The idea of "tomorrow" was always a positive one.
My parents tell me stories of how when they graduated high school, they imagined the future to be filled with flying cars and robot assistants. This epic adventure of "the future" is supposed to be a grand one, right? It's supposed to be filled with unbelievable technology and unheard of possibilities... but is that true today?
I asked college students what they expect the world to look like in the next 10 years.
As they are ready to take off into the world and dive deep into adulthood, what do they believe their future will look like?
"I think a major influence on the world that will define ten years from now is social media. I believe social media will continue to make people feel more isolated because they don't spend as much time engaged in social interactions. So either social media will die off because we will see the problems it causes or we will be able to have healthy, smooth face-to-face interactions again. But, in more important news, In-n-Out will still bless our souls with their double-doubles." - Marketing. 23.
"More self-driving cars. A lot more, actually. Maybe even self-driving Ubers. I think there are so many different versions of technology between phones, iPads, computers... that eventually it will be compacted into one device. We'll just have one really expensive piece of technology that can do anything." - Communication. 21.
"Trump will still be president. Or we fled earth and we're living on Mars. Or we sent Trump to Mars." - Professional Writing. 22.
"Drones will be used for delivery or pickup of general items. And enhancements in virtual reality, hopefully for more than just gaming purposes." - Graphic Design. 18.
"I don't think much will change. I don't think it will get worse or better, actually. We're kind of stuck at this current economic state and will remain stuck for awhile." - English Literature. 20.
"I think quantum computing is going to become more prevalent, and it is going to be able to process things much faster. This is going to coexist with the rise of AI and AI is going to begin approaching human intelligence levels. Where that will lead is hard to say, however it will most likely be one of the biggest threats humanity has seen. Alongside with AI will be a crippled US dollar. As more things become subsidized by the government, money will become cheaper to acquire causing rapid inflation and a lower quality of life for people overwhelmed by debt. This debt will be hard to pay off because AI will take over a lot of good paying jobs which will divide people into the extremely wealthy, and extreme poverty. This might take longer than 10 years to unfold but we will start seeing warning signs within the next 10 years. The only way to slow and stop this cycle is deregulation of industry, and for the government to stop subsidizing things." - Finance. 20.
"Overpopulated. Our national parks won't be the same, as well as our overall environment. We suck as humans and we need to take better care of the planet." - Business Marketing. 22.
"I think in ten years the world will learn from its mistakes from the past. We will become a smarter, more caring world, not focusing on short-term problems with ourselves, but be looking towards the big picture of who we are as a human race. We will go forth and better prepare ourselves for what the future has in store. A whole new generation will grow up seeing the mistakes that we have made in our past, and be able to make sure we don't make those same mistakes. I also truly believe that God will have a stronger presence in our world, and will touch millions through miracles and love." - Sports Management. 21.
"There will be a lot of technological advances, people will be a lot more sensitive, and North Korea may or may not have nuked someone. It's really a 50/50 future we're looking at here." - Marketing. 21.
"I think we're gonna be bored in ten years. Society's moving faster than ever in terms of culture, technology, and connectivity. It's never enough though - never. We're always striving for bigger and better, always looking for the next horizon and when it's not immediately clear, we give up. Humanity is going to bore itself in the next ten years, the scandals, gadgets, and politics won't even be enough to sustain our attention anymore." - Engineering. 20.
"The idea of a career will completely change. Everyone my age is determined to live this epic internet lifestyle through YouTube, blogging, Instagram or whatever. Eventually, the 9-5 jobs will seem criminal and it will be hard to get people to try to commit to a company compared to making it 'big' on their own. We're all drawn to the idea of non-commitment careers and want to freelance or contract... but there are a lot of jobs out there that someone has to fill. We can't all be Instagram stars and bloggers, right? When does that eventually spiral?" - Communications. 20.
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