Today is Valentine´s day. Such a beautiful fiesta. I wish you tons of affection from your loved ones. You are my inspiration and my eternal fountain of stamina to continue with Eleonora Escalante’s Strategy despite the struggle efforts day by day.

Let´s begin. I already mentioned that I utilized the TIME magazine editors’ laborious travail. I wish to acknowledge their efforts because nowadays it is not easy to follow and keep a filter of relevant technologies. To have objective criteria on how to choose which inventions deserve to be on their list is also a challenge. Thank you for sharing it year by year.

NAIQI Era. When I was doing this exercise, I took the time to read the description of each technology. And instead of using a copy and paste procedure to prepare the slides, I decided to write them on a single white piece of paper. I also took notes, and understood each of the inventions listed, not because I did not know about them, but because I wanted to grasp a feeling of where are we going, and when were the NAIQI disruptions disrupting our life. NAIQI are the capital letters of Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum, and the Internet. 

Poor Memory retention using digital screens. I also wish to express that whenever we read from a screen device without studying, analyzing, and writing notes on a piece of paper, we tend to forget whatever we screen-watch. That is why our memory is affected by screens. I insist that our brains lose their capacity to retain information by using only petit screens or computers to learn, and I am convinced of it. I have experienced it on my own, and I see it in kids too. A phenomenon called poor memory retention happens when people think they learn through gadget screen-time. Why? Our heads think they hold the information next to them, on the Smartphone and they don´t put effort to retain anything inside their brains. And that is, to my point of view, a regression or damaging activity to our brain capacities.

Best Inventions 2001-2019 Summary
I invite you to read each of the slides lists of technologies that I prepared using the TIME Magazine website, regardless of the minutes it will take for you to do it. And then in a week, try to ask yourself if you remember what you read on my slides. In comparison, choose one URL website of the best inventions whatever year you wish to explore, read each section of technology, write it on a piece of paper, take notes, and left your pages to sleep for a week. Then without seeing your piece of paper, ask yourself how many technologies do you remember from that year that you put the effort to study. I am sure you have retained at least half of them. But I am sure, you won´t remember anything from the rest of the technologies that you saw on my slides. Why?

Please download and print these slides in PDF format by clicking here: Eliescalante Losing Our brains with disruptive tech 25 best inventions 2000-2019.

Best Inventions YoY (year over year) analysis:

1. General. Regardless of the TIME magazine editors´ criteria to select the inventions, and although if these are correct or inaccurate; the whole exercise makes sense to me. First of all, it shows a general trend evolution of the way inventors are doing their job. It also shows which categories have been consistent winners of new “grab my attention” inventiveness. And finally, it shows exactly when and why the NAIQI disrupted our society traditional rules of living. The year 2005 marks the strengthening of the nanotechnologies: nano-wires, the nano-engines, the nano-sensors, and nano-everything reduced to microscopic in size. The year 2007 is the year of the iPhone introduction by Apple. And this also has changed our habits. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and the rest of social media applications are not listed as disruptive inventions, but our life has been completely disrupted with them. Artificial Intelligence is the last fellow admitted to the club: gadgets or inventions have started to show up for consumers just during the last 2 or 3 years, even though AI is all over for several decades ago. The NAIQI tech has impacted our think capabilities, and in consequence the work-produce-invest cycle too.
2. Categories: The invention categories have not changed so much since 2000, even though they have grown to become more and more specific for different uses´segments. Also, to my happy approval, the environment-sustainability gadgets have emerged strongly. TIME Magazine segmented the 2001 inventions in six categories: Health, On the go (movement-transport), Household, Clothing, Back to Basics, and Robots. The 2019 year categories were: Accessibility, Virtual Reality, Beauty, Consumer Electronics, Design, Education, Entertainment, Experimental, Food&Drink, Gaming, Health, Home, Parenting, Protecting Data, Social Good, Sports Goods, Style, Sustainability, Transportation and Wellness.
3. The Internet of Things beat harder: The majority of inventions during the last 10 years are tied to the Internet. Many of them are applications that work all-together with gadgets. These means the Internet and WiFi are crucial for these inventions to happen.
4. Fixing Wrongdoings: I observe a conscious growth of new inventions that are coming to us to fix our current problems of climate change, pollution, excessive garbage, carbon footprint, recycling and the rest of environmental issues. Thanks to God, the geniuses and the investors are now more aware than before, and I perceive inventions solely for these purposes.
5. Repetition of the same tech but improved: Many inventions are simply an improvement of the last version of it. For example, Tesla and Toyota have been enhancing their electric car versions YoY year over year. The same has happened with the robots, VR headsets, smart lenses, earbuds, accessibility aid tech, clothing wearables, gaming cardboards, NASA cars, and the scooters. Maybe 40% of each year list are merely advances of last year’s tales of technologies.

In general, the inventions listed YoY (year over year) have the same pattern, until the appearance of the iPhone. The acceleration of NAIQI inventions related to the Internet of Things and the Internet of Industries has been on full development and tied to Smart mobile screens. Robots have also improved their look and feel and function. Europe is getting ahead with robotics and China is the main robotics client for their factories. Artificial Intelligence looks more and more on our everyday experience as a sort of nascent invention, nevertheless, quantum computers are probably much more relevant than ever, much more than machine learning and data analytics tech. NAIQI direction is kind of all set, but the NAIQI stairway is not helping us to fix the most painful social-economic-political problems we have but causing new ones that we don´t know how to solve in the near future.

Let´s stop with TIME inventions analysis. I am a positive person when it comes to technology. Don´t ever get me wrong. What I am against is the stairway to anywhere sense that I feel, as much as what you feel when watching the South Korean Oscar´s laureate film “Parasite”. What annoys me with the direction we are going through, is that the new technology order, as it is right now, is not fixing our most crucial problems: social displacement, lack of jobs, inequality, health cures for the majorities, and environmental issues. The Coronavirus appeared on the scene, and labs won´t be able to provide a cure in less than 8 months. But there are thousands of robots confirmed to be used in China Factories in 8 months. AIDS and Cancer still have not found an affordable cure, despite all the efforts to find it. Many people in developing countries still don´t get clean water or energy in their homes on a daily basis. Contamination of our air and oceans has increased and little tech is known to oppose it. Families don´t have machine gadgets to recycle and transform plastics into tiny little pellets at home, to later exchange for money at supermarkets. Robots are and will replace traditional jobs and people are not being educated nor will find new short-term alternatives to get a dignified job for their living. Social inequality will rise, despite the most adorable technologies we have read over 20 years at Time magazine. More than 1.8 billion women in the world (of working age) do not reach to earn US$30,000 dollars per year yet. What is happening?

What is the point of new disruptive tech that is not used as a force for good for our humanity? With Industry 4.0 at our door, NAIQI technologies won´t solve the issues of poverty, but it may cause more social inequality if the poorest don´t get high-caliber education. Remember the core is the people’s quality of life, not the robots. The core of tech is not the 500 Fortune list of companies but the billions of entrepreneurs who are and will try to make a living as I am with this blog, and we don´t get revenues yet to make a dignified subsistence… What is worst, our brains are not evolving for the better, but for the worst. Companies are asking for critical thinking skills and innovation, but the excessive usage of disruptive technologies are making our brains stupider and dumber…. how would companies hire critical thinkers in the future when the education methodologies with tech are making harm to our brain capabilities?

I wonder, what are we doing?  A stairway to anywhere? We need to figure out a different technologies roadmap path with well-organized priorities, with road tolls, with clear NOs and transparent YES. How to change our brains and use them for the think-work-produce-invest cycle in a way that we won´t trigger money laundering with cryptocurrencies, or future wars or conflicts because of unevenness gap between those who are now on the cutting edge season, meanwhile the majorities are still only using smart-phones for watching Youtube music… How to ignite innovation with the appropriate technologies using them as a force for good (as Professor Ghoshal from London Business School wished it).

Any invention that doesn´t help us to think using our brains to work-produce and invest with an integral equilibrium for the society will punish us in the future, like a boomerang.

Next week we will continue with the rest and sleep activities. Thank you.

Sources of reference utilized to write this article.

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1936165,00.html

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1934259,00.html

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1935038,00.html

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1940424,00.html

http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1129516,00.html

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8519-2005-the-year-in-technology/

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1677329,00.html

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1939342,00.html

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1852747,00.html

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1934027,00.html

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2029497,00.html

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601111128,00.html

https://time.com/3594971/the-25-best-inventions-of-2014/

https://time.com/4115398/best-inventions-2015/

https://time.com/4572079/best-inventions-2016/

https://time.com/5023212/best-inventions-of-2017/

https://time.com/collection/best-inventions-2018/

https://time.com/collection/best-inventions-2019/

Disclaimer: Illustrations in Watercolor are painted by Eleonora Escalante. Other types of illustrations or videos (which are not mine) are used for educational purposes ONLY.  Nevertheless, the majority of the pictures, images or videos shown on this blog are not mine.  I do not own any of the lovely photos or images posted unless otherwise stated.

Published by eleonoraescalantestrategy

Corporate Strategy Artist, San Salvador, El Salvador View all posts by eleonoraescalantestrategy