Eye Replacement Implants ©BLACKDAY / Shutterstock.com
One thing that is certain about modern technology is that before anyone realizes what’s happened, it has become old and dated, thus allowing what were once pipedreams of future products to transition into being modern technology.
From a real-life Jurassic Park experience to a toilet that has the ability to analyze one’s waste in order to determine if one has any immediate health concerns, these are some of the future technologies that are about to change the world as we know it.
What It Does: Assesses And Extinguishes Fires Using Sound
Expected Rollout: Unknown
With wildfires and bushfires occurring more frequently, and with more tragic results as the years have gone on, researchers have been searching for ways to make the fire extinguishing process more efficient while not spending an arm and a leg.
At $6,000 apiece, it has been proposed that using a swarm of drones that can actually extinguish fires using specific sound frequencies that temporarily cut off the inferno’s oxygen supply might be the way forward. The drones would follow a grid-like pattern while working as one cohesive unit in order to extinguish fires.
What It Does: Eliminates The Need For Truck Drivers
Expected Rollout: As Early as 2022
Otto, a self-driving truck company that was acquired by Uber in August 2020, successfully tested its prototype in October of 2020, proving that Otto is able to drive safely for long periods of time without a person behind the wheel. While being operated by the A.I., the trucks are monitored by someone in a control room for safety purposes.
The cost of an autonomous truck is yet to be disclosed, however, seeing as how it’s been estimated that up to 500,000 long-haul truck drivers in America may lose their jobs when the trucks do finally take to the road commercially, the cost of savings for the truck companies, as well as the cost to the economy, will be large.
What It Does: Eliminates The Need For Farm Grown Animals
Expected Rollout: 2021
When a child first learns that the meat in the hamburger that they’re eating has come from the same animal that they see grazing on the side of the road on road trips, or that their chicken fingers come from the same animal that has had many reasons for crossing the road over the years, it’s a pretty tough pill to swallow.
Lab-grown meat is exactly what it sounds like. Grown cell by cell, no cows are harmed in the creation of lab-grown steak. In the summer of 2021, the Israeli company, Future Meat Technologies, opened the world’s first 100% lab-grown meat factory. It’s estimated that each serving will cost up to $50, which, considering that no animals were harmed in the making of the meat, is a very reasonable price to pay.
What It Does: Allows Regular People To Experience Space
Expected Rollout: Already In Progress
It was almost 60 years ago that Captain James Tiberius Kirk first gave space the label, “The Final Frontier”, and now, 6 decades later, led by billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, it’s not just astronauts who are able to enjoy the spoils of space travel – all it takes is a small fortune and the thrill of the unknown.
Considering the hefty prices that space travel can set someone back, $450,000 for a seat on Branson’s Virgin Galactic, or $28 million for the chance to see Earth from a window on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, it’s obvious why the space tourism industry is expected to be worth $3 billion by 2030. Both ships have already completed successful journeys with Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, riding along on Blue Orbit’s most recent one.
What It Does: Sustainable Energy
Expected Rollout: Unknown
Researchers from St Louis’ Washington University have discovered a way to convert red bricks into a supercapacitor. No, that’s not the device that Doc Brown uses in his DeLorean in order to travel through time (that’s the flux capacitor), however, according to scientists, it does have the ability to store “a substantial amount of energy”.
The iron oxide in the red bricks reacts to the PEDOT (conducting coating) as it oozes into the bricks’ pours, which turns them into “energy-storing electrodes”. Able to be “recharged hundreds of thousands of times with an hour”, and costing only $2-$3 per brick, energy-storing bricks might be the future of sustainable energy.
What It Does: Expands Agricultural Development
Expected Rollout: Already In Use
With an additional 2+ billion people expected on the planet by the year 2050, the UN has estimated that there will be a need for 70% more food than is currently being produced, and for that, a significantly larger amount of farmland will be needed. As mainland farmland is becoming scarcer than ever, alternative locations to plow, sow, and milk, have been considered.
The world’s first floating dairy farm is located in the Rotterdam harbor in the Netherlands (not Neverland) and is home to 34 Meuse-Rhine-Issel cows. As cost-effective as floating farms might be, the real benefit of these drifting pastures will be evident years from now, when the agricultural land, that has been saved due to their use, is able to flourish.
What It Does: Brings The Past To Life
Expected Rollout: TBD
For anyone who was of age, in 1993, to see it when it came out, Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel, “Jurassic Park”, was a life-changing experience. Never before had dinosaurs been, so realistically, brought to life. Fast forward to 2021, and there is not one, but multiple parks of their kind.
Okay, so, maybe there isn’t a real-life John Hammond collecting dino DNA from fossilized mosquitos in order to create living breathing dinosaurs, but there is a Russian philanthropist by the name of Sergey Zimov, who is hoping to restore the 12,000-year-old mammoth steppe ecosystem by creating a wildlife park for herbivores and introducing hybrid modern megafauna in place of the mammoths.
What It Does: Provides A New Home For Humanity
Expected Rollout: 2050
It might seem as though it has been an eternity since Neil Armstrong spoke his, now, infamous words while walking on the moon, but as far as the history of humankind is concerned, space travel and exploration are still quite new. Of the infinite things that are “out there” to explore, people have only begun to scratch the surface.
After the moon the next closest mass in space is Mars, and, in recent years, a plan has been put in motion that will, hopefully, see humankind colonize the “Red Planet” by 2050. Unmanned missions to Mars began in 2018, in order to begin data retrieval for the future manned missions, which are set to begin in 2026.
What It Does: Creates A Digital Copy To Monitor Health Over Time
Expected Rollout: Unknown
Working on hypotheticals alone, simulations are a far cry from their modern and more advanced cousin, the digital twin, which utilizes a full-body scan to assess people’s health over time without having to keep getting checkups.
By using the information gathered in previous lab work and physicals, digital twins would, “theoretically”, be able to predict illness by simulating health scenarios over many years. Through genetic testing and other health markers, we could soon see everyone with a digital twin, and be able to foresee potentially deadly conditions far before they arise.
What It Does: Household Chores
Expected Rollout: Unknown
To explore the origins of one of the first-ever robot butlers we must take a journey back to the psychedelic ‘60s, and into the home of one of the most influential families of the 20th century, the Jetsons. Okay, so, Rosey wasn’t a butler, but she was a world-class maid.
The robot butler that was developed by Mira Robotics, a Japanese start-up, is operated remotely by a human, and will only cost $225/month. Although robot butlers are, currently, not designed with A.I. technology, many A.I. firms are hard at work attempting to change that. The firms do admit, however, that it will be quite a while before a completely autonomous robot butler is able to roam freely amongst households while completely its chores.
What It Does: Significantly Reduces The Duration Of Travel
Expected Rollout: 2030
Getting people from one place to another as quickly, and as safely, as possible is what those who are developing hyper-speed trains have in mind. Using Super Maglev (magnetic levitation) technology, in which the train is magnetically lifted off of a track while inside a tube, the train is then propelled forward at tremendous speeds.
With the ability to, possibly, reach speeds of up to 1,800 mph a hyper-speed train will have the capability of taking passengers from New York to Los Angeles in only 45 minutes. At an estimated cost of between $54 and $154 million per mile of track, hyper-speed trains are not cheap, however, if they are able to substantially cut down on travel time, the cost might be worth it.
What It Does: Improves Vision
Expected Rollout: Low-Tech Version Currently Available
Nearly 200 million people in the world have low, or no, vision. Enter: Bionic eye implants. Behind one’s eye, a micro-electrode is attached to the retina and is implanted through the eyewall, surgically. It’s then connected to an implanted electronic module on the outside of the eye. The module is then fed images that are transmitted by a digital camera that’s attached to the glasses on the device’s exterior.
The retina subsequently receives electrical impulses that use the optic nerve as a conduit to send the brain a signal that helps to restore the ability to see shapes and movement. The bionic eye implant procedure, as it currently stands, costs close to $4,000 per eye and is still only effective on those who suffer from specific eye diseases, not blindness.
What It Does: Projects A Smartphone Screen
Expected Rollout: Now On Sale
Due, partly, because of how suave he is, but mostly because of the cool gadgets he got to play with, people all over the world have grown up dreaming about being James Bond. Fortunately, the age of Smart technology has come, and with it came, somewhat, reasonably priced James Bond quality toys that are fun for all ages.
For only $300 consumers can own the Cicret Bracelet. Its screen is sensitive to pinch gestures, swipes, and taps, in all of the same ways as a Smartphone, only it’s projected onto the user’s arm instead of being made of glass and taking the form of, what was once thought to be, a stereotypical mobile phone.
What It Does: Makes Grocery Shopping Easier
Expected Rollout: Low-Tech Version Currently On The Market
Thanks to Smart fridges, grocery shopping is easier today than it’s ever been. Anyone who thought that online shopping had already simplified their lives as much as it could, has never seen the Samsung Family Hub series of Smart Fridges. It has a built-in touchscreen on the door that has a grocery menu app and full connectivity to all other Smart devices in the home.
The Samsung Family Hub 6.0 runs on an Android operating system and can be operated through the SmartThings app on one’s tablet or smartphone. Like most of Android’s recent Smart technology, the Hub 6.0 is compatible with Alexa but also comes with Bixby built-in and is ready to input a grocery order.
