The World in 2050: Top 20 Future Technologies
in 2050 the world will look dramatically different due to significant technological advancements for example the world's first artificial general intelligence is close to becoming a reality by 2050 major tech companies have already launched official projects to develop the world's first artificial general intelligence billions of dollars are invested in these projects and large full-time staff are dedicated to this effort these highly complex projects are expected to take anywhere from 10 to 20 years to complete scientists and engineers are figuring out how to model factors such as intentional creativity strategic thinking emotions casual reasoning common sense counter-factual thinking and consciousness the immediate use case is to have a self-aware ai that institutions can consult with to solve problems that were previously thought impossible another use case involves transferring copies of this ai to advanced humanoid robots that can handle a variety of situations in the real world a small percentage of the world opposes this and there's constant backlash on the internet but that was to be expected this development is projected to lead to technologies that are indistinguishable from magic in the coming decades especially when combined with exponentially growing computational power of classical and quantum computers however it leaves the door open to super intelligent ai being developed by the end of the century and there's no feasible limit to how intelligent this ai can become such an ai could be smarter than all humans that ever lived on planet earth shortly afterwards it could become trillions of times more intelligent than that number two human-like robots are emerging in 2050 robots have the ability to master real world environments and an increasingly diverse range of 3d objects although earlier robots were limited to fixed movements this new generation has more dexterity and flexibility they can adapt to new situations and solve more and more dynamic problems and they can learn from their experiences and share knowledge with each other because of wireless internet speeds thousands of times faster than 6g and the exponentially growing amounts of data being gathered from their sensors these robots can identify objects situations and the actions they should perform next in near real time which enables a more human-like response although a few technological and scientific hurdles still remain this is getting close to what many people will consider artificial general intelligence the most advanced robots are restricted to government corporate and research institutions and the households of the rich and famous in addition to cognitive abilities these more advanced robots have extremely lifelike appearances facial expressions and body language thanks to continuous emotional feedback from users and techniques such as motion capture and generative adversarial networks these robots almost look and act like real people and as more data is provided to these robots their body language and movements become more natural with each generation 3d printed bones and new materials developed for flexible skin and muscles eyes and teeth help to make the humanoid robots appear as human as possible additionally less advanced models are now relatively common in society they're popular among people in the upper middle of income brackets and they're similar in cost to a second car or a similar major purchase their functions include household chores such as cleaning cooking and tidying as well as looking after children and elderly family members number three smart cities are emerging in some regions in 2050 a small percentage of cities and some regions have become smart cities these smart cities connect vehicles on the world to a central network that tracks their locations in real time these types of networks receive terabytes of information from a huge number of sources such as road sensors traffic lights and so forth those sources provide information such as the number of cars on the roads both blockages weather patterns the state of emergency services and more autonomous vehicles enrolled constantly communicate and coordinate with each other to optimize the flow of traffic in these cities thanks to this coordinated information exchange traffic congestion and jams have become much less severe in large cities autonomous vehicles right behind each other at the distance of only 20 centimeters received space on the road and due to this coordination autonomous vehicles make turns at intersections at almost full speed with a low probability of accidents occurring manually parking vehicles is a thing of the past for owners of autonomous vehicles autonomous vehicles can be programmed to drop their owners off somewhere and then search for the cheapest available parking spots within the city at the designated time vehicles return and pick up their owners autonomous vehicles can also be remotely controlled using virtual reality devices this helps in unique situations that ai isn't able to handle on its own such as southern natural disasters and autonomous vehicle sharing has become a booming industry which has disrupted companies like uber and lyft number four brain computer interfaces have improved by orders of magnitude in 2050 brain computer interfaces have vastly improved over diversions from 2030 and they're largely usable for everyday purposes headbands and wristbands with non-invasive sensors have become the preferred choices for mainstream brand computer interface use these interfaces are usually standard accessories for virtual reality headsets including high-priced vr helmets that offer full dive vr experiences and some brand computer interfaces are fully implantable for medical and military purposes brain computer interfaces now offer bi-directional exchange of information these advanced neural interfaces send waves to the brain transmitting visual audio and other sensations to the user the images and experiences generated by these devices almost indistinguishable from reality and they're unique to each user because they depend on the structure of the brain when it comes to entertainment people can use brand computer interfaces to control objects in veto games and virtual environments with high reasonable accuracy for example this feature is particularly relevant in the latest star wars game where you play jedis and siths with force abilities and in the latest matrix game where you play as the one additionally these devices allow people in vr games and experiences to communicate with each other using relatively simple thoughts however it will take a few more decades before this feature is refined number five bionic eyes are perfected in 2050 artificial retinas and other visual prosthesis can match the visual quality of a real human eye they contain electrode arrays with hundreds of megapixels in full color along with wireless capabilities this is a substantial step up from devices in early decades that provided black and white and highly pixelated views of the world some versions of these implants not only provide the cure to blindness for many people but they also contain further enhancements these enhancements include embedded cameras wi-fi augmented reality night vision thermal vision zoom capability and so on when someone is using these devices it's possible to wirelessly communicate with them using text overlaid in their vision these enhanced devices are standard practice among spy organizations militaries and high-profile citizens however they're becoming inexpensive enough for the mainstream public as well healthy adults are now tempted to take advantage of the improvements offered by computerized vision the main downsides are privacy and security concerns some government and corporate sources indicate that these devices could potentially expose a high number of government and corporate scandals number six two space elevators have been built in 2050 two space elevators have been built and they're the largest engineering projects ever undertaken china and the abiyashi corp a global construction firm based in tokyo japan committed to building their own space elevators more than three decades ago and that vision has come to life these space elevators are planet to space transportation systems that each have a cable anchored to the earth's surface and extending into space this design permits an elevator to travel along the cable directly into orbit without the use of large rockets they're located near the earth's equator and the competing forces of gravity and outward centrifugal force hold up the cables under tension the material used to create the cables are carbon nanotubes which is lightweight and hundreds of times stronger than steel these space elevators are frequently being used by institutions to deliver cargo into space and return cargo to the earth they're also capable of transporting astronauts and tourists to low orbit space stations espace elevator cost almost 10 billion dollars to build however they made this money back in savings after transporting only a few payloads that's because transporting cargo with space elevators is less than one percent of the cost when using rockets number 7 vr glasses are replacing smartphones virtual reality headsets now have 16k resolution and they reduce in size so much that they resemble goggles or glasses and they have multiple display modes those display modes include the following the augmented reality mode allows the lenses to be transparent so that you can view holograms the mixed reality mode allows the lenses to be transparent as well so that you can view hyper-realistic virtual objects in the real world that seem to obey the laws of physics and the virtual reality mode has an opaque coat of silver over the glasses so that you can fully immerse in the virtual world in the augmented and mixed reality modes you can view a smart stream where you can manipulate multiple apps and files using your brain activity it's because of these features that vr glasses are considered the next step of evolution after smartphones however many people continue to prefer smartphones vr and augmented reality contact lens is another area that is gradually being adopted number eight mars has a permanent human presence in 2050 a permanent team of scientists and robotics engineers is present on mars spacex is leading much of this effort and the first civilian tourists have also arrived significant innovation in autonomous robotic mining systems were required before the first humans set foot on mars autonomous mining robots mined for and create water autonomous robots also extract hydrogen from the water to create hydrogen-based fuel and satellites containing solar panels orbiting mars provide energy to the mars base as well this base will soon be expanded with additional facilities providing more energy food production recycling systems mining equipment and other tools vehicles are supplied as well enabling scientists to roam hundreds of miles more sophisticated long-term bases are now being planned to accommodate larger teams of personnel tourists and corporate interests the habitat modules are constructed partially underground giving protection from the sound to ultraviolet rays radiation absorbing materials based on nanotechnology are also being used in spacesuits and exterior of vehicles these same materials block particles of dust providing long-term protection against the environment outside mars colonization is profitable because of the sales of intellectual property rights to earth the mining for valuable metals on mars and ongoing mining for asteroids an asteroid belt between mars and jupiter space mining is a significant consideration because the amount of money that corporations can make from it is in the trillions and the minerals in these asteroids hold minimal wealth equivalent to about 100 billion dollars for every individual on earth number nine augmented and mixed reality is everywhere entire cities have turned into augmented reality zones which can be experienced by using augmented reality glasses lenses or other devices location-specific augmented reality overlays are created by corporations and individual creators urban landscapes are filled with information of all types which can be filtered as needed using augmented reality apps price tags and stores menus and restaurants and schedules at public transportation stops have all become virtual it's also become common to use augmented reality to access navigation from one location to another get reviews for nearby institutions and view notable 3d animations and videos of past events at certain locations number 10 hyperloop tunnels are enabling faster international travel the hyperloop concept usually involves passenger pods traveling through pressurized tubes using an electric propulsion and magnetic levitation cargo is also transported considerably faster than before with this method hyperloop pods travel at speeds between 600 and 700 miles per hour they also reduce transit-related greenhouse gas emissions by 90 and due to the time they save they provide economic benefits totaling over a trillion dollars every year when compared to previous transportation methods over a dozen domestic hyperloop tunnels were finalized by the early 2030s now tunnels have been built to allow high-speed transportation between multiple countries this development created a boom in the tourism industry this development is also disrupting the air and rail travel industries however the widespread introduction of supersonic aircraft in the early 2030s for long distance traveling is mitigating the effects of this disruption number 11 video games are becoming hyper realistic in 2050 video games are full to realistic advancements in game engines and world building software make it easier and faster than ever for game studios and independent creators to build large and realistic virtual worlds cities within these worlds are fully explorable in terms of shops office spaces and most other types of interiors likewise an entire forest can now be rendered with a sub-millimeter precision showing unique and random features such as individual leaf marks and insect bites non-playable characters in video games can generate and sustain natural nuanced and indefinite conversations this is thanks to language models and deep learning algorithms in the cloud that are many orders of magnitude more advanced than the gpt-3 model from the early 2020s advanced character builders make it relatively easy to build hundreds of unique non-playable characters at a time that each have unique personalities and life stories generative adversarial networks can generate an almost infinite variety of each physical attribute such as faces hair body types and clothing this is made possible because of enormous amounts of visual data fed to these neural networks this technique also improves character gestures expressions and actions making them more fluid and lifelike at this stage character animations are 100 realistic yet but they're incredibly close and increasingly video games are being created using real locations as their environments number 12 ai can outperform humans in most occupations in 2050 artificial intelligence can outperform humans in the majority of professions ai software can outmatch humans and white college jobs involving constructing company reports market research and most administrative functions in some scenarios they can also write screenplays make music write novels and more ai robots can outmatch humans in jobs such as security guards forklift drivers chefs and warehouse pickers many companies have even replaced most of their human resources departments with ai in these companies artificial intelligence handles recruitment first round job interviews employee orientations performance evaluations and deciding who to lay off as an added touch some corporations even use artificial intelligence to lay off employees in metaverse environments almost entirely removing the human elements from these life-changing situations other departments within companies such as finance legal sales marketing and customer service have also changed forever the only people who are relatively safe from having their jobs taken over by ai are the following those in the top five to ten percent of the occupations people in careers requiring high levels of creativity empathy and dexterity people who are well connected and the people who create the ai this is a trend that will only escalate toward the end of the century number 13 virtual assistants have largely replaced search engines well before 2050 most people on earth have access to a pervasive virtual assistant the same virtual assistant can be available as an augmented reality hologram virtual reality character and household robot and the same virtual assistant can be available as a voice in a smart home inside the vehicle from a smartwatch and from a smartphone by this point language models similar to gpt3 are exponentially more advanced and virtual assistants are built on these language model platforms these virtual assistants are trained on text data from the majority of websites and publications ever created in human history so they can answer almost any question we asked to them and their answers are personalized based on our goals interests and career paths they constantly predict what we might want to do next and make suggestions throughout each day instead of us having to type phrases into search engines whenever we do search for information they always make additional suggestions that are vaguely related to our queries to help us get helpful perspectives we never considered we can also customize the personalities appearances voices and special abilities of these virtual assistants in the coming decades artificial general intelligence will take this technology to another level number 14 the average person has access to quantum computing technology for the past 10 to 15 years tech companies have offered quantum computing technology with their cloud services at a moderate to high cost personal computers and servers also contain a hybrid of classical and quantum computing technology or one of those technologies quantum technology is usually considerably more expensive companies and individuals use quantum technology to model the interactions of molecules and atoms invent new materials create complex virtual objects that are difficult for humans to conceive develop potent smart drugs and develop high range electric vehicle batteries that make gasoline-based vehicles obsolete some organizations are using the most advanced quantum computers in the world to closely simulate processes of the human brain this is making the transferring of memories from humans to machines a real possibility these simulations are helping artificial general intelligence become a reality as well one major downside to all of this is that some individuals have begun using quantum enabled ai to create fake videos that are completely indistinguishable from reality they're nearly impossible to detect without expensive generative adversarial networks trained on high levels of computational power number 15 crispr and gene therapies are minimizing severe diseases technologies and approaches such as crispr gene therapies 3d printed organs and blood vessels nanoparticles and nanopods are minimizing and curing major diseases in ways that were unthinkable only a couple of decades earlier five year survival rates have reached close to one hundred percent for certain forms of cancer including colon cancer other diseases that are significantly mitigated include aids ebola blindness sickle cell mania heart disease and more number 16 ai enabled warfare is now possible for the past couple of decades it's been possible to fight an entire war using only fully autonomous robots and vehicles but capabilities have reached a new level a swarm of 10 000 drones can't be deployed with the cost as little as 10 million ai controlled hypersonic missiles can travel to the other side of the globe in two hours and outmaneuver conventional defensive systems for the autonomous robots with near perfect aim have replaced a high percentage of human soldiers in major militaries around the world no human with conventional weapons can stand a chance against these machines which also have the ability to heal themselves using nanotechnology for the most delicate missions these robots can also be controlled by soldiers wearing virtual reality headsets in nearby locations most of today's jet fighters are fully autonomous as well a combination of powerful ai swarming behavior hypersonic speed and near perfect target recognition systems enables near instantaneous effects throughout combat areas network-centric warfare and collision avoidance systems enable squadrons of autonomous aircraft to synchronize attack from multiple directions and regroup in seconds due to their inhuman reaction times and improved weaponry no human pilot withstand a chance against this type of enemy even routine ground maintenance is done mostly by robots number 17 light-based computer chips or mainstream in 2050 the majority of computer processors storage devices memory chips graphic cards and motherboards use a combination of both light and electricity to optimize performance for certain scenarios the main advantage of light-based computer chips is that they are faster and more efficient for certain ai calculations that's because information can be encoded more efficiently in different wavelengths of light and because controlling light requires less power than controlling the flow of electrons with transistors technologies that process data using light include self-driving cars advanced robots quantum computers vr glasses and brain computer interfaces light based computer chips also provide the following advantages the processed neural networks that are several orders of magnitude larger than the electricity based chips can and they can process those neural networks millions of times more efficiently they can carry out mathematical computations needed for ai and machine learning at the speed of light that's up to five to ten times faster than electricity-based ai chips they use one-sixth of power consumption of electricity-based chips and they can process multiple complex ai algorithms at a time enabling considerably more complex actions in real time number 18 the cost of energy is incredibly cheap by the early 2040s much of the developed world and some developing countries are primarily powered by solar and wind the cost of solar energy dropped 82 from 2010 to 2020 while the cost of wind energy dropped 46 the cost of these energy sources are now one quarter of the cost from the early 2020s one major reason for the lower energy cost is the growing uses of surplus energy generated by solar panels and wind turbines that would have otherwise been wasted additionally this surplus energy is stored and re-routed to be used for non-time sensitive applications such as charging batteries of parked cars removing salt from salt water waste recycling and metal refining not only did the cost of energy drop the cost for anything that relies on that energy dropped as well that includes the cost of water materials manufacturing and competition continent-wide super grids are also starting to emerge these super grids allow nations to share surplus clean energy from abundant sources and distribute it to the region's most in need by cooperating in this way it's possible to greatly reduce waste and optimize power supplies on the consonant-wide scale at all times of the year additionally lithium-ion battery storage cost dropped 87 from 2010 to 2020 and it continued to drop afterwards due to the massive production of batteries for electric vehicles another positive to all of this is that using clean energy sources eliminates more than 50 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions which is by far the largest culprit of climate change number 19 decentralized autonomous organizations are disrupting the entertainment industry a decentralized autonomous organization or dao is a community-led entity with no central authority it's an organization that is governed entirely by its individual members who collectively make critical decisions about its future for many years decentralized autonomous organizations have disrupted multiple industries and that's especially the case for the entertainment industry since well before 2050 entire media properties similar to star wars and harry potter are comprised of organized systems of nfts and partially owned by decentralized communities those communities control narratives story lines character development character appearance actor and actress selection and so on some of these communities have millions of members folding mechanisms allow them to build on factors of varying granularity as well movies video games novels comic books and more related to those media properties are sold and financed by these communities celebrities and talented names in the entertainment industry have also endorsed this practice and taken part in it as well although there was a rough start for several years many of the products under these media properties are now at a higher quality level and even more enjoyable than what big corporate studios are offering all these data transactions take place on the blockchain web 4.0 like its predecessor web 3.0 enables individuals to claim partial ownership of these media properties number 20 most digital transactions use blockchain technology a blockchain is a shared database that allows multiple parties to access data and verify that data in real time since the late 2030s most digital transactions of all types have been on the blockchain blockchain technology has become a bedrock to society almost as much as electricity and internet cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain technology in 2050 the average person uses cryptocurrencies on a normal basis because of their ease to use increased security and protection against inflation data transfers between earth and mars are primarily conducted using blockchain technology investors on earth can gain partial ownership of a water production facility on mars and continents made on mars are able to go viral on earth it only takes five to twenty minutes for data to transmit between mars and earth depending on their planetary positions around the sun blockchain technology is helping to combat deep fakes that's because every device with a camera is starting to gain an option to authenticate photos and videos and place them on the blockchain because of this any photo or video loaded to a trusted website source must show its blockchain authentication and in many countries blockchain technology is ensuring that elections are more secure and transparent by assigning an id to each vote and easily keeping track of those worlds thanks for watching make sure to watch this next video about futures technologies in the year 2060.
2021-12-01 20:17
