Life in 2050

We live in a world where possibilities are endless if we imagine. As we are in 2021 now, its somewhat hard to imagine how will the world look like in 30 years. Mostly because how fast the technology has been evolving in the past 10 to 20 years. Large computers has become sleek laptops. Brick shaped mobile phones which could only make calls and send text messages 20 years ago has become a very thin smart device which could do almost anything.

We have seen bazillions of futuristic tech through movies like Star Trek, Blade Runner, Interstellar, Back to the future, and the list goes on. If we take "Back to the future trilogy, which was released on 1985, 1989 and 1990 respectively we can see how people back in the 80's have imagined the future that we are living in. It has some similarities but we still have not reached to that level to be exact.

SPOILER!!

If you have seen the Back to the future trilogy, The future that they arrived in was full of flying cars and technology beyond viewer’s wildest imaginations. In 1985, there was no World Wide Web. There were no laptops, no WiFi, no smartphones, no iPads and no iPods. CD’s weren't even a household item yet (Well that did not age well as we hardly ever use a CD in 2021). So when viewers saw the future that Back To The Future II promised, it was an overnight cultural phenomenon. It might have only been a 25 year time difference (part II was released in 1989), but 2015 felt like an entire lifetime away for most fans. Ten year old kids around the world marked their mental calendars for the day when they would have their very own hoverboard. 

So if you haven't watched those 3 movies, go check it out now! 

Let's do not go that far and find out few facts that will most probably transpire in 2050.

Living in another planet in our solar system

If we get a perspective on what we see today, some might say that we could be living in some other planet in 2050 as humans are making the earth inhabitable day by day. Companies like SpaceX are already working on colonizing mars. If it succeed, It will decrease the likelihood of human extinction.

Cyborgs

If someone asks "who is a cyborg?" the most simplified answer would be, Half human - Half robot or robots with highly developed artificial intelligence (AI).

"Humans with robot body parts", or as we have seen in games like "Cyberpunk 2077" , there can be humans who can insert electronic chips /  gear to their body. With Nanobots plugged into our brains, they can plug our brains directly to the cloud, like smartphones that we use today. So with that, we can forget or remember certain events or memories as we want and have enough storage in our brains to do present activities more productively. 

Some people predict that the Cyborgs might be the beginning of human immortality. There are both positive and negative impacts to the world with the human immortality. As Susan Schneider, who holds the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology said,

Suppose it is 2040, and you are out shopping. You stroll into a store that engages in “cosmetic neurology”: the Center for Mind Design. There, customers can choose from a variety of brain enhancements. For example, “Human Calculator” will give you savant-level mathematical abilities; “Zen Garden” can give you the meditative states of a Zen master. It is also rumored that if clinical trials go as planned, customers will be able to buy an enhancement bundle called “Merge.” Merge is a series of enhancements allowing customers to gradually augment and transfer all of their mental functions to the cloud over a period of five years. Assuming these enhancements are medically safe, what would you buy, if anything?

Sounds interesting isn't it? you can read the full interview here

Full functional flying cars

The reason that I added the word "full functional" is that as some of you might know, there are cars that can fly at this very moment in 2021. But they are more of like "mini airplanes". When it comes to flying cars, it should have the ability to hover and and move literally "like a drone". Isn't it?

Anti-aging drugs

Yes. It is true. Several experiments are in their testing phase for a drug that slow or reverse aging. That does not mean the ability to become immortal. They block the aging of cells linked to age and reduce the inflammation responsible for the accumulation of toxic substances or degenerative pathologies, such as Alzheimer’s, cancer or cardiovascular diseases. It is mainly focused on improve immune functions in older people. If these work, they can be improved and people might live longer than in the present.

you can read more about this research from the University of Michigan here.

- Melake Jayawardane