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Devon Bowers
Professor Richard Winter
Tech 1010
April 19, 2016
A Road Map of the Future
In todays world, we are constantly seeking to improve. This applies to
many different things in the world and involves everyone as small as a
community to as large as the world to help progress. In the future, there will
be many different problems that will need to be solved, such as energy
demand, living-space, transportation, how cities are developed and built,
waste disposal, communications, artificial intelligence, and exploring
unknown regions beyond Earth. The world will turn to technological advances
to meet these needs and address these problems. One are current
technology is falling short is in green energy sources. Our world relies too
much on unsustainable fossil fuels such as oil and coal.
Current technology is focused on exploiting this resource instead of
taking a proactive approach to creating sustainable green energy sources.
Another area of technology that needs to be improved is our approach to
artificial intelligence. Perhaps we are too anxious to advance and innovate,
and we are not worried about the possible consequences and risks of
computers that think for themselves. I would like to see scientists and

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engineers take a more conservative approach and make sure artificial

intelligence is safe. There are also aspects of technology that I feel are on
the right track and are making good progress. One example is smart home
technology. In the last decade, advancements in smart home technology
have improved very quickly, and I feel this is an area where we can really
create a better future. Current homes are able to reduce their carbon
footprint, increase safety, and improve efficiency. If we keep improving at the
current rate, homes in the future will be better for the environment and
better for the people who live in them. Overall, I feel our world and
technology will improve if companies and people are less focused on money
and immediate gratification and switch their focus to innovation and creating
technology for the right reasons.
Energy
Energy demand will be a constant need in this world, we have become
very dependent upon electricity and I believe we need to control it right, a
loss of electricity in a community is a big deal and it only gets more serious if
the area of lost electricity expands to larger areas. What Im talking about
are large scale blackouts; while they are rare, they have happened. When
they occur, were basically blown back to the early 1880s; we would be living
in an age without electricity. Most inventions that humanity has discovered
have some form of dependence upon electricity. Perhaps, future technologies
should be designed to use a more reliable source of energy.

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The power does sometimes go out, we do live in a world of

imperfection, so there will be mistakes and accidents involving power lines.
For example, my own subdivision has experienced several power outages
over this past winter, with each power outage lasting more than 8 hours, and
its been the same every winter for the past decade. With the frequency of
each power outage, some homes, including our own, have an outlet outside
of our home to plug in a generator. Electricity is no longer a want these
days; its now something we really need. Exactly how or who or what is
causing these power outages is not known to me, perhaps people are just
using too many Christmas lights during the winter and arent trying to save
electricity.
The ways to save energy have changed; power companies have begun
to use smart grid technology, which simply means that they are
computerizing the utility grid. Back in the old days, which for some, is still
todays way of doing things, power companies hired workers to go around
town looking at meters and measuring voltage, it was something power
companies needed to do in order to provide electricity (energy.gov). When I
lived in Washington State in my younger years as a 6 year old, I remember
seeing that utility truck go around the neighborhood every once in a while,
placing his measuring stick on the meter right next to the street. I never
knew what it was for but it wasnt until now that I realized what it was they
were doing.

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Future energy demands will increase as time goes on, and there are
many obstacles to meeting energy consumption. The demand for electricity
will go up by about 45% by the year 2030 and its estimated that it will
require the investment of about 25 to 30 trillion dollars to sufficiently meet
worldwide electricity demands (Hayward, 2010). One of the hurdles in
meeting this demand is how the electricity will be generated. Many new
technologies are being experimented by using water as the source of
generating electricity. Such as underwater wave mills, wave power, and even
a way to use the rising and lowering of the tides
The focus right now for energy demands isnt about building more
power plants, but focusing more on the efficiency of distributing that energy
at the right time during the day. In the future I can see that we could still see
power grids. I do think that once solar power or wind power generators are
efficient enough to provide plenty of power to a single home, and then we
will begin to see the use of large power plants to go down in use.
Transportation
Transportation has served the needs of everyone, even in developing
countries theres a constant need for all kinds of transportation. Cars, trains,
buses, and airplanes, its all a need for many different people. People need to
get around without too much inconvenience. Public transit helps with those
who dont have a car. Public transportation has been around for a long period

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of time and it is an important part of our society. Today it continues to fulfill

its purpose for transporting people and other things.
In the future, the airplane will continue to change, with modifications to
have a more comfortable ride, faster travel, and better fuel efficiency. But
wait, at one time we actually had an airplane that was comfortable and much
faster than todays airplanes (though not very fuel efficient), the Concorde. It
was a futuristic airplane and saw success, but the first crash of a Concorde
made two companies, British Airways and Air France, to ground the airplanes
for a time while they made modifications to the airplane.

(Mario Tama/Getty Images

2003)
In 2003, both companies announced to discontinue the aircraft, saying
that its decision had been made for commercial reasons with passenger
revenue falling steadily against a backdrop of rising maintenance costs for
the aircraft. In September 2015, a group of people in a Concorde Club had
announced they had enough money to buy one of the Concorde airplanes

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and possibly bring it back to service by 2019 (Cripps, 2015). Hopefully the
future will hold onto the Concorde, it is a futuristic plane and hopefully others
will be able to experience it. The Concorde had the potential to become
better. Hopefully someday similar planes will be invented to pave the way for
the future of air travel.
Much of the world has placed their focus on the maglev train, a vehicle
that can go at almost the same speed as an airplane, but not as high in the
air, and doesnt require any fuel, just a small amount of energy (Fox, 2013).
Train travel is still a staple in all countries in Europe, the United States,
however, doesnt seem to be on the right track (no pun intended) towards a
multi-state high speed train network like other countries. The future looks
pretty slow with high speed rail in the U.S., however, other countries like
China, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea all have or going to build high
speed trains (Fox, 2013). These maglev trains will help passengers travel to
and from different parts of the country at fast speed and not waste time
looking for a parking spot.
The one type of transport that most people own is cars. I think cars are
the go-to solution for travel these days, especially here in the U.S.; you just
hop in and go where-ever you want to, just as long as you know where youre
going. The newest tech on the market is the autonomous automobile. A fear
that I believe exists with the autonomous car is that drivers may allow the
car to be in control too much of the time, so much so that the actual driver

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doesnt get enough experience to properly handle the vehicle in certain

situations or emergencies, the driver becoming fully dependent upon the
vehicle to make all the decisions. To solve this, perhaps only allow the driver
to use the autonomous driving only on freeways.
Cities and Homes of the Future
Cities are probably the most important part of every nation, big or
small; every state in the United States has one large metropolitan area.
These cities provide the economy with jobs and additional growth on all
sides. There are a lot of people who live in just cities alone. According to
Time Magazine, the number of people living in cities is about 3.4 billion.
World Health Organization expects that number to double over the next few
decades to 6.4 billion. Time Magazine asks the question about how to
accommodate that influx.
The first idea is having buildings adapting to our needs with sensors on
air ducts, boilers, and lights that monitor performance in real-time. Adjusting
the needs of the occupants at any given time and prevent issues before they
happen. I think this is the next upgrade in our cities; the benefit of this may
be that existing buildings can be upgraded to this standard without actually
tearing apart walls. Ive worked in a skyscraper myself and by the looks of it,
the ceiling is easily accessible and there are rooms devoted to heating, air,
and water (Macsai, 2013).

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When imagining a futuristic home, we might think that perhaps we

would want the entire home itself to be 100 percent efficient, a home that
can function on its own and entirely off the grid. In order to get there I
believe we would need to take smaller steps first. For example, at the
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, different tech companies
showcased a number of high tech appliances. Like a refrigerator that allows
users to see what they have in the fridge while out grocery shopping. Other
appliances are similar in nature, allowing the user to remotely access certain
parts of their home, when the family is away, they can turn on lights or even
lock or unlock doors. (Taylor, 2016)
The future of homes may not be what we expect; many homes of the
future may simply be built the same as todays standards, only it will be filled
with high tech appliances. Like today, the futures homes will be built
according to building codes. Home builders obey codes in order to comply
with basic codes, and rarely go above and beyond unless it is wanted by the
customer. Therefore, if big changes in smart homes are to happen, maybe
new building codes will need to be made first.
Communication
In the future, communications will continue to expand and grow. Today
we use phones for three different kinds of communication. The first being
text, we use our written language to send messages; the second kind of

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advancement was using our voice, and third using an image to be

communicated. Now there may be a fourth way to communicate.
Today we have the power to talk to someone in a different place, we
have video chat that helps us communicate to others in far away places, and
so far, thats the most high tech we can get in terms of communication
today. The newest technology that has been invented helps us use the video
chat with an added tool that helps us reach out and touch, its called InTouch.
Its a device that records your movements and projects them using plastic
bars moving up or down. Theres a problem when communicating, we may
be using our voice, language, or an image to communicate, but theres no
physical presence when communicating.
In the article The Communication of the future is so real you can
touch it author Maya Baratz, when speaking about the InTouch prototype,
says that our prototypes are meant to add to our ability to express
ourselves remotely (Baratz, 2015). Were so used to the audio and visual
communication in our lives that it makes us feel confined. While certain
gadgets get us close to that feeling like virtual reality or 3D Screens, theres
no physical touch to it, its just a visual.

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(Baratz, 2015)
When I think about future innovations in communication, it seems like
it is pointing toward communication becoming more interactive and realistic.
People are not only wanting to hear each other, they now want to see and
touch each other. In the future, communication may allow a person to
manipulate and actively participate in an environment on the other side of
the world. Maybe this will improve communication and allow us to feel more
connected, but it could also have the opposite effect. It could make some
feel that real, person to person interaction is less necessary. Why do we need
to meet someone in person when people can interact from their own
homes? I hope this does not turn out to be true.
One technology that has been talked about is telepathy, except is it
actually possible? Dave Evans at Cisco Labs says their researchers are trying
to find a way to do this. With the help of a silicone implant in our brains they
say we will be able to do that. This technology alone will allow us to talk over
the internet with our thoughts (Vadala, 2013). While I think that this

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technology isnt bad to try out. With artificial memory implanted in our
brains, people could have the possibility to literally hack into our minds. Not
exactly the type of tech I want.
Holograms have been the dream of many tech savvy people. A 3D
image is the next best thing to people actually being there next to you
(Valada, 2013). A hologram device could literally mean you could be in two
places at once. For example, (I came up with this idea) a teacher could teach
two classes at once! One class he teaches himself while a camera projects
his image into another classroom and teaches that one. The one difficulty is
that you might be in both classrooms, but the teacher might find it hard to
manage so many students, maybe. But dont limit it to just teachers, we
could think of broadcasts, live music events, or political speeches. The
president could give a speech as a hologram and not be in harms way!
Robots and Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence was first coined at a conference at Dartmouth
College in Hanover, New Hampshire in 1956. Artificial intelligence or AI is
defined simply as a computer that can perform the activities that are
normally thought to require intelligence. So when we think of Apples Siri,
she is an artificial intelligence but very limited in her performance, since she
can only talk to you and search for things for you. Other intelligences, largely
made for video games and other software, have dominated our lives today.

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Artificial intelligence and Robotics are probably the most complex

machines we have on this earth. These machines keep getting more and
more sophisticated, the problem about these computers is should we fear
them? Should we even worry that robots could take over the world? There
are many what if questions, the real fear comes from autonomous weapons
that are used in the military that can kill without permission from a human.
The first question that should be asked is do this autonomous weapons
even exist? Yes, they do, except the computer doesnt take the shot, a
human does. These weapons are semi-autonomous and will pick out a target
and aim but will wait for a human to pull the trigger (Prado, 2015). The thing
that I fear is that while the autonomous weapon will be more efficient,
quicker, and more precise, there is a risk of the robot malfunctioning.
Maybe even be infected with a virus or worm that could change the
way the robot functions, simply making friendly targets into the enemy can
have disastrous results. Case in point, the Stuxnet virus was a cyberattack
used against Irans uranium enrichment plant, while used for good purposes,
its still a good example that its possible to cause machinery to do things it
wasnt designed to do (Zetter, 2014).
Many companies around the world have come together at the United
Nations to stop the progress of autonomous warfare robots. The United
Nations have already hosted discussions about this topic, the group hopes to

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progress towards a treaty like the one made to outlaw chemical weapons
(Westaway, 2015).
From my own knowledge, we still have a long to go before artificial
intelligence begins to think freely or even try to take over the world. Were all
human beings and none of us really consider trying to take over the world, so
even if an intelligent robot considers trying to take over the world or lead an
army, would they not be smart enough to know that its not worth the try?
Commercial Space Travel
Commercial Space Travel has been a dream for many people, (for
myself though, I think flying in an airplane is enough). Commercial Space
Travel is relatively new, as of the late 1990s to the early 2000s there was
interest to get people to outer-space and back home. At that time it was pure
science fiction for space travel to become a commercial business. A
competition was started amongst philanthropists and entrepreneurs; it
attracted 26 teams across the world. One team won the 10 million dollar
prize, which was achieved by a spacecraft called SpaceShipOne (Galactic).
What I think needs to happen is this program needs to not only go into
space, but actually dock at a physical location like the International Space
Station. The obstacle to getting to space is the use of rocket boosters to
propel us to the necessary speed to get out of the atmosphere and into
space. In my own opinion, it would be best to build a spacecraft that can
simply take off on a runway like a normal airliner and fly directly to space. It

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would need to constantly climb altitude and also the need to develop
engines that could work in the atmosphere and out in space. I say this like
its an easy thing to do, but probably isnt.
Right now its possible to travel to space, but it requires a big wallet,
about 250,000 dollars, but in the future it may become the price of the
average airline ticket. Hopefully that will be case, and as long as theres a
place to actually go to like a spaceport or the moon, then prices will go down.
The program will live if too many things dont go awry, Im sure there will be
mistakes and thats usual for anything on this earth, but Im hopeful that
people will remain optimistic about the future of space travel. If getting up to
space becomes more efficient and easier, then where will we go? The Moon
or maybe even Mars? Until we can build a moon base or a Mars base then I
do not think many people will be traveling to space very much. The future
may hold something even greater for space travel, maybe different kinds of
ways to get to space that we dont know yet about.

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Works Cited
Achenbach, Joel. The Washington Post. Web. November 23, 2013.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2013/11/23/which-way-tospace/
Baratz, Maya. Fast Company Magazine. Web. January 12, 2015.
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3040689/the-touchable-future-ofcommunication/4
Buckeridge, Rory. Factor Tech. June 29, 2015.
http://factor-tech.com/feature/autonomous-cars-and-mans-future-theroad-ahead/

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Concorde. Concorde History. Web.

http://www.concordesst.com/history/00s.html#00
Cripps, Karla. CNN. Web. September 21, 2015
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/21/travel/concorde-return-to-flight/
energy.gov. Government website.
http://energy.gov/oe/services/technology-development/smart-grid
Fox. Web. November 27, 2013.
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/11/27/five-future-transportationtechnologies-that-will-actually-happen.html
Galactic. Virgin Galactic. Web. No date shown.
http://www.virgingalactic.com/human-spaceflight/history-of-humanspaceflight/
Hayward, Tony. Innovation. Web. February/March 2010.
http://www.innovation-america.org/how-will-we-meet-growing-energydemand
Lewis, Tanya. LiveScience. Web. December 04, 2014.
http://www.livescience.com/49007-history-of-artificial-intelligence.html
Macsai, Dan. Time Magazine. Web. October 19, 2013.

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http://ideas.time.com/2013/10/19/what-life-will-be-like-in-the-cities-ofthe-future/
Prado, Guia Marie Del. Tech Insider. Web. July 31, 2015.
http://www.techinsider.io/which-artificially-intelligent-semiautonomous-weapons-exist-2015-7
Tama, Mario. Getty Images. Web. October 24, 2003
http://factor-tech.com/feature/autonomous-cars-and-mans-future-theroad-ahead/
Taylor, Harriet. CNBC. Web. January 6, 2016.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/06/ces-smart-homes-of-the-future.html
Vadala, Nick. Philadelphia. 3 Ways Well Communicate in the Future. Web.
April 12, 2013.
http://www.phillymag.com/news/2013/04/12/future-communicationtelepathy-holograms-new-internet/
Westaway, Luke. CNet. Web. December 22, 2015.
http://www.cnet.com/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-artificialintelligence-and-the-imminent-robot-future/
Zetter, Kim. Wired. Web. November 3, 2014.
http://www.wired.com/2014/11/countdown-to-zero-day-stuxnet/

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