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Sure hoping someone can help me. I'm writing a novel set in 2035 and having an awful time trying to guess what America will be like--technologically speaking.
What I'm struggling with right now is whether my hero would be able to produce a report extracted from paper data files that were converted to electronic files. The way I described the conversion process is "... hundreds of hours were spent cataloging, scanning and digitalizing the massive volume of papers files..."
Specifically, if the paper minutes of hundreds of Board meetings recorded the names of the directors and how they voted on each issue, could my hero go through the electronic files and mine this data?
Since this is critical to the plot, I need to make sure that interrogating the electronic files, could produce a report created by "reading" the content of the information in the converted paper files.
Sure hope this question makes sense to somebody. Also if you have a line or two on "far out" technology that may be available in twenty-five years, feel free to share.
Sure hoping someone can help me. I'm writing a novel set in 2035 and having an awful time trying to guess what America will be like--technologically speaking.
What I'm struggling with right now is whether my hero would be able to produce a report extracted from paper data files that were converted to electronic files. The way I described the conversion process is "... hundreds of hours were spent cataloging, scanning and digitalizing the massive volume of papers files..."
Specifically, if the paper minutes of hundreds of Board meetings recorded the names of the directors and how they voted on each issue, could my hero go through the electronic files and mine this data?
Since this is critical to the plot, I need to make sure that interrogating the electronic files, could produce a report created by "reading" the content of the information in the converted paper files.
Sure hope this question makes sense to somebody. Also if you have a line or two on "far out" technology that may be available in twenty-five years, feel free to share.
Thanks,
EileenMaud
Yes, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a technology that has been available to consumers for 20 years already. It isn't unreasonable that by now the technology is close to perfect.
Yes, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a technology that has been available to consumers for 20 years already. It isn't unreasonable that by now the technology is close to perfect.
Look at IBM's Watson - in another 20 years, the computer will not only be able to mine the data, it will be able to make a knowledgeable report based off it all on its own.
In the future I can see humans being implanted with contact lenses that can read the papers (that would be slower than sending papers through a machine) and be sent to a computer or pico projector through something like bluetooth. Effectively turning us into video recorders and players.
I used to work at a Data Imaging company and we scanned millions of paper documents for a ton of various contractors. This is definitely feasible and even more so in the future as newer technology becomes available.
Look at IBM's Watson - in another 20 years, the computer will not only be able to mine the data, it will be able to make a knowledgeable report based off it all on its own.
This is good to know since it is exactly what happens in my novel.
In 20 years AI backed robots will be adventuring into space and using humans as living batteries. I welcome our robot oppressors!
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