0:00:06 > 0:00:10They are the everyday objects which apparently we can't live without.
0:00:13 > 0:00:18Innovative gadgets that fascinate and entertain.
0:00:20 > 0:00:26Shiny new devices that are constantly upgraded to be faster and more powerful,
0:00:26 > 0:00:28with must-have new features.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31# I'm the operator with my pocket calculator. #
0:00:31 > 0:00:35'Millions of us have succumbed to the culture of upgrading.'
0:00:35 > 0:00:39# I'm the operator with my pocket calculator. #
0:00:39 > 0:00:42'I'm already on my tenth mobile.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51'Why do so many of us...' Hello? '..covet the upgrade?'
0:00:51 > 0:00:53Wrong number.
0:00:53 > 0:00:59Is it really about functionality, the look, or the feel,
0:00:59 > 0:01:04or is there some deeper psychology at work here, to do with status and desire?
0:01:04 > 0:01:09Gadgets have changed our relationship with the world and rewired our perceptions.
0:01:11 > 0:01:17As I writer, I'm interested in their impact on our imaginations.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25It's really funky. 'This story will take me to the other side of the world...
0:01:25 > 0:01:29'to the beating heart of the upgrade.'
0:01:29 > 0:01:33The speed of product innovation continues to accelerate,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35but is it sustainable?
0:01:35 > 0:01:37And what's going to happen to all this stuff now?
0:01:37 > 0:01:42'The future is digital, but is it beautiful?'
0:01:48 > 0:01:55I am now very pleased to introduce someone who's written novels, short stories, television films.
0:01:55 > 0:02:01Most recently he's written a book about how music has shaped his life. It's called "Gig".
0:02:01 > 0:02:06And on top of all this, he's one of Britain's finest poets.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Please will you welcome Simon Armitage.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:02:23 > 0:02:27Hello. I'm going to start by reading a poem
0:02:27 > 0:02:33about the pace of modern life and its effect on the brain
0:02:33 > 0:02:37and its effect on the body, so it's a poem that goes very, very quickly
0:02:37 > 0:02:39and it's called Killing Time Number 2.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Time in the brain cells Sweating like a nail bomb
0:02:44 > 0:02:46Trouble with the heartbeat spitting like a sten gun
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Cut to the chase, pick up the pace
0:02:49 > 0:02:50No such thing as a walkabout fun run
0:02:50 > 0:02:53Shoot yourself a glance in the chrome in the day-room
0:02:53 > 0:02:55Don't hang about You're running out of space, son
0:02:55 > 0:02:57Red light, stop sign Bellyful of road rage
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Ticket from the fuzz if you dawdle in the slow lane
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Pull up your socks Get out the blocks... VOICE FADES
0:03:03 > 0:03:07If the pace of life HAS accelerated, one major factor might be
0:03:07 > 0:03:12our obsession with keeping up with the speed of technological innovation.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14I'm very happy with my new Smartphone...
0:03:14 > 0:03:19I can communicate however, wherever and whenever I want.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26But at other times, I wonder if gadgets make us frantic and anxious.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39What drives our appetite to upgrade to the latest consumer technology?
0:03:39 > 0:03:44And how has new technology changed our lives?
0:03:44 > 0:03:49West Yorkshire, where I was born and live, was one of the cradles
0:03:49 > 0:03:53of the Luddite movement, and back then technology was a dirty word.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59Ironic, then, that without realising it,
0:03:59 > 0:04:04I've become a bit of a technophile with my sat-nav, Smartphone and laptop.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09And inside this little furry, blue pouch...
0:04:09 > 0:04:14I keep this little, silver memory stick.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18Every word that I've ever written is on that stick,
0:04:18 > 0:04:22which is pretty extraordinary, and I don't even think I will ever fill it.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30If I'm looking for evidence of upgrading, I needn't look much further than my own home.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Dumped in a drawer on the landing are my past purchases.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42I suppose you could say that this drawer,
0:04:42 > 0:04:49and several others like it in the house, represent the story of my upgrading thus far.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54This is the archaeology of my upgrading.
0:04:54 > 0:05:01I don't whether these are trophies, or whether it's a sort of, you know, detritus, or what.
0:05:01 > 0:05:08This was my first laptop, which I actually feel quite sentimental about now.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Probably bought this about ten years ago.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14But I was so proud of it and worried about losing it
0:05:14 > 0:05:17that I used to hide it under the settee every night when I went to bed.
0:05:17 > 0:05:23Sony Walkman, PDA, Palm Tungsten.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27This was probably the most useless device I ever bought.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32I was getting rid of a handwritten diary and transferring everything to this -
0:05:32 > 0:05:34contacts, appointments, names, addresses, telephone numbers -
0:05:34 > 0:05:36it was all going to be in here.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41And also you had to learn a whole new Hieroglyphic language
0:05:41 > 0:05:45before you could put information into it.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Who wants to do that, you know at age 40-plus, learn a whole new language,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52just so they can write, "ten o clock, dentist"?
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Excavating this drawer makes me question my attitude to technology.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01Am I destined to carry on upgrading forever?
0:06:17 > 0:06:20The digital revolution has crept up on us all.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24It's now so common-place, we barely recognise it.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Last year in the UK, we bought a cool 24 million new phones.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39It feels like the speed of upgrading is accelerating.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45I've come to the John Lewis department store in Oxford Street, London.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53Despite the credit crunch, in 2008, sales of consumer electronics
0:06:53 > 0:06:58across John Lewis's 28 stores were up 3% on 2007.
0:07:04 > 0:07:10Across Britain last year, we went on a technology buying spree of epic proportions.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13We purchased six million digital cameras,
0:07:13 > 0:07:1813 million computers and eight million new flat-screen televisions,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21and seven million MP3 players...
0:07:22 > 0:07:26..which must be music to the ears of retailers like John Lewis.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31I know it's an odd thing to say in a shop, but everything looks very new,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34you know, stuff that I haven't seen before.
0:07:34 > 0:07:40How often do the ranges change in all these, you know, various gadgets and things?
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Well, it varies slightly from product area to product area.
0:07:43 > 0:07:48I mean, the one that you're standing next to here in computing, this changes four times a year
0:07:48 > 0:07:50and it completely changes four times a year.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54- So every three months, everything is changed here.- Yeah, total new range.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58That's probably the most rapid change that we see.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02Areas like televisions and DVD recorders, that type of thing,
0:08:02 > 0:08:08they normally change once a year but they have what they call a refresh, so pretty much every six months.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13'The entire camera range changes twice a year too.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17'It's mind-boggling how often everything is replaced.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20'Within months your new gadget is so...
0:08:20 > 0:08:22'yesterday?
0:08:22 > 0:08:28'The living rooms of Britain have been transformed into home-entertainment emporiums,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31'with a subwoofer behind every settee.'
0:08:31 > 0:08:36And is there one particular product that's driving this whole thing, would you say?
0:08:36 > 0:08:41I think, in the last five years, what's absolutely made people get excited about technology
0:08:41 > 0:08:45is the TV, because there's been this fundamental shift
0:08:45 > 0:08:49from the large box in the corner to something much slimmer and sleeker.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54Also people don't seem to be bothered any more, that it's a bit like being sat in the pub,
0:08:54 > 0:08:59you know, there's a sort of a 60 inch television there in the room.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01Why do you think people buy technology?
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Is it just need, or is it something else?
0:09:04 > 0:09:08There is need, so, "The telly broke, I want a new one."
0:09:08 > 0:09:12But for an awful lot of people it is about what their friends have got,
0:09:12 > 0:09:17it's perhaps a status, and it's very much become part of our lifestyle.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21So you see it in the media, you see it on television yourself,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24and people start to think, "I must buy into that."
0:09:26 > 0:09:32'The digital revolution has delivered uncountable gizmos and gadgets into the heart of our lives.
0:09:32 > 0:09:39'And to some they bring status and credibility, implying as they do success, knowledge and power.'
0:09:41 > 0:09:46When you're in this kind of Aladdin's cave of technology
0:09:46 > 0:09:51it's almost impossible not be seduced into the idea of wanting something.
0:09:51 > 0:09:58And I don't think it's just because everything is so shiny and sleek and slim-line and lightweight,
0:09:58 > 0:10:03it's the fact that it's all working and it all looks so neat and tidy
0:10:03 > 0:10:10and you think, "Actually my life could do with a bit of tidiness. If I get that thing there,
0:10:10 > 0:10:15"it's going to sort everything out, bring everything into focus, put everything in its right place."
0:10:15 > 0:10:20It does make you want to... does make you want to purchase.
0:10:27 > 0:10:34Looking around, upgrade culture seems to cross all boundaries of class, age and ethnicity.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39Perhaps it's been fuelled by the wealth that this country has enjoyed in recent years.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45When I was young, money was much tighter and there was far less choice.
0:10:49 > 0:10:56I'm going to meet some schoolchildren to discover just how much of this stuff today's kids have got,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59at a school I know well from my visits as a poet.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03My first gadget was a radio in the shape of an electric shaver.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06How hilarious is that?!
0:11:06 > 0:11:08It only played Radio One.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12In fact, it only seemed to play Grandad by Clive Dunn!
0:11:12 > 0:11:19OK, guys, if you could just pop your stuff... Just take it off the desk for the time being.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21If you just clear the desks, thanks.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30If you've brought a gadget or an electronic device with you today,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33can you just get them out and put them on the table?
0:11:43 > 0:11:48'I'm gob-smacked by the amount of stuff the children have brought in today to show me.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54'Holland Park School is a diverse inner-city comprehensive
0:11:54 > 0:11:57'and the pupils here come from every social background.'
0:11:57 > 0:12:00- Is that a special cover for that? - Yeah.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Oh, that's pretty cool.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05- You can put music on it.- Can you watch videos on it as well?
0:12:05 > 0:12:11'These kids are 11 and 12, but a remarkable 49 out of 50 own a mobile phone.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19'Only a handful don't have the latest MP3 player or games console.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23'And every child here owns a digital camera.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27'You can't help thinking that gadgets are actually part of their identities.'
0:12:28 > 0:12:32Is it cool to be the same as everybody else or is it cool to be different?
0:12:32 > 0:12:35Could you be really cool by NOT having a phone?
0:12:35 > 0:12:38If you have a phone, it's cooler than not having a phone,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42but it's also cool to have a different phone to your friends.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45People like to compare their phones, for just like early on.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49Me and Dan were just comparing our phones, comparing the different features
0:12:49 > 0:12:53on our phones, such as the camera, the games, the downloading off the internet, and things like that.
0:12:53 > 0:12:58What is the ultimate gadget? What is the best gadget to have?
0:12:58 > 0:13:02- The iPhone.- iPhone.- Yeah. - It's cool, it does everything.
0:13:02 > 0:13:08- So even though nobody here's got an iPhone, you've all heard of it?- Yeah.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11You all know what one is and you all desire one?
0:13:11 > 0:13:16- Yeah.- I don't think I really need one at this stage in life. - Maybe you're in denial about it,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19secretly it's the thing that you desire more than anything?
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Um, not really.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29'Toys have long been status symbols for kids.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31'But for this generation, there seems to be a good deal
0:13:31 > 0:13:37'of social pressure on them and their parents to acquire the latest gadgets and be part of the gang.'
0:13:40 > 0:13:45It's also really interesting to see what a social tool they are.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Gadgets are often thought of as things that isolate people,
0:13:48 > 0:13:56but watching them together here, it seems to me that they're often devices for bringing people together.
0:13:59 > 0:14:05'I thought it would be fun to see how many of them could recognise a portable music device from MY youth.'
0:14:05 > 0:14:08Has anybody got one of these?
0:14:08 > 0:14:10No. What is it?
0:14:10 > 0:14:15- What do you think it is?- A box. - I think it's a computer. - Do you think it's a computer?
0:14:15 > 0:14:17I think it's one of the first computers ever made,
0:14:17 > 0:14:19inside the box.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24It looks like it could be some big, chunky laptop, in its case.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28I think it's a radio and it might be like you can sit in it while listening to music.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31THEY LAUGH Very comfy! What do you think it is?
0:14:31 > 0:14:35It's a music thing, one of the those old fashioned things.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38- A gramophone.- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:14:41 > 0:14:42Madonna!
0:14:44 > 0:14:46You press a button and this comes up.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51- This thing moves, then it takes it, and then it plays it.- Wow!
0:14:53 > 0:14:55- Whoa!- Put it right at the edge.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58No, don't do it too hard.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01RECORD SCRATCHES
0:15:05 > 0:15:06MUSIC STARTS
0:15:13 > 0:15:17'Music, and how to access and listen to it, has been
0:15:17 > 0:15:21'one of the biggest drivers of upgrade culture for today's generation.
0:15:21 > 0:15:27'For me, music has always been a kind of fuel that powers your daydreams.'
0:15:33 > 0:15:39I'm from that generation that got a wonky spine from carrying vinyl around.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42I was in my mid-teens when bands like Blondie were making their noise.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48I caught the tail end of punk, and all my spare money went on records.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52After vinyl, it was the cassette,
0:15:52 > 0:15:56and the Sony Walkman - nothing short of a revolution.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Suddenly you could go anywhere with music.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10Then it was CD, minidisc, and finally the digital MP3 player,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14dominated by one particular brand.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20# This is ground control to Major Tom... #
0:16:20 > 0:16:23The iPod was a quantum leap in listening to music.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Suddenly you could have 10,000 songs on this little device.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30The comparison used to be with a cigarette packet that you could just drop in your top pocket.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34But I used to think of it as like a little block of Kendal Mint Cake
0:16:34 > 0:16:39sat there, and with these headphones it was like music playing directly into your thoughts,
0:16:39 > 0:16:45it was music being mainlined straight into your imagination.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52The Classic iPod will always be white.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58'Tom Dunmore is a gadget guru
0:16:58 > 0:17:02'and the editor of lads' gadget magazine, Stuff.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07'Stuff has dotted every "i" in the iPod story.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11'It's gadget porn for those who lust and desire.'
0:17:11 > 0:17:15Can we talk about what I think of as the stuff of Stuff?
0:17:15 > 0:17:18Do you remember seeing your first ever iPod?
0:17:18 > 0:17:20I remember it really clearly actually
0:17:20 > 0:17:24because I went to the Macworld Exhibition in London.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28It was the first day it was on sale. It had already been out in America,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30but not for very long.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Well, I think I've got one of the first ones here, and...
0:17:33 > 0:17:38back then, when it started - this is actually a second generation one -
0:17:38 > 0:17:43but the first one that came out, it looked exactly the same, but this wheel here was actually mechanical
0:17:43 > 0:17:47so it moved with your finger. And I actually really miss that
0:17:47 > 0:17:52because there's a kind of really nice analogue feel to quite a digital device.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55When this notion of the iPod came along I was really excited about it.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59I said to my wife, "I want one of those," and she said, "I'll get you one for Christmas."
0:17:59 > 0:18:05And I still use the one that I got all those years ago, so I guess this is kind of an original, isn't it?
0:18:05 > 0:18:08- Yeah that's a third generation iPod. - Third generation?
0:18:08 > 0:18:11That's third generation, yeah. So that came after this one.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17'Tom walked me through the whole evolution of the iPod upgrades.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19'They've come thinner and faster.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23'Six generations of the iPod Classic since 2001,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26'each smaller, with a bigger memory or more features.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30'Of course, there are other MP3 players.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32'Brands like Sony, Creative or Philips.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37'But for me, it's the iPod that is synonymous with upgrading.'
0:18:37 > 0:18:43Is it fair to say that we've been living through a revolution, a digital revolution?
0:18:43 > 0:18:45Absolutely.
0:18:45 > 0:18:51I mean, it's not only been a digital revolution, it's gone hand in hand with a design revolution
0:18:51 > 0:18:55and I think the two are really interlinked.
0:19:02 > 0:19:09With the iPod, Apple upped the design stakes and brought a new simplicity to music players.
0:19:09 > 0:19:15Going digital freed the industry to play with the look and feel of devices.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20But it's not just the thirty-something male readers of Stuff magazine
0:19:20 > 0:19:22who have bought the latest iPods.
0:19:22 > 0:19:29Women, kids, even old fogey dads like me have sported the famous white earphone.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38While Apple were the established cool outsider brand,
0:19:38 > 0:19:43I wonder if the iPod's success was also down to its advertising.
0:19:43 > 0:19:49'Robin Wight is a leading ad man who spent years researching advertising psychology.'
0:19:51 > 0:19:56Robin, when I think of iPod advertising, this is the advert I think of. The silhouette campaign.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Why was this so important?
0:19:59 > 0:20:04These are brilliant. First of all, you got this signalling of the white wire.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07A big part of this young people's market
0:20:07 > 0:20:10is you're trying to signal your success...
0:20:10 > 0:20:13about, basically, genetic fitness.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Through having an iPod they are saying, "I am good breeding stock."
0:20:17 > 0:20:20You are exactly doing that. At an unconscious level and sometimes
0:20:20 > 0:20:24at a conscious level you are saying that you can afford this... display activity
0:20:24 > 0:20:29and you're actually signalling peacock-tail behaviour and signalling genetic fitness.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31It is the mating game.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33How big do you think my iPod is?
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Your iPod? I am sure you have the very latest one.
0:20:36 > 0:20:42A small one may be more status than a big one, at least in iPods.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46Is it is crude as "I want to be that person?"
0:20:46 > 0:20:51One of the points is you don't see who the person is so you could be that person.
0:20:51 > 0:20:52You can identify with it.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55It's concept of the incomplete proposition.
0:20:55 > 0:20:56It's called the Zygonic Effect.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01If you have something that's incomplete, you complete the circle, which your brain will do,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03it's more engaging.
0:21:03 > 0:21:11In your opinion, with an upgraded product, is that product a response to our need for an upgraded product
0:21:11 > 0:21:18- or is it simply the company's need to keep on selling these things? - Well, it's a mixture of the two.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23The company's need to keep selling things wouldn't work if there wasn't this underlying need.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28People need, for the function and signalling power, the upgrades. It drives human progress.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32You should be happy. If humans didn't want to upgrade,
0:21:32 > 0:21:34we'd probably still be in the Middle Ages.
0:21:39 > 0:21:47Apple and clever advertising psychology certainly helped grab music out of the Middle Ages.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50But it's interesting today the biggest global player
0:21:50 > 0:21:55in consumer electronics is not in the United States, or even in Japan.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02They're here, in South Korea,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06at the cutting edge of the digital revolution.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13I've just peeled myself out of the aeroplane after a ten-hour flight.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17The sun's coming up on a new country for me.
0:22:17 > 0:22:25It's very exciting. And I'm heading to Gadget HQ, in Gadget City, in Gadget Country.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28So I feel as if I'm right in the epicentre
0:22:28 > 0:22:33of the technological revolution, and it's exciting.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42South Korea is one of the world's most advanced digital societies.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46The capital city Seoul is home to Samsung,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49today the world's largest consumer electronics company.
0:22:49 > 0:22:56Their global sales have overtaken Sony's, and competitors like Toshiba and Panasonic.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00This is Samsung's swanky new headquarters.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05The company make an extraordinary diverse range of gadgets,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07with products for every conceivable -
0:23:07 > 0:23:10and some inconceivable - occasions.
0:23:17 > 0:23:24In 2007, their global consumer electronics sales reached a staggering 105 billion.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Inside the HQ is Samsung D'light,
0:23:29 > 0:23:35a glistening multimedia display promoting the creative philosophy of the company.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38My guide is Seon Mi Jin.
0:23:38 > 0:23:44Watch your step. Samsung D'light has three floors,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47and now we are going to the first floor.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50On the first floor, there are three kinds of genre -
0:23:50 > 0:23:52image, text and sound.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Image, text and sound.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58And it's also the kinds of marketing, and...
0:23:58 > 0:24:00'The atmosphere is post-postmodern,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03'but one you can touch and play with!'
0:24:03 > 0:24:06An other-worldly high-tech palace of the senses.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10What have we got here?
0:24:10 > 0:24:15Oh, yes, er, now you see our MP3 player.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18- Oh, they're MP3 players, are they? - Yeah.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22- Right. It looks very light. - Yes. Would you like to pick up?
0:24:22 > 0:24:25- Oh, yes.- It's really light. - It weighs nothing, does it?
0:24:25 > 0:24:30So it's a sort of pebble-shaped iPod type thing?
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Ah, yes, that could be. Yes.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37Why would Samsung design something in the shape of a pebble?
0:24:37 > 0:24:42It's designed like a pebble because it is easy to grip
0:24:42 > 0:24:44and easy to hold,
0:24:44 > 0:24:46and really a small one, yeah.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50- But it's sort of beautiful as well, isn't it?- Yes, yes.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Is that the idea, to appeal to people's sense of beauty?
0:24:54 > 0:25:00Sure, yeah, so it's really popular for young people, especially,
0:25:00 > 0:25:04and we also have a pebble design for DVD players.
0:25:04 > 0:25:11Because a lot of the original gadgets were quite ugly, weren't they, but they, but they were useful.
0:25:11 > 0:25:17But it seems now almost as if they're becoming jewellery, an ornament.
0:25:17 > 0:25:23Ah, yeah, yeah. It could be also one idea with these MP3 players.
0:25:23 > 0:25:24Yeah.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30Walking around the exhibition is a calm and inviting experience.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34It's design that wants us to engage and be at one with it.
0:25:34 > 0:25:40Samsung's business is to create the products of tomorrow and to anticipate our desires.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Everything is lightweight and pleasing to the eye.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52What's very clear, looking at these products, is that function is no longer a primary concern.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54We all know that these things work.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59It's about fashion now, it's about design, it's about decoration, it's about beauty.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02Who knows - it could even be about art.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12'Six floors above the showroom, Samsung's mobile phone design team
0:26:12 > 0:26:16'are brainstorming next season's phones.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20'Each year they're responsible for designing dozens of new models.'
0:26:36 > 0:26:43'Surprisingly, they use literary notions to inspire their discussion with enigmatic team leader Eliot.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47'Ideas like stories, emotion and identity.'
0:26:58 > 0:27:01'The biggest trend in consumer electronics is convergence,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04'gadgets that can do a multitude of things.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08'The team's latest design is an upmarket touch-screen phone
0:27:08 > 0:27:12'combined with camera, MP3 player and internet access.'
0:27:12 > 0:27:17Actually designing something is like a journey
0:27:17 > 0:27:20for finding kind of...a new story,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23new kind of emotions for the people.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27So they wanna express their lifestyle with this, you know,
0:27:27 > 0:27:31very stylish phone, especially the back.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33The back side is more important,
0:27:33 > 0:27:35you know, it's getting more important these days.
0:27:35 > 0:27:41So, through the back of the phone, because that's projecting towards other people,
0:27:41 > 0:27:45- you're signalling to other people what sort of person you are? - That's right. That's right.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48- And what sort of person would- I- be if I had this phone?
0:27:48 > 0:27:51Would I be cool? Smart?
0:27:51 > 0:27:55- Both, I think.- Sexy?
0:27:55 > 0:28:00- Absolutely.- And next year will there be a better phone than this?
0:28:00 > 0:28:08Absolutely. Because, er, design trend is changing and people's emotion is also changing.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Does Korea have a huge appetite for new phones?
0:28:12 > 0:28:16It's kind of test bed for new design, new technologies.
0:28:16 > 0:28:22So, every time we introduce the new phones, people really like that.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Sometimes having...old phone here, it's kind of very strange.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33ELECTRONIC PIANO PLAYS
0:28:37 > 0:28:42On the 11th floor live Samsung's ring-tone team.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53It might not be Mozart, but these little ditties
0:28:53 > 0:28:57are the Pavlovian noises that send us scurrying to our phones.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59HIP-HOP BEAT
0:29:02 > 0:29:05As if our devices speak to us using a language we all understand -
0:29:05 > 0:29:07music.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14BEEPING TUNE PLAYS
0:29:15 > 0:29:21Across Seoul, I was then shown a vision of what Samsung think our domestic lives might become.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24- Hello.- Hello, nice to meet you.- Hi.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26This is Future House.
0:29:26 > 0:29:32We're joined here by Microsoft and Samsung Engineering And Construction to exhibit the house of the future.
0:29:32 > 0:29:36So today I will be the owner of this house that I would like to introduce to you.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40Please to be seated on the couch.
0:29:40 > 0:29:46This is the living room and this cellphone is a key that's used to control my house,
0:29:46 > 0:29:49and I can show you very briefly now.
0:29:49 > 0:29:57And even I can check that where is my family inside this living room.
0:29:57 > 0:29:58PHONE BLEEPS
0:29:58 > 0:30:02When I'm wondering about the location of my little boy,
0:30:02 > 0:30:06I can click the little boy pictures.
0:30:06 > 0:30:11And this is a kind of GPS system so in the future every family member
0:30:11 > 0:30:13have a chip.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15Do you like this system?
0:30:15 > 0:30:17Yeah the system's great.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21- Thank you very much.- So every member of the family has a chip?
0:30:21 > 0:30:23- Yes.- On them? In them?
0:30:23 > 0:30:25Ah yes, both of them is possible
0:30:25 > 0:30:30and I think in the future every family member have
0:30:30 > 0:30:34chip-like bracelet, or necklace or cellphone is possible.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37OK.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42'I can understand the thinking here,
0:30:42 > 0:30:47'but I'm not convinced this surveillance future is one I want to live in
0:30:47 > 0:30:51'or find these huge multi-media gizmos in my living room.'
0:30:51 > 0:30:53- Is this the bathroom?- Yes.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56'But what about the bathroom of the future?
0:30:56 > 0:30:58'A bathroom's a bathroom, right?'
0:30:58 > 0:30:59This is a biotron,
0:30:59 > 0:31:05and actually you can check your health condition with this little check machine.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07- So would you like to try it?- Yeah.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11Yes, come over here and put your hand on the machine.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14Put your both hands on.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16Now start your health condition.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20- MACHINE SPEAKS: - 'Checking your health condition.'
0:31:20 > 0:31:23And you can see the diagnosis via a magic mirror.
0:31:23 > 0:31:25'Health check is done'.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27Now it's done, Simon.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32- How was I?- You will see the result via magic mirror.
0:31:32 > 0:31:38- Oh, Simon, congratulations you have great condition. - My body is my temple.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43- It's a good diet.- Yes. And also they are recommending a programme for you Simon.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47What did it check? Did it check my pulse, my heart rate?
0:31:47 > 0:31:54Yes, in the future you can check health condition in this house and without going to hospital.
0:31:54 > 0:31:59- Have you ever exercised in yoga? - No, do I have to do that now?
0:32:01 > 0:32:05So just remember you can exercise very easily. Very good.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09'Straighten yourself, with your palms on your waist'.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12This is called the house of the future.
0:32:12 > 0:32:17How far into the future will it be before we've got all these gadgets?
0:32:17 > 0:32:23- Actually now it's not available but we try to actualise in about ten years.- Ten years?- Yes.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27- Can you do that?- I think so.
0:32:39 > 0:32:46# Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars
0:32:46 > 0:32:52# Let me know what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars... #
0:32:52 > 0:32:55'Sitting in the bedroom of the future,
0:32:55 > 0:32:59'you realise that the future is - how shall we put it? -
0:32:59 > 0:33:02'A question of personal taste.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05'And that certain visions of the future can even seem,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09'well, old fashioned.'
0:33:14 > 0:33:21'I'm struck by a comment from Elliot, the mobile phone designer, about how Koreans are a nation of up-graders.'
0:33:21 > 0:33:25'And the country is a test-bed for Samsung's new products.
0:33:25 > 0:33:30'In Seoul everywhere you go you see people with the latest gadgets.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33'It's hyper real and hyper active.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37'They've got Wi-Fi and digital TV reception across Korea
0:33:37 > 0:33:40'even on the underground.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43'You could be standing inches away from somebody
0:33:43 > 0:33:49'totally absorbed in what they're doing - watching telly, listening to music.
0:33:49 > 0:33:55'But for some reason in this country, it doesn't appear rude. It just seems to be the norm.'
0:34:00 > 0:34:05'It's odd to witness so many people in their own private universes.
0:34:05 > 0:34:10'Are they stimulated, or insulated against the world?
0:34:10 > 0:34:15'Even in public places, you sometimes get the feeling that you're on your own.'
0:34:23 > 0:34:25'Koreans love their video games.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29'Throughout the country you'll find PC-Bhangs,
0:34:29 > 0:34:35'places where young men are engrossed in game-playing for hours on end.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37'It seems alien to me.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42'The last video game I played was Space Invaders in a pub in 1985.'
0:34:47 > 0:34:52'Gaming's so much part of the culture here they have professional leagues
0:34:52 > 0:34:55'and games are even screened on TV!
0:34:57 > 0:35:01'How did Korea became this advanced digital society?
0:35:01 > 0:35:06'I met up with Korean culture writer Bernard Cho.'
0:35:06 > 0:35:09What is it about Korea? Is there something in the psyche
0:35:09 > 0:35:14that naturally leads to gadgets and electronic devices?
0:35:14 > 0:35:21Well, I think if you look at modern Korean history, Korea has developed so quickly, economically,
0:35:21 > 0:35:26politically, and more importantly from a technology standpoint.
0:35:26 > 0:35:33Towards the late 90s the Korean Government invested heavily into the internet, into technology,
0:35:33 > 0:35:37and you saw a huge take off in terms of Korean brands developing
0:35:37 > 0:35:40instead of imitative, very innovative products
0:35:40 > 0:35:46you saw the whole Korean online digital society really take off, so if a new trend's gonna break
0:35:46 > 0:35:50with an advanced wired and wireless society as Korea,
0:35:50 > 0:35:54I mean, it's gonna spread instantly.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00'Samsung have come to epitomise the development of Korea.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03'Once seen as followers of Japan and the West,
0:36:03 > 0:36:09'they're now one of the trendsetters. They've taken their products upmarket
0:36:09 > 0:36:15'and the company's reputation appears to be source of national pride here.
0:36:15 > 0:36:20'But when it's minus seven in the middle of Seoul's busiest street,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23'it's a bit of a reality check.'
0:36:23 > 0:36:30'And even the finest virtual reality gadget in the world can't stop it feeling unbelievably cold.'
0:36:41 > 0:36:45I'm on way to Suwon, about 25 miles outside Seoul.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49I'm going to Samsung's Research and Development headquarters.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58'I'm curious about how Samsung have achieved their success.
0:37:00 > 0:37:05'This kind of global triumph doesn't happen by accident, so what's the secret?
0:37:07 > 0:37:10'At the Suwon research complex,
0:37:10 > 0:37:17'26,000 scientists and company executives are developing tomorrow's technologies.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22'Through R&D, last year Samsung were one of the largest holders
0:37:22 > 0:37:26'of new technology patents registered in the US.
0:37:26 > 0:37:33'At Suwon, they also house the whole history of the company and generations of its upgrades.'
0:37:36 > 0:37:42- When were you originally based here? The sixties?- Yeah, sixties. It's a long time ago.
0:37:42 > 0:37:48Is there one innovation above all others that's led to this technological revolution?
0:37:48 > 0:37:53Yes, and I believe one of the most important and a key
0:37:53 > 0:37:55component to success is our chip business.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59Samsung is one of the most advanced technology company
0:37:59 > 0:38:03in developing and commercialise the semi-conductor chips.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07That technology is really a core and the centre of
0:38:07 > 0:38:10all the development and commercial gadgets.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15You could say that the semi-conducted chip is at the heart of the revolution
0:38:15 > 0:38:20- and is almost like the beating heart of the device as well?- I believe so.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25Because without that chip, technologies, we couldn't develop
0:38:25 > 0:38:32in a very fancy and a very high technologies, gadgets like LCD TV and cell phones.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40'For Samsung, it's their investment in R&D, particularly nano-technology,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44'that they believe is the key to their success.
0:38:44 > 0:38:50'It's nano-technology that is also the driving force behind the upgrade.
0:38:50 > 0:38:55'In the electronics industry it's called Moore's law.
0:38:55 > 0:39:02'Across the industry, the number of transistors manufacturers have been able to fit on a silicon chip
0:39:02 > 0:39:06'has literally doubled every two years since the early late 1960s.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10'It helps explain how gadgets have become smaller and cheaper,
0:39:10 > 0:39:14'with exponential increases in processing power.'
0:39:16 > 0:39:18If you were to close your eyes and dream,
0:39:18 > 0:39:23what does the future hold for the device, for the gadget?
0:39:23 > 0:39:28What kind of gadget can you imagine in five years, in ten years?
0:39:28 > 0:39:33That is also one of the very critical questions
0:39:33 > 0:39:36that all the electronic companies are facing.
0:39:36 > 0:39:42You know, we believe one of the gadgets will prevail over other gadgets.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46It should be a cell phone, should be TV, should be computer.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50I don't know, but we believe the market will decide.
0:39:50 > 0:39:55But one thing I can be sure is, you know the convergence era will continue.
0:40:01 > 0:40:07'Before leaving, I thought I'd take advantage of the Wi-Fi signal here,
0:40:07 > 0:40:11'and try Skyping home for the first time.'
0:40:11 > 0:40:13Hello.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16- 'Hello. Hello.'- You all right?
0:40:16 > 0:40:19'Yes. How are you?'
0:40:19 > 0:40:23- All right. It works.- 'It certainly does. It's pretty amazing.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25'Shall I wave? Hello!'
0:40:25 > 0:40:27HE LAUGHS
0:40:27 > 0:40:31'Yeah, I think it's great.'
0:40:31 > 0:40:35It's an interesting place. It's gadget crazy.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39I don't know what this country would do if they had a power cut!
0:40:39 > 0:40:42'Not much gadget action at this end!'
0:40:42 > 0:40:49I have a very important question to ask you. Do you know how United went on last night?
0:40:49 > 0:40:55'No! Would I know how United went on last night, Simon? Sorry I don't.'
0:40:55 > 0:40:59You couldn't just flick Ceefax on for me, could you?
0:40:59 > 0:41:04It seems a weird, given that I've only just got here, but I'll be back tomorrow.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08'I know, that's pretty strange as well.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13'But that's absolutely amazing, absolutely incredible to do that,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15'and we should be doing more of it.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17'It's great.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21- 'Bye.'- Bye. See you tomorrow. Bye. - 'Yeah. See you. Bye.'
0:41:30 > 0:41:37'For me, the enthusiasm with which Korea has embraced technology is the biggest eye-opener.
0:41:37 > 0:41:43'For Koreans, technology is the unquestioned road to prosperity and enlightenment.
0:41:48 > 0:41:54'Back in Yorkshire the contrast with Seoul couldn't be starker. Apart from the snow, obviously.
0:41:58 > 0:42:04'So, my body's back on the day job but my thoughts are still in Asia.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08'In 30 years, Korea has been transformed beyond all recognition.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11'It's wired to the digital future
0:42:11 > 0:42:16'and is years ahead of us in its connectivity.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19'What's happened in Britain in the same period?
0:42:19 > 0:42:25'The way our pasts shape our lives is a subject I return to again and again as a poet.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29'Growing up in the seventies, life was rather different.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33'There were no mobile phones or personal stereos back then.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37'What did we do all the time? How did we survive?'
0:42:39 > 0:42:41This is my parents' living room,
0:42:41 > 0:42:46and I used to spend a lot of time in this room,
0:42:46 > 0:42:49and it was a big deal if anything ever changed.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53You got a new telly or new phone or new record player.
0:42:53 > 0:42:59It was a big deal, because that's how it was then. You got things and you kept them.
0:42:59 > 0:43:04'Back then, objects had sentimental value. They were imbued with memories.
0:43:04 > 0:43:09'I wonder if this is lost with the speed of upgrading?
0:43:09 > 0:43:14'Objects were once landmarks and anchors for our pasts.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18'This is an old laptop of mine. My mum uses it now.
0:43:18 > 0:43:23'Today we've barely got to know an object before it's being replaced.'
0:43:26 > 0:43:29'But I'm not saying we should keep living in the past.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34'Back in the nineteenth century the Luddites attempted to halt
0:43:34 > 0:43:38'the march of technology and people lost their lives.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43'Here in Marsden you don't have to look too far to find evidence of that conflict.'
0:43:43 > 0:43:48This is the grave of Enoch Taylor who had a foundry in the village.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51He made cropping devices that did the work of ten men.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55The Luddites smashed it up with a hammer they called Enoch and said,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58"Enoch shall make em and Enoch shall break em."
0:43:58 > 0:44:06So this is the confluence point of technology and anti technology, right here on my doorstep.
0:44:18 > 0:44:24'These days there really aren't many people who actively reject technology.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28'Even the greenest of the greens usually have a website.
0:44:28 > 0:44:35'To find someone who had taken a stand led me here to Pembrokeshire.
0:44:35 > 0:44:41'For the past decade, Emma Orbach has lived here without any of today's techno trappings.'
0:44:44 > 0:44:47- Hello.- Hiya.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50Hello. Hiya. Simon.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52- I'm Emma.- Pleased to meet you. Hiya.
0:44:52 > 0:44:57- Good. Do you want to come in? - Shall I slip my shoes off? - Yeah, if you don't mind.
0:45:03 > 0:45:10I don't suppose there could be that many people in Britain who would want to live like this, do you think?
0:45:10 > 0:45:14Yes, sometimes I've thought about...
0:45:14 > 0:45:20If I was discovered living like this there could be shock horror headlines.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24"Middle-aged woman found in hovel in woods without electricity or water."
0:45:24 > 0:45:29And so what is the difference between that scenario and how I experience living here?
0:45:29 > 0:45:34And the difference is that I CHOOSE to live like this and that, for me, it's beautiful.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38I'm not a victim of a circumstance that I would wish to be otherwise.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42So to own a gadget would not make you any happier?
0:45:42 > 0:45:45No, it makes me a bit depressed.
0:45:45 > 0:45:46- Does it?- Yes.- Why?
0:45:46 > 0:45:54Because they always break down and they make a noise and they end up as landfill
0:45:54 > 0:45:57and they're just part of the consumer nightmare.
0:45:58 > 0:46:04It must be great to just get up in the morning and be out here in the land.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07Yes, it is really beautiful,
0:46:07 > 0:46:11'Emma has lived without a washing machine for 30 years.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15'She's got no TV, no microwave, no radio even.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18'Her one concession to communication -
0:46:18 > 0:46:21'a landline two fields away.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25'It's low-impact living, in extremis.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31'Yet in spite of the absence of mod cons, Emma doesn't seem to want for anything.'
0:46:31 > 0:46:34- So beautiful.- Do they come out with their spikes...
0:46:34 > 0:46:38No, when they're born, they're little pink rubbery things.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40Have you renounced technology?
0:46:42 > 0:46:45That's a really interesting question for me
0:46:45 > 0:46:51and I've started to feel that I'm a conscientious objector really.
0:46:51 > 0:46:57And, for me, I am not convinced that technology and gadgets,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01add to the quality of my life - in fact, I think they detract from it.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04What would constitute an upgrade in your world?
0:47:04 > 0:47:07I can't think of anything,
0:47:07 > 0:47:13apart from, yes, I do have an ambition to upgrade my trivet,
0:47:13 > 0:47:17so that for my visitors... don't have wooden handles,
0:47:17 > 0:47:24and that's quite a sophisticated sort of bit of innovative modern technology for me, yeah.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26I wonder where you'd go to update your trivet?
0:47:26 > 0:47:29Oh, I'd just get somebody to do it for me.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32- Trivets R Us?- There's somebody who makes them locally.
0:47:33 > 0:47:39On the face of it, a life like this seems quite seductive almost,
0:47:39 > 0:47:40especially on a sunny day,
0:47:40 > 0:47:45and I think I could live without TV, and I could probably live without a washing machine
0:47:45 > 0:47:47and a microwave and that kind of thing.
0:47:47 > 0:47:53But I would find it very difficult to be out of contact for so long,
0:47:53 > 0:47:58and so giving up the email and giving up the phone, I think, I would find impossible,
0:47:58 > 0:48:04even now with my phone in my pocket I'm wondering which calls I might have missed.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07So I'm going to go and check.
0:48:15 > 0:48:21'Back in the blur of central London, Pembrokeshire feels like a distant era. My phone's back on.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23'So I'm happy, right?'
0:48:24 > 0:48:27Hi Catherine, hi. Where are you?
0:48:27 > 0:48:33Yeah, I will, I'm in the station now. I'll see you in five minutes. OK, bye.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39'To find out if gadgets really do make us happy, I've come to St Pancras Station
0:48:39 > 0:48:42'to meet a consumer psychologist.'
0:48:44 > 0:48:48We know that upgrade culture has been accelerating through the years.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51What effect would you say that was having on us as people?
0:48:51 > 0:48:53I would say it has a detrimental effect.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57We're not aware of how it actually impacts on us
0:48:57 > 0:49:01because we are on a hedonic treadmill of consumption
0:49:01 > 0:49:03if you like, whereby we tend
0:49:03 > 0:49:06to purchase more and more and more products, especially gadgets.
0:49:06 > 0:49:10And unfortunately people have a subconscious belief
0:49:10 > 0:49:12that it will make them happier and it doesn't.
0:49:12 > 0:49:17Because we believe it's going to make us happier we keep purchasing the next product
0:49:17 > 0:49:20in the hope that it's going to fulfil some psychological need.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24But what about the specifications and the functionality?
0:49:24 > 0:49:27You know, for example, on my phone now I can get email
0:49:27 > 0:49:31and I couldn't do that before and that makes me, I think, happy. Am I just deluded?
0:49:31 > 0:49:34It might be practical. No, I wouldn't say you're deluded,
0:49:34 > 0:49:37but most of the time people don't make use
0:49:37 > 0:49:40of all the kind of functions that a gadget actually has.
0:49:40 > 0:49:44Salman Rushdie once said this thing that we've all got a God-shaped hole inside of us,
0:49:44 > 0:49:50but I actually wonder whether this hole inside of us is actually the shape of a laptop or an iPod,
0:49:50 > 0:49:54and that we won't be happy until we can stuff all this technology in
0:49:54 > 0:49:56and become gods and machines at the same time.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00Um, I wouldn't quite put it that way,
0:50:00 > 0:50:05but I think what people are trying to seek for in life in general is some sort of happiness
0:50:05 > 0:50:11and I think if they believe that these products are the route to happiness then, yes,
0:50:11 > 0:50:15they might have to decide to be more fully-integrated with them somehow,
0:50:15 > 0:50:19but if you don't have that belief you're probably going to back off
0:50:19 > 0:50:22and see the whole thing as a rather nasty idea.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26You don't see technology as being the road to paradise anyway, do you?
0:50:26 > 0:50:29I don't see any consumption being the route to paradise.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40'The road to paradise doesn't always follow the scenic route.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50'This is Sweep Electronics Recycling Plant in Kent.'
0:50:55 > 0:50:58Will every TV in the land end up somewhere like this?
0:50:58 > 0:51:03Yeah, there is well-established legislation around TVs. They are classified as a hazardous waste.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07If you wanted any evidence that people are upgrading all the time, this is it.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10It's not long since I had a TV like this,
0:51:10 > 0:51:12it's not like they are 1950s stuff.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17Not at all. I recognise my model on occasions, I've actually got a glass telly still at home myself.
0:51:17 > 0:51:25The scale of it is overpowering - it's just all these sort of disgorged innards just piling up.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27It's not pretty, is it?
0:51:27 > 0:51:32No, it's not but you can look at it the other way - it's here being recycled rather going to landfill.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36It's scary to see it, but I'd much rather than not see it at all.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40'This is a big operation.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44'They recycle 3,000 televisions a day here.
0:51:44 > 0:51:50'They are disassembled by hand and then the materials are re-used to make new TVs.
0:51:55 > 0:52:01'Every day, they also process 40 tonnes of computers, devices and white goods.
0:52:01 > 0:52:06'An elephants' graveyard of gadgets and gizmos.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10'But what's recycled is only a fraction of what's dumped in landfill.'
0:52:10 > 0:52:16It feels insane that even stuff like this that's, I mean, it's only a few years old
0:52:16 > 0:52:20and it would have cost thousands of pounds, just chucked in a tip.
0:52:20 > 0:52:26It feels like a kind of madness as if, you know, it can't possibly carry on like this.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36Well, it's the end of the road for the Palm PDA.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40I would be lying if I said that I was sorry to see it go.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45And it's going to that place where all Palm PDAs go at the end of their life,
0:52:45 > 0:52:51it's Palm PDA heaven it's going to - it's going in the crusher.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02'I'm glad the PDA has gone to a sound environmental heaven.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05'But will it stop me buying the next, new thing?
0:53:15 > 0:53:21'Whether it is frustrating or useful, or simply a beautiful object
0:53:21 > 0:53:28'to impress our friends with, we continue to embrace new technology ever closer.
0:53:28 > 0:53:33'The economic imperative tends to drive innovation forward.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37'The cutting edge of technology is constantly changing
0:53:37 > 0:53:40'and the possibilities are extraordinary.'
0:53:40 > 0:53:45We get very emotionally attached to our gadgets,
0:53:45 > 0:53:49but is there a future where we get physically attached to them as well,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52to the point where we might want to upgrade ourselves?
0:53:52 > 0:53:57Is there a future where technology is not just at our fingertips but in our fingertips?
0:53:57 > 0:54:00Maybe that's the next frontier.
0:54:07 > 0:54:12'In the last decade, what was once science fiction has become science fact.
0:54:12 > 0:54:18'Computer chips have been implanted in the cochlea to restore hearing to deaf children.
0:54:18 > 0:54:23'Researchers are working on chips attached to the retina to restore sight loss.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32'Here at Cambridge University's Institute of Biotechnology,
0:54:32 > 0:54:37'they're developing sensors to be implanted inside the body to give doctors real-time information
0:54:37 > 0:54:41'about proteins and molecules inside the bloodstream.'
0:54:46 > 0:54:49Your first work in this field was with chips, wasn't it?
0:54:49 > 0:54:51- That's correct. - Are these the kind of chips
0:54:51 > 0:54:54- that you were working on? - These are the chips
0:54:54 > 0:54:56that we developed a few years ago.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59So this chip would be, what, implanted into the body?
0:54:59 > 0:55:01This particular chip is exactly that.
0:55:01 > 0:55:06We designed this to monitor glucose and to be implanted within the body,
0:55:06 > 0:55:08and you can see it's a relatively small size chip
0:55:08 > 0:55:13and it would be implanted either in a location like here or perhaps around the midriff.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16The problem with this technology is it's actually quite expensive
0:55:16 > 0:55:18and that's why we stopped it,
0:55:18 > 0:55:22to see whether we could find cheaper alternatives to monitor glucose
0:55:22 > 0:55:26and other metabolites in the body with a much simpler system.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30'The scientists are developing two types of sensor -
0:55:30 > 0:55:34'one using light, and one using sound.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38'The light device is a hologram
0:55:38 > 0:55:42'produced by lasers that fire onto specially developed polymers.
0:55:42 > 0:55:48'The hologram changes colour in response to changes in the blood chemistry.
0:55:48 > 0:55:54'With acoustics, a radio signal is sent to the tiny transparent sensor,
0:55:54 > 0:55:57'which then sends back the blood information.'
0:55:57 > 0:56:01That just looks to me like a contact lens or something.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04Yeah, it is actually a quartz disc made out of silica.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07And that goes under someone's skin?
0:56:07 > 0:56:10- Correct. - And transmits information about what?
0:56:10 > 0:56:16One of the major applications of this is to monitor glucose in blood of diabetics in real time.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20If we can do that and control the blood glucose far more precisely
0:56:20 > 0:56:24than you would if you were saying pricking your finger say five or so times a day,
0:56:24 > 0:56:29then I think what you'd have is the ability to control the diabetes far better,
0:56:29 > 0:56:33and you would not suffer a lot of the consequences of diabetes,
0:56:33 > 0:56:38like blindness, for example, and also problems with the kidney.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41'For now, this sensor technology remains experimental.
0:56:41 > 0:56:46'In the future, the hope is it will improve diagnosis and treatment
0:56:46 > 0:56:52'for conditions such as stress, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55'The sensors could help patients better manage their symptoms.'
0:56:55 > 0:57:01Would you describe this kind of technology as sort of an upgrade to the human body?
0:57:01 > 0:57:05In the sense that you're not going to suffer from all the side reactions
0:57:05 > 0:57:08that you'd normally have, of course it's an upgrade,
0:57:08 > 0:57:13but there are other applications of that. We've been looking at some sports applications,
0:57:13 > 0:57:19bearing in mind we have the Olympics in 2012, and that the elite athletes are interested in monitoring
0:57:19 > 0:57:24their glucose and lactate levels because this determines their performance.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28If you could monitor that and have some control over that during training,
0:57:28 > 0:57:30you could upgrade their performance.
0:57:30 > 0:57:36Does that move then to, you know, being able to measure somebody's state of mind?
0:57:36 > 0:57:38In terms of measuring their state of mind,
0:57:38 > 0:57:44it depends on, can we find something to measure which would be an indicator of their state of mind?
0:57:44 > 0:57:48If the answer's yes to that, if we could find a measure of that,
0:57:48 > 0:57:51some chemical measure of it, we could in theory do the same thing.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54This is a long way into the future, of course.
0:58:00 > 0:58:05Technology plays a central role in our imaginations.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09But just how close do we want our relationship to become?
0:58:10 > 0:58:14We've placed our faith in these bewildering ingenious objects
0:58:14 > 0:58:17to the point where we'd be lost and angry without them.
0:58:20 > 0:58:25I've got my gadgets, though, and after decades of upgrading they seem perfect to me.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28So I can be happy with my lot.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31At least, that is, until tomorrow.
0:58:43 > 0:58:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd