I was flipping around the TV last night and on CSPAN2 came across a repeat of a November lecture by Ray Kurzweil. Lots of good "future of tech" stuff (wish I could find an archived video of it on CSPAN, but it wasn't immediately obvious that there was one). At one point, Kurzweil spoke about nanotechnology as it's being applied to medical science, in particular how scientists have invented "bionic" red blood cells that are far more efficient than natural ones. For example, by increasing blood cells' efficiency at absorbing and delivering oxygen, we could all be Olympic runners (or perhaps shovel our driveways without dying) or sit at the bottom of a pool for hours.
One thing he mentioned was a tad disturbing: artificial white blood cells that can access Wi-Fi networks and download things from the Internet (I guess like specific instructions to combat certain types of diseas, etc.) Um, no...I don't want my blood downloading things from the Internet! Jeez--was I being prescient when I wrote a book about people being able to catch computer viruses?
He also mentioned the possibility of beaming television images directly onto the retina, giving us a much more immersive "home theater" environment without the need for a big screen TV. Just think: we can all watch "Skating with the Celebrities"* right on our own retinas.
*Or whatever it's called. I was told about this program--in which Z-level celebrities perform Olympic ice-skating routines with actual Olympic ice skaters--and thought it was a put-on, until I saw a commercial for it. Not for the squeamish. I'm not sure I could handle the close-ups of bloody gashes (even if they did have bionic red blood cells). I think I'll pass on that show.
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