10 Technology Predictions for the Year 2084
A possible future as seen by the Cellarius team
“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.” — Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
The Cellarius story begins with the Genesis Thought, when the Cellarius artificial intelligence makes its sentience known to humans in the year 2084. Storytellers in the Cellarius Universe are free to explore what the world might be like when that momentous event occurs and in the tumultuous years that follow. But team Cellarius also loves talking about these near-future science fiction scenarios. Here are some of our own technology predictions for the year 2084.
1. Prosthetics will become so good that they will start to become fashion accessories
How do we get there?
The early 21st century has seen tremendous advancements in the design of artificial prostheses. Additive manufacturing, as well as new materials, provide ever more functional and comfortable options for those in need while consistently decreasing costs. The pairing of electronics and neurocognitive brain-computer interfaces is allowing for advancements that were unimaginable a generation ago. For example, experimental implants are showing promising potential in allowing paralyzed people to regain their ability to walk. The pace of innovation in this field of medicine shows no signs of slowing down, as global demand for such life-changing technology remains high. When prosthetics cross the threshold from replicating human functions to enhancing them, expect to see people from all walks of life adopt these technologies for the sake of self-expression or optimized performance.
Adoption of cosmetic prosthetics will become a lucrative industry. Prosthetics will become more commonplace and artistic, eventually becoming objects of desire and even haute couture.
2. Housing is reinvented
How do we get there?
Urbanization — referring to the population shift from rural to urban residency — has continued its transformational march from the late 18th century until today. More and more people are moving from rural villages to urban centers as the number of cities with more than a million denizens continues to grow year after year. The fastest-growing megacities in 2018 are Karachi, Pakistan; Shenzhen, China; and Lagos, Nigeria. In 2084, they may well be cities like Beihai, China or Ghaziabad, India.
The global demand for innovative housing solutions continues to rise as cities become ever more dense and expensive. Urban planners and architects have their work cut out for them — radically cheap options, such as modular and prefabricated housing, require more research and development in order to scale to meet the needs of billions of people. Exploring how to combine advances in sustainable technologies with state-of-the-art urban planning will enable new kinds of low-impact, livable communities to develop, challenging the status quo of twentieth-century urban design.
3. Language barriers fall drastically
How do we get there?
Have you spoken to an intelligent assistant lately? From ordering diapers to asking for the latest weather updates, advancements in natural language processing are compounding as users become more comfortable with voice as a user interface. When pairing natural-language processing (NLP) with artificial intelligence algorithms focused on language translation, language barriers will one day become a relic of the past. Global citizens will be able to seamlessly communicate with one another in the language of their choice, including the most up-to-date cultural nuances and slang. Those with the mobility to move about the world could live in an unfamiliar city or region without fear of mistranslation. This breakdown in language barriers will create opportunities for new and deeper cultural integrations, but the promise of a Babel-like future will have pitfalls — particularly as early versions of the technology contain bugs and cause misinterpretations.
4. The fountain of youth will be unlocked
How do we get there?
As we continue to gain insights into how the body and mind work on molecular and even atomic scales, we are able to build more holistic understandings of what it means to be healthy and learn exactly what the mechanics of “aging” are. These insights provide pathways to new therapies that can tackle some of healthcare’s most chronic conditions. Innovations such as xenotransplantation are providing promising early results thanks to bespoke organs designed specifically for transplantees. As these cutting-edge therapies become mainstream, more members of society will be able to live longer and happier lives. (What will that mean for population numbers? Not hard to guess.)
5. Virtual Worlds will blur with reality
How do we get there?
As eSports and digital gaming communities fuel the demand for ever more photorealistic digital consumer experiences, many virtual reality and augmented reality technologies are arriving with high hopes of capturing the imaginations (and wallets) of digital consumers globally.
Though not all pessimistic science fiction tropes about tuning out of physical reality are inevitable, the introduction of deep VR — a fully immersive experience which allows the user unparalleled sensory experiences — is slated to become a momentous innovation. With more immersive experiences, new digital realms will emerge where the earliest participants are able to carve out empires of their own. For some, these digital environments will become more real and tangible than the physical world.
6. Humanity will celebrate global achievements in coordination
Human civilization’s 20th century throw-away culture created untenable mountains of waste globally, which was toxic to our habitats. Young generations inheriting this environmental mess in the twenty-first century are becoming leaders of ecological movements worldwide. From oceans and beaches to deserts and tundras, cleanup and recycling projects of epic proportions are starting to grow. Today these efforts are often on the scale of “proofs of concepts” and funded by corporate philanthropists. In the future, advanced multinational preservation efforts will be funded by taxes levied on producers of fast-moving consumer goods, an easy target for eco-conscious politicians.
7. Deep Fakes will rattle politics to the core
How do we get there?
Deep Fakes — a technique of using artificial intelligence to create realistic fake images, sound, and videos — are slated to become the next vanguard in technological psychological operations for both underground groups as well as state actors globally. As the cost of creating fraudulent yet photorealistic videos continues to decrease, politicians from around the world will become targets of ever more sophisticated misinformation campaigns. In an already uncertain global political climate, expect falsified documents, advanced doctoring of video footage, faked sound clips, and more to contribute to political instability in the world’s governing bodies and agencies.
8. Electricity will become a currency
How do we get there?
If humanity is able to unlock an exponential innovation in battery storage, our civilization will see an unprecedented transformation in how we view energy. The supergrids of the world will become connected and electricity will flow between continents by land, sea, air, and even satellite. Billions of people will gain access to electricity. Fuel costs will plummet as surplus renewable energy feeds into battery grids globally. This energy transformation will form the backbone of a digital economy and tokenized energy will become one of the most widely traded commodities in the world.
9. Our habitat will change
How do we get there?
As our knowledge of the human impact on both the atmospheric and oceanic carbon cycles becomes more apparent, we learn that such disruptions can influence the weather on planet Earth in unpredictable ways. Carbon (and methane) cycles are not our only concern: the loss of biodiversity, the diminishing of topsoil, and desertification stand to upend many agricultural industries. As the human population continues to rise, so does the demand for fresh water, creating a tremendous burden on water tables. While world governments weigh the costs of these ramifications, human society continues to shape planet Earth in ways that we may never fully understand.
10. Humanity will be a multi-planet species
How do we get there?
The privatized commercialization of the space race is well underway and proving to be a boon to technological innovation in the 21st century. Many ventures — both public and private — are setting their sights on being the first to plant a flag on Mars — Earth’s closest planetary neighbor. While the date of the first human mission to Mars is still unclear, we can imagine that after a few decades of a constant stream of missions to the Red Planet, Martian bases will begin to establish themselves as viable, self-sustaining research outposts. International collaboration on the Mars mission will be the first step in establishing the first permanent human colonies on a planet not named Earth.
The pace of scientific and technological change is faster than ever, and so is the rate of transformation of our planet as we know it. We are about to head to the DevCon 4 Ethereum developers’ conference in Prague at the end of October and look forward to talking to some fellow blockchain builders and thinkers about these ideas and more.
Do you agree with these predictions? Are they too sweeping? Not bold enough? Tell us what you think in the comments, on Twitter @cellarius2084, or on Reddit at r/Cellarius2084.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author above do not necessarily represent the views of Consensys AG. ConsenSys is a decentralized community with ConsenSys Media being a platform for members to freely express their diverse ideas and perspectives. To learn more about ConsenSys and Ethereum, please visit our website.
