My Thoughts on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

• plasmonics are still due to become mainstream in 2019
  • the plaser got invented on schedule (plasmonic laser)
  • the plasmonic microscope has been prototyped
  • the plasmonic telescope and plasmonic techniques for auto-stabilizing high gain images are not, to my knowledge, being worked on.
  • plasmonics and structured light have not, to my knowledge, merged yet
• If Moore's law holds, the transistor becomes atomic in 2020, what will replace it?
  • carbon nanostructures, and alternate period 14 semiconductors are just more of the same, but will help
  • moving from 3D to 2D structures should help, and carbon helps here too.
  • alternate chemistry could help (eg molybdenite as a 2D structure)
  • ion channel transistors reduce power consumption, if they can be made to work, but won't get us past 2020
  • DNA computing is still science fiction
  • I am unsure how quantum computing will play out.
• Genomics is in its infancy
  • first we deal with medicine
  • then we deal with building synthetic life
  • then we deal with determining from a genome what life it would have made
  • bioengineering of E Coli to make fuel is being done
  • gene splicing is being taught in hacker workshops
• medicine is changing
  • we can already make ghost organs, dissolve the organic matter from an organ, leaving a collagen matric. Smear stem cells on it, feed it, and grow someone an organ that is genetically theirs.
  • we can 3D print blood vessels and wind pipes, we will soon be able to do livers and kidneys. At what point do we switch from printing organs, to engineering better organs, printing them, and using someone's stem cells to vivify those organs?
• don't underestimate the importance of the invention of the city
• print on demand books
• 3D printing
• auto-didactics is just starting to really mature for the non polymaths. Wikipedia, Khan academy, MOOCs will change how we learn.
• Asteroid Mining is being actively funded, eg Planetary Resources
• When LSA light sport aircraft merges with googles self driving cars, we will have our Jetson's moment.
• The pill easily gave a 50% boost to the economy and likely more. Will the neocons undo that?