We live in a miraculous age, where sci-fi wonders of the past are part of our everyday technology. A generation ago, computers took up entire buildings and were used only for math and other scientific uses. Now, we take our phones out and get every piece of information with just a tap of a thumb.
Everything that would have seemed like sci-fi is not a reality. Although we do not have flying cars as we imagined in the 20th century, we have Artificial intelligence, Augmented reality, Holographs, and the Internet!
It would not be far-fetched to say that we are in the age of rapid technological advancement. The funny fact about this era is that the things we think of as impossible now might be a reality a decade later.
Some modern technology that could only have been dreamed of in the past
In all honesty, our technological past wasn’t as bleak as we think. It’s just that new technologies developed slower in the 20th century. That said, while we were limited in technology, our dreams weren’t. And as we continue our progress, we have access to technologies we could only have dreamt of in the past, even as recent as the 20th century.
1. Self-driving cars
Doesn’t it sound amazing to have a self-driving car? Yes, no one had thought of it. It just seemed like a fairy tale in the past. But today, Self-driving cars, like Google’s prototype vehicle, which seemed like the stuff of science fiction, are our reality. Ford, in January, showed off its infrastructure for fully-automated driving. And BMW announced a research-and-development project related to this technology.
All you need to do is sit back and set your location. Scientists have already predicted the future with autonomous cars.
We can see vehicles as partially autonomous in the present world. And we can expect the invention of fully autonomous vehicles soon. These cars are supposed to have a broad set of sensors capable of viewing and sensing the environment and operating. This will be a significant milestone in the technological field as it may lead to fewer road accidents, quicker transit time, lower human fatigue, and disabled people being able to travel on their own.
All of this is natural, thanks to Artificial intelligence. While most significant personnel think that Artificial intelligence might be the end of humanity, it is all thanks to AI technology that we have amazing things such as Self Driving cars.
2. Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality is changing everyone’s perception of how we used to view the world and its every aspect. It has already made huge impacts on the field of entertainment, business, healthcare, and industries. It has been science fiction fodder for decades, but we’re only now beginning to see VR that’s effective at tricking your brain into thinking that your body is somewhere it’s not.
Today, many companies are trying their hands on VR technology and pushing it in an exciting direction. Just look at Microsoft’s HoloLens, a pair of augmented reality smart glasses that display holograms over your view of the real world. Someday, virtual reality could be where we live for half our lives.
That said, very few people know that Virtual reality is more than just grabbing a VR headset and playing games or hanging out on social media. If you have heard of Meta, a vision from Mark Zuckerberg, you already know that humans might live in VR in the future. OR even better, our world is becoming a seamless combination of reality, Virtual Reality, and Augmented.
3. Drone Ecosystem
Drones are slowly taking over various fields such as surveillance and mapping. Companies like amazon and Jubilant Food have already started employing drones for delivery purposes.
A flying device replacing human efforts, nobody would have thought that it would ever be possible, Right? There is no doubt about the development of the Drone Ecosystem shortly since it has wide potential commercial applications such as:
- Dispatching small packages over short distances.
- Providing cost-effective crop monitoring for improved yields
- Real-time visual inspection and thermal readings in various risky installation and construction
- Offering aerial view for rescue purposes in evaluating emergencies.
A part of this is thanks to AI, which has reduced the need for manual control. That said, let’s not forget all the engineers behind the hardware. If Leonardo Da Vinchi were alive today, he would be shocked to find that his idea regarding flying machines is now a reality – and much better than he ever imagined.
4. Space tourism
Space tourism generally refers to tourists traveling in space for recreational purposes. It was only a part of a sci-fi movie a few years back, but initiation technology has already been seen. SpaceX has already initiated the development of the space tourism model. If you spend a few hundred thousand dollars, anyone can go on a 90-minute flight around the earth. If you want a better experience, spend a few million dollars, and you can see our earth from space.
Although it might take a few more decades before we can genuinely travel to space conveniently, scientists predict space tourism will become a niche in the aviation industry. We believe this advancement provides a wide range of job opportunities, new business avenues, and various marketing and sales opportunities. But they expected the cost of space tourism to be very high.
When you think that we started our journey into space in the 20th century, it is something we could only have dreamt of in the past. Back then, only astronauts could go to space, and that too with special permissions. Now, it is just about the money. We are sure that pretty soon, going to space will be nothing different from a quick visit to the park.
5. Universal Translators
Traveling to places and not facing the problem of communicating sounds wonderful, Right? But it was just a part of some animated movies back in the past. Everyone talking to each other despite their languages, even animals, seemed like a dream some decades ago. But now, technological advancement has predicted to invent a system or a device or the machine that will understand and make you understand every language of the world. Even the language of the birds and the animals, yes you heard it right!
We have only seen these in animated movies and cartoons but we believe this crazy invention to be developed soon while it has already started the process while there are many apps and translators that will help you understand every other language.
The day when two people from different environments speaking different languages probably communicate in their voices is not that far. This will be one of the most successful technological advancements.
And all of this is thanks to Artificial intelligence technology. That said, at the moment, Universal translators are still niche products. However, online translators are not. Web designers and web developers have made translating foreign languages super easy. All you need to do is type the foreign language or speak into the app.
6. AI Robots
Machines working with their intelligence with no human efforts seemed like a dream in the past, but today AI robots are taking the place of humans in every field.
They have developed inventions of many partially AI machines. They often believe that these AI machines will take over humans in almost every field, from technology, defense, and business to medical. U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has budgeted millions of dollars to create AI robots and avatars that will replace human soldiers in the future. Using fully autonomous robotic machines is widely spreading in medical technologies and scientific developments.
Artificial intelligence robots are not just about military and health either. If you surf the internet for a while, you can easily see cute-looking AI robots used in hotels, food delivery services, and more. Even a hotel in Japan is entirely operated by AI Robots, known as Henn-na Hotel!
7. Clean Energy
Those energy sources produce tiny amounts of a greenhouse gas called Clean Energy technology. The ways to produce energy from the sun, wind, waves and water have been found out already. Solar, wind, and water are examples of our clean energy sources. The challenge was reducing greenhouse gas emissions. So it supplies more and more of the energy we use.
Now when we take the fact that we burned coal and released massive amounts of smoke for a tiny bit of electricity just a few decades ago, we truly live in a world of dreams.
The conclusion
Ultimately, we are constantly living in the future of the next technological breakthrough, now more than ever. Things that seemed impossible in the past are normal. No one could have imagined that we would be scrolling Facebook and laughing at cat videos in our self-driving cars powered by clean energy back in the 19th and 20th centuries. And we might as well be doing this in VR while getting fed lab-grown meat by our robot maid in the future! The future is indeed uncertain. e
We hope you found this interesting and entertaining. And as always, thank you for reading till the end.