Technologies of the future: secret devices. Scientific discoveries of the future
What does our world lack to make it look like a breathtaking science fiction story? What discoveries are we waiting with bated breath? In fact, the list is not too long. I tried to choose technologies and discoveries that were guaranteed to radically and forever change our world for the better.
I accompany each such discovery or technology with a forecast - completely unscientific and based on a subjective feeling of the development of science and technology.
I hope to hear your opinion too! But more on that at the end, but for now... What do we lack to build the world of the future?
I’ll start with what’s closest to me, space. It's not a matter of rabid love for science fiction. It’s just that if you think sensibly, it is in this direction that the only guaranteed non-dead-end path for the development of human civilization lies. Remember the story. All outstanding eras and societies had expansion at their core! Expansion creates the best opportunities for civilization. But the Earth is not rubber, there is nothing more to discover. New territories and new resources are what humanity needs to continue its exponential growth.
Unattainable
The first thing that comes to mind is antigravity. The alpha and omega of fiction, the dream and hope of any writer. The meaning is clear, antigravity is a phenomenon or technology that will allow a Man to overcome the gravity of the earth or any other celestial body more effectively than any modern technology, such as jet propulsion or wings, can do.
Imagine flying cars over cities, as in dozens of films, starting with “Guest from the Future” and ending with “The Fifth Element”, floating cities, as in “Laputra Castle in the Sky”, orbital stations that can be reached by elevator... If at the same time the technology will also be efficient in terms of energy consumption - it will change our world in the most radical way.
Unfortunately, all the laws of nature known today speak of the impossibility of this phenomenon (I’m talking specifically about the practical side of the issue). Today, antigravity remains an absolutely unattainable dream.
Unattainable
Another cornerstone of fantasy. And again, I’m talking about any technology that can instantly transport a person or an object comparable in size and mass from one place to another. It doesn't matter what it looks like, just a door to another place, like the cardboard bus in "Guest from the Future", or it's about manipulating the matter of your body, like in "Star Treck" or "Stargate".
And it doesn’t matter how large-scale the implementation of this technology will be. Those. Will this be a solution to the transport issue on a human scale and a door to another city at home, or only highly specialized solutions for space research and industry. In both cases, it will change our lives, and simply - it will be amazing, it’s teleportation!!!
Unfortunately, teleportation technology is unattainable for us. Moreover, it is even further away from embodiment than antigravity. We know at least little about the latter, and this leaves room for dreams. But with teleportation, everything is more or less clear - in a practical sense, this is impossible. And all the experiments with teleportation of photons/quanta that are currently being carried out only confirm this disappointing conclusion.
Unattainable
I'm talking about transmitting energy over long distances without wires and significant power losses. This technology is found much less frequently in science fiction than teleportation or antigravity, but it would be no less of a shock to our civilization.
Just imagine huge chains of nuclear power plants on the surface of the moon, not inferior in area to European countries. From them, energy is transferred in its pure form here to the earth in distribution stations, from which cars and houses throughout the earth are powered. And all this happens environmentally friendly and without any wires. Inhabited bases will be built throughout the solar system, because there are no problems with energy supply even in the most remote areas.
And how are things going? The bad thing is even more science fiction than teleportation. If we ever had hopes for the realization of this dream, then they were all associated with the name of Nikola Tesla and were buried with him.
Unattainable
Here I will make a reservation right away. Of course, it's not just about building a spaceship that will fly faster than the speed of light. Even just a theoretically proven possibility of such a journey, which will not be associated with something that promises imminent death or an imperceptible loss of several million years, such as falling into a black hole or constantly accelerating a ship to the required speed, then even this is enough to say, that this is one of the most anticipated discoveries. Why? Because this will mean that Man will someday be able to conquer other solar systems.
So what? Otherwise, if this does not happen, then humanity can forever say goodbye to dreams of populating other stars, of contacts with alien intelligence, of building a huge galactic empire uniting millions of planets... All this will forever remain science fiction if we do not find a way somehow seep through the reinforced concrete wall of the limitations of the theory of relativity.
What are our prospects? Unfortunately, they are weak. On the one hand, physics has now reached such depths of the universe that it is hard to say unequivocally – “impossible”. Those. maybe it is possible. But from a purely practical point of view, it’s a complete mess. Those. You and I, dear reader, have no hopes of visiting Alpha Centauri at all... But physicists are working, and we have our fingers crossed.
Now let's move on to brothers in mind - one of the most exciting topics.
Maybe!
And even if not with aliens, but simply with a non-human mind comparable in level of development. And even if not contact, but simply to find out that it exists, this inhuman mind...
I think there is no need to describe what an amazing and earth-shaking discovery this will be! Even if we just find out that several thousand light years away there is another civilization that also films TV series and uses radio, this will be, as they say, “the end of the world as we knew it.” And if these friends suddenly establish direct contact with us, there is no comment.
And there is hope! Certainly, impossible to predict, one can only guess, but recent discoveries by astronomers and biologists suggest that this is possible! Thousands of exoplanets have already been discovered on which life is theoretically possible. There are indications that life may be much more diverse than we previously thought (this is about arsenic-based life). The next ten years will give us a lot of food for thought on this topic. So we hope and wait.
Unattainable
If humanity has a brighter dream than discovering brothers in mind on other planets, it is the dream of creating artificial intelligence. How many copies have been broken, how many hopes have died, but we continue to believe and dream. And we are not just talking about the dreams of science fiction writers. Real people, real technologies, huge money. An entire industry, plus all sorts of side branches in industries related to information processing.
I won’t theorize and dig deeply into this issue now - the topic is bottomless. For now I'll say this. In the coming years and decades, there will be... uh... devices that will look reasonable in the situations and environments in which they will be used. I mean, robot consultants and assistants, some large information systems. They will be “well, just like alive”...
But the creation of artificial intelligence in the form that humans understand the mind is still a pipe dream. As far as I know, now there is not even a clear understanding of what “mind” or “consciousness” is... Let alone the creation of artificial intelligence. So don’t worry, well, or cry – it depends on who you are – There are no intelligent machines expected in the foreseeable future.
Medicine and biology are very rich areas in terms of the unrealistic hopes of the Dreamer.
Soon!
How wonderful it would be if any lost limb or organ could be easily replaced or regrown. God bless them with their limbs, teeth and hair - the opportunity to replace or grow them again is the blue dream of humanity.
And I say with great joy that this dream is closer than ever to coming true. The advances in medicine, biology and, don’t be surprised, electronics are so great that the issue of regeneration or replacement of limbs and organs is a matter of a decade or two, according to subjective feelings.
No, of course, a lot can be done now - dental prosthetics, organ transplants, prosthetics controlled by the power of thought. But for now, these are still “crutches” that are worse than the originals (either in themselves, or due to the technology of their extraction and/or use) and which leave a person defective. I’m talking about a level of technology that will make it possible to make equivalent, and maybe even superior, replacements for fragile originals.
And this is achievable - a matter of the coming decades. The first successful examples can be expected in the next 5-8 years. Moreover, I think that cyborgs (in the most sci-fi sense) will appear earlier than people with grown (regenerated) limbs.
Unattainable
Will people be able to live forever, or rather, independently choose the moment of their departure from life? EVERYONE wants this. This question is very complex, and we will not go into depth now into an analysis of the arguments for and against or the consequences of this invention. Let's just consider the current situation.
The prospects for a significant increase in average human life expectancy are now more than good. There are many possibilities that biologists and doctors around the world are actively and successfully working on.
If we talk about achieving fundamental immortality in the form as we described it, then for now this is more a matter of theoretical reasoning and guesswork than any real developments.
I would venture to make this prediction: if you are now under 30 years old, then you have every chance of living to 100, and maybe up to 120 years old, if you make the appropriate efforts. At least I'm going to. Complete immortality? Not in this century.
Soon!
Manipulating the genome and creating life in the laboratory
IN in this case I'm talking about technologies that will make it possible to create organisms, including human ones, with predetermined physical properties in the widest range. If you try to imagine the consequences of bringing these technologies to an industrial scale, it becomes scary. But I am convinced that if such an opportunity appears, and people gather the courage to use it, then our civilization will take not just a step, but a giant leap forward.
And everything is heading towards the fact that this will happen. The successes of geneticists are amazing. We have already created artificial life, we are already growing organisms “in test tubes”, we have dismantled genes for spare parts...
Another 15-20 years will pass and people will appear among us who will have properties artificially implanted in them. It's unavoidable. And I’m not talking about a cure for congenital diseases at the stage of conception - this is already available, but about things like seven fingers on the hands of a child whose parents dream of raising a brilliant pianist.
There are also a number of fantastic technologies related, so to speak, to everyday life. I don't know how else to define them.
Soon!
How we all want to live in a magical, wonderful world! Unfortunately, the reality around us is quite ugly. What to do? Escape to virtual reality!
Films such as “The Matrix” and “13th Floor”, and a huge number of books talk about a wonderful virtual world where you can become anyone and which will be like a real fairy tale. Everything that technology will take centuries to achieve will be realized immediately in virtual reality.
And this dream is coming true before our eyes! I’ll say right away that we will not move into the virtual world, as in “The Matrix”; on the contrary, the virtual world will come into the real one and merge with it. Augmented reality and virtual world technologies will radically change our lives and communications in the next 20 years.
The wait won't be long, it's happening right now. Over the next 5-10 years, we expect the first real breakthroughs in this direction.
Unattainable
According to Wikipedia: force field - some kind of invisible barrier, the main function of which is to protect a certain area or target from external or internal penetrations. It's rare to find a science fiction book that doesn't mention force fields. Without them there is nothing to do in space - that’s for sure.
Without unnecessary words, it is impossible either now or in the foreseeable future.
Unattainable
Let me clarify – a cheap and efficient source of energy. Everyone understands what we're talking about. We have read about this more than once. Some fantastic mineral that can “feed” the entire earth or cold nuclear fusion. Anything that will allow us to bathe in energy without fear that tomorrow we will run out of oil, coal or anything else.
A dubious point, you might say, but I think that if we erase the problem of energy production from the list of humanity’s problems once and for all, then our life will not only become different, it will become much better.
There is no hope yet, but I really want it.
Unattainable
Does everyone remember the dreams of Dr. Salvatore from “Amphibian Man” and Captain Nemo from “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” about exploring the world’s oceans? In Soviet times, this topic was very popular. Science fiction writers dreamed of cities built on the ocean floor, of lung-breathing people, of plantations of edible algae that would feed humanity...
Now the enthusiasm has waned. And this happened for a simple reason - because there are no mysteries or secrets, just complete technical difficulties. Sea water is a very aggressive environment that does not provide any concessions or advantages. In space there is at least weightlessness, which can be considered as a plus. At depth there are no advantages, only pressure, only corrosion, only instability.
So today, as far as I know, no one is seriously considering options for populating underwater spaces. The development of the world's oceans occurs on the principle of the development of a refrigerator by an adult son left unattended by mother nature. Those. everything is eaten, and it quickly becomes empty. And so far no hope.
As for projects to create floating island cities, this is not a technology that will radically change our world, and we are only interested in such. Well, there will be floating cities, so what? In addition to problems with traffic jams and stress, there will also be seasickness - that’s all the progress.
Your opinion?
I’ll say right away that there is no need to approach this article with scientific standards - these are just dreams and my attitude towards them.
What discoveries are you looking forward to? Do you agree with my assessments? Write in the comments, I will try to answer everything.
In the near future, I will try to supplement each discovery with some links to relevant news, research or opinions of famous scientists. I would be grateful if you share links to such sources.
Diagnosis of aging
Before inventing a “pill for old age,” a team of Russian scientists and programmers led by futurologist, founder of the Russian Transhumanist Movement and the KrioRus company Danila Medvedev, decided to understand the diagnosis. They decomposed the abstract concept of “old age” into processes that occur in the human body at a certain age, and entered these processes into a diagram. Very specific. Each person has his own - depending on genetics, lifestyle, ecology, economics and many other factors - and is calculated individually. Having such a scheme in hand, the doctor can specifically prescribe anti-aging therapy. It will be possible to undergo aging diagnostics as early as 2015.
Supplements for eternal life
Chief futurist, founder of Singularity University and ideologist of “eternal life” Ray Kurzweil also considers aging a complex process that affects the entire body, including the brain. The brain is the same muscle. To keep it in working condition, it needs to be constantly trained and fed properly. To this end, Ray takes vinpocetine, phosphatidylserine, acetyl-L-carnitine, ginkgo biloba, EPA / DHA, phosphatidylcholine, SAMe daily - a total of 250 dietary supplements of his own invention. And this is just a tiny part of the system that the scientist came up with and described together with Terry Grossman in the best-selling book Transcend: Nine Steps for Living Well Forever. By supporting himself in this way, Ray, who firmly believes in progress, wants to live until the advent of new life-extending technologies. Plus ten years. Plus twenty. Plus a hundred. And then eternity - as in the mathematical paradox about the hare and the tortoise, only in reverse.
Eco-fashion
There is a good chance that we will soon be walking in sneakers with soles made of biodegradable polymers, wearing glasses made from castor seeds and citric acid, and bags made from vegetable oil-based leatherette. In short, we will do everything to reduce oil consumption. According to Stella McCartney, we are entering an era of revolutionary eco-friendly fashion. When creating the Dry Dye jersey for Adidas, the renowned British designer dyed the fabric without using water and using half the amount of chemicals and energy.
Lenses for diabetics
There are now about three hundred and forty-seven million diabetics in the world. And they all need to prick their finger every time they need to check their blood sugar levels (from once a month to five times a day, depending on the severity of the disease). The lenses will read the information contained in the lacrimal fluid and transmit it to the computer - independently and absolutely bloodlessly. Google and Novartis have expressed confidence that this will be possible within five years.
Robot spouses
According to artificial intelligence expert David Levy (author of the book “Love + Sex with Robots. The Evolution of Relationships between Humans and Robots”), by 2050 a person will be able to start a family with a robot. The emotional talking robot can already be bought in Japan, and soon in France at a price of 1,500 euros apiece. Pepper, prototyped by Aldebaran for SoftBank, is able to understand our emotions and experiences - unlike most people.
Organs to order
In 2012, the Nobel Prize in Medicine went to a project on organ regeneration. Its author is Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka. He believes that the human body, like a car, can work as much as it wants. The main thing is to promptly replace worn-out parts with regenerated ones. To do this, you just need to introduce its own cells into the organ, only new ones. Shinya Yamanaka has learned to reprogram a certain type of cell at the genetic level so that they become induced pluripotent stem cells (CSPi) and resemble our primary (main) cells. These cells have the ability to transform as needed, whether to restore the heart or the iris of the eye. The main thing is to take care of everything in advance and deposit the biomaterial in a cell bank. There are already two such banks in Singapore and Dubai. For 47 thousand euros, you can preserve your cells in them, waiting for the moment when regenerative medicine finally learns to use them.
Artificial pregnancy
An artificial reproductive system, which includes the uterus and placenta, connected to the umbilical cord through catheters, has passed its first tests. Mice and kids, having developed almost to their due date, underwent the experiment until birth. In the future, this device will save the lives of many premature babies and will be used in complicated pregnancies. Research continues and perhaps the day after tomorrow we will be able to transplant embryos conceived in vitro into an artificial uterus.
Contraception with a button
The development of a contraceptive implant is in full swing, which will be introduced into the female body and activated by a simple click through a relay switch. The implant is a miniature reservoir that releases a precise dose of progestational hormone every day for sixteen years (expiration date). Do you want to get pregnant? Turn the switch to off and go to the pharmacy for the test. The research is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the idea itself belongs to the founder of Microsoft. The new product should appear on the American market in 2018.
Accelerated puberty
The age of puberty will be 8 years for girls and 10 for boys. Among the factors that accelerate maturation, scientists name obesity. Fat cells produce leptin, which signals the brain that sufficient reserves have been accumulated to enter reproductive age. Added to this is the factor of harmful substances (bisphenol A, phthalates, pesticides), which affect the male and female endocrine system and upset the balance.
Laser Chef
Cooking will soon become easier. Your task is to choose a recipe, put everything in the refrigerator on the table, set up the camera and follow the laser pointer. She will show how much and what you will need, mark the carcass so that you cut the product, as stated in the recipe, “in cubes”, and not haphazardly. Negligent cooks will be slapped on the wrist – also virtually.
Baby without sperm
Women will be able to have a child not only without the direct participation of a man, but even without donor sperm. How? One provides her egg. The other is the formation of sperm thanks to the same induced pluripotent stem cells, which in this case are transformed into germ cells-gametes. This is a 100% female conception, as a result of which only girls will be born. After all, a female sperm created in this way can only carry the X chromosome (only men are carriers of the Y chromosome). Before us is the prospect of an all-female society, to which we want to say our loud “no way.”
Golden ratio
Gold will defeat cancer. Literally. It's simple: kamikaze liposomes the size of a millionth of a millimeter, charged with gold particles, are introduced into cancer cells. Upon arrival at the site, the lipid membrane dissolves, the gold is deposited in the tumor cells, then using an infrared laser, the metal is heated, and the cancer cells explode from overheating. Mission Complete.
The end of the asphalt
The asphalt will be replaced by solar panels, and electric vehicles will be able to recharge while on the road. The roads of the future will be free of potholes, potholes and ice thanks to the integrated defrosting system. Excess electricity will be used to heat and illuminate homes. Similar in texture to asphalt (for better adhesion to the soil), solar panels can withstand a load of up to 110 tons. The project is already being implemented. It is funded by the US National Highway Administration.
Vertical gardens
Due to the lack of free horizontal space, gardens and vegetable gardens within the city will have to master the vertical. It will look like tree skyscrapers with 100% autonomous power supply through solar panels. The first skyscraper farm will open in the near future in Seoul.
Psychotherapists-avatars
In the near future, psychotherapists will be available at any time of the day or night - in the form of avatars. But this will not prevent them from assessing emotions in real time (like Scarlett Johansson’s heroine in the film “Her”), deciphering the algorithms of “body language” and facial expressions of patients sitting behind the monitor. The prototype of the virtual psychotherapist is already ready. His name is SimSensei, and he is the brainchild of the California Institute for Creative Technologies.
Memory detox
Although why spend money on a psychotherapist if you can simply clear your memory like a hard drive? Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered the Tet 1 gene, which determines the presence or disappearance of bad memories. If this gene is turned off, we become fixated on the unpleasant event. Conversely, if it is activated through medication, the ability to forget increases. Researchers are developing a molecule that could sweeten memories. Very relevant, especially for post-traumatic syndrome.
Drinking rain water
The Ivanka project, presented at Milan Design Week 2014, will transform rainwater into potable water. Not only is it good for the environment, it's also incredibly profitable. It is enough to install a water filter on the roof, which, by the way, has already received a patent.
Bionic hands
Thanks to complex processes that connect the nerve endings at the amputation site and hundreds of electrodes in the prosthesis, artificial arms and legs controlled by the power of thought will soon appear. Consider half the battle done. The rest is half the battle - recreating the sensations of touch.
Digital Divide
Despite the growing popularity of the digital detox movement, our success in the future will still be determined by gadgets. And this is not only the opportunity to acquire the most technically advanced device and the ability to operate it, but also the right to be included in society. That is, moving up the social ladder will be directly related to gaining access to information or to any community.
3D printers print cars and houses, autopilots fly airplanes, robots perform work in production shops and on conveyors - inventors and scientists never cease to amaze society with their discoveries. What other future technologies and secret devices will appear in the 21st century?
Many people see colorful dreams, but not many remember their content in the morning. But a dream is the embodiment of a subconscious dream or problems that trouble a person. Scientists claim that already in 2030, everyone will be able to record their nightly dreams, review them, and even share them with friends and subscribers on social networks. A smart pillow will help with this.
Inside the pillow there are sensors and sensors that connect to the human brain during sleep and save it to a memory card. The Japanese created a device for transforming dreams into images even earlier - in 2008, so a start has been made.
Killer robots
They may appear in 15-20 years - experimental samples already exist in South Korea and the USA. South Korean manufacturers have designed a machine gun turret that independently identifies, tracks and engages a target.
Americans are already using robots to defuse explosives and monitor objects. For now, the technology operates in a semi-autonomous mode, but after improvement, robots will be able to operate outside the zone of human control.
Magnetic levitation is fundamental to future technologies and new inventions. The physical phenomenon and its properties have been known for a long time, but it has not been used in mass-produced goods for very long.
One such “know-how” is a table lamp floating above the stand. The wireless gadget receives electricity using the induction method and moves freely in the air.
The theme of gadgets is continued by an innovative pen with electronic control and an ultra-sensitive sensor. You can write with it on any surface and anything - the pen is synchronized with the application on the smartphone, after which all the inscriptions are digitized and saved in a file.
The advantage of the new generation of stationery is that it does not leave marks, and instead of a refill, it requires periodic recharging of the battery.
IT market experts predict the appearance of the first such gadgets by 2025. They believe that mobile phones will be like compact chips implanted under the skin of the palms or head.
This is not the only development. Manufacturers are thinking about implantable chips – keys, combination locks, electronic wallets and even ID cards. The listed developments are based on NFC technology, which provides data transmission at a distance of up to 10 cm.
Innovators are already testing chips on volunteers - implanting them under the skin of their hands to open combination locks on driveway and front doors without a key. In the future, electronics may replace bank cards and car ignition keys.
In society, those technologies of the future, secret devices and inventions that directly relate to the human body and brain are of keen interest. Scientists are going to turn living bodies into user interfaces, thereby giving people the ability to control household appliances and other devices without remote controls, applications and additional devices.
Employees of the German Plattner Institute have already developed a unique phone in the palm of your hand. It comes with a camera that monitors the user’s palm and activates the desired option when the fingers make tactile contact with a certain area of the palm.
Japanese and Italian developers have presented devices that open doors and answer phone calls with the power of thought. Innovation will make life easier for people with disabilities.
Laser chef pointer
Steamers, multicookers with delayed start and remote control - what seemed impossible in the 20th century has become commonplace today. Next up are new automated kitchen assistants, such as a laser chef.
All the housewife needs to do is choose a recipe and place the ingredients on the table. An intelligent chef with an integrated camera and laser pointer will show you how much food to cut and how, and mark the meat or poultry. The creators say that for incorrect actions the pointer will hit the hands of incompetent cooks.
Development of innovative contact lenses is already underway in Europe. Visually they will not differ from ordinary ones, but technically they will surpass them many times over. Just look at the built-in projectors, lasers, mirrors, with the help of which the 3D image will be projected onto the retina.
Fantastic? Artificial intelligence expert David Levy believes that as early as 2050, people will be able to marry robots. These will be advanced machines capable of understanding emotions and reacting to them accordingly: sympathize, compliment, empathize, respect.
Emotional robots that can speak are already being sold in Japan. They will soon appear on the French market.
Artificial reproductive organs
If the spouse is a robot, then why not create an artificial childbirth system? Research in this area is actively underway. The prototype of the reproductive system consists of a uterus, placenta and an artificial umbilical cord and is already being tested. In the future, we will work on an artificial uterus, into which fertility doctors will be able to implant embryos grown in vitro.
In parallel with the reproductive organs, scientists are working on a contraceptive implant. The compact device is planned to be implanted into the female body for 15-16 years.
To turn it on or off, you need to press the relay button. Once activated, the smart contraceptive will release progestational hormone in the required dosage daily.
If a woman decides to become pregnant, she needs to turn off the device. The work is financed by the Bill Gates Foundation. The release of the new product to the US market was announced in 2018.
What will the future of humanity look like? What will happen in 25 years? What innovation will change the world? Which invention will have the most dramatic impact on what planet Earth will look like in a quarter century?
Houses can be broken into
As the Internet of Things brings more devices, electronics and other elements of everyday life connected to the online world, opportunities for hacking open up. Just as you now need to keep an eye out for viruses and hackers on your computer, you will soon need to do the same with your home.
Self-driving cars will become the norm
Despite the problems that self-driving cars have gone through in their early stages, this aspect of the technology looks set to stick around and is likely to become the norm in the coming years. Most of the largest automobile concerns will offer their own versions of self-driving cars in the next two to four years.
Driving your own car will become a stigma
However, not only will self-driving cars become commonplace, driving your own car will become almost a stigma. Automation will have positive effects such as less traffic jams, development of car sharing and so on.
Transport will be sponsored by corporations
Another positive side effect that could come from self-driving cars is that they will be less expensive or even free, but you will likely have to listen to some form of corporate messaging to take advantage of them.
Money will become smarter
By combining the power of artificial intelligence and blockchain, the concept of money will evolve into electronic units that will involve a much larger number of assets that can be exchanged within a single “currency.”
Currencies will become corporate
While cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have experienced a major rise in popularity in recent years, we can expect additional brand-focused currencies to be issued by major technology companies in the coming years.
Say goodbye to privacy
A quarter of a century ago, even the most paranoid ideas about surveillance and privacy violations could not have predicted how comfortable people would be in handing over their personal data to faceless corporations and data miners.
Security will become more centralized
However, this loss of privacy will not occur without additional changes. With technology becoming an increasingly important part of people's lives, security concerns will also grow.
3D printing will become ubiquitous
We can expect further developments in 3D printing, particularly as the technology becomes more accessible and easier to use. Few modern technologies are more impressive than 3D printing.
Artificial everything
Artificial intelligence will increasingly dominate, impacting virtually every area of life: healthcare, education, entertainment, financial services and more.
Chatbots will be on the rise
Chatbots will continue to evolve in customer service and marketing. They could be the next big thing. If you want to be on the cutting edge of marketing trends, you'll need a chatbot.
People will have digital doubles
Each person will have their own online avatar. Within the next 25 years, every person will have a digital double, which does not have to be a specific being with a specific age or gender.
Interacting with digital people will become the norm
Just as people have become accustomed to chatbots and conversations with Alexa and Siri, they will soon be comfortable communicating with fully digital characters. By 2024, everyone will be communicating with digital people in one way or another.
Cinemas will disappear
Going to university will be a thing of the past
Given that more and more virtual opportunities appear on the Internet, universities will become unnecessary. They will resemble television studios, where professors will read material against a green screen for students to watch at home.
Technological resistance
Given the fact that augmented and virtual reality are becoming ubiquitous, it is to be expected that a certain number of people will resist these imagined realities.
Antitrust reaction
Just as the rapid development of technology will lead to many people resisting, the development of media and technology companies will lead to government intervention and government control.
The weather will get more and more crazy
Extreme weather conditions are likely to become the norm. Hurricanes, tsunamis, forest fires and a wide variety of natural disasters will occur much more frequently. In the next 25 years, due to climate change caused by human activity, we will see a statistical increase in the number of such weather events.
Dependence on technology will increase
In addition to the fact that people are already addicted to constantly checking their phones, more and more of everyday life will be controlled by automation and artificial intelligence, and more and more tasks and activities will be entrusted to technological devices.
The labor market is transforming
As artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things become the norm and retail continues to fade into obscurity, the job market will change dramatically, and not always for the better.
Sadness will become digital
The emergence of smart cities
An era marked by exponential change, boasting new ideas about asset ownership, radical leaps in artificial intelligence, increasingly efficient electronic engines, and the emergence of smart city infrastructures.
Artificial meat will become popular
While the concept of cultured meat may seem unusual today, it will become more widely accepted over the next 25 years as its benefits become more apparent.
Transformation of the food chain
While we're on the topic of lab-grown meat, it's also worth noting that such innovations, along with artificial intelligence and vertical farming, will lead to a complete transformation of the food chain.
Antibiotics will stop working
As pathogens become increasingly immune to modern antibiotics available on the market, the pharmaceutical industry will have to become more creative and innovative.
Almost gone, 2017 turned out to be a year of great discoveries - space agencies began to use reusable rockets, patients can now fight cancer cells with their own blood cells, and a group of scientists discovered a lost continent in the Southern Hemisphere called Zealand.
These and other mind-blowing discoveries and incredible scientific advances of 2017 are described in more detail below.
Zealand
An international team of 32 scientists has discovered the lost continent of Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean. It is located under Pacific waters, on the seabed, between New Zealand and New Caledonia. Zealand was not always under water, as scientists were able to discover fossilized remains of plants and land animals.
New form of life
Scientists have managed to create in laboratory conditions something that is closest to a new form of life. The fact is that the DNA of all living beings consists of natural pairs of amino acids: adenine-thymine and guanine-cytosine. Most of DNA is built from these nitrogenous bases. However, scientists were able to create an unnatural base pair that coexisted quite comfortably with natural pairs in the DNA of E. coli.
This discovery has the potential to influence the further development of medicine and may contribute to the retention of drugs in the body for a longer period of time.
All the gold in the universe
Scientists have discovered exactly how all the gold in the universe (as well as platinum and silver) is formed. The collision of two very small but very heavy stars located 130 million light years from Earth created a hundred octillion dollars worth of gold.
For the first time in the history of observing stars, astronomers were able to witness the collision of two neutron stars. Two massive cosmic bodies were heading towards each other at a speed equal to a third of the speed of light, and their collision resulted in the creation of gravitational waves that could be felt on Earth.
Secrets of the Great Pyramid
Scientists have taken a fresh look at the Great Pyramid of Giza and discovered a secret chamber there. Using new scanning technology based on high-speed particles, scientists have discovered a secret room deep in the pyramid that no one had even suspected before. For now, scientists can only guess why this room was built.
New method to fight cancer
Scientists can now use the human immune system to fight some cancer cells. For example, to fight childhood leukemia, doctors remove the child's blood cells, modify them, and reintroduce them into the body. While this process is extremely expensive, the technology is developing and has enormous potential.
New indicators from the poles
Not all discoveries in 2017 were positive. For example, in July, a huge piece of ice broke off from the Antarctic ice sheet, becoming the third largest iceberg on record.
In addition, scientists say that the Arctic may never regain its title as the eternally icy pole.
New planets
NASA scientists have discovered seven more exoplanets that could theoretically support life in the form we know on Earth.
As many as seven planets have been spotted in the neighboring star system TRAPPIST-1, at least six of which are solid, like Earth. All these planets are located in a zone favorable for the formation of water and life. What is most remarkable about this discovery is the proximity of the star system and the possibility of further detailed study of the planets.
Farewell to Cassini
In 2017, the automated Cassini space station, which had been studying Saturn and its many moons for 13 years, burned up in the planet’s atmosphere. This was the planned end of the mission, which scientists chose to do deliberately in an attempt to avoid Cassini colliding with possibly habitable moons of Saturn.
Just before its death, Cassini flew around Titan and flew through the icy rings of Saturn, sending unique images to Earth.
MRI for babies
The tiniest babies being treated or examined in hospital now have their own magnetic resonance imaging scanner, safe to use in the same room as the babies.
Reusable rocket booster
SpaceX has invented a new rocket booster that doesn't fall back to Earth after the rocket launches and can be used multiple times.
Boosters are one of the most expensive parts of launching a rocket into space, and they usually all end up on the ocean floor immediately after launch. A very expensive disposable device, without which it is impossible to reach orbit.
However, SpaceX's new heavy boosters can be retrofitted relatively easily and cheaply, saving $18 million per launch. In 2017, Elon Musk’s company has already carried out about 20 launches followed by the landing of a booster.
New advances in genetics
Scientists are one step closer to being able to edit a person's DNA, eliminating birth defects, diseases and genetic abnormalities before birth. Geneticists in Oregon have successfully edited the DNA of a living human embryo for the first time.
In addition, eGenesis announced that it will soon be possible to transplant large vital organs from pig donors into humans. The company managed to create a genetic virus blocker that does not transmit animal viruses to humans.
Breakthrough in quantum teleportation
The possibility of teleportation of quantum information has long been studied by scientists. Previously, it was possible to teleport data over a distance of several tens of kilometers.
For the first time in the history of quantum teleportation, a Chinese scientist managed to transmit information about photons (light particles) from Earth to space using mirrors and lasers.
This discovery could fundamentally change the way we transmit information around the world and transport energy. Quantum teleportation could lead to a completely new kind of quantum computers and information transfer. The Internet of the near future may become faster, safer and virtually impenetrable to hackers.