In Intel, the worlds largest semiconductor chip maker, has commissioned a new initiative known as The Tomorrow Project, in which top science fiction authors have penned short stories that depict possible future uses of the firm's technology. This initiative is a lot similar to DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency)s 100-year Starship Study. DARPA has spent $500,000 on encouraging people to look outside of the box and formulate ideas that are seeds of something that could be very big hundreds of years from now.
Intels The Tomorrow Project has led to the creation of a collection of four interesting stories that can be downloaded for free online. The four authors featured in the book are Scarlett Thomas, Markus Heitz, Douglas Rushkoff, and Ray Hammond. The project is led by Intels futurist thinker, Brian David Johnson, who regards the initiative as an important way of assessing future technology trends.
Johnson says, When we design chips to go into your television, your computers, your phones - we need to do it about five or ten years in advance. We need to have an understanding of what people will want to do with those devices. What science fiction does is give us a way to think about the implications of the technologies that we're building, for the people who will actually be using them. He believes that if the company can capture peoples imagination by giving them a vision of the future through science fiction.
What science fiction does is give us a way to think about the implications of the technologies that we're building, for the people who will actually be using them, he adds.
Analysts are of the opinion that the initiative showcases a sort of cultural shift by the chip giant. Such a shift is necessitated by the sharp changes in the consumer tech landscape. Intel was able to drive progress and profits in the previous decades through steady increments in processor speed. But in a post-PC world, firms like Apple have successfully used lifestyle innovations to frame future market appetites. This entails a rethink by companies like Intel. The company believes that The Tomorrow Project will help it in anticipating consumers aspirations in future.
The Tomorrow Project comprises of four interesting chapters - Last Day of Work by Douglas Rushkoff, The Mercy Dash by Ray Hammond, The Drop by Scarlett Thomas and The Blink of an Eye by Markus Heitz.
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