Look around you.
Technology is everywhere. Smartphones, computers, tablets, wireless headphones…Every man and his dog is enjoying the technology of today.
It wasn’t always like this though.
For instance, just 35 years ago, only 8% of households had a PC. Indeed, that same source reminds us that the interest is only 30 years old. Can you imagine going a day without using the net nowadays?
The world is now a very different place compared to 3 decades ago. Technology has changed, and our lives have changed with it. What will things look like in the future? What tech changes are happening right now that will impact the lives of future generations?
Interested? Keep reading to discover 6 ground-breaking technologies changing the world as we speak.
6 Technologies Changing the World Right Now
The world is changing at the hand of technology. All areas of life are being affected. Social, medical, sporting, environmental, business (this blog has a strategy to help your business keep up) and so on are all getting facelifts.
Below are 6 examples that prove it.
1. Driverless Cars
Self-driving cars will go mainstream in the near future.
Numerous high-profile companies, including Tesla and General Motors, have invested heavily in the technology required to make it happen.
Not long ago people would have laughed at the idea. Now it’s actually happening! And, far from the accident-prone vehicles, you might expect, self-driving cars are set to be safer than cars driven by people.
The benefits of driverless cars go far beyond convenience.
For instance, they’ll be used almost constantly by people booking them from their phones. The amount of space taken up by parked cars will drop dramatically, meaning the land can be repurposed for better use.
Autonomous vehicles are more likely to be electric too. That means cleaner energy and less pollution. The list of advantages goes on and on.
2. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has come a long way in recent years. It stands to have a major impact on almost all areas of life.
It’s already affecting many areas of our lives.
Think about customer service these days. Many companies now choose to incorporate a chatbot into their website now. There’s now no need to call up a customer service line and stay on hold for an hour. Instead, the chatbot can take your question and provide an automatic answer.
But that’s only the very tip of an enormous iceberg. AI is likely to play a larger role in almost all aspects of life. The rise of automation will free us from mundane mental responsibilities.
3. Augmented and Virtual Reality
Augmented reality and virtual reality (AR and VR, respectively) legitimately sound like inventions from the future.
But they’re here. And companies are investing billions of dollars in them as we speak. We’ve only started to scratch the surface of what these reality-altering tech developments can offer.
For now, they’re changing the way we interact with computer games. Likewise, clever marketers have developed AR programs to help market their products.
The future will see AR and VR having ever-more significant roles. For example, meetings will never be the same. Imagine sitting in a virtual room full of colleagues who are actually in different parts of the world.
4. Cleaner Energy Sources
Technology is helping to solve the world’s environmental issues.
For too long we’ve relied upon fossil fuels to power the world. We’re starting to pay the price.
Thankfully, tech has risen to the challenge. For example, the cost of producing solar panels is now a mere fraction of what it was just a short time ago.
Equally, some clever companies are using technological advancements to find effective substitutes for our favorite foods. Meat, milk, eggs and so on, can now all be made from plants! They look, taste and feel the same, but aren’t.
That has a major impact. Less land, water, and energy are required to make them.
5. Drone Technology
Drones are going to have a significant impact on many areas of life.
They stand to become a cost-effective, risk-free, quick alternative to many traditional problems. Think building maintenance, delivery services, photography, warfare, and so on.
They’ve been in use in certain sectors for a while already. But the tech advancements of recent years have started to pay dividends. For instance, drones are beginning to be used in anti-poaching projects around the world.
However, their mainstream impact is likely to be the delivery service. Amazon is already well on its way to having drones deliver the goods ordered by their customers. Likewise, drones are helping companies send medical supplies into hard to reach areas.
6. Smartphones
Your smartphone has more power than the combined computing power of NASA in 1969.
That’s right. Smartphones are effectively like having a supercomputer in our hands every day.
You might not even think about it. After all, we’ve become accustomed to their capabilities now. But not so long ago they would have been considered outrageous.
Think about it. Every year, the power of our phones increases. Cameras, notebooks, encyclopedias, map books, calendars, and so on, are all becoming obsolete. Your new upgraded smartphone can do it all for you.
The change is staggering. Imagine a villager in a remote part of a South American jungle. They turn their mobile on and gain instant access to more information than a world-leader would have had a decade or so ago.
Time to Wrap Up
There you have it: 6 technologies changing the world right now.
Technology is developing at a rate of knots. You only have to look back a few decades to see how our lives have changed with it. Things aren’t slowing down either. Who knows what the future will hold.
Only time will tell. For now, though, we can only look at the latest tech, and hazard a guess at what’s to come. Hopefully, the information here has highlighted some of the major changes happening at the moment.
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