20 February 2007

Better Late Than Never.

I figured I should go ahead and post this one even though I forgot about it yesterday.

Although we didn't get to the reading in class, the discussion sparked my interest more than the readings did. When Barndollar said, "It's all really about allusion." It really made me to start to think about how close we could be to future technology. When I think about the future of television I think holographic or virtual, and video games where you are in the game. With this new level of clarity presented in LCD and Plasma, it's undoubtedly a much crisper and sharper picture. But there are some people who can hardly see the difference. Like the xbox 360 and the playstation 3. Playstation 3 is supposed to have a much higher level of high definition and especially with it's blue ray feature. But how much farther can we push picture quality and notice the difference? In 20 years plasma televisions probably won't be the spectacle they are today. But why? Will someone simply create a new level of picture quality. We are already, I think, at the edge of human mental capabilities. These breakthroughs in technology are allowing for a difference, but the allusion is going beyond our own human limitations. Sooner or later inventors are going to have to stop thinking about how much clearer the picture can be, and create a difference we will undoubtedly notice. I'm not sure how much clearer plasma can be.

The same goes for radio. Now we have High Definition radio which is just another trick of allusion. I really liked how Prof. Barndollar broke down the difference between Analog and High Def. Like the question "How long is the English Coast?" It really is infinite. Just like how much clearer can the picture get, just make the measuring stick smaller (the binary code bits). But we are already at the point where the difference is minute in our ability to perceive it. It just really makes you wonder what the next breakthrough will be. I'm not in a rush to spend 6 grand on a plasma tv just so I can see a limited perceivable difference. But when that plasma becomes virtual...now we're talking.

6 comments:

kellyt said...

I agree. In 20 years plasma televisions won't be a big deal at all. Personally, I don't think even television as we know it will be a big deal at all. You're right, the picture can't get much clearer than it already is. That particular wave is leveling out, and as soon as people stop buying televisions because they THINK it will be a lot more clear, the next wave will have to begin. The companies will have to come up with something new to keep us, as consumers, buying. Will it be virtual reality simulation? Or something we can't even imagine? Whatever the new technology is, it will have to shift from the dwindling perception of shifts in clarity to something big and new. And if the plasma televisions cost six grand now...just think what we'll be charged for something new.

thomasC said...

I was watching the discovery channel and its new program which I think is called future science or technology: 2057 and it had this new way to look at hologram. I forget if it was to be integrated into a new way to view things for computers or TVs but it involved a mist of water that was so fine if you ran your hand through it, you would not be able to feel it. I don’t know how exactly it will be better but it might give a little insight into the kind of technology we are headed to. This show also had a video game simulation that was hooked up to a guy’s brain in a wheelchair that lost all his physical abilities. He was able to move through this simulation with brain impulses. That right there is exciting to me and how it opens up Pandora’s Box of “goodies”.

Ross H said...

It is no surprise that technology will keep improving steadily. Just think about how far we have come from the early 80's. Personal computers were not even very common. The Internet was not even invented. An .mp3? Hell no. Could you imagine if you went back in time to the 80's with an ipod or a laptop? It would be national news. Not just the fact that someone came back from the future... but seriously the advancements in technology in the next 20 years will be so good it will make you want to smack your mama. I, for one, am not only excited, but outrageously curious about what the future of technology will hold.

"They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
-Andy Warhol

Forrest L said...

I personally believe there will be some sort of plasma viewer around our eyes. Or it could go to all projection screens. Maybe it could even be where plasmas are ultra ultra thin and very very cheap. Whichever way it goes I know I am ready to game and watch on whatever the future holds. Its exciting to think that we have now come to a point to where it cant get much clearer of a screen. When this happens they start using the technology to put it into everything. Maybe next all of our computers and cellphones and everything will be made of plasma. I believe that plasma will be ultra cheap eventually and affordable to everyone. It will start to be embraced in other fields of technology and used for things we never imagined possible.

David B$ said...

FYI: I was talking about "illusion," not "allusion," which is something entirely different...

Taylor P said...

- Barndollar -: Yeah, I just wrote it out wrong, allusion - causal reference wouldn't exactly make sense. I knew you meant a deceiving illusion.