What will they think of next? [Future of electronics and electronic devices]

Electronics will continue to make more and more automation possible in the future. But man will remain far superior to any electronic device in his ability to daydream as part of his thinking process, to concentrate at will on one odor among many, on one object in a panorama, or on one sound in a noisy room. There will certainly be instruments and devices that are larger, faster, and more accurate than the ones we have today. Their use will steadily spread into new and more complicated technical phenomena and into economic and social areas. As computers, for example, grow in size, they can be used for keeping all kinds of records: bank accounts, income tax data, medical histories, even criminal records and fingerprint files, perhaps on a national scale. Information will be digitized by existing, or yet to be developed, instruments, and stored for ready availability. Instruments and devices will undoubtedly become smaller, cheaper, and more reliable, thus permitting new applications not only to technical problems, but, increasingly, to social problems as well. We have already seen the use of the more expensive instruments for communications and for control of air traffic, and such developments as the use of radar to detect petty offenses SUGh as speeding automobiles. However, if these devices were sufficiently compact and cheap, they could also be made available for such purposes as crime prevention, automobile control, and accident prevention; and, of course, their medical use would be greatly expanded. The future also will see the development of better thinking machines.