When the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, laboratories across the world, both in the East and West, began searching for a weapon to combat the disease. I decided to follow the developments in these laboratories, but soon found myself drawn to explore not only what was happening in the realm of COVID-19 but also to track the broader innovations emerging from laboratories in countries like the U.S., China, Russia, Europe, Japan, and others. I examined reports from fifty laboratories and focused on what they are striving to achieve, which reveals what the future world might look like. I discovered that five key areas will undergo various forms of transformation, the first being technological change.
First: Technological Change
We can expect artificial intelligence (AI) to become more intelligent and widespread, with more advanced machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, and computer vision. This will lead to more personalized and efficient services, such as virtual personal assistants, intelligent chatbots, and automated customer service. Self-driving cars will become a reality, and ethical considerations such as privacy, bias, accountability, and responsibility will also come into play. AI will extend into tasks involving a degree of risk, like robotic armies and drones. Currently, there are AI programs capable of writing poetry from scratch and creating images from simple text prompts. We are witnessing 3D-printed eyes, new holographic technologies, lab-grown food, and brain-reading robots.
There are also technological revolutions on the horizon that will reshape the concepts and dynamics of life, such as:
Necrobotics: This technology involves turning dead bodies into robots. It has already been applied to spiders.
Turning Sand into Giant Batteries: Tons of sand are heated using air and solar energy in containers, then the heat is distributed to nearby buildings.
Electronic Skin (E-Skin): This is an electronic skin embedded with flexible actuators that sense the wearer’s movements and convert them into electrical signals. These signals can then be transmitted to another electronic skin system via Bluetooth, where the actuators convert them into mechanical vibrations that mimic the original movements. This system could allow friends and family to “feel” each other across long distances.
Smell in Virtual Reality: Researchers at City University in Hong Kong have recently developed what they call an “innovative, wireless, interactive skin feedback system.” In other words, virtual reality accessories that allow you to smell things. For example, if you’re watching a movie where a fire is ignited, you would be able to feel the heat and smell the smoke.
SpinLaunch: This is a prototype system designed to deliver satellites or other payloads into space using kinetic energy rather than the traditional method of chemical fuel used in conventional rockets. The system can spin payloads at speeds of up to 8,000 km/h and 10,000 g-force, then launch them into the sky through a large launch tube. Small rocket engines would still be needed to place the payloads into orbit, but SpinLaunch claims that their system reduces fuel and infrastructure requirements by an astonishing 70%. The company has signed an agreement with NASA and is now testing the system.
Xenotransplantation (Transplanting Animal Organs or Tissues into Humans): There have been cases where a pig’s heart was transplanted into two people. The first patient died after a few months, while the second is still under observation but remains alive.
Turning Speech into Images via AI: AI image generation has reached impressive heights. It allows for the transformation of spoken words or text into visual images, revolutionizing creative and communication processes.
Enabling the Paralyzed to Move: The use of brain-reading technology is no longer just science fiction. It has made remarkable strides in recent years. One of the most exciting and practical applications has been developed by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). Using a machine learning algorithm, a robotic arm, and a brain-computer interface, these researchers have created a way for quadriplegic patients (those unable to move their upper or lower body) to interact with the world. In tests, the robotic arm performed simple tasks, like moving around obstacles. The algorithm interprets signals from the brain using an electroencephalogram (EEG) cap and automatically identifies when the brain perceives the arm’s movement as incorrect, such as moving too close to an obstacle or too quickly. Over time, the algorithm adapts to individual preferences and brain signals. In the future, this could lead to brain-controlled wheelchairs or assistive machines for paralyzed patients.
3D Printing of Bones: 3D printing is a promising industry, with applications ranging from constructing affordable homes to creating strong, low-cost armor. One of the most intriguing uses of this technology is in printing 3D bones. Ossiform, a company specializing in medical 3D printing, creates patient-specific bone replacements from tricalcium phosphate – a material with properties similar to human bones. The process is surprisingly simple: hospitals perform MRI scans, which are sent to Ossiform, where a 3D model of the required implant is created. After the surgeon approves the design, the implant is printed and ready for surgery. What sets these 3D-printed bones apart is that, because of the use of tricalcium phosphate, the body will remodel the implants into bones with blood vessels, meaning they restore the full function of the replaced bone. To ensure the best integration, the implants have a porous structure, with large pores and channels that connect bone cells and aid in repair.
Natural Language Processing: From creating poems from scratch to explaining complex theories effortlessly and engaging in full conversations as if it were human, natural language processing has advanced significantly. (For instance, your mobile phone predicts words before you finish typing them).
Silent Takeoff and Landing Aircraft: There are ongoing developments in aircraft technology aimed at achieving silent takeoff and landing, reducing noise pollution significantly.
Full-body Digital Scanning for Disease and Injury Detection: Conducting such scans in real life, as the creators of Q Bio suggest, would improve health outcomes and lighten the burden on doctors. A U.S. company has built a scanner that measures hundreds of biomarkers in about an hour, from hormone levels to liver fat accumulation and signs of inflammation or various cancers. The data is used to produce a 3D digital avatar of the patient’s body, known as a digital twin, which can be tracked over time and updated with each new scan.
Direct Air Capture for Carbon Dioxide Reduction: Through photosynthesis, trees have been one of the best methods of reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. However, new technology can play the same role as trees by absorbing CO2 at higher levels while occupying less land. This technology is known as Direct Air Capture (DAC). It involves taking CO2 from the air and either storing it in deep geological caverns underground or using it with hydrogen to produce synthetic fuel. Although this technology has great potential, it currently faces significant complexities. DAC facilities are now operational, but the current models require vast amounts of energy to run. If energy levels can be reduced in the future, DAC could prove to be one of the best technological advancements for the environment.
Storing Energy in Red Bricks: Scientists have discovered a way to store energy in the red bricks used to build houses. Researchers, led by Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, have developed a method that can turn inexpensive, widely available building materials into “smart bricks” capable of storing energy like a battery. Though the research is still in the proof-of-concept stage, scientists claim that walls made from these bricks could store significant amounts of energy and be recharged hundreds of thousands of times in just one hour.
Second: Changes in the Structure and Functions of Official Institutions:
Are the existing official institutions on a path to growth, reduction, or disappearance? This raises many questions about the future of various institutions, with scenarios such as the following:
- Will the nation-state, as established by the Peace of Westphalia, persist in its current form?
- Can we expect a shift toward global governance through the United Nations, where national governments would resemble more localized administrative bodies?
- To what extent will privatization continue to expand, limiting the role of government to “defense and security”?
- What is the likelihood of a transition toward chaos with the disintegration of states and the rise of supra-national and sub-national entities? (Durkheim’s theory on the potential rise of organic solidarity at the expense of national bonds suggests that mechanical solidarity may gradually dissolve, thus questioning the very justification for the existence of the nation-state.)
- Will remote learning replace the majority of traditional education?
- Will the professions of teacher, inspector, and educational administration vanish?
Third: Social Structures:
The superstructure and the infrastructure—digital nomadism—are we on the way to financial transactions through Bitcoin, thus transitioning from physical currency to symbolic currency? Are we heading toward new boundaries for concepts of human rights, aesthetic values, new forms of literature, political and social authorities, the role of religion, and concepts of physical and psychological entertainment and pleasure, as well as social concepts like customs and traditions?
- Will we end up consuming food in pill form, as astronauts do, thereby altering customs and traditions?
- Will human cloning, if applied, lead to the disappearance of concepts such as kinship, family, tribe, nation, and even the boundaries of what is permissible and forbidden?
Fourth: Value Systems:
All of the above will raise questions about value systems, the challenges of defining them, measuring them, understanding their dynamics, and determining the central force behind their transformations. Is this transformation evolutionary, revolutionary, or a mix of both?
Fifth: The Natural Structure:
This reflects the impact of all the aforementioned changes on our relationship with nature, especially in relation to cosmic phenomena, climate, and discoveries or transformations in the universe.
My question after all this:
What is the percentage of these future visions and their implications in contemporary Arab discourse? Has this discourse moved beyond its traditional remnants? The answer is yours…
