The fifties and sixties looked forward to a future where our cars would be fueled by nuclear energy and we’d take jetpacks to our Jetsons-style job. Robot butlers would clean our homes and food would come in pill form. Well, technology has evolved a little differently. Jetpacks are a bust and robots are too unsteady on their feet and surly to scrub our floors. But what future technologies are people looking forward to now?
- Ford’s nuclear car never got off the ground (or around to sterilizing its occupants). The future does appear to hold some promising innovations like cars made of duralumin or carbon nanotubes fueled by algae or ammonia.
- Heads-up eyeglasses that can interact with the Internet, your iPod, or mobile device: you could compare prices or get directions via the Internet with the display on your glasses.
- People are working on scented TV. The smells of chocolate, coffee, an ocean breeze or whatever would be stored in the TV in liquid form and could waft out depending on what was on screen.
- Mobile devices of the future could allow people to communicate visually via holograms. Technologies like Skype could give way to (or evolve into) – holographic teleconferencing.
- Feasible robots capable of carrying out simple tasks like cleaning or retrieving objects are being worked on.
- “Intelligent” computers would be capable of maintaining themselves.
- Future medical tech could be capable of extending human life, growing organ replacements, strengthening the immune system, putting computer chips in the brain, and much more.
These all sound well and good, but some of us are still waiting for our jetpack. The past promised us a commercial jetpack.
