IBM Predictions for Computing

December 20, 2011

Short honk: The $100 billion public relations machine caught me by surprise today. I have read some crazy stuff about the future. I did not expect IBM to climb a tree, crawl out on a limb, and then jump up and down to get my attention. Pretty darned nimble.

Navigate to “IBM ‘5 in 5’ Predicts No More Passwords, Mind-Reading Smartphones.” Here’s the passage I noted:

“If you just need to think about calling someone, it happens,” IBM said of its prediction. “Or you can control the cursor on a computer screen just by thinking about where you want to move it.”

Mind-reading technology, known as bioinformatics, has already shown up in simple forms from toy makers such as Mattel, and engineers at IBM and other companies “have designed headsets with advanced sensors to read electrical brain activity that can recognize facial expressions, excitement and concentration levels, and thoughts of a person without them physically taking any actions,” the report said.

Okay, 60 months. My mobile drops calls, cannot misinterprets voice instructions, delivers a lousy data rate, and has the sound quality of talking through a tin can in my backyard when I was 10 years old. Mind control in 60 months. Not in rural Kentucky, dude.

I am starting the countdown now. Wow. Sounds like a great future.

Stephen E Arnold, December 20, 2011

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.