How do you envision technology 50 years from now?

[salm]

In the past couple of days I have seen a commercial for an Oreck vacuum cleaner model that uses UV light to kill germs, as well as a print add for a "light wand" that you hold over an item to kill germs with UV light. Use of UV technology for santiation was mentioned upthread as a 2059 item, but apparently it's already here, if not widely disseminated (yet)

Oh, my. Do we really need even more sterilizied environments? One theory of why kids in western countries develop so many allergies is because they grow up in very sterile environments.
And even if this theory is wrong, it seems ridiculous to waste resources on even more sterile environments. I mean we allready have a ridiculously high hygenic standard in western nations. Would an even higher one do any good?

[Samuel]

In the past couple of days I have seen a commercial for an Oreck vacuum cleaner model that uses UV light to kill germs, as well as a print add for a "light wand" that you hold over an item to kill germs with UV light. Use of UV technology for santiation was mentioned upthread as a 2059 item, but apparently it's already here, if not widely disseminated (yet)

Oh, my. Do we really need even more sterilizied environments? One theory of why kids in western countries develop so many allergies is because they grow up in very sterile environments.
And even if this theory is wrong, it seems ridiculous to waste resources on even more sterile environments. I mean we allready have a ridiculously high hygenic standard in western nations. Would an even higher one do any good?

Did you happen to miss our resident WMD expert talking about how he thinks human civilization will be destroyed by bioterrorism? Stuart made a good case and we are trying to find ways to make him wrong.

[Broomstick]

In the past couple of days I have seen a commercial for an Oreck vacuum cleaner model that uses UV light to kill germs, as well as a print add for a "light wand" that you hold over an item to kill germs with UV light. Use of UV technology for santiation was mentioned upthread as a 2059 item, but apparently it's already here, if not widely disseminated (yet)

Oh, my. Do we really need even more sterilizied environments? One theory of why kids in western countries develop so many allergies is because they grow up in very sterile environments.
And even if this theory is wrong, it seems ridiculous to waste resources on even more sterile environments. I mean we allready have a ridiculously high hygenic standard in western nations. Would an even higher one do any good?

Initially, such devices were targeted at people who are immune suppressed - organ recipients, HIV infected people, cancer patients, etc. - who genuinely do require a higher level of sanitation than normal. Your point is a valid one, but UV does have a legitimate role, and the advantage that (most likely) it will be less inclined to encourage resistance in bacteria than antibiotics would. UV is also effective against viruses and fungus, too, unlike over-used antibacterials.