Position Paper 3: Forecasting the Future

From experts to fellow colleagues and peers, everyone is predicting what the future will hold. Technology and the rapid evolution of humans has sparked the imaginations of people for generations. From the launching of the first Star Trek episode back in 1968, people had envisioned what the future could possibly hold. The direction that technology could progress is as expansive as the horizon itself, and I dare say that the progression it has taken as exceeded the expectations of the ones fantasizing about it back in the 60's. 

Though Hollywood and film productions have made millions of dollars off the cinematic representations of the future (even an entire genre, Science Fiction, has been created due to the fascination of the future), most experts agree that those movies are a far cry from what the future will actually bring. While Hollywood is focused on AI robots taking over the planet and space tech leading us to other galaxies, the reality is that the future is based more on advances in the Internet and it capabilities and communication. 

A video posted by Tech Insider showed the results of a survey conducted by World Economic Forum. 800 experts were surveyed, and they gave their predictions as to what they felt the future would look like by the year 2030. They looked at 7 aspects of technology ranging from the Internet of Things, cars, phones, political polices, and even medicine/pharmaceutical companies. 

While everyone has their own theories of what could be seen in the future, the one thing that will certainly be seen in the future is the expansion of the Internet of Things. Google defines the Internet of Things to be, "extension of Internet connectivity into physical devices and everyday objects. Embedded with electronics, Internet connectivity, and other forms of hardware, these devices can communicate and interact with others over the Internet, and they can be remotely monitored and controlled." The introduction of the 21st century has also been the herald of the Internet being a part of everyday life. The Internet was introduced to the world in 1983, and by 2019, majority of people in the first world cannot imagine their lives without it. The use of the Internet is weaving its way into every aspect of life, and we can only predict that in the future, we will only see it become more ingrained in daily routine. 

"One trillion sensors could be connected to the Internet by 2022."

If this prediction is correct, that would mean that there would be more sensors active than there are people on the planet currently. When put into perspective, it only emphasizes the magnitude that technology will have in our livelihood. These senors could include smart technology in our clothes, appliances, houses, and cars. They will be able to help us with work or take the stress out of everyday tasks. They will record and regulate a variety of things that once had to be done manually, and they will make the endeavor far less tedious. Even now, Smart Watches have sensors that give them the ability to register different aspects of our health from heart rate to insulin levels, and they can now be the first line of action to alert us to medical issues that we may have not been aware of until it was too late. The future will only guarantee that this technology will improve, and that the sensors within them will only become more efficient and advanced.

But the future will only take things further than we thought possible. The upcoming technology may become more than something we wear and have; they may become a part of us. "80% of respondents predict that the first implantable phones will become commercially available by 2024." The video goes on further to say that there are even some that predict that this tech will allow people to communicate via brainwaves. Now, that may sound like a feat of Science Fiction, but the understanding of brain waves has increased drastically in recent years. Computers, now, are able to produce images from brain waves. Technology has allowed peoples' dreams to become visible in computer images based on the brain waves that the computer was able to translate into an image. This is the first step. It is not so far fetched to believe that this ability will exceed dreams into conscious thought, and that this thought could be communicated to others by the use of a device implanting in us. The Internet was designed to improve communication; its purpose was connect people no matter how far a part they were. The improvement of communication is what the Internet was designed to do, and the understanding and practice of communicating with brainwaves may be the next step of the the future for Internet communication. 

Because technology is becoming more deeply rooted in our society, it is only plausible that laws and regulations will result from it. Due to the limitless capabilities the Internet provides, it only stands to reason that government regulation is to be expected. 

"79% of respondents surveyed believe that the Internet will become a basic right by 2024." 

It is shocking to see how humanity has evolved. In 1777, basic human rights were defined by voting and having a voice in government. Basic human rights included freedom to speech and religious beliefs; in just a few centuries, we have progressed so much that the term "right" has evolved to mean equal access to the Internet. Digital technology is now shaping the idea of human rights. The digital divide is creating a social gap in society that has never been seen before, and it is demanding attention. It is creating an advantage for some and disadvantage for others. As with any unfair treatment in society, it will result in the people demanding for social reform. Our past was defined by our freedom for a voice in our government, our future will be defined by opportunity to move forward in the Digital Age.

 No one can truly predict the future with 100% accuracy; the future is as unpredictable as people themselves. However, one certainty is that the Internet will only grow to be a part of our lives. With the way things are going, our dependency upon it will steepen. Dan Brown, a well established author, released a 5th installment to his series in 2017. The premise of the book, Origin, was unraveling the age old mystery of where humanity came from and where it is going. *spoilers ahead* The book focused heavily on humanity with a particular interest in the interaction of people and technology. In his book, he predicted that the Internet and all the technology associated with it will evolve with us. The Internet of Things will act like its own organism, and it will coexist and co-evolve along side humans in almost a symbiotic relationship. That humans and technology will develop an intertwined existence with one another, and one will depend on the other intimately in order to move forward on the evolutionary spectrum. It may sound silly at first to see computers as organisms and view them through a biological lens, but AI technology can now adapt and learn. It can learn from its errors and adapt to changing environment of cyber kinetic information. Though they are not biological, technology is advancing so that it is behaving as such. It can easily be seen that humans and technology are changing as a result of each other, and the future we will only see that come to light more prominently.