The Future is Bright ... Gotta Wear Shades

I am a big believer in today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact.  There has been plenty of interesting inventions conceived in the minds of some fantastic writers that have lifted off the pages and become a reality of our world.  Space stations made for some great reading and viewing in such classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick directed this adaptation of Arthur C Clarke’s “The Sentinel”) and 45 years later we have just sent another group of individuals including Canadian Chris Hadfield to the International Space Station.  That communicator from Star Trek looks very similar to the flip cell phones that were very popular a few years back, and how about Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility.  A British Columbia company called Hyperstealth Biotechnology demonstrated this year a working prototype of its new material to the Canadian and American military.  The material bends light waves around the wearer without the assistance of batteries, cameras, or mirrors, and it also allows the wearer to escape detection from thermal and infrared scans.  Getting scared?  How about a company called DARPA, who are currently working on a robot that can run faster than a cheetah and have the ability to track humans.  That seems like a pleasant combination with no nasty side effects.

With movies such as Minority Report and Blade Runner to name a few, they paint a picture of the future and how it coincides with our present social media, by demonstrating information is king and privacy has long been outdated.  These two principles will for better or worse drive social media in the future.  Google is showcasing its Google Glass which resembles eyewear and its functionality much like the shades that Arnold Schwarzenegger wore in the Terminator.  The eyewear streams data on objects, record footage of what is being looked at, and is said that it could be enhanced one day with facial recognition software that will extend data searches to people that are in the room with the wearer.  The price tag is steep but Google says that once they begin mass production the cost will become more affordable.  With the glasses having the ability to inform you of what you are looking at, it is easy to see this linking to social media to say get an idea of the cute girl sitting at the bar and accessing her social media for hints on whether she is single or not, or maybe likes and dislikes to get a conversation started if she is.  An employer could get all the details they need via social media profiles to determine whether an applicant would make the right fit for the organization.  This is the near future, but what holds for the evolution of social media down the road?

I see privacy as dead currency down the road say in ten to fifteen years.  As today’s youth dominate the decisions of the world in the years to come, the acceptance of leading a more public life will become precedent which will fully allow social media to leave no stone unturned so to speak.  To protect one’s privacy they would have to be off the grid completely and even then there may be traces digitally of who they are that it will be tough to avoid.  The trend of mobile will truly get a boost with wearable computers as noted with Google Glass, but eventually implants will become the norm and have information not at the click of a button but at the thought or whim of the individual.  If you think this is far-fetched, the University of Pittsburgh’s neuroscientists have helped a quadriplegic woman use a robotic arm to perform tasks for her by inserting electrodes at key points in the brain.  This has allowed her to use thoughts to motivate the arm into tasks.

Social media has the ability down the road to reshape how we view one another.  Rendering nationalities less of a defining feature and Facebook (or the social media tools of choice of the time) profiles more so.  Aligning people on beliefs and values that they share in common will unite people in a far different fashion than they are today.  I think as witnessed the last couple of years in varying degrees; governments will have to truly pay homage to “rule by the people”.  Social media will be used increasingly to maintain and lessen the marginalization of people (as there are people fighting for change there will be those fighting for the status quo) and it will continue to make the world a smaller place as more and more people gain access to social media.

http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/

http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/27-science-fictions-that-became-science-facts-in-2