Is consumerism now the driving force of innovation?

I am posting this question based from my own observation. Way back, it was the military that is driving most inventions. The strong need to outsmart or outdo the enemy leads scinetists to invent the nuclear bomb. The military needs to communicate with their units that are all around the world and so the satellite was born which we eventually benefitted through our TVs and cellphones.

Working with powerful radio telescopes, they have discovered that we could cook using microwave thus the micorwave oven was invented. The military needed a machine that can solve complex mathematical equations fast in real time and they produced the computer.

Now however, the ever changing needs by consumers for new and "cool" stuff seems to be the motivation for the next generatin tech gadgets. The need by many people to bring with them a portable PC gave rise to the laptops, then smart phones and now the tablet.

People wanted to listen to music from thousands of selections that is impossible to cary with you on cassette tapes. The solution was data recorded on a CD played on a CD player. But that is still bulky, now we have the mp3 player where you can practically carry unlimited number of songs and MP4 for videos.

Wanting better computer gaming experience from our traditional joystick, we are now starting to depart from that with the introduction of motion control like the kinect where you use your body to control the game.

Now the personal computer is again being recycled into our TVs with the introduction of smart TVs. Soon enough, when this catch up almost everyone will be renting their favorite movies online. Many are doing it now but not as much as when renting and watching movies are all done at your TV not to mention online gaming/shopping and the rest of the stuff you can do on a PC.

One of the things introduced this year that is creating a lot of buzz is Samsung's flexible screen. Soon we might see a tube containing a rolled up screen much like the flexible keyboard. We might even see a single rectangular screen (slash computer) that can transform into a laptop by folding it cross-wise with the half still a display while the other half turns into a touch keyboard.

What is next, a hologram maybe?

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