Human beings came into the picture of Earth millions of billions of years later after Earth took a solid form. Ever since this two-legged creature with his super-efficient brain came into existence, he/she had an upper hand over other animals. Be it twice or thrice it’s size.
The evaluation happened at a very slow rate over the years.
But, ever since human has developed science especially medical science, he/she
had paced the evaluation process. It was around 3-6 million years ago when
human stood upright but now it is like everyday humans are being changed or
developed. It is estimated that coming generations will be very less like us
and here is why it is speculated.
1. Genetic Engineering.
When we think and talk about future, the first thing that
comes to our mind is genetic engineering. Believe it or not, we are in a
transitional period. Day by day Genetic Engineers are coming up with new,
better and sophisticated technology which is going to shape the future. It was
not until a decade back when the concept of Genetic Engineering was banished
but in recent years, research have developed a revolution called CRIPR that has re-established this
dream. The diseases which have no cure now may become non bothering. It is very
possible that in coming years humans could customize themselves and their
babies. There are infinite possibilities of how Genetic Engineering could be
used.
Read more here-
https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/genomicresearch/genomeediting/ https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/01/perspectives-on-gene-editing/
2. Pandemic.
It is not unusual now to list pandemic as one of the main
game changers in humankind. We have seen with the Sars-Covid-2 that how pandemic can affect the world. If it makes
you feel any less worried, let me tell you that the scientists and researchers
had already speculated from three to five years that a pandemic, a global
pandemic could strike the world. And several organizations were already
prepared for it, yet be it government negligence or something else, it has
affected over 41 million people worldwide.
The thing that scares the most is that over 1.7 million
unknown viruses are out there in the wild which humans have no idea about. If
one, one teeny-tiny virus can affect the world like that, God forbid if some
other virus comes into play, then humans will have no answer to that.
Read more here-
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/factors-allow-viruses-infect-humanscoronavirus/ https://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/heres-how-we-prepare-for-the-next-pandemic
3. Reality.
One of the most horrifying though I had when I was a child
was after watching a film ‘Matrix'. Are we sure we are not in the matrix? Well,
who am I to judge. But I can say this with certainty that our reality has been
change and it is not what it was like a decade ago. Life was much simpler back
then, wasn’t it? Now, we are all trapped in this invisible world wide web.
Sure, history manipulation is there from a long time. Kings have always used
history to bring them into good light. Even today, every country has their own
version of history.
We now have a thin line between reality and augmented
reality. What might change would be versions of reality of individual. And it
has surely started with new and developed AIs and MR and Virtual reality.
Read more here-
https://www.engadget.com/2019-05-15-augmented-reality-can-change-your-behavior-in-thereal-world.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/07/17/the-important-risks-and-dangers-ofvirtual-and-augmented-reality/
4. Artificial Intelligence.
When we talk about the adverse effect of artificial
intelligence, we often picture several robots making colons of themselves to
take control over our lovely planet. That might not happen in near future, but
the effects of AI can be seen now. Think of it this way, an AI is basically a
machine learning and what it learns is, well YOU. Everyone has smartphones now a days, they are connected to the
whole world with that device. What humans don’t realize is the complex
networking and huge servers that store and transport this enormous amount of
data every second. You went to England for a little holiday and everyone knows
it, by everyone I mean everyone. Google to Facebook to Microsoft everyone. And
next thing you know is your Facebook feed is filled with advertisements of
hotels in England without you even asking for it.
Harmful is not that AI learn about you, potential harm is
that AI already knows about you so much that it can change your behaviour, your
beliefs or maybe YOU.
Read more here-
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2020/03/09/whats-the-impact-of-artificialintelligence-and-technology-on-society/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ethics-and-international-affairs/article/futureimpact-of-artificial-intelligence-on-humans-and-humanrights/2016EDC9A61F68615EBF9AFA8DE91BF8
5. Space Exploration.
This one is no bummer. Space Exploration is on the human
bucket list for a long-long time. Since the last century, humans have tried to
get to moon and mars in search of an alternate sustainable environment. We know
that fuel on this planet is limited and the way we are using it, depletion is
much nearer. It was and is highly ambitious to think of humans 'living' on
another planet but we now have that kind of technology to make that possible.
People like Elon Musk are planning this from a long time and are continuously
working on it. It might not be very long that humans start to visit other planets.
Read more here-
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/hq/library/find/bibliographies/future_of_space_exploration/ https://www.spacex.com/human-spaceflight/mars/
6. Climate Change.
Okay! Let’s get this clear, Climate Change is real and is
happening right now. It’s effect on the planet are not hidden and many
countries are taking action to control it. It will not be a surprisingly new
phenomenon but humans have definitely speed up the process. With the glaciers
melting several species are affected. The habitat is slowly changing for the
snowy life. And not to forget that scientists have claimed that if the glaciers
melts than humans will be introduced to millions of new microorganisms
including viruses which are trapped inside the snow from past millions of
years. Scientists have found such 28 ancient viruses from Tibet glaciers.
With the greenhouse effect and ozone layer depletion,
coming generations will have to suffer and adjust a lot with the potentially
hazardous environment.
Read more here-
http://www.germanwatch.org/sites/germanwatch.org/files/20-201e%20Global%20Climate%20Risk%20Index%202020_16.pdf
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-arewaking-up
7. Energy.
The one thing which increasing rapidly since last century
is energy consumption. With growth in population, globalization and changing
lifestyle the demand of energy has gone up. And so has the production of it
too. Due to this, the source of energy, i.e., Fuel is at depletion point.
Fuels are classified into two major category- renewable and
non-renewable. Renewable sources are like sun, wind water etc. and
non-renewables are coal, petroleum etc. Since the non-renewables are limited,
humans are constantly in search of new efficient synthetic resource. And will
always be.
Read more here-
https://www.altenergymag.com/article/2019/07/what-is-the-future-of-non-renewableresources/31346
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/renewable-energy-future-carbon-emissions/
8. Anatomy.
Mother Nature has gifted us with this extremely complex
machine that keeps us alive. Over these years human body has evolved as such
that it can complement the lifestyle. Our ancestors use to have tail to balance
themselves when walking on four limbs, slowly it vanished as we started to walk
on two legs. The diversity of human habitat has also made significant changes
in human body. This process is extremely slow and happens due to necessity. But
in this era body transformations are a common practice. And as the medical
science progress humans might be able to change their anatomy as per convince.
https://www.bbcearth.com/blog/%3Farticle%3Dwhat-will-humans-look-like-in-a-million-years/
https://theglobepost.com/2020/01/17/gene-editing-future/
9. Mental Health.
We are not only talking about physical changes but mental
also. The thinking process of humans have also changed over the years. We are
in an era where for most of our tasks, even simple ones we are dependent on
some kind of technology. One might say that technology has made humans lazy
which is not all false. Technology should be a tool that helps. Due to this,
games like Pokémon Go campaigned and encouraged players to go outside and walk.
We aren’t talking about just sitting in rooms being lazy but it’s greater
impact. Depression and anxiety are common in children today. Humans today think
as they are fed by social media and big tech giants. And that manipulation
would continue even more in future.
Read more here-
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11469-016-9684-0.pdf
https://www.zurich.com/en/knowledge/topics/global-risks/decline-in-mental-health-showsthe-human-cost-of-global-
risks#:~:text=Noting%20that%20mental%20health%20problems,on%20social%20cohesion%20a
nd%20politics.
10. Socio-political Situation.
Okay, so the terms ‘technology’ has made it in almost all
the points and would be in this one too. Future and technology go hand in hand.
It’s is researched that over this decade as social media grew more popularity
political parties have used or rather misused it as a tool for propaganda. It
is seen that more and more right-wing ideologies are fed into people’s mind.
Humans are becoming more and more aggressive and the extremist ideologies are
corrupting human’s brain. We have seen its example all over the world from
Indonesia to America to UK to India, everywhere.
Read more here-
https://ipdgc.gwu.edu/files/2019/07/Blogs-and-Bullets-IV.pdf
https://www.ft.com/content/55a39e92-8357-11ea-b872-8db45d5f6714
So, to boil it down, Let’s say, future has infinite
possibilities. It could be a boon to the society or could be a doom. All it
depends on the choices we make now. Choices that could make it a utopia or a dystopia.
We can’t say what will our future be for sure, but one thing we could say is it
will be something completely different from what it is today. We are in the
transitional period and might possibly be the last generation of its kind.
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