We all know that Japanese are always fascinated with robots and all things high tech. Popular literature of that time have popularized i...
We all know that Japanese are always fascinated with robots and all things high tech. Popular literature of that time have popularized illustrated articles envisioning the future that revolved around advanced computer technology, nano robots and even hybrid humanoids and androids.
Known as "Computopia," a late sixties popular magazine "Shonen Sunday" published an article where it envisioned a future dominated by computers. It showed that future medical technology will be like what you see in an automobile repair shop wherein scientists can replace your brain with a new and perhaps "better" one. A cut-out view showed the heart working like a car engine and a brain has complicated circuitry like that of a computer.
As illustrated by Shigeru Komatsuzaki, "The Rise of the Computerized School" views future education as something controlled by computers and automatons that is much like a controlled laboratory-like environment. There is no need for actual teachers as every lessons are projected on a big screen. All the students have to do is input their answers on the computer whenever the teacher presents a test that they need to answer. They will know instantly if they answer it right or wrong.
What makes it interesting is that the automatons serve like "enforcers" that establish discipline and focus on a particular student who makes a wrong answer. A particular robot taps a child on the head for making a mistake on the test.
Future life will not be interesting without video calls and in Toshio Okazaki's "Computer Life in 20 Years" show us why. In the future (1989), computers are inseparable part of everyday life. Perfecto Okazaki-san, you got it right! Automation is the norm in the future while a newspaper is automatically printed out.
Tired of taking care of the household chores, especially washing the dishes? Let the robot housekeeper do the work for you! Future home is furnished with nifty devices such as an automatic iron, an autonomous wheeled table that keeps food warm, and a kitchen robot that sets the table and takes care of the dishes.
The operating room looks like a scene from a grizzly science fiction horror movie but Teruya Yamamoto sees it as an essential part of future medical technology. In his illustration "The Amazing Unmanned Operating Room," hospitals are now computerized and programmed artificial intelligence know what to do when operating a patient.
In this unmanned operating room, a computer-controlled robot arm is performing a heart transplant with unerring precision. The patient's heart has been removed and placed on the adjacent table. Before inserting the new artificial heart, the computer waits for instructions from the human doctor, who is monitoring the procedure on a screen in the next room.
No comments