The best is yet to come – Il Sole 24 Ore

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This article was published on November 29, 2015 at 8:17.

Normally, we tend to believe that scientific discoveries represent one of the causes of technological development: when the physics and chemistry better, inventors can design new products and materials. But it is also true: the more scientists are put in conditions to have better tools (the work of skilled craftsmen), the more they can improve their skills, which in turn will lead to other technological advances. This creates a virtuous circle that we need those events miracles, led by technology, they have created the modern economy.

It is not easy to indicate when the virtuous cycle has begun, but there was an event salient in the seventeenth century, when for the first time developed microscopes and telescopes that enabled scientists to see things never seen with the naked eye. The development of the barometer led to the discovery of the atmosphere, which would follow the steam engines (ie, atmospheric). The process accelerated after 1750. Another example: the biggest breakthrough in medicine of the nineteenth century – the discovery that germs cause disease – was made possible by the best microscopes. The modern economic growth would certainly damped, if it were not for the way in which science and technology have been strengthened with each other.

If we think of the tools that we have available today for scientific research, those of Pasteur seem primitive artifacts. It is not just a matter of Information technology or telecommunications. Huge databases are easily available, simulations of quantum chemistry, and highly complex statistical analysis are just some of the tools that the digital age offers science. Digital technology is everywhere, from molecular genetics to nanoscience the research on medieval poetry. Quantum computers, which are also still at an experimental stage, this promise to increase computing power of several orders of magnitude. In some recent work, it is very stressed the importance of the information and communication technology on production and productivity – and indeed it is of great importance. But we must keep in mind, however, that the indirect effects of science on productivity, by means of these search tools, could, in the long term, overshadow the direct effects. An interesting example is the growing use of ultra-powerful computers and software that is radically innovative materials science.

As the science gets in new fields and solves problems that could be solved even imagined, here they are sticking inventors, engineers and entrepreneurs eager to use this new knowledge to invent new gadgets and processes, which will help us continue to improve our lives. The interaction between science and technology is a process self-rafforzantesi, or auto-catalytic, that seems limitless.

Imagine what the next technology to establish themselves is difficult. There is much talk of robots and artificial intelligence: on the one hand offer much promise (who likes making beds?) And on the other are feared as potential “killers” of whole trades. The ICT is a field in which the best is yet to come, and all speak of ” Internet of things “as the next revolution. But perhaps the real news will come from fields ranging less fashionable. Try putting together the new materials with so-called “print” three-dimensional, and the chance of “customization” of mass, a concept for a revolutionary manufacturing has not seen since the industrial revolution. “Nanobombs” that physically penetrate the membranes of bacteria and other cells are the next weapon in the endless war of mankind against microbes, and possibly even cancer. Their progress in a very few had expected was the use of ICT technologies in favor of an increasing rate of utilization of physical assets such as homes and cars, as well as human capital. Companies like Airbnb, Uber, Lift and many more are creating rental markets for goods that were previously unproductive for most of the time. Many of these activities are not “on the horizon” are already with us. The crisis may have put the economy against the wind, but the wind in its sails technology blowing like a tornado.

(…) Why is it so important that technological progress continues? The inhabitants of the industrialized economies are not already rich enough? Why do not we just share our chances with nations less fortunate? Why are we obsessed from acquiring technology, in addition to all that we already have? Not even the most ardent of the techno-enthusiasts would argue that innovation is never just a benefit. The new technologies have disruptive effects on our lives in many ways: they can force people to abandon practices family and comfortable, make talents and tools become obsolete, and have an alienating effect on that part of the population that finds it hard to adapt. The digital divide separates the young and the old, the educated and the uneducated, the rural and urbanized. It makes people miserable, frustrated and disconnected. But we have no other choice but to continue to innovate, technologically. And if we do not, someone else will.

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