IBM's 5 Technology 5 Years Arguement

The future could use some of this stuff.
Others...not so much so. It's time for a Technology Argument! What do you say? Who has thought it through? Here's this article for you: http://www.physorg.com/news146852022.html basically 5 advances in 5 years. But some of these seem rather like setbacks...or at least able to foster huge ones.

Solar Panels in ur everything:
Go for it. No argument here. They want to paint everything with solar and then chop down the electric bill? Go right ahead. The only point in the article that if it does what it says, will make stuff even more awesome. Solar clothes chargin' your cell, not a bad plan...if you can put 'em through the washer. That's powered by your solar roof and walls. Nice!

Crystal Ball of Your Health:
Dr can give you either go-aheads or warnings to prevent later-on illnesses. Like if you're prone to high cholesterol, then lay off the Fast Food. Of course that's just the most simple example, there's bound to be lots of others because obviously a helluva lot can go wrong with people.
But:
Who would actually OBEY the thing?
No one.
Smokers know it's bad, yet the world is covered with them. How many over-weight people do you see who are always trying to diet? Plenty of them. They either have to figure the heck out what is the "Fat Gene" or figure out what the heck is wrong with the food around here. (No, really, what IS wrong with the food? We already KNOW artificial sweeteners make you wolf down more food. We already KNOW that the precice combination of sugar and salt can turn off your 'not hungry' button--yet you can find stuff in your cubpoard right now with that ratio on it ON PURPOSE to get you to hork down more!) There's more then "Hurr will power" going on here." There HAS to be. And some 'crystal ball' isn't going to end it.
Also:
Little old lady next door. Suffers diverticulitus. Won't eat healthy fiber each day because 'it tastes bad' or 'she doesn't feel like it'. Suffers every single week because she won't follow directions. (She does fine if eating fiber-rich foods, as all are supposed to) So even in the face of enormous suffering, here's someone proving they won't listen to reason. Crystal Ball? I doubt it.

Talkin' Web:
No no no no. I know people who learned to READ because of Pokemon. Yes the video game & card game. If you couldn't read what sort of things were going to go on with your monsters, you were in trouble. It also taught half the young world that "All books aren't that BS garbage school makes you read". Letters aren't only for studies.
Yes, I too HATED reading. Because I thought every book was that boring, inane, slop they made you start reading in school. If you are old enough you might know "Dick & Jane". Or after "Nitty Gritty City". And when you're only that old....you have no great literary experiences. There's NOTHING on this Earth to make you believe that novels/graphic novels/your fave book series here could be awesome. And school's not gonna tell ya. They'll give you Shakespeare and the Great Gadspy (Gadspy...not great. lame. btw) who are 100% irrelvent to anything you might be into, at that time.

Right now, the internet makes you read. And THAT is a damm good thing. It PROVES reading can be interesting. Fine. Let it talk to blind people, to the disabled, to the busy in their cars perhaps...but let text remain a staple as it can be a better art than speech.

Also If the internet could talk:
It will accuse your mom of horrible things
It will accuse you of being gay
You will hear Dragon Ball Z fans
You can listen to Lemon Fics that never should of been
Do you want to hear 4chan?

Did IBM ever talk to anyone on Xbox Live? I didn't think so. Talking is a blessing and a curse. You tend to have to think before you type (the mere act of it) but talking...nope. And this one's for you Internet Marketers:
What would you rather do?
Listen to some guru for 45 minutes
or
Read his speech in under 10 for all the info, AND take notes?

Reading is ALWAYS faster than listening to something/someone talk. You don't even have to be a speed reader. Talking net is a slow net.

Digital Shopping Assistant:
We already know store employees don't want to help you. While it's not true of all of them, it's been true on enough that the stereotype developed. So this like...shopping assistant could be something useful. Until they said it was a screen they want to put in the fitting room. There's 1 thing that can (and likely will) kill this.
Vandalism.
You post up some awesome little screen in a room with no cameras in it and the first thing anyone evil is going to do is either A) steal the hell out of it instantly or, failing that, B) take out a wide-sharpie and write all over it the second they're done using it. I give it a month after install in some hapless mall somewhere that someone hasn't written "DONGS" on these in a way that totally obscures the screen. On. Every. Single. One. That or "Tammy & Jack 4eva" which is later re-vandalized with a razor blade trying to scratch it off after Jack initiated a break-up.

Fogetting will become a distant memory:
Oh no, forgetting will still happen. IBM posted zero solutions to the actual forgetting part. They list devices (ie cameras/recorders/etc) that will keep track of it for you. So you can still forget stuff, just this NEW stuff will look it up on demand.
And on the uh...recieving end? I guess?
Do you really want your whole convo with Freddy Forgetful recorded? Your photo permenently in someone elses' stash even though your hair was bad that day? And then he'll say "Ah that's nasty-hair-natalie!" when reviewing his i-remember-pod later. Do you want that?
Forget what the cops/lawers would like to do with this stuff on everyone. It's better than a dog-collar. How sincere is everything/anything when some goofy device had to remember it and not them? Until whatever widget can beam that info directly into the persons' brain, there's GONNA be a delay, and whoever's just been forgotten is going to see that they've just been looked up. "Oh yes dear I know it's our............2nd anniversary of........our.......uh.....meeting at (scroll/scroll) the park!"

It'll be very interesting indeed to see where all of this is in 5 years....