Friends Today, Foe Tomorrow: 10 Technological Threats To Human Life
Advertisement
Advertisement
Technology has a tendency of captivating us, and exciting us, but also possibly destroying us, too. Most tech claims to make our lives easier and make the world a 1. Lasers
The gap between what lasers can actually do in real life and what they do in films is quite huge. This gap is poised to become smaller now, with the US Navy deploying laser weapons aboard the USS Ponce. These laser systems will be used initially for the destruction of drones, but who knows what the future might hold?
Complimentary Tech Event
Transform talent with learning that works
Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More
Drones are quite a reality in today’s day and age (
3. Driverless cars
Advertisement
4. Geoengineering
Initially geoengineering was considered to be a weapon of war, but now it is being used as a possible cure for climate change. It is being assumed that certain geoengineering techniques such as disposing things into the ocean in huge proportions, covering large areas with mirrors, or filling the atmosphere with chemicals might change the weather to cause more drought and floods, may damage wildlife and generally cause more devastation.
5. 3D printers
3D printers aren’t just great additions to workspaces, but will probably be used to make the very first ‘Wiki Weapon’ in the world. The Wiki Weapon is a fully functional, 3D-printed gun which almost every citizen might have access to. If this doesn’t make you shudder, we don’t know what will.
6. Robot doctors
Robotics in the healthcare field are quite a reality today, with them assisting human doctors on complex surgeries. The 2,500 units of the
Advertisement
7. Nanobots
Nanobots have been wrecking theoretical havoc since the 80s and 90s, when there was a fear that the self-replicating nanobots, which were built to clean up oil spills, started to consume all carbon-based life forms due to errors in their programming. This idea, that self-replicating microscopic organisms may lead to the end of the world as we know it was called grey goo. Today however, the risks that nanobots pose aren’t related to the Apocalypse, but to those they pose to human life. For instance, cadmium selenide “quantum dots”, which are used to detect diseases, have also been known to be the possible cause of cadmium poisoning.
8. Artificial Intelligence
If you have seen Terminator, you know what artificial intelligence is. There will come a time when artificial intelligence may become smarter than humans, and when that happens, the plot of Terminator will play out, according to certain futurists. In the film, the artificial intelligence unit at Skynet decided to eradicate human life-forms as they were destroying the planet. In reality, futurists claim that machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence by the year 2045. Let’s hope John Conner comes to our rescue.
9. Cyber-attacks
With the arrival of Stuxnet, traditional
Advertisement
10. Google GlassIf a driverless car doesn’t wham into your, the head-mounted goggles from Google possibly will. As soon as Google opens Glass up to advertising, you can be sure to be spammed by unscrupulous marketers who will bring out the big guns and try everything in the book to make sure your attention is on them. This might go from the point of being mildly irritating when you’re catching up on world news, to being potentially life-threatening if you are driving or operating heavy machinery.
(Image: Thinkstock)
Advertisement
- Tesla tells some laid-off employees their separation agreements are canceled and new ones are on the way
- Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' is the messiest, horniest, and funniest album she's ever made
- One of the world's only 5-star airlines seems to be considering asking business-class passengers to bring their own cutlery
- The Future of Gaming Technology
- Stock markets stage strong rebound after 4 days of slump; Sensex rallies 599 pts
- Sustainable Transportation Alternatives
- 10 Foods you should avoid eating when in stress
- 8 Lesser-known places to visit near Nainital