Moore’s Law

Gordon Moore was the co-founder of Intel. He predicted that technology would continuously grow at a drastic rate every two years. This prediction gave rise to Moore’s Law. Moore stated that the advancing of technology would “make the impossible possible” and aimed to prove that “whatever has been done can be outdone” as the processing power of computers , tablets, smartphones and other forms of technology would continuously increase over the years.

Ray Kurzweil

Ray Kurzweil is an entrepreneur and the person who invented the first software which was capable of transforming written words into data. He made synthesizers which could recreate orchestral instruments and translate text to speech. Kurzweil is the director of engineering at Google. Kurzweil states that when technology is fulfilled to its predicted extent, something new will be created in technology to take its place. This process is referred to as the “Law of Accelerating Returns”.

Richard Buckminster Fuller

Fuller was a “Jack of All Trades”. He was a designer, architect, poet, educator, philosopher, engineer and environmentalist just to name a few of his attributes. His most outstanding characteristic, however, was his concern for humanity an the poverty which would surround humanity. Fuller dedicated his life to finding a solution to this problem by creating inexpensive and efficient designs to make life more sustainable for humans. He met up on many obstacles in gaining acceptance, funding and recognition for his designs but he did not give up. Fuller was finally recognized when he created the dome shaped buildings which were used by the military.

Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel is the co-founder of PayPal and the CIA backed data, Palantir. Thiel was the first big investor in the social network, Facebook. Thiel belives that the developments in technology are over rated and over exaggerated and the progress will eventually cause technology to slow down.

Moore, Kurzweil and Fuller all believed in the advancement of technology and that it will continue to grow as it is replaced by new ideas. Thiel, on the other hand, belives that too much emphasis is being place on technology instead of directing the funding to the scientists and other individuals who are contributing important factors to society.

I was pleased to learn all of the new information as previously, none of this had interested me. Yes, technology is moving much faster than I could ever learn to use it, and I must say that it scares me. I am from Jamaica, West Indies and I have seen some of the dome shaped buildings there but never gave any thought to the creator of the design. Things which were once considered to be impossible are indeed proving to be possible and, as predicted for the future, I look forward to the eradication of diseases.