6 Characteristics of the New Technology

In my musings recently I have been struggling with an over- use of the ambiguous word ‘technology’. Technology of course can mean any artefact produced by humanity with an instrumental purpose. But when I’m talking about the new technology, I’m usually not talking about new types of window blinds. When I speak about new technology, what I am in fact referring to is electronic and digital technology – the laptop on which I’m writing this, the Internet on which you are reading this, etc. As a further attempt at clarification, though, I’ve cobbled together the following list of trends that define technology that I am interested in:

1. The Disintegrating Interface – the desire to have a direct response to will is causing an erosion of our interfaces with technology– the delay between will and phenomena is an annoyance and people want to breakdown the physical barriers causing this delay.

2. Miniaturization – closely related to the erosion of the interface is the miniaturization of technology – technology tends to get more and more powerful and the electronic devices that we use thus, instep with this, become smaller and smaller.

3. Wirelessness – this is another aspect in addition to miniaturization that increases our mobility, while also increasing our constant interaction with the technology and the attached networks.

4. Networked – simultaneous to our closer and more constant interaction with our tools, our tools are becoming increasingly tied up in vast series of networks.

5. Simultaneity – Communications technology allows for a new simultaneity – a new universal time. Our understanding of space-time is completely revamped.

6. Simulation / Repetition – Our tools give us the power to record and mimic things around us. I can, using code, make an informational model of the room that I am currently sitting in. One of the key aspects of information is of course that it is quantifiable, and because it is quantifiable it can be reproduced infinitely. Thus the room that I am in, once simulated is easily repeatable. Similarly, if I was to upload myself onto a computer (reinvent myself purely as information) then there could easily be two me’s, or three, or 72. This ability to simulate and repeat is a key characteristic of digital technology.