Blessed Are the Geeks
http://www.popsci.com/exoskeleton
Okay, i’m having a totally geek moment.
While movies — especially those comic book-inspired characters such as recent fan favorite Iron Man — are supposedly fiction, it nonetheless has vestiges of its roots in reality. Using the same aforementioned example, some uberscientists featured in Popular Science are allegedly “building the Real Iron Man” — a real-life exoskeleton that allows normal human beings to assume the power of machines.
Now, while i’m a firm advocate that invention is not necessarily innovation (think segway), it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Whatever the case, it’s extreme users such as inventors that are pushing the bar on what’s possible.
Now, while not everybody might be using this “Iron Man” suit one day, just imagine the numerous applications and/or devices that could be mass-based using this very same technology.
Just look at NASA, the US space agency, for inspiration — their billion-dollar-level research has “trickled down” and been applied to everyday products – everything from athletic footwear to water purifiers.
Blessed are the geeks for inventing all of this. Yes, Blessed are the Geeks indeed.
