Tech Convergence Will Spur Demand for New ADAS Technology

Recommended Reading

When considering the future of a high-tech company like Microvision, it's worthwhile to take some time to consider the future of society, and mankind, itself. Microvision's scanned beam technology will allow the worlds of people and machines to integrate more closely than ever. To get a better idea about where technology is inexorably leading us, I recommend the following books:



The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil.

The futurist's bible. Specifically mentions Microvision in the chapters '2009' and '2019'.

"Computer displays built into eyeglasses are also used. These specialized glasses allow users to see the normal visual environment, while creating a virtual image that appears to hover in front of the viewer. The virtual images are created by a tiny laser built into the glasses that projects the images directly onto the retina."



Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us by Rodney Brooks.

This fascinating book by the MIT AI Lab director posits that humans are more like machines than we are willing to admit -- and we are rapidly merging with our intelligent technology. The chairman of iRobot Corporation, Dr. Brooks' insights into robotics and its parallels with human physiology are most intriguing.



Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence by Hans Moravec.

Roboticist and futurist genius Moravec brings us headlong into a world of nanotech robots and 'postbiological' thought. Early on the way there, he discusses the need for 'magic glasses' ('imagic' glasses?):

"The key item of apparel is a pair of magic glasses...Worn on the nose like conventional specs, these contain the following impressive array of instrumentation:

High-resolution color displays, one for each eye, with optics that cover the entire field and make the image the computer presesnts appear to be focused at a comfortable distance. The glasses may have the ability to switch to a transparent mode."



The Spike: How Our Lives Are Being Transformed by Rapidly Advancing Technologies by Damien Broderick.

Broderick assembles the ideas of Kurzweil, Moravec, Arthur C. Clarke, and nanotechnology pioneer Eric Drexler into a single theme: nanotechnology, robotics, biotechnology, AI and communications technologies are accelerating their advances to the point where progress is going vertical and time itself is collapsing. The power of our technologies has taken on a life of its own and is reaching a point in time ('the Spike') where it will simply be beyond our ability to comprehend.



How To Make Money In Stocks by William J. O'Neil.

Apart from being the best book on investing that I've come across, I value this book for the following advice:

"The best results are achieved through concentration: putting all your eggs in just a few baskets that you know a great deal about and continuing to watch those baskets very carefully...The winning investor's objective should be to have one or two big winners rather than dozens of very small profits."



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It's great to have the thoughts of the world's foremost thinkers in technology and investing available to us as everyday investors. It's clear to me from considering these works of genius that the rapidly approaching hyper-tech driven future will be very favorable to Microvision investors.

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