The only way to accurately predict the future is to create it. If you predict the near future will feature everyone zipping about in flying cars, you need to make one and show that it is a viable product. That is exactly what many companies are doing right now. They are making the future happen in labs all over the world. While the most innovative makers are tight-lipped about their work, the future they are creating pokes out from under the veil just enough for us to get a glimpse of what’s coming.
All technology solves some problems while creating others. That is the way of things. The hope is that a new technology will solve more problems than it causes. Another hope is that the tech opens a door into the future of human advancement. The automobile was more than a faster horse. It connected people that were once too distant for meaningful change. It created opportunities for work because a person didn’t have to live within walking distance to the job. It reshaped the world and required us to redraw the map. It gave us a glimpse into the future that we now enjoy. Here are some other small technologies that give us a similar glimpse into the future:
An End to the Disposable Culture
One of the most interesting fields of study and innovation concerns making things more recyclable. We know we have a resource problem and we cannot continue to have a use once and toss out mentality. Our disposable culture will be our undoing if things don’t significantly change.
That is why the small innovation of bamboo paper towels is so exciting. Right now, paper towels are literally garbage after a single use. They are also extremely inefficient which means you need to use a lot of them to clean up a good-sized mess. The time it takes to convert a new roll of paper towels to garbage is shockingly fast. Those issues do not exist when using the Bamboo Paper Towels because they can be washed and reused 85 times. Imagine if all disposables became reusables. The world would become a very different place.
More Convenient Creature Comforts and Necessities
We all have to brush our teeth at least twice a day if not after every meal. There is the matter of squeezing the tube of toothpaste to get a sufficient amount on the toothbrush and not on the floor or counter. You also have to do it without touching the tube to the brush for sanitation reasons. And when you travel, you have to take precautions to avoid a nasty mess. It is enough to make a person less enthusiastic about oral care.
The innovation of toothpaste tablets gives us a glimpse into a future where things are safer, more convenient, and less wasteful at the same time. You can easily carry them with you because they have all the convenience of a bottle of pills. You don’t have to worry about the last of the toothpaste you can never get out of the tube. With tablets, there is no waste. Instead of making you want to brush less, it makes you want to brush more. So many little things we have to do for personal maintenance are tedious. Saving is just one example. But when big brains are applied to small conveniences, we all win.
Nanotech and the Future of Medicine
We are a long way from being able to grow a new kidney by taking a pill. But never say never. Companies are already working on nanobots for programmed biomedical applications. As this technology advances, we can glimpse a future where broken arms are mended in hours instead of months. Damage to internal organs could be mended if not completely replaced with an injection of properly configured nanobots. Science fiction definitely influences technology. There are good reasons why transporters will never happen. But nanobots are already here.
The future has not been written, yet — at least, not all of it. But we can definitely see hints of a future where almost everything is reusable, creature comforts and necessities are more convenient, and healing via nanobots is as common as breathing.
