But, I'm curious to hear others' opinions. What industries are using technology and practices that are antiquated?
To give the most basic example, there is no formalized charting system in the Mental Health Industry. You have standardized notes that are turned into the county but that's about it.
The industry I work in (treatment of abused children who have been removed from the home) has a 96% fail rate in California. That means 96% of the children entrusted to the state end up in jail or dead by the age of 25 (as of 2003). So if ever there was an industry that needed technology's help it's this one.
You have symptoms of problem and it helps narrow down. Need a massive database of all known diseases as well as symptoms / remedies. Chart location data for origin of specific disease, (less likely to be rabies if Australia etc) and probability from all factors.
Would require huge amounts of data as well as many man hours to create but a system that does this task would be one of most beneficial medical breakthrough possible right now in my eyes.
Especially in mental health where there are symptoms of many things over many separate disorder, or rare one. It would be a bonus if you could let this information to be fully public, especially if one could direct users to relevant places.
from what i know there's quite a strong resistance from doctors to working with software that automates their jobs. such software usually slows the doctors (he need to type etc) do it's hurts productivity. but to really gain the monetary benefit from using such software, a cheaper , and less knowledgable healthcare provider should use the software(for example nurse doing some jobs of the family doctor like in minute clinics, or family doctor doing some jobs of the specialist). As you can imagine ,shifting jobs between providers in the healthcare industry is not an easy job:)
Most house construction in the industrialised world is still done by semi-skilled hand labour. There are few radical advances in materials or methods that have gained traction with the industry. Partly this is because the building industry is held back by antiquated construction codes that specify acceptable means and materials rather than the minimum performance constraints that buildings must exceed to be considered safe. But there is a lot of cultural resistance as well, both from the building trades and from customers.
Home construction is an area where several orders of magnitude improvement in both cost and performance are possible, just by the application of basic engineering principles. Well, basic engineering principles and a willingness to circumvent the established order.
So oddly enough, you're most likely to be able to achieve innovation where other people are.
It would be nice to see something really fresh. I'm holding out for 'fleet', or something like it. A radical departure from what we think is 'best practice' and the ways to do things. Something that will turn software development into a true engineering discipline, without the house of cards feeling that we have today.
"STEPS Toward The Reinvention of Programming" http://www.vpri.org/pdf/tr2007008_steps.pdf
"STEPS Toward The Reinvention of Programming, 2008 Progress Report Submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF), October 2008" http://www.vpri.org/pdf/tr2008004_steps08.pdf
The idea here is to rebuild the existing software infrastructure that goes into a fully-functioning system such that the source code is at a minimum an order of magnitude smaller than systems are today. To do so, they claim, requires building the software stack on top of the right abstractions. So far, it seems they've made some excellent progress.
(I don't know what this 'fleet' you speak of is, however)
You think software is not technology ?
Throwing away the structure that we have today and rethinking software from the ground up is definitely technology, not culture.
I predict that as the industry consolidates, the more tech-savvy, bigger players with more capital will squeeze the small guys out. And there is an interesting opportunity for tech-savvy people there.
I am thinking specifically about some of the ag sectors which have not already massively consolidated, such as greenhouse-based ag.
In the past one would gather a room full of lawyers and actually read through all of the documents (a task I did once). Now you can use a combination of linguists, lawyers, and search techniques to do the job.
(the discovery phase of a trial on average accounts for 50% of litigation expenses)
I've still not understood why it takes 4-5 years to USCIS office to grant or deny residency of an applicant. How can that process be so slow? All papers and evidences are submitted on day one. Then why it takes 4-5 years to process back-log applications and then process yours.
I know there is quota per country for per year. But not all quotas are full by all countries. Why can't they do shuffling and do dynamic quota management?
This inefficiency is frustrating to many individuals, so definitely need some technical innovation to process things efficiently.
The current quarterly system of reporting finances was (I believe) developed as a result of the Great Depression, to help inform the public of company status.
The recent banking meltdown shows how inadequate this system is.
Something more realtime is needed.
Another problem with the quarterly focus is that companies end up gaming the system (not in an entirely malicious way) in order to make the quarterly and annual results look good, almost like cramming for a final. It can detract from focusing on healthy long term growth.
I don't know what it's like in other countries, but in Canada there's this bizarre mafia of middlemen that take ~6-10% of the value of house when you sell. They self-promote and self-reinforce to maintain an information advantage, but they don't seem to offer a service beyond a list of houses with pictures, and hand-holding.
-Learning materials? ie- textbooks -Learning software? ie- someone just kill blackboard already
And they cost 6000 dollars to lease. And our county is short on money anyways, so all in all people aren't really too happy about them...
But at least it's a step towards progress.
Immediately comes to mind is political change (political in the sense of the interaction between a governing body and the people/users). Usually this involves a nontransparent decision process by a centralized power. This thread was particularly enlightening: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=803287
Also in education, one cannot forget the social element. Any game changing innovation today will likely embody some web2.0 ideals.
Not only does it contribute to the spread of innovation. I hate to use the word viral but in today's world it likely will have to spread virally through the internet. Reminds me the adoption of the printing press, arguably the greatest educational innovation, was really helped by pornographic material.
What really interests me in the web2.0 and education space is crowd sourcing. Not only Wikipedia but Wikibooks.
Edit: Expanded on web2.0
Take math for example, why are we teaching kids how to do calculus using a piece of paper, when in the real world they'll be using an Excel spreadsheet?
Math, Chemistry, Physics, Finance, pretty much any course that requires calculations wastes 90% of the course, teaching the kids how to do the calculations by hand, in most cases without even a calculator.
Excel is being widely used in the real world, yet you never see it taught in the classroom. Why? Excel is what the kids will be using in their jobs, shouldn't you be teaching them the skills they'll actually need? Instead of teaching them outdated concepts? Why don't you teach them how to do calculus using an abacus?
Also, the mental processes engaged by writing by hand are different than those used when computing. I think there's room for both when teaching people things.
The material content of the calculus class is nigh useless, the goal is to get to get people to be able to think and solve problems.
So if you would be able to make technological innovation that would make my car engine say 10% more effective or produce just few %% that my home consumes - that will be HUGE!!!
The Peter Thiel-funded Seasteading Institute is trying to decrease the start-up cost and the consumer switching cost. Paul Romer has another approach with the Charter City proposal he's advocating.
Under that light, the world is full of opportunities.
It should be "standard" to have a single web interface for control over everything in my house.
1) Real-Time monitoring of water, electric and gas consumption.
2) Entertainment. I should be able to login to a website and click "TV's". Then I can see if they are on, what channel is being watched, what is scheduled to be recorded.
3) Security. Doors and Windows. Automation of opening, closing and locking. Plus video surveillance.
4) Upkeep. Sprinkler control. Heat control and lights. Start the dishwasher, start the coffee pot.
Sure, this can all be done with an excessive amount of work, lots of high tech and expensive gadgetry, and custom software setups, but that doesn't mean it HAS to be that way. I think the Home needs an overhaul.
ie http://www.project10tothe100.com/ideas.html "Create real-world issue reporting system"
Google's Project 10 to the 100 has a lot of good ideas related to technological innovation.
News, real estate, health care, automotive and agriculture come to mind. We're seeing some of these change because of technology. Hopefully, the ones that survive will be stronger for it.
(short answer = taxes and banking)
