Tech Sector

You can stop worrying about the financial crisis.

I have a new way to help Washington make ends meet. If we were smart, we would just close the patent office.

And why not?

After all, according to some folks, all of the great inventions have already come and gone.
So, if you thought we were still on the cusp of miraculous breakthroughs in technology that are going to change the world, think again.

Despite what you may have been reading, the technology sector is actually positively dull, folks.

In fact, using innovation to cure cancer, solve world hunger, and help humans live past the age of 100 with genius-level IQs is just plain boring. Ho-hum really.

I know this because I read all about in Forbes magazine. So it must be true... right?

Of course, I hope you'll pardon the stinging sarcasm...

But in a recent column, Rich Karlgaard of Forbes actually questioned whether the future of technology would be as bright as the past.

To be fair, Karlgaard's argument refers to a new book on the subject by a prominent college professor who claims technological progress is nowhere near where it used to be.

Or as Karlgaard argues, "doesn't quite stir the soul."

Miracle Breakthroughs

Maybe he should have talked to Barbara Campbell.

Twenty years ago, the New Yorker went blind while still in her 30s

Today, she can at least see rough shapes and enough light to make out the building she calls home. It's all courtesy of the electrodes surgeons implanted in her eyes.

They communicate wirelessly with a pair of sunglasses that sport a tiny video camera.

The LA-based developer of these "bionic eyes," Second Sight Medical Products, won approval to sell its system in Europe last year. In 2012, the privately held company hopes to finally win U.S. approval for its miraculous technology.

But whether the company goes global or not is beside the point. I predict that in as little as 20 years, human blindness will largely be a thing of the past.

And then there's the case of Matt Nagle, a Massachusetts man whose life took a turn for the worse after being paralyzed from the neck down.

To his delight, he has learned to surf the web, send emails, make a robot move its hand and play video games - all with the power of his mind.