There is a tremendous amount of information added to the Internet every day but most of it is created by humans. This is changing. Machines are gaining better sensors and capabilities to map and digitize information. Here are a few examples.
Via Engadget:
YouTube has now added a capability to translate video closed captions automatically into many languages. They have been investing translation technology for a long time so this is a logical step for them.
Via Gizmodo:
Before my current job/hobby as education futurist in training, I taught a class at Full Sail on how to create 3d models for video games. It is a very skilled process and took a lot of practice. Now MIT has this project where they wear a device on your chest and create models of the environment as you walk through them. This technology could change the 3d modeling field.
It is not such a leap to imagine this tied to something like Google Glass and have it construct 3d environments everywhere you go. Probably Google will allow people to be mappers for them for a small fee.
A limitation of this technology is it is short range. If you can do it straight from image analysis though it would work at any distance. With several people from different angles you can get a very accurate model. (see What is Computational Photography)
We will soon see a time where more information on the net is generated by machines than by people. At that point, our searching will have to be done by AI assistants in order to find what we are really looking for.
From a learning standpoint, it means more information available to more people around the world. Information is the building blocks of new ideas. The more people who have it, the better we all are.
