21st Century Technology | LCD Projector

For this assignment we had to look at a 21st century technology and talk about what influenced its creation and what future inventions could possibly be influenced off of it. I did the LCD overhead projector which is seen in almost every class and office now a days. However, It wasn't an original idea at all. It had a lot of previous influences that made it what it is today. Here is my paper on it.

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21^st Century Technology: The LCD Overhead Projector 

There are a multitude of incredibly useful 21^st century technologies that we as society use every day. Almost every one of these technologies are mostly just ideas that were influenced by previous technologies. One great example of this that popped in my head as soon as I heard about this assignment is the LCD Overhead Projector.

            These have become a pretty common appliance in classrooms and in offices. They are also seen in movie theatres and movie projectors. Where this essential piece of technology came from though spurs all the way back to the basic chalk board, where information was projected to the viewer on, essentially, a wall. The first idea of an overhead projector was the Slide Projector. It was a device that projected pictures to the viewer in a slideshow. This later influenced the first non LCD overhead projectors. These had a bright light in the middle where one would put clear plastic sheets to write on. There was a focusing lens that stemmed upwards and projected whatever what was on the sheet onto a projection screen. This was the technology that was in the majority of classrooms for me growing up and they were a big step in the right direction, but weren’t perfect since you had to clean the sheets off each time you wanted to write something new.

Smart boards were another piece of technology that influenced the modern day projector. This interesting innovation connected to a computer (the same way the modern day era projector does) and projected the information onto a board with touch screen capabilities. I remember seeing these a decent amount in classes growing up as well. They didn’t last as long though mainly because the touch screen had to constantly be recalibrated and even when it was, it still didn’t work that well. The modern day 21^st century LCD projector is based off of all of these technologies and is still used today in almost every classroom today.

            This piece of technology only acts as an influence for bigger and better inventions that are waiting for us in the future. I think one innovation that might come about is the idea of projecting information into a screen that’s projected into our eyes. This might sound a tad far fetched, but it’s definitely something that is possible. Black Mirror, a TV show that is based in the mere future shows off this feature a lot. In the show, everyone is shown to have cameras and AI implanted into their head. It basically acts as a mini computer in your head. This is the kind of technology that would be used to also project information better to a viewer. People with poor eyesight could benefit greatly from this. They would no longer have to wear glasses or really try to focus on what is being projected on the screen 20 feet away. Now, it would be right in front of them and the visual could be adjusted to depending on the viewer’s eye sight.

            Another piece of technology that could be influenced by the LCD projector, would be the use of holograms. This idea is something that is a little more realistic and, on a small scale, has already been done in concerts and other types of performances. Holograms could totally be used to project a lecture or a blueprint to a company in the future. It would allow for a way better visual to the viewer along with probably saving space in a classroom or office.

            The LCD overhead projector is just one of many examples of 21^st century technologies that have been influenced by previous inventions and could possibly be an influence for an invention in the future. Only time can tell what the 22^nd century has in store for us, but I know the inventions will be way above our knowledge, just like the technologies being produced now were far fetched for the previous generations.