The “Next Big Thing”: 8 New Technologies That Will Change The World

Life in 2030 will be… complex

In 2020, I wrote an article titled “The Next Big Thing” in Technology: 20 invention that will change the world”. It has since been read over 70,000 times and shared more than 1,000 times on social media. But anyone reading it today will notice that what was written then is now obsolete. An update is necessary, highlighting the key technologies emerging today that will be all the rage by 2030 (or 2028… or 2032…).

These time-frames should be taken with a grain of salt: predictions are wrong more often than not, especially when it comes to technology (check my 2022 tech predictions if you don’t believe me). That’s because we tend to use history, which is at its heart the study of surprises, as a guide to the future. This should however not stop us from aiming to better understand the future: the knowledge gained through planning is crucial to the selection of appropriate actions as future events unfold. We don’t know the answer, but we can at least ask useful questions and catalyze the conversation!

1. Commercial Nuclear Fusion Power

Nuclear fusion, in its most common form, is the process of energy being released when bits (“atomic nuclei”, if you’re fancy) of hydrogen are exposed to…