We all grew up with wild, unlimited ideas of what the future is going to look like - from flying cars to robots to being able to breath underwater. Well, in some senses that future is upon us. Crazy I know. It makes me, a 22 year old, sound old and as if I have experienced everything. That's far from the truth, instead, technology and system development is advancing at such a quick pace that new products and possibilities are released almost monthly.
Looking at the future of humans, I believe one of the biggest focuses will be on and around health and biotechnology. Jason Silva at Singularity University claims that biotechnology is the future of everything. The future of humans, the future of plants, the future of our living world.
As we have seen already in lecture, the lines between human and machine have started to mesh. Our every day lives now include, and even need, technology. As a current college student, I do not think I could name one friend who does not own a laptop or smartphone. They have become necessities to complete all school or work related tasks.
I recently have had the ability / requirement in one of my classes to learn and use the 3D printer. I had to download a CAD software, design an object, format correctly, and print. It was a daunting task at first but surprising rather simple in the end. So what about 3D printing for biotech? You guessed it, it is already happening! Used for cell printing, cell therapy, organ printing and so so much more. Explore this cool site to learn a little more!
In an different note, the future human could mean the ability to control tech interfaces with just your thought process and brain power - no more computer mice or keypad, just thinking about what you want to accomplish, and boom, the super cool and possibly million dollar idea has been typed up and saved on your computer.
I only touched on a few aspects of the future human, there are countable other paths and directions you can explore (such as bio-fabric, smart cities, greenhouse gas eliminator, human exoskeletons, bionic eyes - just to name a few). Check out this cool TED talk for one direction biotech is going!
The possibilities are pretty much limitless - only time will tell.
See you in the future!
Interesting thoughts! In reading your post a question was brought to mind that I had thought of when looking at other topics within future humans. Given that biotechnology should supposedly see great strides in the near future and that we will become more integrated with technology, I wonder where we will draw the line between the definitions of humanity and technology especially with those lines crossing more frequently in the future? What is a machine and what is human?