Disconnect special X’mas edition: the future might not be terrible

Photo by Leandro Bermudes

Normally, the digital pages of this column are filled with my attempts to discourage techno-utopian nonsense and otherwise rain on the tech industry’s parade. But since it’s the holidays, in the spirit of Scrooge after his ghostly visits or the Grinch after his heart grew three sizes, I want to offer a few positive thoughts about how technology really might make life better in the future.

Renewable energy

Photo credit: Vinoth Chandar

It’s no secret that humanity needs to move away from fossil fuels. If we use all of the fossil fuels on earth that we know about, it will be a disaster. Temperatures will rise almost ten degrees Celsius; sea levels would rise hundreds of feet. But the good news is that renewable energy tech is developing quickly. The price and efficiency of solar power, for example, has improved massively over the past decade, and the tech industry has played a role both in researching and developing that technology and in investing in it. Earlier this year, for example, Apple revealed it’s pouring money into a massive solar farm in China. Apple’s project “will avoid over 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution in China between now and 2020,” the company says, and other tech companies are making similar investments. That’s a big deal.

Moreover, the tech industry seems to be spearheading a push towards cleaner tech products, especially with its focus on cars that are internet-connected and self-driving but also electric. Some of Asia’s biggest tech industry figures have started developing or invested heavily in electric car technology, and Asian companies like Letv and NextEV are working on next-gen electric cars to help ensure that the market isn’t dominated by expensive Teslas and the few weak electric offerings that conventional automakers offer.

Quantum technology

Image by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

I won’t pretend that I understand the physics behind quantum theory, but from what I do understand, its implications for technology are very, very cool. Everybody knows about quantum computing, which could help us solve some kinds of mathematical problems far faster than we currently can.

But it goes way beyond that. For instance, quantum entanglement has the potential to give us very high-speed forms of communication. In June, China will launch a satellite designed to test quantum communication between space and earth, with the goal of achieving communication that is both high speed and virtually impossible to snoop on.

This stuff has some potentially terrifying applications too, of course, but if nothing else, it’s going to be exciting to see what comes of it.

Space exploration

Photo by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

As a pessimist (read: realist), I’m not very optimistic that we’ll be able to slow the effects of climate change enough to keep from severely disrupting life on this planet. But even if we do, there are a million other things that could take us out. Humankind needs to colonize space (Stephen Hawking agrees with me). The good news is: we’re working on it.

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