The War of Superiority: Technology vs Manpower

LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Email

Video games not only act as a watermark, illustrating modern technological advancement, but may also be a platform to launch further innovation. In the past, we had Nintendo’s revolutionary Wii device that allowed for interactive video game play; today we have Xbox’s Kinect, Playstation’s Move, and Nintendo’s most recent installment of Wii, all allowing the user to step into the virtual video game world and react to simulations with real life movements. In a similar way, scientists have attempted to utilize video game-esque technology to explore, or destroy places and things miles away. From computer simulated and controlled Mars rovers, to the US military’s use of unmanned drones, “video game technology,” may be more vital than you realize for modern advancement. But are wireless, unmanned, technologically driven devices the answer, or is the man behind the toy more important? 

In 2009, Spirit, a Mars rover, drove over an unstable top layer of Martian soil and plummeted to its shallow grave, unable to maneuver itself free. But Karl Iagnemma from MIT, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, as well as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, have developed Artemis- a program which analyzes the physical rover movement in accordance to soil composition to aid the safe travels of such rovers. Such a model is eerily similar to video games, as the user gives commands, and reacts to movement and stimulus through a screen, as a simulation analyzes every conceivable variable. This invention places more responsibility into the “hands,” calculations, of the program, rather than the “pilot.” 1

TechnologyIn contrast, the United States operates over 7,000 drones, more than 40% by the Department of Defense, many of which are controlled remotely from several thousand miles away. While such technology is so closely related to video games (the “pilots” even control the drone with a joystick,) drone pilots have declared, “It’s irrelevant where you are physically sitting. You’re attached to the airframe, you’re attached to the view that you see, and you’re attached to the laws of armed conflict ……The plane cannot start, cannot fly and cannot release a weapon without us coin it. Human beings are in the cockpit… We just happen to be 8,000 miles away from the plane.” While I don’t doubt the skill and experience it takes to “man” a drone, such proud defiance that the pilots’ skill rather than the drone technology which makes it so deadly overshadows the incredible technological feat that is unmanned drones. 2

So while it may still be up for debate as to whether or not technology or manpower is superior, we can all agree that technological advancements are driven by various mechanisms, one of which is definitely videogames. 

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, President, CEO of the All Access Group, LLC

PS: Subscribe to my FREE All Access Group Newsletter https://bit.ly/AAGNewletter

PSS: Listen to an entire library of intimate discussions with industry visionaries https://bit.ly/AllAccessPodcastSeries (Priceless)

 

Footnotes:

1.         Chu, Jennifer. “Terramechanics Research Aims to Keep Mars Rovers Rolling.” MIT’s News Office. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

 2.         Blackhurst, Rob. “Drone Pilots Say Their Job Is Not Like A Video Game.” Business Insider. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

 

 

Join our mailing list

For insights on industry trends, and for details on special projects/events. We respect your time and your privacy.


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Search Resources

Topic Areas & Guests

Categories

Join our mailing list

For insights on industry trends, and for details on special projects/events. We respect your time and your privacy.


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *