Technology can be a scary thing. Shows like Black Mirror have shown the dangerous and creepy potential of our steadily advancing, more interconnected world, and sometimes it can be easy to feel a bit paranoid about the future.
With that said, there are also plenty of reasons to be looking forward to the world of tomorrow, even if flying cars and hover boards might not pan out. Here's some of the emerging tech that has me excited:
1. Augmented Reality Devices
Being able to project 3D graphics and information over one's field of vision has so much cool potential. Last year, we got a taste of what was possible with the Pokemon Go craze. Now imagine wearing special glasses that could show you real-time directions when you're lost, translate different languages for you, or show you the history of landmarks right as you look at them. Microsoft is already developing this tech in the form of the Hololens, a set of goggles capable of projecting all sorts of things over your environment, including a game of Minecraft.
2. Wireless Charging
No, I'm not talking about the little charging pads that you set your Samsung or Apple Watch on. I'm talking about wirelessly transmitting raw electrical power through the freaking air and into your devices, which sounds like space magic but is actually something that several companies (including Disney, of all people) have made working prototypes of. Just think that sometime in the near future this technology could be in your phone, and you could wirelessly share power with a friend whose battery is low.
3. Cheap 3D Printing
These days, 3D printing has become a widespread and fairly accessible service. Yet as time passes, the printers themselves are becoming more and more affordable to the point where they could soon be a household appliance. We haven't quite reached that point yet, but when we do, it will open up a whole new world for creatively-minded people.
4. Machine Learning
How do you teach something to an Artificial Intelligence? You could program it right in, or you could make it so that the machine can study things and understand them itself. Through machine learning, your AI assistants like Siri can get a whole lot smarter. It can also be the basis for programs that can recognize faces, create pictures, and more. My personal favorite? A website that will take a line drawing and turn it into an image of a cat, as well as some other objects.
5. "Smarter" Cars
Every year, 1.3 million people die from car accidents. There is no one way to fix this problem, but improved technology in our cars can help bring that figure down. By now, you've surely heard of companies like Google working on self-driving cars. This can reduce human errors from sleepiness or drunk drivers, but it can also help normal cars, too. Certain car companies are putting devices in their vehicles that let the cars "talk" to each other, meaning they can sense problems up ahead and react on their own.
For some reason, our current media has a fixation on futuristic dystopias and technology that's "always watching". Despite that, I think it's important that we look around and think about how the future can be a brighter place thanks to science and technology.
