• Question: What do you think technology will be like in 50 years?

    Asked by luke96 to Austin, Kirsty, Nicola, Nike, Sarah on 20 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Austin Elliott

      Austin Elliott answered on 20 Jun 2012:

      Hmmm – if I knew that, I’d invest in all the right things now and become a multi-millionaire!!! Or at least my kids would be rich.

      The obvious things would be more and more use of virtual reality, and more sustainable energy. But what precise form(s) that will take, who knows.

      Film-makers often have good ideas about this, so when I want to see future predictions I usually watch a movie. It’s a good prompt to say either – “yes. I bet that’ll happen’ or “Nahh, no chance”. An interesting one looking backwards (mostly) is voice interfaces on computers (so you talk direct to the computer), which people keep predicting is just around the corner. I first remember it in the movie “2001” more than 40 years ago (44, actually!). See clip here.

    • Photo: Kirsty Ross

      Kirsty Ross answered on 20 Jun 2012:

      It is always fun to watch films set in the future where everything is very post apocalyptic! I think life will be very similar, but the technologies available will change. I like to think that we will have decent digital paper by that point and it will be cheap enough to use on the walls of our houses so that we can change the wallpaper at will. I think that we will have weaned ourselves off fossil fuels and onto renewables. There is a new technology where nanorods are grown as tree structures, and they are fantastic at converting sunlight into energy, so hopefully those will have developed. It is very hard to predict the future, although Arthur C Clarke did a fantastic job predicting satellites, the Spaceguard programme (for tracking near earth objects that might pose a threat) and cryogenic freezing. I’m looking forward to the space elevator and the ability to back up my brain personally!

Comments