Globalization Goes High-Tech: A Worrisome World of Abundance

Halal (2008) states that technology will become overly abundant and globally available in the future (p. 31). One indicator is the increasing availability of data that is ripe to be collated and processed by sophisticated technology. Among the seven high-tech manufacturing forecasts Halal makes, Smart Robots is especially interesting.

Image Source: Performing Objectives 2012

The concept of smart robots is prevalent in film and book form.  Smart robots are likely to become more prevalent as aided by the following forces:

1. Technological. Technology will continue to increase making way for more sophistication in robotics and artificial intelligence.
2. Social. Robots are likely to be modeled in human form ("My Robot Girlfriend" by Wesley Allison provides a glimpse of this) so that they are more socially acceptable. This is counter intuitive since the trend is to make better computing devices smaller. The form of robots will be predominately in human form.



Reference:

Halal, W. E. (2008). Technology's Promise: Expert Knowledge on the Transformation of Business and Society. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.