Thursday, August 14, 2008
Beijing Olympics
We have had the TV on nonstop ever since the olympic games started. It sure is something to watch. I've been impressed by the amount of technology poured into making the games a successful attraction. The structure of the stadium is just gorgeous, and the Chinese have certainly made a nice marriage of engineering and aesthetics. There has also been a lot of effort put into designing modularity into the venues to extend their useful lifetime indefinitely. I think this is great engineering, as far as I can see on the surface. One other thing that I enjoy seeing on TV is the "robotic systems" that are being employed. It's fun to watch the underwater cameras that shuttle along the bottom of the pool and follow the swimmers. And it was brought to my attention recently (which I should have given more consideration before) that the Skycams used in the large stadiums all around the world are nothing other than a cable-suspended robot with a sophisticated control system. Brilliant stuff!
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While I agree that certain aspects of the technology are truly inspired (my favorite is the high-dive camera that follows the divers as they fall), there are aspects that I'm not too keen on. For those that don't know, some of the fireworks from the opening ceremony telecast were faked (here's one of many links: http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/TV_theater/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210002310). While this may seem fairly innocuous, the Iranian missile tests last month were similarly altered. Where do we draw the line between technological "enhancement" and "manipulation"
It makes you think...or at least it should make you question what you're being shown.
P.S. If you're wondering about the deleted post from "Center for Advanced Airway Technology," that was me, too. I was just signed into the wrong profile. Oops. I guess technology got mad at me for my scathing remarks. @)
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