The world is so transfixed by daily developments in AI, little attention is being paid to the myriad technologies that are likely to come next. One person who thinks of nothing else is futurologist Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York.
Last week, in a keynote address at the Visa CEMEA Security Summit in Dubai, targeted at Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, he leapt forward to the world of 2050.
He told the gathering that by then, quantum computers will have rendered digital computers obsolete. “We will look at the digital computer of today as an antique, replaced by the quantum computer, the same way that we look at the abacus today. We’re now talking about the fact that the computer on your desk, your computer at home, could become junk in five to 10 years.
“‘This is a quantum computer.’ It’s the sentence that could change world history. The nation which corners the market on quantum computers can dominate the world economy. And there’s a race to see who can build the first workable, all-purpose quantum computers.”
He cautioned that the quantum computer itself was not the full story: it would need to be supported by an array of cooling pipes, as such powerful computers have to run at near absolute zero “to let the magic happen”. Once that becomes feasible, the technology could eventually dominate the world economy.
“That’s why Google, IBM, Microsoft, all of them, are jumping on the bandwagon.” Kaku even anticipates a form of telepathy, in which the brain’s electrical signals are converted into messages between people.
“The future of the internet will be ‘brain-net’. We will communicate with all human knowledge on the internet, mentally; creating new worlds with the power of the human mind.
The future of the internet will be ‘brain-net’. We will communicate with all human knowledge on the internet, mentally; creating new worlds with the power of the human mind
— Michio Kaku
“Today we’re entering the era of AI. We’re talking about new worlds, new occupations, human knowledge digitised so that you have it just for the asking. And this means that every part of our life will be changed, including art. Artists will eventually be able to create images by thinking about them. We can already do this.”
“Clunky” devices such as Meta smart glasses or Apple Vision Pro will be obsolete.
“In the future, you will blink and access all human knowledge. In other words, your contact lens will be connected to the internet, your contact lens will recognise people’s faces, they will always identify who you’re talking to. They will speak any language: you can communicate with other people in any language via your contact lens.”
Combined with the current revolution in AI, this means that everyday activity, ranging from transport to payments, will be transformed. “AI will be everywhere, and nowhere. You will talk to things and things will talk back to you. Your car will be intelligent. You simply call for your car, your car picks you up, it’s driving itself. You may even argue with your car, because you think you have a better route than the route chosen by your automobile.
“Aeroplanes will be intelligent. For 50 years, air travel hasn’t … changed at all. Why? Well, one reason is the Concorde exploded. Supersonic transports became obsolete. Nobody wanted a sonic boom overhead.
“But that’s before the computer revolution. Now we can model supersonic air flow. And by modelling that we can reduce the power of a sonic boom. So now all the major manufacturers are looking at models for the next generation of aircraft. Think about it, breakfast in New York, lunch in Tokyo, and then dinner in New York again.”
• Goldstuck is the founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram on @art2gee
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