Tech Tent takes out its crystal ball and asks several big thinkers to predict how the world will look in ten years.
The Metaverse
According to Mark Zuckerberg, we will all be living and working in the metaverse by 2031, a collection of virtual worlds that will become the most important new technology platform since the web’s birth.
He’s so certain that this is the future that Facebook announced this week that it would be creating 10,000 new jobs in the EU to help construct the metaverse.
Warpin, a virtual reality training software firm founded by Emma Ridderstad, believes in the metaverse.
“You’ll be able to shop, meet up with pals, work remotely with whomever you choose, and share digital places, music, and art,” she says.
“You’ll be able to merge digital objects into your physical world, making it far more digital than it is now,” says the author.
You might be able to watch a football game with your digital avatar sitting in your customary seat, arguing the game with your neighbor’s virtual self, even if you couldn’t make it to the stadium.
However, BT’s principal innovation partner, Dr. Nicola Millard, advises caution.
She believes that the metaverse will have to persuade consumers that wearing heavy headphones or other gear is worthwhile – and that it may be productive.
“Does it make it easier for me to connect?” Is it making collaboration easier for me? Is it going to be amusing or educational for me?” She asks a question.
Dr. Millard also cautions that navigating this new terrain could be difficult, particularly if there are numerous multiverses operated by various firms.
And, given the rising concerns about Facebook’s impact on everything from democracy to adolescent mental health, do we really want it to be governed by Mark Zuckerberg if it proves to be as powerful a platform as he claims?
Emma Ridderstad hopes that Facebook does not end up governing the metaverse, and she believes that a variety of companies, from gaming platforms to virtual reality enterprises like hers, will be responsible for creating it.
The future of energy
With COP26, the UN climate summit, just around the bend, the world is focusing on decarbonizing the economy – which will need a lot of innovation in the energy industry.
One goal, according to Dr. James Dixon, author of the Institution of Engineering and Technology paper Energy Technologies for Net Zero, will be making dwellings more energy-efficient.
“How will we keep the buildings warm?” Electric heat pumps, which are effectively reverse air conditioners, are anticipated to handle a significant chunk of this, accounting for half to three-quarters of the total, according to him.
The UK government has now proposed incentives for householders to switch from gas boilers to heat pumps, but environmentalists warn the program will be underfunded.
Dr. Dixon, on the other hand, feels that a new clean fuel will be necessary.
He emphasizes the significance of boosting hydrogen production, saying, “Every road to net zero between now and 2050 demands a huge increase in the quantity of hydrogen production we require.”
He thinks that removing all fossil fuel use in industry will be impossible in the short term, thus a lot of innovation in carbon capture and storage will be required.
“Virtually all of the pathways to net zero rely on a near 100 percent fleet of zero-emissions cars, most likely electric vehicles,” according to the report.
As a result, in the fight against climate change, remarkable levels of innovation, as well as customer willingness to adopt new products like heat pumps and electric cars, will be required.
Where next for AI?
In the recent decade, artificial intelligence has advanced significantly, with computers learning to drive automobiles, provide immediate translation from one language to another, and defeat the top human Go players.
There will be more, according to Azeem Azhar, author of the new book Exponential, which outlines how artificial intelligence and other technologies are reshaping the economy and society at dizzying speed.
However, he believes that one thing we’ve learned is that job losses aren’t always the product of automation, using the pandemic as an example.
“The more AI you had, the more employees you employed, whether you were a supermarket delivery business or an online bookstore.” Those with more AI employed more people because they were more competitive.”
He expects the trend to continue for the next ten years.
He also sees AI entering our lives in ways we may not realize, such as assisting banks in making better loan choices or expediting the search for new materials required in a carbon-free world.
In healthcare, though, AI is projected to have the greatest influence. Azeem Azhar underlines the Covid-19 vaccines’ quick development.
“Because firms like Moderna had invested extensively in AI-based platforms for discovering such candidates, we were able to uncover vaccine candidates that would be effective against the virus in a matter of weeks.”
AI has the capacity to improve our lives significantly, but it also has the potential to damage us significantly.
Algorithm biases might lead to computers denying minorities jobs or insurance coverage, and there are already concerns that adding facial recognition into military drones could result in self-killing robots.
Tech Tent will continue to track the positive and negative effects of technology, and we may report back from the metaverse in 2031 on how accurate our experts’ forecasts were.
