A Glimpse into the future

As I am sitting in this airport writing this text my fingers are dashing across the keyboard of my slimmed down quiet computer. 200 years ago the equivalent would have been some fellow sitting in a dirty train station writing on a clumsy heavy typewriter. His fingers would have been stained with ink and the pace of typing would have been quite slow since no room for error is allowed. That’s if he’s even able to afford one of those pieces of machineries.

Now as I look around me, several people are, with minimal effort writing on these computers a million times more advanced and convenient than the equivalent ones 200 years ago. This massive difference makes the mind wonder where we will be in 200 years. Are we even able to comprehend how our existence and our new technology will look? The people 200 years ago had no idea how we would turn out so why would we know any better. Maybe we can take advantage of all new technology to get a more accurate look into the future. So let’s use a bit of all this new technology and ask one of the many generative AI-models. This is what was generated:

In 200 years, a person using a computer at an airport is likely to experience a vastly different technological landscape. Computers could integrate augmented reality, biometric authentication, and advanced display technologies such as holographic or neural interfaces. They may be highly portable, possibly wearable or even implanted, constructed from sustainable materials and powered by renewable energy sources. Artificial intelligence would play a significant role, aiding with tasks, providing personalised recommendations, and facilitating virtual collaboration. These computers might be customizable, adaptable, and focused on user privacy and security, employing advanced encryption and decentralised systems. Users could engage in immersive virtual meetings or work sessions globally. Integrated health monitoring features would track physical and mental well-being, offering
real-time feedback. Overall, the future computer experience would be deeply integrated into daily life, offering unparalleled connectivity, convenience, and capability, driven by advancements in technology, sustainability, AI, privacy, and health monitoring.

Buzzwords like augmented reality, biometric authentication and advanced holographic interfaces may sound promising. The possibilities are endless, from working in spaces never worked before to never having to leave the house to entertain yourself. As this technology blends closer and closer together with our everyday life we may ask ourselves how all this new technology affects our humanity. Is living life influenced heavily with technology any less
of a human life than those we live today. Are the lives of the phoneless peasants more human than those we live today. It may be true that technology interacted less with the daily lives of the peasants than those we live today. However these peasants still used the latest technology such as ploughs, hoes and etcetera. Their lives were greatly impacted by technology as are our lives today. Maybe technology and humanity can exist together hand in hand. The worry that it somehow would make our lives less human seems overblown.
Following the logic that the development of technology leads to lesser humanity the most human person would be the early primates. The ones probably spending their days banging their heads against rocks and sacrificing each other. Surely moving away from this and
developing as a species is not something bad? Maybe developing our species is the most human thing we can do and taking the next step in our evolution is the one into the human-technology blend.

One of the main aspects of our evolution has been our increasingly complex societies and rules we have formed. Our societies and economies have changed drastically from subsistence farming societies to capitalistic modern-day economies. Therefore it stands to reason that one of the main areas affected by our development of AI and technology is the business sector. For companies the usage of AI poses a massive potential. An AI can in many cases increase the productivity of the workers and the company as a whole. It can provide ideas and perspectives the human mind can not. Once developed or bought it does not require a salary to operate and can potentially prove way more cost effective than a lot of employees. A company being an early adopter and leader in the AI-field means that it leads in all the other fields as well, AI being the biggest competitive advantage the business sector might have seen. Since a few companies will be further ahead on AI than the others one danger of this may be monopolisation of companies. A lot of money and wealth ends up vested in a few companies. So society as a whole needs to be prepared for this while still not suppressing the companies use of AI.

To summarise AI and technology in general is a huge development for both our societies and more specifically individual humans as well as corporations. A lot is going to change but change is a natural part of our human history and should not be treated with scepticism. It should be encouraged, improving efficiency has been the mantra of all economic development. However some things need to be addressed before this drastic change. But challenges are meant to be taken, not avoided. The development of AI and technology needs to be responsible and fair in a balanced way that does not hamper innovation. What words like “hamper”, “fair” and “responsible” mean in this specific context needs to be figured out but the future’s looking exciting!