TWICE THE SIZE - DIT Update - Dublin Institute of Technology

For the prosperous cities of the Conurbation, the Cork node, and especially the new “science
city” of Tara in Meath, Ireland’s concentration upon information technology and biotechnology
has paid-off handsomely. World-class researchers, attracted by super-salaries, have led to the
race to achieve biological programming of proteins and the integration of nano-materials. A new
nano-technology centre of excellence, driven by AIT, starts to emerge in Athlone and other
Midlands cities. The result has been a ‘human-body-repair’ capability, transforming traditional
notions and functions of hospitals, doctors and nurses. Technological supports to human
performance – so long limited to the likes of hearing-aids, blood-pump boosters and prosaic
prosthetics – took a giant leap with ‘humorphing’. When e-technology finally could match the
electro-chemical processes of the brain, the advent of machine synthesis had dawned, and now
the future for the artificial manipulation of human knowledge is truly awesome – and its
potential commercial exploitation seemingly limitless. In addition to all this, the longestablished
Mayo Clinic near Castlebar is now leading the world into the research and
development of human cloning and cryogenics, resulting in mass protests by ethical groups and
high levels of commercial security.
Money has become completely digital and intelligent systems are everywhere. This
‘digitisation’ of the economy and ‘wiring’ of society has deepened social exclusion as advanced
communication systems benefit the better-off. Likewise, leisure time increases for the
professional classes, as working-hours have steadily declined over the past 15 years, and leisure
itself is characterised by high levels of consumption, more active life styles and greater
mobility. A number of very attractive leisure/cultural hubs attracts the population - Dundalk,
Wicklow and Wexford within the Conurbation and Sligo, Kerry and Galway in the West. Homeworking
is prevalent, and many skilled workers telecommunicate their work from rural abodes
that are technologically ‘smart’ but environmentally expensive.
Computers, as such, have just about disappeared as most information and communications
technologies have become embedded in their functional artefacts responding to speech, touch
and gesture. Consumer behaviour has also been revolutionised, and the e-tail and the virtual
arcade have replaced the traditional shopping centre; though specialist shops offering exclusive
goods and services, as well as a shopping experience, flourish.
Sustainability
Rapid economic growth, combined with regulatory neglect, has brought rapid worsening levels
of pollution and congestion to the country’s centres of population. There is, however, a strong
movement towards the ‘marketisation’ of the environment, with explicit monetary values
ascribed to a wide range of resources and environmental services. Access to these services is
limited through charging, or by allocating rights that can be traded. The rise of corporate
social responsibility, moreover, has raised the level and degree of self-regulation and
accountability in the market.
General apathy persists in Ireland towards climate change, though the situation dramatically
worsens worldwide, and a market-based regime fails to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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