Then I Was…

I love books. One series I enjoy takes place in the late 2050’s and 2060’s. The books were written in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, so it’s always interesting to see how the author chose to depict the future. If we compare the world in 2025 with this future world – sometimes we come out winners, and sometimes we don’t.

There are droids! Chauffer droids, housekeeping droids, security droids, babysitter droids, all kinds of high-functioning, and helpful choices. Of course, we have robots. I saw a video of one dancing the other day. (Surely an impressive feat of programming, but I’d rather have one who can vacuum). It seems likely robots will be considerably more advanced by 2060, but driving cars and watching the kids? I’m not so sure. Is that a bad thing? It’s hard to say, right? Robots can be super useful, but they’ve also been accused of taking over everything from jobs to the world. I may have to clean my own house, but at least I won’t have robot overlords.

There are “auto chefs”. What’s an auto chef, you ask? If you’ve ever seen “The Fifth Element”, where Leeloo orders plates of chicken at the press of a button you’ve seen my idea of an auto chef. It’s like a magic microwave. Granted, the machines in these stories have to be stocked, somehow, since they’re not magic, but having a machine create a delicious meal for me in minutes? I’m in. Sign me up. I’ll read my book while the auto chef cooks.

Of course, there are depressing things in my book’s future, too. A scarcity of fresh food has caused many items to be made from soy. Soy chips, soy dogs, soy lunch meat, soy cheese product, – yuk. In 2060, only the super rich can have real cheeseburgers and coffee. What a drag.

Could this be where we’re headed? I would imagine so. Once the factory farms have sucked all of the nutrients out of the vast swaths of earth they cultivate, and we run out of water, our food choices could dwindle rapidly. And honestly, fresh food is already a luxury for many people – that’s a sad truth. Hopefully, we’ll get smarter and figure out a way to improve peoples’ access to food – instead of letting it continue to deteriorate.

Predicting the future can be fun. How many generations do you think will pass before we’re living in our own version of “The Matrix”? Will we colonize other planets (I’m rooting for Elon to go to Mars)? Will flying cars be as common as Honda CRVs (I have one – there are many)? Will we cure the diseases that are currently killing us and live longer and better (even after the CDC is dismantled by RFK, Jr.)?

And what about AI? It’s a hot topic. AI art is under scrutiny for stealing artists’ ideas and screenwriters’ thoughts and doing kids’ homework. It can write a dissertation or a television script in hours. Convenient certainly, but does it advance society or make us lazy and reliant on technology? Could the power to control AI, in the wrong hands, become a weapon? Inquiring minds would like to know since the evil overlords are putting this exact plan in place as we speak.

What does your future world look like? Can you fly, or take bullet trains, or maybe even teleport? (I would LOVE to teleport!) What future inventions do you think will improve your world, your quality of life? Drop us a note and tell us your ideas.

Me? I’m voting for the auto chef.

Contemplating the boundless possibilities of the future of technology is one of the most fun thought experiments out there. Seems like the author of the books that my mom read had himself a grand ole’ time coming up with the content for his futuristic, robot-driven world. Soy dogs? That sounds pretty damn crazy, mom. I can’t tell if the soy dogs are hot dogs made out of soy, or if it’s the much more entertaining alternative of a bunch of Labrador Retriever robots made out of soy running around in the 2060s. I really hope it’s the latter.

There are so many different kinds of technological improvements that have taken place, it’s hard to keep track of the most substantial changes. Obviously, there are some inventions we’ve seen that are inarguably amazing and bring immense value to the human experience. Clocks were invented to help humans organize their lives. Vaccines were created to keep us safe and healthy. Fertilizer came around to ensure that everyone has enough to eat. And most recently AND most impactful on all of our day-to-day lives, social media came around to show us all how much better celebrities’ lives are than ours and to distract us from reality.

Overall, technological improvements are just that. They’re improvements. They make people’s lives easier. If we want to play the game my mom proposed and think about the future of technology, the first thing that comes to my mind is how we all use and will use technology involving “screens” (phones, TVs, laptops, damn iPad kids) in the coming years and the low barrier for entry of these products.

Growing up, my dad would punish my brothers and I by taking away our “screens” (think video games and TV, anything involving a screen) when we did anything bad. I vividly remember when i got a C on an art project in middle school and I was moved to tears because I knew that meant that I wouldn’t be allowed to play my beloved favorite video game, World of Warcraft, for a week. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Probably something along the lines of “Jesus Brennan you must really suck at art to get a C on a middle school art project.” Trust me, I’m with you on that. I don’t know how I pulled that off. Alternatively, you might be thinking I’m a nerd because I used to play World of Warcraft. I’ll own that shit. Bloodman, level 70 Troll Hunter on the server Azgalor. Hell yeah.

Or, hopefully for the topic of this blog, you’re thinking about how interesting it is that a twelve-year-old could be moved to tears by the sheer thought of not having access to his beloved video games, or “screens,” and how that might be a negative direction for humans to head in. I believe it’s only gotten worse since my time as a youth. Go to any restaurant and you’ll see the generation of “iPad kids” being built before your eyes. They’re either watching some YouTuber play video games or playing video games themselves, rather than having to sit through the dinner and listen to their “Gam Gam” complain about her most recent retirement community event with the ladies. Their lives are way too easy. The memories of boredom at my grandmother’s dinner table stick with me to this day.

And the entertainment factor of these “screens” just keeps getting better and better! The algorithms developed for TikTok’s and Instagram’s feeds were designed to keep people staring at their screens for the maximum amount of time. How can I be optimistic about my future world when it’s already headed toward isolation and lack of human connection due to these “screens” monopolizing our time?

My ideal future world looks like a happy community where everybody has what’s needed for them to have the necessary means for the human connection that we all know and love. Now, I’m not optimistic that we’re headed in this screen-driven direction, but I will say that there are some really cool, futuristic things happening now that I’m rocking with. I will never complain about ChatGPT generating the language I need to develop a business case for a new software for my client to buy.

A lot of these improvements make our lives easier. There’s no barrier to entry on watching a TikTok. Or playing a round of Angry Birds. I will never argue that these things make our lives easier. What I will argue though, is whether they make our lives better. I guess we’ll just need to wait and see.