How often did you read books, watch movies or cartoons about the future as a child and think that humanity will never invent a flying skateboard, a foldable smartphone or a robot that would completely resemble a person?
Today I decided to collect the most interesting and most incredible technologies that previously seemed only pictures from films or lines from books to demonstrate how humanity is progressing.
Artificial intelligence
Everyone has probably seen the Marvel movie Iron Man. The first part of it was released in 2008, and then it seemed unimaginable to even more of the planet to have a voice on your phone that can answer your commands, find the information you need, or suggest where you can drink coffee with friends in an unfamiliar city. But, here’s the miracle, in 2011, Siri appears on the iPhone. Now we are no longer surprised by the ability of Jarvis to serve Tony Stark, analyze his systems and so on.
Now humanity has so many virtual assistants available that it is almost impossible to remember all of them: Siri, Alice, Alexa, Cortana and others.
However, few people, when asking the next command for Siri, think about where and how artificial intelligence knows, understands and finds what we ask. Few people know that it took more than 40 years of research by scientists from 7 of the best technology universities in the US to develop this (seemingly) small feature.
Few people assume that in 1637 René Descartes, in his Discourse on Method, first put forward the theory that every animal on earth can be a mechanism that can think. Then this mechanical theory seemed incredible and completely stupid, and today we, with the help of our iPhone and our voice, can book a table in a restaurant located on another continent in a few seconds.
Your Siri, and indeed any other artificial intelligence, is a real work of art, able to analyze data in a split second in various languages and produce the result you need.
Now, to imagine how far into the future we’ve come, let’s think back to the movie Home Alone 4, where baby Kevin finds himself in a voice-controlled home. In 2002, in Ukraine, it seemed absolutely unbelievable. Now it’s a common thing for us to ask the same Siri to turn down the music or close the curtains by pressing a button on a smartphone using the HomeRight smart home system.
Only 18 years have passed since 2002. It took humanity only 18 years to turn the technology from the movie into a completely normal routine for everyone, accessible to everyone.
Why? They are comfortable to wear, they are small, can perform many functions at the same time and generally look incredible.
Yes, of course, we will not be surprised by “toads”. I’m sure everyone has tried them in their lives. Nevertheless, how much you begin to be surprised when you watch the next Westworld series and understand: here it is, this folding tablet, it looks so much like the Galaxy Fold!
(Folding tablet in the TV series “Westworld”)
Just a few years ago, it was hard to imagine multiple cameras on the body of a smartphone, but now we can freely fold the display of Motorola Razor, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Fold in half.
(Galaxy Foldable Smartphone)
The first folding display concepts appeared as early as 1974. Then Xerox created the unique Grison paper, which consisted of black and white spheres placed in a silicone sheet. When the pressure of the printer affected one of these spheres, an image was obtained. This paper could be rewritten up to a thousand times. Unfortunately, at that time Xerox’s ideas were too unrealistic and expensive, so flexible displays were “covered” in 2005.
We started talking about flexible displays again after 5 years. Now it has already happened at Samsung. In 2010, the company provided the first of the foldable displays, and in 2019, the first Galaxy Fold hit the market.
Of course, Samsung was not alone in designing and developing flexible displays. We can’t ignore Oriole, which designs entire flexible SUVs and at CES 2020 unveiled a tree of its flexible displays.
Smart lenses with built-in display
At first, I thought about writing about wearable devices such as Apple Watch smart watches, Airproofs or augmented reality glasses. But, now, after all, no one can be surprised by such seemingly ordinary things that were completely unattainable before.
Another thing is lenses that give a person supervision. Yes, this is far from a fiction from the Superman comics. Although this technology is still being introduced into life, nevertheless, it already exists and is actively practiced on people. Startup Mojo Vision offers unique ultra-thin lenses that have a built-in display that can show you the weather, measure objects, and more. Now little is known about the startup, but I am sure that very soon everyone will be able to afford such technology.
Human robots
It seemed that robots would always remain robots. Then we saw the films “The Adventures of Electronics”, “Terminator”, “Iron Man”, “Alita” and away we go. No, we are no longer surprised by robot vacuum cleaners, interactive toys for children made of iron and fabric that can replace teachers, even things like robots from Boston Dynamics seem just ordinary.
Now it’s amazing – these are androids that completely copy the human mind and body, which can think independently. No one noticed that now there is at least one “living robot” Sophia, able to think and look like a real person.
I remember the movie The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and the charming Persephone, as well as the movie Andromeda (2000) and the character Andromeda (Romy). In those years, the creation of a gynoid like Sophia seemed just a joke, an invention that only a madman is capable of.
However, 15 years have passed and we have a half-dead, thinking robot woman who visited Ukraine in 2018.
