forms; verbal is the most obvious; however there are facial expressions, body language, and sign language to name a few.  With the “new normal” of email, tweeting, texting and instant messaging we get emotion cons = ) (:-D to decipher ones feelings and emotions. It is not uncommon to see things like AAYF (as always, your friend), or SUL (snooze you lose) or how about TMI (too much information) and LOL (laugh out loud).  “According to Edholm’s law the demand for point to point bandwidth in wireless communication has doubled every 18 months for the past 25 years and is predicted to be at 5-10 Gb/s in ten years (Moeller, 2010)”.  That being said if you are not keeping up with speed of technology some may say BHIMBGO (bloody hell I must be getting old).

Communication via all the new technologies has vastly improved the speed of business transactions, everything from the credit card machines to the speed a business can order product and how the consumer can obtain merchandise or a service.  With the speed that various forms of communication are advancing there will always be glitches and issues but if you really break it down it usually occurs PIBKAC (problem is between keyboard and chair).

The modern tools such as email, texting and twitter are all quite amazing and most likely have Mr. Bell doing flips in his grave; however I think it has taken the personal aspect of communication out of our daily lives.  I do appreciate the 200 happy birthday wishes thru Facebook and text messaging; I would personally enjoy 200 cards or phones calls with the wishes.  I also believe that there is vastly TMI (too much information) available in an instant.  Do we really need to know that Halle Berry’s boyfriend and ex-boyfriend had a fight on Thanksgiving?  Like I said TMI!

AAYF and enjoy ADIP!

(as always your friend – another day in paradise)

MJ

References

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2011, May). Michael Faraday. Retrieved October 2012, from Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://en.citizendium.org/Michael_Faraday

Moeller, J. F. (2010). Boradband Communication. Journal of Applied Physics.

Pick a new computer game or program and analyze the requirements first for the most recent Windows operating system and then for Windows Vista. What kind of computer is needed to run it? How “new” a computer do you need to run the program – would it be able to be run on Windows Vista?

This is a lesson that several years ago I learned the hard way.  Read the back of the software box (if you can see the print) before you purchase it and be certain you know what systems are in place on the computer you want to install it on.  I once stood in line for 2 hours on black Friday for a new Sims computer game for our daughter for Christmas, so excited to obtain the very last one on the shelf, only to find out that it would not run on her computer; Santa failed to be diligent!  That $60.00 Sims game cost us another $150.00 to upgrade her operating system and video card just to allow it to run, I know you are thinking why did you not just bring it back, well you know the rules on video games…once opened its yours!! 

I am not such a gamer anymore with the exception of the mindless free internet games so I will look at a software program.  Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection; “Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 Master Collection software delivers unprecedented performance with blazing-fast 64-bit native support and GPU acceleration. Groundbreaking new creative tools provide innovative ways to design for the latest devices. With exceptional power and precision, you can create inspiring experiences that go anywhere ( Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2012)”.  That description alone tells you that your system needs to be capable of running 64-bit software and that is just the tag line.  On the back of the software package there is a warning that states the CS5.5 require a 64-bit edition of Windows Vista or Windows 7 to operate and you have to go to their web site to retrieve the rest of the system requirements.  The system requirements are very detailed for this software because there are so many components of the software; video rendering, web site building, design and animation to name a few.  Basically if you have a 64-bit system and are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 it will be functional ( Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2012).  There are also space, processing speed and video card requirements needed (Adobe Tech Systems Incorporated, 2012). Here are the exact specifications:

• 1.3GHz or faster processor
• Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 3 for 32 bit or Service Pack 2 for 64 bit; Windows Server® 2003 R2 (32 bit and 64 bit); Windows Server 2008 or 2008 R2 (32 bit and 64 bit); Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit); Windows 8 (32 bit and 64 bit)
• 256MB of RAM (512MB recommended)
• 320MB of available hard-disk space
• 1024×768 screen resolution
• Internet Explorer 7, 8, 9, or 10; Firefox Extended Support Release; Chrome

(Adobe Tech Systems Incorporated, 2012)

Long and short of it is this software needs a fairly new PC to operate, it appears that the most important requirement is the 64-bit processor.  Like stated earlier it will operate on Windows Vista and Windows 7 as long as it is 64-bit.  It is also compatible with Windows 8 without any additional update required ( Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2012).  That little tidbit of information surprised me; perhaps Adobe was working with Windows well before Windows 8 entered the market to ensure their software would be compatible, interesting to say the least.

Just remember to avoid being a bad Santa read the package and do the research prior to purchasing a software product and ending up back at the North Pole building a new system.

References

Adobe Systems Incorporated. (2012). Adobe Creative Suite. Retrieved 2012, from Adobe: http://success.adobe.com/en/na/sem/products/creativesuite/mastercollection.html?kw=p&sdid=JRSIZ&skwcid=TC|22178|adobe%20creative%20suite%205.5%20master%20collection||S|b|14754843040&ef_id=my1OegJ@FT4AAAme:20121114131655:s

Adobe Tech Systems Incorporated. (2012). Adobe Reader XI / Tech specs. Retrieved 2012, from Adobe Family: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/tech-specs.html?promoid=DTEHG

It is a running joke that as soon as you buy the newest, best, and most powerful computer it is already obsolete. Technology moves extremely fast, and changes occur constantly. So why did you purchase a new computer? What kind of computer did you choose to purchase? With your fellow students, discuss why you choose to advance your personal technology and what the various reasons are to do so.

Fortunately for me I do not purchase computers, my  husband purchase the hardware for computers and  builds our own, or up-grades the current systems that we are operating.  My computer currently is a miss match of parts and parts.  Currently my computer has the capacity to be an actual server; it is quite powerful as it needs to be to manage all the system containing software and utilities I operate. With 2 hard drives, 75GB and 300GB, my processor is Intel® and Pentium® 4 CPU-3.20 GHz and 3.19GHz (I think this is the only “name brand” items besides software I have on my PC.  I have a huge operating system and over 4GB of RAM or memory.  I am almost ashamed to say my C drive is just about full…time to purge I think.

Like stated in the reading this week “Technology advancement is driven by the end user”, I cannot agree more.  For example as I progress through my classes here at Rasmussen and my design courses become more and more in-depth and the programs are larger and more intense I find myself adding more memory and additional external hard drives to accommodate the needs of the programs I am running.  One thing that I did find extremely frustrating is the video cards that are needed for certain programs and not having the correct size slot in my box to upgrade them and having to use a work around to make the software work.

If you have the knowledge (or know someone that does) I personally think it is a great idea to purchase the individual components and build your own PC because everyone’s needs and specifications are vastly different and it is actually less expensive that the box models from your local computer store.  In the article “How Consumer Culture Drives Technological Advancement” it states that the computer or gaming consoles needs to adapt and evolve in order to run sophisticated modern games. In turn, design software becomes ever more sophisticated in order to create games that drive the consoles.  So true and that is preciously why I am continuing to upgrade so in my case I am software and knowledge driven to advance my personal technology.

Here are the top ten reasons you know you’re living in the 21^st century I though they related well to this week’s topic:

YOU KNOW YOU’RE LIVING IN THE 21ST CENTURY WHEN:

1. Your reason for not staying in touch with family is because they do not have e-mail addresses.

2. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

3. You call your son’s beeper to let him know it’s time to eat. He e-mails you back from his bedroom, “What’s for dinner?”

4. Your daughter sells Girl Scout Cookies via her web site.

5. You chat several times a day with a stranger from South Africa, but you haven’t spoken with your next door neighbor yet this year.

6. You check the ingredients on a can of chicken noodle soup to see if it contains Echinacea.

7. Your grandmother asks you to send her a JPEG file of your newborn so she can create a screen saver.

8. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home.

9. Every commercial on television has a web site address at the bottom of the screen.

10. You buy a computer and 6 months later it is out of date and now sells for half the price you paid.

http://www.retrojunkie.com/jokes/techno.htm

This week’s blog is dealing with advancements in biotechnology; biotechnology is technology based on biology – biotechnology harnesses cellular and bimolecular processes to develop technologies and products that help improve our lives and the health of our planet (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011). I choose to research Cord Blood Banking.  Cord blood from your baby could help with possible future health problems of the child and other family members.  Cord blood is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta following birth. It is blood that is usually discarded. Cord blood banking utilizes external facilities as a place to store and preserve a baby’s cord blood (Viacord, 2012).  There are many biotech companies in the USA, Canada and around the world, that don’t exchange in research or drug development, but solely provide a service to people who believe that stem cell therapy is the way of the future by preserving new born cord blood and stem cells (Phillips, 2009).  Regenerative medicine which is the “process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011) is still in its initial stages as biomedical technology, umbilical cord blood is already known as a valuable resource for treating various blood and genetic disorders it is said this significant advancement became much more in the public forum thanks to a well know movie called “My Sisters Keeper”, where a sister was deliberately born to help save her sister who had leukemia with her cord blood and stem cells (Phillips, 2009).

Stem cells are able to transform into other types of cells in the body to create new growth and development. Stem cells are the building block for the immune system. Like in the movie and novel cord blood/stem cells can help treat cancers, blood disorders, immune disorders, and metabolic disorders.  As of late 2011 the Center for Regenerative Medicine was given the go ahead by the FDA to publish their study on cord blood/stem cells helping to treat Autism.  This is a ground breaking study and the first of its kind that could potentially help one in 88 young people (CBR Systems, 2012).

This topic often times erupts controversy, and unnecessarily.  Cord blood/stem cells are often confused with the harvesting of embryonic stem cells which is a very controversial biotechnological medical advancement.  The stem cells in the cord blood are vastly different than embryonic stem cells.  Cord blood stem cells are harvested from the umbilical cord and placenta of women; these items are referred to as medical waste and discarded.  This procedure should not incur any controversy morally or ethically and should only bring hope or if you will, a sense of insurance just in case there was a medical emergency where the cells could save a family member or the child itself.

I believe cord blood/stem cell banking is a definite example of biotechnology as it is directly using cells and bimolecular processes of the human body to improve health and lives of people. Stem cell medicine is rapidly changing. What didn’t seem possible 10 years ago is common treatment today, keeping paces with the technological world, makes you think, “do the two go hand in hand”, of course they do how would biotechnology be possible without technology?

References

CBR Systems. (2012). Groundbreaking Autism Clinical Trial. Retrieved 2012, from CBR: http://www.cordblood.com/en/stem-cell-research

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2011, May). Michael Faraday. Retrieved October 2012, from Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://en.citizendium.org/Michael_Faraday

Phillips, T. (2009). Pros and Cons of Cord Blood Storage. Retrieved 2012, from Biotech / Biomedical: http://biotech.about.com/b/2009/09/29/pros-and-cons-of-cord-blood-storage.htm

Viacord. (2012). Cord Blood Banking. Retrieved 2012, from American Pregnancy Association: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/labornbirth/cordbloodbanking.html

Medical technology has had an impressive effect on society. In general, people are living longer and healthier lives. Of all the advancements we have looked at, medical technology may have the most impact on society. Think about the impacts that the advancements in medicine and biotechnology have had in society. Note down what affects you have noticed. Have these advancements been beneficial? How so? How have the advancements been detrimental?

Medical technology is defined as the use of a device or invention to extend the life of patients, relieve pain and reduce risk of disease.  Thinking about modern medicine is difficult without incorporating medical technology.  According to Dr. Tuan Dinh he estimates that the growth of medical technology in the past five decades exceeded all advances made during the previous two millennia this definitely has a major impact on society.  One factor that could be responsible for all these spectacular advances is the integration of science and engineering with medicine.  Some effects that I have noticed are the advances and new therapies for people suffering with cancer, for example the modern MRI and CT scan machines that are a crucial factor in many cancer diagnoses’ these machines have developed with leaps and bounds making the procedures far less frightening for the patient and the results promptly available.  These machines are based on physic principles and designed for medical procedures, the true definition of medical technology coupled together.   Impacts of these machines alone are overwhelming on society.  When you are ill or injured time is one of the most crucial factors for a speedy diagnosis this is often the key for life survival, that impact alone cannot even be measured. There are many additional advances which effects are noticed on society.  Medical technology needs to be underscored by biotechnology, in my opinion they go hand in hand.  Biotechnology being the use of living cells and cell materials to research and produce pharmaceutical and diagnostic products that help treat and prevent human diseases.  My above referenced MRI and CT advancements are also considered diagnostic procedures.  While the two terms are not the same by definition, they still are necessary for each to function.

Immediately your mind tends to favor these developments with hopes of finding cures for horrible diseases like Parkinson’s or Diabetes and cancers, those are the beneficial effects of the advancements.  As the saying goes there is most often a down side to positive impacts.   Some of the detrimental effects of medical technology would most likely be the rising cost of health care.  Billions of dollars are spent annually on research of new medical technologies causing the development of new medical technologies to climb sharply.  These effects are noted as being a major contributor to the rising health care costs.  Some professionals note that medical technology is responsible for at least half of the increase in medical cost.

In theory it seems like a double edged sword, however when push comes to shove I personally do not know an individual that would give health for the cost and benefits of health care, I certainly would not and did not when I was ill.

Technology trends of the early 21^st century are vast and to most people the behind the scenes efforts to get to the advances that we as consumers see are uncomprehendable.  To summarize or encapsulate one trend is equally challenging.

I choose to look at the medical advances of the past twelve years specifically the advances or trends of how the medical industry treats HIV/AIDS.

According to Dr. Kevin Charles he writes about 12 of the most significant medical advances or trends over the past twelve years following is a few of his findings;  the improvement of Battlefield Medicine.  Developments in trauma care has reduced mortality from gun assaults from 16% in 1964 to just 5% today, these numbers are even more impressive in wars.  World War II statistics had 30 % of the Americans injured in combat died. In Vietnam, the percentage dropped to 24 %. In the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, about 10% of those injured have died (Charles, 2009).  This can be attributed to Surgical Teams that operate closer to battlefields and the improvements to trauma stabilization techniques (Charles, 2009).   The Women’s Health Initiative played a major role in the reduction of breast cancer rates.  Since the conception and release of the initiative in July of 2002 the rate of breast cancer has dropped by over 15%, more can be read about the Initiative at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/whi/whi_faq.htm (Charles, 2009).

The HPV Vaccination in 2006 is said to be making the greatest impact on cervical cancer disease since the Pap smear was introduced.

Those are only three of the documented most significant advancements due to technology in the past 12 years, the additional ones can be seen on Dr. Charles web site at http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/12/12-important-medical-advances-decade.html (Charles, 2009).

A trend can be defined according to Webster’s Dictionary as to extend in a general direction: follow a general course to veer in a new direction: bend.  I believe that in medicine if professionals would have continued to “follow a general direction”, the amazing advancements we see today would not have come to fruition.  It is crucial to veer in a new direction, following the past findings and bend a bit, go outside the norm to create something life changing; this is what I consider has happened in the trends and advancement of the treatment of HIV/AIDS.  Not only is HIV/AIDS continuing to decline from being a universally feared and inevitably fatal disease to a somewhat manageable chronic disease, the treatments for the disease are also advancing thanks to the many years of past research.  Some important statistics to remember are in the U.S. in 1993 over 50,000 people died of AIDS, while in 2008 the number dropped to around 14,000 (Charles, 2009).  In the past a person diagnosed with HIV/AIDS had an average life expectancy of 10-12 years.  Today look at Magic Johnson, he has far surpassed that (Charles, 2009).

The early years of HIV were an unknown and a feared virus that was thought of as untreatable and often fatal. However, as research, investment and commitment from many professionals into the understanding of HIV and AIDS increased, so did the outcome of people living with HIV. The development of the highly-effective antiretroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV has been a lifesaving development.  “Developing antiviral medicines has been difficult, because most drugs that kill viruses also damage the host’s cells, where the viruses hide. Since the 1980s, when the virus that causes AIDS began to receive attention, medical researchers have focused on the problem of treating viral infections, and encouraging progress has been made” (International HIV & AIDS charityDonateFundraising, 2011).  These antiviral medicines were not available prior to 1987 and only became affordable and widely distributed in early 2000.   Aids research has actually been in progress for over 30 years.  Discovery of new medicines thanks to the innovative technology research over the past 15 years have greatly improved the outlook for HIV patients (Innovation.org, 2011).  From 1999 to 2008 death rates continued to drop by 5% per year. Upon reviewing the most recent data it has shown perpetual decline in death rates: between 2009 and 2010, death rates fell another 13% (Innovation.org, 2011).   In a quote from Dr. Anthony Fauci sums up how imperative advances are and how important it is to be able to veer in a new direction when proceeding with technology and advancements and the impact they can have on society; “There is a stunning contrast between how I felt as a physician-scientist in the 1980s and the optimism I feel today as more infections are prevented and lifesaving drugs increasingly become available throughout the world (Innovation.org, 2011).”

—Anthony Fauci, MD, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, Washington Post, 2011

References

Charles, D. (2009, December). 12 most important medical advances of the decade. Retrieved 2012, from medpageTODAY’s KevinMD.com Social Media’s leading Physician voice: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog

Innovation.org. (2011). HIV/AIDS Research: 30 Years of Progress. Retrieved 2012, from Innovation.org: http://www.innovation.org/index.cfm/impactofinnovation/Progress_in_HIV-AIDS_Research

International HIV & AIDS charityDonateFundraising. (2011). HIV and AIDS History. Retrieved 2012, from History of HIV & AIDS: http://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-history.htm

Technological advances have accelerated exponentially since the beginning of the 20^th century and continues advancing and affecting many aspects of society as we know it today.

There are many very positive advances that have affected society however with positive also comes some negatives.  One of the disturbing effects on society is how sedentary we have become.  Childhood obesity rates in America have tripled over the past three decades, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. Many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems. Thirty years ago people led much different lifestyles, kids walked to and from school, ran around during recess, participated in gym classes and played outside until the streetlights came on.  Today, children encounter a very different lifestyle. Walks to and from school have been replaced by car and bus rides. Gym class and after-school sports have been cut; afternoons are now spent with TV, video games, and the internet thus contributing to the continuing obesity increase in children.  Eight to 18-year old adolescents spend an average of 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media, including, TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies, only one-third of  students get the recommended levels of physical activity, experts in the medical field contribute this to all the technological devices that are utilized in the school and home (Obama, 2010).

Some positive advances of the 21^st century that changed society are the speed we can obtain our news.  Instead of waiting for the Sunday paper we can instantly click and the news from around the world is at our disposal.  Take this week’s events on the east coast for one example, my sister and her family live in Washington DC-Maryland area and we were able to communicate 1500 miles apart from each other almost instantly using the advancements of the cell phone and social media.  Here in the Midwest we were also afforded live coverage of the storm and its impacts lending us to get more assistance to where it was needed and allowing communication between first responders and people in need.

The list of advancements could go on and on, some that I think are societal changes are:

Job searching via online

Media available instantly

Shopping on line

Banking on line

Communication around the world

Scientific research and Medical Advances

On line education

Choosing one that is most significant is difficult and I think will vary greatly from person to person.  If I had to choose the most significant advancement that changed society I would have to pick the advances in scientific and medical research.  Utilizing the vast advances in education and the sharing of knowledge from all over the world along with the technological advances in medical equipment has allowed for great advances in this field thus potentially saving many lives (English, 2012).

References

English, T. T. (2012). Technology & Lifestyle in the 21st Century. Retrieved 2012, from eHow: http://www.ehow.com/facts_6023233_technology-lifestyle-21st-century.html

Obama, M. (2010, February). America’s Move. Retrieved 2012, from Lets Move: http://www.letsmove.gov/learn-facts/epidemic-childhood-obesity