Want to progress? Accelerate!
Technical progress helps us to be faster than our ancestry.
It provides new sources, automation and synergy.
We learnt to use new sources easily, but still have some difficulties with automation and are completely inefficient at synergy appliance.
Source is easy
Tap is a source of clean or hot water.
Oven is a source of heat for cooking.
TV is a source of information.
I have not met a human who had hard times using them all.
Automation is difficult
Washing machine is a different story:
In fact, there are a lot of people who have difficulties using a washing machine.
They need to think.
They need to remember something.
They need to read the manual.
They need to choose a washing program, -- this automation could be difficult for their minds.
A lot of people use microwave oven only as a source of heat, not as automation for cooking.
They are not ready to start algorithm of cooking.
They are not ready for automation.
How many people have robotic cleaners?
I am a scientific researcher in math and control theory with electrical engineering applications.
Less than 5% of my scientific contacts have a robotic cleaner and no one has a robotic cleaner for windows (I have).
Why? Why they develop algorithms for robots and are not using them?
Their minds are not ready for automation.
Another great example is a computer.
Everybody has to do a routine computer job sometimes.
Often it is possible to create a script to automate it.
This is easy because script language is very similar to natural language.
But most people usually do not do scripts, they prefer repeating all the same actions manually.
"It is too difficult", "I am not a programmer", "I could not control the script work", "It is faster by hand", "It is better by hand" -- some answers of advices -- "Make a script", "Use IRobot", "Use build-in program for cooking".
But their minds do not want to learn the new.
Their minds want to repeat the old.
Study is too tiring.
The main barriers are in our minds.
If we want to progress, first of all we must destroy these barriers.
Sport for body, study for mind.
To keep fit you must exercise regularly.
To progress you must study regularly.
Synergy is hard
Smartphones and mobile devices provide an opportunity for total synergy of
A) hardware (photo and video camera, microphone, gps sensor, accelerometer...),
B) software (notes, spellcheckers, office packages, image editors, CADs...) and
C) Internet services (messengers, social nets, search engines, cloud hosting...).
Google services are great example of synergy: search, navigation, office, mail, cloud hosting..., all are interconnected and became important parts of each other.
Do you really believe that you use 100% of google service possibilities for your interests?
Do you use Evernote?
It converts everything to a note: photo, video, audio, text, screenshots, urls...
OCR, gps tags and search engines provide great synergy.
Give Evernote a photo of a business card and receive a ready contact with email, telephone and fax numbers, address and links to profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook and others.
Linux console provides terrific synergy of programs.
Pipes and shell, a lot of small programs and system utilities make your computer’s life easier.
"Unix way" provides synergy for software development and data processing.
To create synergy you must be able to see the big picture.
You need a good fantasy and a clear mind.
Future
Technologies shrink distance between information and material.
3D printers transform information into things.
Internet of things provides information layer for things.
Print data of a thing you need and get it: toys, instruments, replaceable parts, art, prosthetic devices...
Ask a thing and get a reply about its owner, status, capacity, location, history...
We need faster information exchange.
What interfaces do you use?
Keyboard is too slow.
Siri and Google Now are sometimes faster.
Sensors in smartphones and fitness devices collect data and do not bother your mind.
Neural interfaces, we need them (you really think it is necessary to control a computer with hands?).
Keep an eye on 3D printers and neural interfaces, they will soon accelerate us greatly.
The way
Your society became slow?
Find a new society to progress.
Motivate yourself.
There are two types of motivation for progress:
A) you know what you need,
B) you are curious.
I bought IPad Pro, because I needed it (after 5 years of waiting such device to appear).
I bought smartphone, because it was interesting.
Be curious.
Luck vs system: system always wins on long distant.
You should systematically look for new technologies.
If you are a scientist, you are a lucky guy.
Scientists have access to science databases and they know how to read scientific papers.
Read reports:
A) KPCB ( http://www.kpcb.com )
B) Gartner ( http://www.gartner.com )
C) Morgan Stanley ( http://www.morganstanley.com )
Look around: you can miss something.
If every day you see people with smart watches, may be you should test it?
Organize yourself, study scrum.
It helps you to understand modern management.
Scrum can speed up your projects significantly.
Do not procrastinate.
Tomorrow is too late, a on the day after tomorrow you will become an outsider of a progressive society.
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" (Lewis Caroll)
We can run twice faster only if we achieve new instruments to speed up.
The first thing we should do is to get these new instruments.
Checklist
A) Look for new source
B) Look for automation
C) Look for synergy
D) Read reports
E) Study scrum
F) Study shell
G) Find modern society
H) Be curios
I) Free mind for minds