We are at the beginning of a technology revolution. There has never been a revolution of this magnitude in all of history.

The revolution affects everyone. No one can ignore it. No one can go unaffected.

Great benefits will come to mankind from the revolution. But waves of wonderful technology will not magically transform the world. Individuals, teams of experts, consumer groups, and larger organizations of human beings, will have to mold the technology to their personal needs.

Left to the current society, the technology revolution will result in fancy entertainment systems, sophisticated military machines, science fiction spy ware in the walls, improved instruments of pleasure, and ever more invasive ways to stick advertisements in front of unsuspecting faces. If we want universal health, long life, relief from disability, sophisticated education, clean environments, and privacy, we will have to struggle to bring it about.

In our domain, blind navigation, we must organize so that funds go toward the creation of wayfinding technologies.

On the table before us is a puzzle. The pieces are high technologies. We can assemble all manner of new gadgets and widgets. We can invent the future.

Here is a list of puzzle pieces:

01. GPS tools
02. Electromagnetic tools (sonar, radar, nanoscale, ultrasound)
03. Increasingly sensitive and affortable sensory substitution tools: better systems for emulating vision, hearing, and touch
04. Robotic tools; things that move, that can sense, and that are smart (smart cars/vehicles)

Here is what the future holds for us as we move forward in time:

01. Two times the computational power of last years computers
02. Twice the creative capability as last year
03. Shrinking prices for ever more sophisticated technologies
04. Shrinking sizes of system components (moving toward invisible)

Since technology changes so fast and since individual needs and desires are unique and changing, it makes the most sense in this new age to prescribe custom made systems for individuals.