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What is the next big technological frontier? The next 'tech gold rush'?

2 points by willpower101 ↗ HN
Specifically, what is the next big area of exploration in computers that isn't really being taught in colleges and doesn't require an immense amount of training to explore?

We had the hardware and software of the 80's, the Dot Com boom of the 90's, resurgence of Web 2.0 and social media in the 2000's, and now it seems that mobile application development is the current boom.

I feel the new industries which will have a profound impact are the commercialized space race in the mojave dessert (a.k.a. Rocket Town), bionics and robotics (silicon valley and boston), and the human computer interaction field of neuroscience. However all of these seem to require graduate level work to even break into.

Will there be anything like the last quarter of the 19th century again in our lifetime?

7 comments

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willpower101
I ask because, while in 1989 I was programming choose your own adventure games in BASIC on a commodore, I was too young to make anything of it. In the late 90's I was finishing up high school in the rural south without access to any real cs/ce curriculum. And in the mid 2000's I was working on my degree in Digital Media despite being a step ahead of almost every subject covered. (I probably should have been pursuing ce, or better yet, just moved to Palo Alto)

So I keep mulling over the idea of going back to school to get up to the level needed for the industries above. But part of me just wishes there was a way to dive in and get my hands dirty like they were doing in the beginning of all this.

runjake
What? It sounds like you're making up a bunch of excuses as to why you can't start this or that.

You didn't miss any "good ol' days" because you create your own through sheer effort and persistence.

There are plenty of ways to dive in to whatever you want to accomplish, so stop making excuses and just do it.

willpower101
Thanks for this constructive criticism. I do kind of feel like I am making excuses to myself and need to admit that to move forward.

I just felt like working on software and integrated circuits in the 1980's would have been so easy compared to the highly specialized environment today.

But at the same time someone pointed out that it probably seemed pretty difficult to them. Also that in 25 years students will likely laugh about how easy some of the work we are doing today was.

(edit weird that that my second post showed up so late. I wrote it as an add-on. Been having issues with posting.)

willpower101
Now that I think about it, mainly it seemed like it was easier to get into hardware back then, and today the entrepreneurial boom is really all about software and lots of money or expertise needed to get into hardware development. (as a startup.)
acangiano
> But part of me just wishes there was a way to dive in and get my hands dirty

There is a way. Just. Effin'. Do. It. Last time I checked they don't ask you for a CE degree to work with jQuery, Rails, Objective-C, etc. Just jump right in and start building stuff.

curt
Integrating web and specifically mobile technologies with the real world and physical products. Creating a seamless interface, some companies are just starting to explore this in the medical and entertainment areas. The next set of billion dollar companies should come from this area. It'll take awhile though since there are only a handful of people with the skill sets to launch and guide the companies.
willpower101
A good point. People have been writing for a while about internet becoming more and more transparent as it becomes even more ubiquitous. I remember writing a paper about tv's with integrated imdb 12 years before the first app capable tv came out.

I think the other thing that I like about this sub-field, despite the fact that it's very doable by building on my current skills, is how it would integrate my love for hardware :)