Globe expands use of laser technology

I never really thought that I would still be around to see science fiction become reality. I thought it would happen beyond my lifetime. And yet, here we are in the midst of fully embracing artificial intelligence and Star Wars laser technology!

- MARIANNE GO

When I first watched the 1968 Stanley Kubrick movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (which to be honest I didn’t even really understand then because it was fictionsomething made up), we were still just beginning to explore space.

To some, space travel and the Apollo 11 landing on the moon in 1969 was even supposed to be a hoax.

Computers were still colossal structures then and only used by governments and big corporations. By 1975, hobbyists started to use experimental machines that they, however, still had to assemble from a kit.

It was only by 1977 that Apple, among the pioneers, first started to sell pre-assembled computers.

The internet officially started in 1983.

Personal computers, thus, only became common in the 1980s, and started to become a household item in the 1990s, about the same time that portable laptops started to become mainstream, even surpassing desktop computers.

To connect to the internet through a desktop computer, however, a physical connection is still required using underground copper cable connections. Technology is evolving so rapidly that the system now uses the much faster fiber-optic cables.

However, technological evolution is happening much faster than expected.

In August 1977, the cult blockbuster Star Wars introduced “laser” sabers, turning into visual reality what we only knew as science fiction — of course the movies’ laser was just a special effect, but hey, laser technology is now reality! It is even used for medical purposes.