Driving Forces - Tenbrink

With the advent and expansion of the internet, our lives have been inevitably changed. Our resources are as vast as our imaginations, and our capabilities are limitless. Within the limitless capabilities we have ascertained through this mechanism of cyberspace, our life itself has become a microcosm for us to exploit and dissect. As with the number of web pages created daily, our exponential technological growth, our life choices are going to lead us in some pre-determined directions as well as create a plethora of uncertainties.
A pre-determined element that may occur within the next ten years is the emergent of cost effective means of providing devices electricity without direct contact and without batteries. This technology is available and tested, and within the next ten years I am anticipating it to being perfected, or at least proficient enough for our means of remotely powering vehicles which are capable of driving to a pre-determined course.
A critical uncertainty of this future is whether or not there will be ample demand for this type of device. I know, as most of you do as well, that education can be remotely taught with our current level of resources; however remote education in the future may determine that students are not required to be on-site in order to receive the same standard of education they can remotely. What I am proposing is precisely what U.C. Berkeley has started, providing their lectures, which were digitally recorded, to anyone who chooses to see them. The uncertainty is this; will students be able to remotely view & participate in distance education, and still obtain a well-rounded education, or will it continue to be a merely text oriented training model such as we have with current on-line courses.