An operating system for smart cities…

An operating system (OS) could certainly be the wave of the future for some of the bigger or perhaps, more developed cites in the US and around the world according to the article, “An operating system for smart cities”.  Not only would an OS keep buildings, traffic and other services running smoothly, but a system like this would also monitor and reduce energy usage and save billions of dollars.  Could you imagine federal or state buildings being monitored from one central nerve system in a city for security, fire, heat and air conditioning and even shutting down the power at the end of the day?  I can!  With emerging technologies evolving each day around the globe, a smart city OS would be a reality in the next 10 to 15 years.  I can see cities virtually running themselves and controlling many of their major systems with one OS like a PC.   

The investment in smart city technology will be very costly initially but cities will reap huge dividends when an OS is up and running.  Take for instance the Japanese train system in highly populated Tokyo.  With various emerging technologies and sensors in place, they are able to sense train traffic and situations.  The clocklike punctuality of Japan’s trains and the remarkable efficiency of the system are due to a central nerve system.  However, because of sensors linked to networks and a smart system, the single most outstanding feature of Japan’s rail transport is its capacity to adjust the entire system in accordance with the operating environment. 

There is enough evidence that smart city OS’s will emerge in the near future.  Many people are already able to control their lights and heating via the Internet.  In addition, GPS devices can sense traffic congestion and reroute drivers.  Alarm companies and fire stations are able to monitor buildings, near and far.  Power companies are able to provide electricity to you or me and shut down zones via a power distribution grid.  Besides, New York City Department of Transportation Traffic Management Center receives feeds from closed circuit television cameras trained on major arteries, which monitor and track traffic conditions in real-time at key locations throughout the city.  Consider the emerging technology today- many of these systems or processes have been fused and transformed.  They can only be more efficient with billions of sensors linked to networks all over the city.  The information and communications infrastructure will be a major player in a smart city OS.  They will require optimal monitoring and management.

Merging these technologies onto a smart city OS seems very futuristic but this is what technology is moving towards.  Money, manpower and time will be the obstacles in reshaping cities’ infrastructures and developing new layouts.  A smart city OS will have the capacity to advance, monitor and control city systems.  In my opinion, smart cities already exist but with disparate systems.  When they meld onto an OS, cities will be able to:  reduce information systems footprints, enhance redundancy, refine emergency systems, and intelligently monitor and automate traffic lights, air conditioning and a host of other systems that influence the quality of urban life.  Simultaneously, a smart city OS will reduce the costs of operating a city.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/emergingtech/an-operating-system-for-smart-cities/2874?tag=mantle_skin;content

http://www.japanechoweb.jp/economy/jew0210

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/motorist/atis.shtml

Human Stem Cell Cloning: Innovative, lifesaving or immoral and unethical...

What if you had to have an organ replaced and you could do so instantly without waiting on a donor?  What if you had a disease that doctors diagnosed?  Instead of prescribing medicine or even conducting chemotherapy, the doctors would simply replace the affected body part.  That would be awesome!  Hospitals would then be able to focus more on preventive medicine rather than on treatment.  If a cloned stem cell process existed for human beings, it would be similar to taking your car to a garage.  In fact, that would be promising if biotechnology lives up to expectations and labs could manipulate the building block cells to re-grow or produce organs of the human body.  However, it does put scientists and researchers in the precarious position of playing God, a position that most would like to avoid. 

 The article, “Cloned Human Stem Cells, with a Twist” suggests that cloning has the capacity to create stem cells that are genetically matched to the cell donor.  In other words, they cannot only replace cells but grow the cloned cells to replace organs for a particular donor or even a sibling of that donor.  For instance, diseases such as cancer kill or destroy red and white blood cells, and platelet cells.  Similarly, the treatment kills these cells too.  However, by using stem cells the need to provide treatment that is dangerous to humans will not be necessary.  Albeit, many research laboratories harvest and store stem cells at what they determine is the correct temperature to regenerate cells and support patient recovery.  Although storage at the “correct” temperature by different labs is successful but not consistent, the storage process is still considered experimental.  Researchers have also been successful with cloning in other mammals, but not humans.  Ethical and moral arguments as well as legal challenges are significant reasons why stem cell research and usage are so closely screened and monitored by the FDA. 



Human embryonic stem cells
used to kill cancer cells



Live you may…die you must!  It would be great if the human stem cell cloning process were successful.  These cells can be made available for use in therapies because they will not trigger a reaction from the immune system.  Cloned cells would also be useful in research.  They would allow scientists to study cells from people with specific diseases.  Moreover, you or I would be able to get our cells stored in case of disease or serious injury.  Would this give the rich and famous lots of power to prolong life amidst deformities?  Probably!  Because a procedure like this would not be cheap.  How would the average person fare?  Will this create more of a divide between the rich and poor?

Who knows?!  Would stem cell cloning have prolonged Steve Jobs’ life? What about the average Joe with cancer of the kidneys?  This process may be highly improbable but very possible in the near future.  If this innovative technology comes to fruition, there may not be a need for triple bypass surgery when the building blocks can replenish cells and regenerate a new heart.  Wouldn’t that be neat?  Then again, many believe this process is immoral and unethical.  The future is so unpredictable…  

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/38776/?p1=MstRcnt