With this being the final blog, I figured it would be cool to show what the future has to offer in terms of technology. So far I showed you the evolution of video games, technologies to look forward to in 2015, the process of creating CGI in movies, how something as simple as a touch screen works, among other things. With technology advancing at rates that were unimaginable just five years ago, it’s amazing to see what the future has in store for us. All of the following things are estimations, so take the anticipated release dates and feature specifics with a grain of salt.
Texting simply by thinking may be coming as quickly as the year 2020. This is achieved by a combination of eye-tracking technology and a sensor-mounted headset worn by the user. The headset contains a brain-machine interface which detects electrical brain waves and converts them into digital signals, then displays the resulting letters on-screen. Some high-end models can be used with glasses or visors featuring displays built into their lenses. This enables completely hands-free texting, creating a form of virtual telepathy. The process is rather slow at this stage, requiring a high degree of mental concentration. It is more of a novelty for now. However, advances in the coming years will enable smooth and fast interactions, revolutionizing the world of communication.
By the year 2029, humanlike artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to have a major role. Scientists are projecting a that a major milestone is reached in the field of artificial intelligence this year, as a computer passes the Turing Test for the first time. This test is conducted by a human judge who is made to engage in a natural language conversation with one human and one machine, each of which tries to appear human. The participants are placed in isolated locations. Information technology has seen exponential growth for decades. This has led to vast improvements in memory, processing power, software algorithms, voice recognition and overall machine intelligence. It has now reached the stage where an independent judge is literally unable to tell which is the real human and which is not. Answers to certain “obscure” questions posed by the judge may appear childlike from the AI – but they are humanlike nonetheless.
Fast-forwarding to 2035, it is expected that self-driving vehicles will dominate the roads. In 2010, many features such as emergency braking systems, connected vehicle networks, self-parking and freeway cruising features. It is expected by 2035 that these will have advanced so greatly that they can outmaneuver even the best of drivers. A combination of GPS, on-board sensors, traction and stability control, and adaptive cruise control allow a car to sense incoming objects from all directions, detect incoming crashes and impacts, predict the movements of other vehicles on the road, and adapt to changing road and weather conditions.
By 2070, there is expected to be automated homes. This means that the technology inside the house will be so remarkably intelligent that the house can run on itself. This means that there is no more cleaning or spraying of air fresheners. The house will come equipped with a localized power supply, on-site water production, interactive surfaces, and self-managing appliances.
With the advances of technology, almost literally anything is possible. Flying cars will be made one day, jet packs, planes that travel at the speed of light, and ridiculous progress in space exploration. Technology is an absolutely beautiful thing. It’s going to open the world up to possibilities that have never been reached before. There is no doubting that technology is not only the way of the future, but it’s also the way of now. It’s going to be exciting to sit back and see what the engineers and programmers have to offer for us. This is the end of the blog, but I hope this isn’t the end of you reading about technology. I hope you learned a thing or two, but more importantly, now have an interest in technology!