Repair Qs 50 Years from Now

Considering how far electronics has come in just the past 50 years, one wonders what sort of repair questions technicians of the future will face. Stuff that's as common as beer cans now may be extinct just a few decades down the road. Repair techniques we now take for granted may not work on tomorrow's equipment. Think about it; we may have to deal with bioelectronics, teletransportation equipment, tech support between planets.

Schematics may become so large as to be unprintable on paper, or even stored on even one mass-storage device.

The vast majority of electronic devices may be impossible to take apart, much less repair. (And some manufacturers may not even bother to print part numbers on some components as a result.)

Microscopes will become absolutely necessary, as will lasers for spot-welding soldering.

Will tomorrow's matter-teleportation devices come with any warranties? Today's software doesn't.

In the early 1960s, _Mad_ magazine printed a funny article called "Future Complaints." It illustrated the potential problems that people in the future would have to deal with. Interestingly, some of these gags have indeed not only come to pass, but become obsolete: a customer in a super-fast photoprocessing store was angrily complaining to the helpless clerk, "What do you mean, 'They're not in yet'? I brought them in over an hour ago!" But the funniest one was still this: "Geez, can't they do something to speed up these long lines at the post office?"

So use your imagination: What will technology be like in 50 years, what will break down, and how will we fix it? What tools will we need? We technicians may find ourselves having to repair clothing that comes with data-transmission capability; having to remotely repair I.D. chips beneath human skin that have stopped working; repairing or reconditioning biomedical devices after they've been retrieved from people who no longer have need of them. What else?

Whatever we build, will eventually break. You want your jet pack shutting off at 1,000 feet? :)

Reply to
Matt J. McCullar
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Yep! But only if my roof landing zone is sufficiently close. ;) :) :)

Reply to
Sjouke Burry

Reply to
Art

Most things will be "throw-away". If it is an expensiive item, there will be circuit board or module swapping.

With the advent of increased density in using inbeded component design, and very high density SMD circuit construction, there will be no possibility of component level service at any practicle means.

I was at a lecture about the future of how electroncs will go. They are looking at everything to be totaly inbeded and manufactured as sealed modules. Consumer level devices will be manufactured as a single self contained module. During warranty, the manufacture will give a full exchange. After that, the unit is disposed.

As devices become very small and higher in density, the manufacture cost will drop. This will be passed on to the consumer. In the future, most electronic devices will be even lower in price.

If you look at computer monitors and TV sets, about 40 years ago the cheapest TV set was over a month's pay for a working man. Today, you can buy a TV for much less value and have a much higher performance. Chances are that it will reliably run for at least 4 to 6 years. At 40 years ago, if a tube type TV ran more than 3 years without service, it was unusual.

In the near future, Independent TV service centers will probably be almost non existant. It will be probably impossible to indepently service the next generations of TV's to come out.

If you look at the labour and parts cost to service most things today, it is usualy of better value to replace it.

Electronics service people should be taking a hard look at what they are doing, and make a strong consideration for proper planning.

Jerry G.

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Matt J. McCullar wrote:

Reply to
Jerry G.

Jerry, that is a very good point.

I now work for two ASCs, and the idea is to share resources. I am not really into working for ISCs anymore. But still I have seen sets under a year old. I know where we are heading. And I know why. Intergrated micros and jungle ICs reduce the complexity or the circuit board, which they promptly miniturize a bit more and the process continues.

Everyone, I am a forward thinker, and the OP's question was about fifty years from now. I will now render my answer, with detail, because that's the way I am. This could happen in way less than fifty years. The technology exists now for the most part, but this is so data processing intensive that I don't think they can accomplish it today.

In the future they will have a 3D flat screen TV. You know those mirrors with the lights that look like they go off into infinity ? It has one half silvered mirror and one full silvered mirror. It tricks your depth perception. It looks like there is a hole in the wall behind it and like a mirrored tunnel lined with lights.

By using LCD panels that are partially reflective, and sandwiching a bunch of them together, even interpreting the data will be a task, but by careful selection of what is sent to each panel they can give the illusion of 3D. Also, some outgrowth of DLP technology might be used to control that reflectivity. Between the two, they will eventually succeed in doing this, and after that, with a wide viewing angle. This will be dealing with layers possibly closer together than the wavelength of light. The thickness of the unit will probably be only a few inches, but the apparent depth can be much greater as they can bounce the light around maybe hundreds of thousands of times.

I also belive that eventually someone will eliminate speakers as we know them. They will abandon the idea of a voice coil motor, even current other technologies such as electrostatic and piezoelectric. With the use of some type of field, they will convert the electricity directly to air movement, without limitations due to cone size or mass.

Of course then again there might be no technology fifty years from now if they don't stop starting these wars and shit.

JURB

Reply to
ZZactly

All equipment in the future will be self repairing, there wont be any need for technicians apart from those employed to keep the replicators working.

:)

Ron(UK)

Reply to
Ron(UK)

I was reading some articles, and have seen some documentation about how TV will be an HD 3D projected image in the air. It will be like what we see in the science fiction movies. There is a lot of research going on to develop this type of technology. This way, TV will be viewed without any surface to support reflected light. Images will look true and 3D. This should be a verify good illusion when they can get it to work.

--

Jerry G. ======

I now work for two ASCs, and the idea is to share resources. I am not really into working for ISCs anymore. But still I have seen sets under a year old. I know where we are heading. And I know why. Intergrated micros and jungle ICs reduce the complexity or the circuit board, which they promptly miniturize a bit more and the process continues.

Everyone, I am a forward thinker, and the OP's question was about fifty years from now. I will now render my answer, with detail, because that's the way I am. This could happen in way less than fifty years. The technology exists now for the most part, but this is so data processing intensive that I don't think they can accomplish it today.

In the future they will have a 3D flat screen TV. You know those mirrors with the lights that look like they go off into infinity ? It has one half silvered mirror and one full silvered mirror. It tricks your depth perception. It looks like there is a hole in the wall behind it and like a mirrored tunnel lined with lights.

By using LCD panels that are partially reflective, and sandwiching a bunch of them together, even interpreting the data will be a task, but by careful selection of what is sent to each panel they can give the illusion of 3D. Also, some outgrowth of DLP technology might be used to control that reflectivity. Between the two, they will eventually succeed in doing this, and after that, with a wide viewing angle. This will be dealing with layers possibly closer together than the wavelength of light. The thickness of the unit will probably be only a few inches, but the apparent depth can be much greater as they can bounce the light around maybe hundreds of thousands of times.

I also belive that eventually someone will eliminate speakers as we know them. They will abandon the idea of a voice coil motor, even current other technologies such as electrostatic and piezoelectric. With the use of some type of field, they will convert the electricity directly to air movement, without limitations due to cone size or mass.

Of course then again there might be no technology fifty years from now if they don't stop starting these wars and shit.

JURB

Reply to
Jerry G.

The highest tech things to worry about may be a stone hammer and a bow and arrow required for defense and your next meal. Everything we recognize today as technology was wiped out in the final war of 2029.

Have a nice day, Lee Richardson Mech-Tech Evansville, Indiana

Reply to
Lee Richardson

Hi!

Sometimes the best answer to what the future holds is found by looking at the past. Look at the number of people who still collect, restore and use vintage items of every type--cars, radios, household appliances. It may take some ingenuity, but repairs on these items are still possible. Many parts are still easily available and those which are not can usually be made or substituted.

I have a Zenith 6S52 console radio from 1936. I doubt that anyone in that time imagined that this radio would still exist or be repairable...71 years later.

Granted, today's electronics are more complex and few of them come with any service literature as this old radio did. However, I'm sure that at the time, the radio and its internal workings represented a mystery to the people who owned it... Oh, and if you think the electronics of today are complex and poorly documented...

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh

On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:18:02 -0500, "Lee Richardson" put finger to keyboard and composed:

That's when Internet became self-aware.

- Franc Zabkar

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Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
Reply to
Franc Zabkar

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