Do you ever witness moments that you know are building toward something genuinely historic? Like, you just know that it’s the groundwork that’s going to change how humanity does things? I get that feeling a lot lately. Sometimes it’s hopeful, other times I dread what I see. I just want to share a few things today.
I am only covering my favorites in this one. It isn’t meant to be all-encompassing & I’ll avoid going down the more sinister potential roads for some of these technologies (I’ll let your mind feel in blanks there).
Let’s go.
Redefining the Train
First up, I have mentioned on this site before that if I had a ridiculous amount of money, I’d invest in Hyperloop technology, but this is a close cousin of that tech that’s just as amazing…
The speed mentioned in the video was 600 km/hr. For those of you reading in the U.S. – that’s 372.8 mph! Think about that. If technology like that actually spread… Once the infrastructure is actually more commonplace (I do believe humanity will get there if we don’t blow ourselves up first)… THINK ABOUT THAT!
We’re getting self-driving cars. Great. But this is just cooler to me and seems like it would create less pollution in the long run.
Space Trash – But We’ll Figure It Out
Believe it or not, I have actually warned people about the looming “danger” of space trash in casual conversation (hahaha – I know — “nerd”), but it’s because of stuff like this…
While the rest of the world has been looking at things like the billionaire race to space (or the edge of it) between Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, if you’ve been reading any of the news about Elon Musk’s company SpaceX, you know that one of their ambitions is to put A LOT of satellites up into space. Giving credit where it’s due, I do think the goal is visionary because they want to create a network that provides continuous internet uptime, blah-blah. But, this has brought competitors to the field as well (as the video above explains).
The issues that this could potentially create are numerous (limiting space travel, tons of space debris, space collisions that knock out entire networks, etc), and probably haven’t even been entirely thought out — but I have faith that the scientists, engineers, and researchers in this field will figure all of that out (after some trial and error) because they’ll have to, otherwise they theoretically fail before they start.
Still — once this technology actually spreads in the way that they envision, humanity will enter a new age.
Earth-saving Tech
As all of this is happening, you’ll have issues of an environmental nature caused by all of mankind’s… “tinkering” (yeah, we’ll call it that). That said, it’s a relief to see that money is being invested in that area as well.
I know that we’re doing a lot of irreparable harm to nature as time goes on, but I also know that it won’t be my generation dealing with the fallout (sadly). The planet will worsen in our time for sure, but I think it’s the kids who are being born right now who are going to have to deal with all of the shortsighted BS humanity has done in the past. I genuinely think it’s too late to stop that now (not because it’s impossible, but because of people and our habits).
But, seeing this video made me feel a little better about humanity’s future. Given that younger generations seem to be a lot more open to the thought of healing the environment in lieu of profiteering, maybe we’ll find a balance before it’s too late.
I like to imagine a world where some of this tech becomes more commonplace.
Good & Bad: Those Damn Robots
Lastly, no post like this would be complete without mentioning “The Robots” (I’m going to spend a bit of time on this one). There is no stronger “we’re in the future” signal than our obsession to push forward in the field of robotics as a species.
Sure, there are campaigns to present them as fun and cool add-ons to our sprawling world and list of advancements, but I genuinely feel like that might be short-lived. And not so much because of any inherent design flaw in the robots or their original programming, but because of man. I think we’re going to meddle a little too much.
And it can’t be helped. Why? Because portions of mankind are lazy and greedy? Yes. But also because of the undeniable upside (from a logical perspective).
Imagine a world where it’s entirely common for all of your fast food to be prepared by a machine. Imagine a world with very few human warehouse injuries because the warehouses are nearly ENTIRELY “manned” by machines. Imagine a world where wars are fought by proxy with robots (that last one is from a movie, but we aren’t far from that happening in a few decades).
This is coming. For better or for worse – this is coming. It is kind of the ultimate end game in terms of profit margins with sprinkles of human welfare concerns on top of it.
Mathematically it will be cheaper for companies to pursue more and more robotic employees for menial labor over time – and that will displace a lot of people. But that’s leaning into the greed bucket of things and a whole other discussion about the haves and have nots. People will adapt (we always do), but the fallout of when this really hits will be huge.
And don’t worry, before we get into full-on robotic wars, we’ll see them used in policing first… Wait…
Anyway, even though we’ve had Science Fiction imaginings of a world where robots become self-aware doled out in books and cinema for decades – those in the field just aren’t as worried.
Ok…
I think mankind will experience a utopian age of robotic paradise where we’ve learned to truly coexist with the technology (I may or may not be alive to see that), but I genuinely think that time will be super short-lived. I don’t see anything good coming out of this one in the long game for us (“us” being people).
Not going to lie — I wish I could live long enough to see it.
But, what can ya’ do?
That is it, folks. I wonder what new technologies we’ll see next and which of these burgeoning pieces of the industry will spread the fastest?
We shall see.
Peace, and thanks for reading.
The soundtrack for this post provided by…
Image Credits:
– Cover Image © KDdesignphoto (Shutterstock)
– Body Image © WAYHOME studio (Shutterstock)