No, there are ways of moving the focal plane using flat optics: holographic lenses are one technology to do this that's not terribly expensive at this point. At the same time, it's possible (though currently expensive because the equipment isn't mass-produced) to make a hologram of the lens of the eye and compute a compensating holographic lens for the glasses. Combine the two technologies and get excellent corrected eyesight (including better astigmatism correction than is common) plus heads-up display and augmented reality.
I've been to 1 3D movie in this decade (last year), and I got a migraine from it. As best I could tell the problem wasn't so much a conflict between parallax and fixed focus as that the parallax in many scenes was extreme (and wrong). In fact some scenes seemed to take place behind my head as far as parallax was concerned. This should be fixable.
]]>I suspect "Fabbing" is going to be the next one, and very soon, particulalry s the cumultive-error-problems are sorted, probably by careful recheck-and recalibrate algorithms. Couopled with fabbing in more durable materials. A much cheaper method of getting to orbit would also have profound effects, since, let's face it it is the apprent high cost at present that is the real drag on progress here. Cheap, reliable, repeatble continuous-running photosynthesis-substitution would also make a really big difference. I'm suprised more money is not being put into this one. I know quite a few universities and research-companies are plodding along, but the payoff/benefits are potentailly so large ....
]]>With one square meter of 20% efficiency solar panel (commercially available from SunPower, based on well established silicon cells, no gallium, germanium, tellurium, or indium required) you can harvest one kilowatt hour of energy per day, on average, in the continental United States. Energy production will be somewhat higher in tropical areas with greater average insolation.
The median inhabitant of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Cameroon, Angola, Laos, Bhutan, Yemen, Kenya, Liberia, Burma, Sudan, Guinea, Tanzania, Cambodia, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Haiti, Somalia, Burundi, Chad, or Sierra Leone consumes even less than 1 kilowatt hour of electricity per day. Giving them that much in the form of distributed solar generation would be a marked improvement in material comfort.
With just one kilowatt hour of electricity you can:
-Pump 2000 liters of water up from a 100 meter deep well -Disinfect 1000 liters of water* -Desalinate 100 liters of sea water* -Synthesize 250 grams of nitrogen fertilizer, starting from water and air -Travel 70 kilometers on an electric bike -Provide 200 hours of steady, smokeless illumination for night time security, study, play, or work -Use a smartphone for 6 weeks
Obviously, phones, water pumps, e-bikes, etc. are not bundled with solar panels at zero cost, but it's impressive how much modern machines can do with even as little electrical energy as you can get out of a daily square meter of sunlight.
*Both of these figures assume use of small-scale machines. Large scale installations are more efficient but less suitable for locations with limited electrical availability/reliability.
]]>As far as aspirational futures are concerned, I find "gapminder" to be really good - how the world has substantially improved in the last fifty or two hundred years (depending on which presentation you watch) and how in the future it can continue to get better based on current trends.
He's also a good speaker :-)
Real statistics for a reasonably optimistic outlook on the world!
]]>