Technological and Temporal Forces at Play

 

The video rental chain Blockbuster is an example of an organization that not just one change affected them, but three changes that put them behind the power curve and eventually was their downfall.  Blockbuster initially was innovative, changing with the times of VHS to DVD movie rentals, commanding an enviable position.  However, due to new technology being introduced, with a corresponding change in the market and an eventual innovative competitor entering the movie rental business, Blockbuster ultimately failed.  The technology being introduced at the time was the ability to stream movies to a multitude of devices.  This technological advancement pivoted the market away from physical movie rentals.  The entrance into the movie rental business by Netflix, first via DVD by mail then to movie streaming services, left Blockbuster out of touch.  Consumers with the ability to stream movies no longer had to physically go to a retail store to get a physical movie.  The convenience factor of streaming movies was a market disrupter.  The advent of Netflix coming on the scene with first delivery of movie DVDs to home and then streaming of movies displaced Blockbuster from their preeminent place.

The sociotechnical plan that I propose will be involving the subject of neural interfaces.  “Brain-machine interfaces operate at the nexus of thought and action, using the brain’s electrical signals to maneuver external devices such as prosthetic limbs, among other applications” (Basha & Harizaj, 2018, p. 39).  

The connection between Blockbuster and neural interfaces are the interconnected forces of technology and time.  Neural interfaces are being propelled forward by temporal technological forces.  This has been elaborated on in my Unit 3 DB 2 post concerning "The Law of Accelerating Returns",

where Raymond Kurzweil predicted the premise.  In a nutshell, the law of accelerating returns is where progress speeds up over time in an exponential manner because of the common force of evolution driving it forward, especially concerning information technology (Berman & Dorrier, Technology Feels Like It’s Accelerating – Because It Actually Is, 2016).  The materialization of viable neural interfaces such as Musk’s Neuralink neural lacing has been advanced by Elon Musk and Neuralink.  Neuralink creates a link between neurons in the brain and a machine, such as smartphones and computers, helping people with clinical disorders like dis-functional sensory and motor function issues (Kulshreshth, Anand, & Lakanpal, 2019).  The neural lace is an ultrathin rolled up mesh that is implanted in the skull at which time it spreads out and forms a body of electrodes that is able to monitor function of the brain.  The neural lace of the future will eventually be able to be injected into the bloodstream and will find its way to the brain and set itself up (WAHAL, 2019).  However, on the horizon as Wahal has stated is a neural lace being developed, that is riding the Law of Accelerating Returns – Neural Dust.  The medical application of Smart Dust into Neural Dust has opened the pathways for Neural Dust to be used in critical drug delivery methods to the treatment of paralysis.  The University of California, Berkeley has researched using Neural Dust to sprinkle in the cortex and use ultrasound to interrogate the Neural Dust (Adams, 2017).  The distributed system of sensors and circuits is used to translate high-frequency sound waves into electrical signals back and forth.  The Neural Dust's potential eventual use stands to replace the wires employed in the brain-machine interface (BMI) discussed in Unit 1 Discussion 2 concerning the TED Talk about Neuralink.  

 

 

References

 

Adams, D. (2017, November 17). The best accidental inventions prove sometimes it's better not to try. Retrieved from digitaltrends: https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/best-accidental-inventions/

Basha, M., & Harizaj, M. (2018). Brain Machine Interfaces a Solution for Impaired People. Paper presented at the 14th International Conference “STANDARDIZATION, PROTYPES AND QUALITY: A MEANS OF BALKAN COUNTRIES’COLLABORATION”.

Berman, A., & Dorrier, J. (2016, March 22). Technology Feels Like It’s Accelerating – Because It Actually Is. Retrieved from SingularityHub: https://singularityhub.com/2016/03/22/technology-feels-like-its-accelerating-because-it-actually-is/

Kelly, K. (2009, July 17). Was Moore's Law Inevitable? Retrieved from KK* - The Technium: https://kk.org/thetechnium/was-moores-law/

 Kulshreshth, A., Anand, A., & Lakanpal, A. (2019, 18-19 Oct. 2019). Neuralink- An Elon Musk Start-up Achieve symbiosis with Artificial Intelligence. Paper presented at the 2019 International Conference on Computing, Communication, and Intelligent Systems (ICCCIS).

Newman, R. (2010, August 19). 10 Great Companies That Lost Their Edge. Retrieved from U.S. News & World Report: https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2010/08/19/10-great-companies-that-lost-their-edge

WAHAL, M. (2019). Neural Privacy, Personhood and Agency with Brain-To-Brain Interfacing. Retrieved from mrinalwahal. com/papers/Neuroethics. pdf.