The technologies to define the morrows

Man is an inventing animal, this feature keeps us from being static and fuels the congenital grandiose ambition to explore, understand and assimilate with a goal to cushion out the asperities of life. Civilizations have remained afloat and evolving over tens of thousands of years thanks to this propensity for inventions. New insights, new discoveries, and new inventions keep transmuting the arena of life and experience. The primary goal of inventions is the improvement of the quality of life, insulating life from the uncertainties, hardships, and hazards that our species has always been prone to. Innovation and commercialization of innovation have become the vital functions that propel the business engine of the world. The vibrant mantra in the research community is to publish or perish and in the business world, it is to innovate and flourish. Businesses fade and eclipse into the dustbin of history when innovation momentum fails to accord a solid technological edge. This being the ground reality, huge amounts are siphoned away into the innovation cauldron and global IPR protocols have evolved to standardize the rules of the game. With the concerted collective efforts, finetuned by the global exchange of information, very heavy traffic is experienced on the technology highways.

The world has fallen into a mode of perpetual transition, it drifts from equilibria to equilibria defined by the commercially successful armor of technologies ruling the roost. The revolutionary, game-changing, inventions are, just like that, stalking out from the pages of science fiction. Given the current tendencies, it is possible to arrive at reasonably reliable conclusions regarding the emerging technologies of the world and the potential impacts they are going to make. But then, inventions most often than not happen by surprise and not by design.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is likely to play a significant role in the day-to-day life of people in the days to dawn. It implies that all the household appliances right from motor cars, kitchenware, safety systems to communication devices shall be linked up under an umbrella of self-controlled organic data. The harmonized devices will be trained to communicate with each other and trigger actions as per the pre-defined environmental cues. Every device at home will be synchronized with every other device to create a congenial work and living environment for the users. The arrangement could take over the mission of multitasking people at households, that too with a stoic indifference.

?Apart from taking over the niche of a house manager, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is likely to spread its tentacles right into many other specialized areas of economic activity, mimicking human beings effectively. This can seriously undermine the employment opportunities in the human resource-rich countries that thrive on business outsourcing. But this development would be a blessing of sorts in the industrial economies where human resource decline is already a matter of concern. Intelligent autonomous machines, driverless cars, robotic nursing assistants, remote-controlled surgeries, big data management and data mining (like AI-powered custom tools provided by Relecura), robots designed as teachers to take over the entire academic milieu, replacement of human beings in the hazardous job environments, underwater and deep space scouting operations, etc., are some of the specialized domains where human expertise is likely to be edged out. Even in the domain of manual labor, intelligent machines with special skills would gradually edge out the existing labor force.

The farming sector, particularly food production, can experience a change of guard and the traditional farming operations at the mercy of the seasons of nature will turn obsolete. Automated Precision farming, which is not labor-intensive at all, is going to be the rage of the day. The plant metabolism and life cycle will be closely monitored, and inputs will be optimized to maximize the output. This dramatic transformation in global agronomy looks revolutionary. At the same time, the primitive agrarian economies of South Asia and Africa may face an existential crisis in the new dispensation.

But in the health care sector, impressive advancements are anticipated.? Man's dogged quest for longevity and good health is likely to yield some results. Gene therapy to weed out genetic diseases, which cannot otherwise be treated, would be a blessing. Already thousands of gene therapy trials are underway or are at the practical stage. Similarly, cancer treatment and preemptive measures to arrest the triggering factors of carcinogens have been a challenge to humanity. Therapeutic cancer vaccines and protective vaccines against cancerous growth in specific organs are going to be the new normal. A vaccine designed to treat prostate cancer,?Provenge,?has already proven to be successful. This breakthrough technology is bound to provoke a chain reaction in the mobilization against cancer. In the same token, stem cell therapy holds the promise of successfully managing and eliminating various health issues. It involves the introduction of adult stem cells into the damaged tissues to reverse damage, injury, or disease. It is generally believed that this therapy could altogether transform the very philosophy of health care and medical treatment, substantially reducing human suffering.

The emerging scenario appears to be enticing and enchanting. Yet, one should be aware of the other side of the moon. When the traditional working class and the overwhelming peasantry are pushed to the margins of existence, and their techno-economic space being usurped by intelligent and dedicated machines, the custodians of appropriate technology may get a presumptuous upper hand over the destiny of nations. When human resources cease to have an economic relevance, it can be tantamount to the species shooting itself in the foot. In the existing inter-species federalism characterized by competition and cooperation, the human species may even pluto itself to a nonentity by giving way to machines that reason. Hedonist pursuit, at its apex, leads to extinction. Challenge is the carrot that drives the species and challenge is the primary cause of creativity, bringing out the best in man. Sometimes a revolution can devour its own children.

?To know more about the emerging technologies in the area of AI and cancer treatment, do visit TechTracker.