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 People will spend a large amount of time
in virtual-reality worlds in which they will compete,
socialize, relax, be entertained and do business by the
year 2020. British Telecom futurologist Ian Pearson
says immersive computer-generated environments will
give people "a life-size, 3-D image and the links
to your nervous system allow you to shake hands,
it's like being in the other person's office.
It's impossible to believe that won't be the
normal way of communicating." By 2005, GeoSim,
based in Israel, was thoroughly digitizing detail about
major cities - see the rendering of Philadelphia
above.
Virtual reality may come to mean
more to some people than our first reality, and this
could generate a number of problems for humankind,
especially because it will become prevalent and
compelling at a time in our history when humans may
actually be under threat of their own inventions. Due
to the confluence of nanotechnology, robotics and
genetic breakthroughs there is a possibility that
control of the world may be shifting toward
artificially intelligent entities. Humans have to be on
their toes, and not lounging in some virtual
paradise.
 Futurists and technology experts say
robots and artificial intelligence of various sorts
will become an accepted part of daily life by the year
2020 and will almost completely take over physical
work. Our society will become a care economy. Robots
will take over the physical jobs, they will evolve to
be smarter than humans, and they are expected to be
granted their own set of rights by 2020. Futurologist
Ian Pearson projects that robots will be fully
conscious, with superhuman levels of intelligence, by
this time.
"Consciousness is just
another sense, effectively, and that's what
we're trying to design in a computer," he told
The Observer, a UK newspaper, in 2005. He added that
this could make it possible to program
"emotional" machines, such as airplanes that
are afraid of crashing.
The image above shows a nano-size
electric motor created at Berkeley Lab in 2005. Attach
wings or legs, and it could be as fast and nimble as a
housefly. (Picture courtesy Zettl Research
Group.)
Some futurists say humans will
increase their intellects to keep up with their
creations, others are concerned that the acceleration
of technology will outrun humans' ability to keep
pace. It is possible that by 2020 supercomputers and
the enhancement of human intelligence through brain
downloads or implants will allow humans to be equal or
superior to artificial-intelligence entities.
No matter how it goes, as robots
become more developed and human-like it will be
necessary to adjust to the way in which such entities
will fit within our social systems.
Experts say psychopaths and
criminals could be "cured" with the
development of emotion-control devices by 2020. The
devices will be placed in the areas of the brain that
make these people different and help them to lead more
normal, productive lives.
Scientists say it is quite likely
that developments in nanotechnology and the science of
coatings will yield nano solar cells - each just a
billionth of a meter in diameter. They will be
sensitive enough to generate power from any light
source - even infrared light that can be found indoors
- and they will be painted or sprayed onto surfaces
everywhere to provide a power source.
These inexpensive
electricity-generating surfaces can keep our many
digital devices fully charged without any effort on our
part.
It is expected that by 2025 or
sooner humans will be able to watch three-dimensional
programming, suspended in mid-air and delivering
entertainment, informational and educational programs.
Sporting events and film actors will seem to appear in
the middle of your living room as if they were standing
there in real life. It's also expected that humans
will be able to make themselves characters in their
favorite sporting events or films.
The following are excerpted from
the British Telecom Technology Timeline (information
was compiled by Ian Neild and Ian Pearson from
worldwide sci-tech reports in 2005):
-
AI technology imitating thinking
processes of the brain
-
AI teachers get better results
than most human teachers
-
AI starts being noticed as a
source of redundancy
-
Computers write most of their
own software
-
Human knowledge is exceeded by
machine knowledge
-
Electronic pets outnumber
organic pets
-
Electronic life form given basic
rights
-
Artificial insects and small
animals with artificial brains
-
AI entity becomes a Member of
British Parliament
-
Smart bacteria contains
electronics and is linked to net
-
AI brings chimpanzee or dolphin
up to human-level intelligence
-
AI entity awarded Nobel
Prize
-
Virus wipes out half of the
electronic pet population
-
Remote-control devices built
into living pets
-
AI entities given the right to
vote
-
Nanotech-based organism colonies
built
-
Synthetic bacteria is
created
-
Artificial sensors used in
cosmetic upgrade surgery
-
Smart makeup works to improve
people's looks
-
Listing of individual's DNA
for $1 (10M key base pairs)
-
More people using telework
centers than home working
-
Telework centers double as
community resources
-
Police force privatized in many
nations
-
Films where viewers can choose
who acts in each role
-
Autonomous production plants
make everything
-
Retirement age begins to be
linked to a person's medical history
-
Holodecks using room lined
completely with polymer screens
-
Thought recognition as an
everyday input process
-
Self-diagnostic, self-repairing
robots
-
War fought entirely between
robot armies
-
ID cards replaced by biometric
scanning
-
Fuel cells replace
internal-combustion engines
-
Life expectancy approaches
100
View predictions for
other time-spans:
<2010-2014> <2015> <2016-2025> <2026-2045> <2046-2150>
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