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Futurists of the 1990s predicted that by then we would be living underwater or driving flying cars – but now experts are warning of a much scarier future.
DailyMail.com spoke to tech gurus who predicted what the world will look like in 2050 – and some fear that AI will have enslaved humans or that climate change will have made large parts of the world uninhabitable.
Other predictions include making contact with aliens – but whether that’s a bad thing remains unknown.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though, with technology believed to have made the afterlife possible.
Below are eight things that will have happened by the middle of this century – both for better and for worse:
By 2050, AI will have had a profound impact on society – possibly becoming the dominant species
AI ‘overlords’ can turn anyone into serfs
Right now, people are focused on AI potentially causing job losses, but the reality could be much worse.
So says George Stakhov, chief strategy officer of global advertising agency DDB EMEA, which created an AI tool called “The Uncreative Agency.”
Stakhov said: ‘People tend to overestimate the short-term effects of new technology and underestimate those long-term effects. This is known as Amara’s law.
“Right now we are at the peak of the AI hype and people are panicking about GPT-4 white collar jobs disappearing in the coming years. That seems excessive.
But by 2050, AI will have “thoroughly” reshaped the world, Stakhov warns.
He said: “There is a dark AI future in which those who control AI will gain enormous power, while 99 percent of the population will be disenfranchised. The AI lords will control the world’s data and turn the rest of us into their serfs.
‘The alternative is a clear AI scenario, in which everyone benefits from AI through better healthcare, faster transport and less pollution.
“The machines will really do most of the work and a basic wage will become commonplace, giving us more free time and realizing ourselves as human beings. That calls for a drastic change in society and in our approach to education.
“Reality will probably end somewhere between the Dark AI Future and the Bright.”
People will implant chips into their bodies
Implanting chips in your body will be commonplace in 2050
By 2050, people will typically be implanting chips into their bodies and “improving” themselves, says Heather Delaney, founder of Gallium Ventures, a technical PR and communications consultancy based in London.
The chips monitor the condition in the body and enable people to stay in touch with their health.
Delaney already has a very simple chip implanted in her hand that allows her to open doors.
She said: ‘Looking to 2050, I expect to see growth in a number of technical areas, including biohacking, which is a do-it-yourself (do-it-yourself) form of human enhancement or augmentation, where people try to change aspects of their biology. to improve. their health, performance or well-being.
“I’m already included in this community, with a chip implanted in my hand that allows me to open doors and link people to my company website and social media and some examples.
Delaney believes biohacking will be commonplace in the future – and allow people to improve their health.
Heather has a chip implanted in her own body
She says, “Through the use of biohacking, we should be at the point where users can better understand how their bodies respond to health and fitness regimens and how medications affect the body, including when ingested medications hit the bloodstream and stomach walls.”
AI allowed people to ‘live on’ after death
In the future, deceased relatives may not actually be dead, says Dr Ajaz Ali, Head of Business and Computing at Ravensbourne University.
Powerful AI will “capture” humans using motion capture tools and recordings, turning humans into “digital twins” of themselves that can “live on” after death.
Dr. Ali said: ‘By linking AI to digital technologies and motion capture tools, our awareness, knowledge and experiences will be transferred to our digital twin.
“Using NLP based tools that will be much more advanced than ChatGPT and Bard will allow people to interact in real time with these digital twins and benefit from their knowledge and ideas.
“Loved ones can continue to communicate with their relatives who have already passed away, but exist in a digital twin form.”
Personalized TV shows created just for them by AI
Will we enjoy TV shows made just for us?
By 2050, we may all be watching different TV shows and movies – personalized to our own liking and created by AI, says Matt Littler, founder and CEO of ARK Immersive – a VR production house, tech startup based in Liverpool.
Long-dead movie stars will also stay on screen thanks to AI technology, LIttler believes – so people will still watch the stars of their childhood well into old age
Littler said: ‘TV and film will start using AI – think along the lines of ChatGPT – it’s possible that by extrapolating from our social feeds – looking at the things we like and are doing, our dwell times and search history, that we will soon be offered tailored media, shows and content intended for no one but us.
‘This is made for the end user in AI; entire TV shows, characters and storylines, created using AI, actors we love playing who play roles that appeal to us, with endings that resonate. It won’t be small scale either, without budget constraints AI can dream big by creating properties as big and epic as Marvel, for example.”
People will upload their minds to computers and live on
Ray Kurzweil believes the singularity is near (Getty)
Futurist and former Google engineer Ray Kurzweil — who claims an 86 percent success rate in predictions — says humans will merge with machines by 2025.
In an event he describes as the “Singularity,” Kurzweil predicts that a robot will pass the Turing test by 2029, and humans will connect their brains to machines by 2045.
Kurzweil said, “2029 is the consistent date I have predicted when an AI will pass a valid Turing test and thereby reach human levels of intelligence.
“I have set the date 2045 for the ‘Singularity’, which is when we will multiply our effective intelligence a billion times by merging with the intelligence we created.”
We will all be wearing talking AI goggles
Glasses that look like normal prescription glasses and can answer any question, says Alexander Nick, director of Future Labs at EdTech company GoStudent.
Glasses that look like normal prescription glasses will appear within the next decade (these will be adopted by eyeglass wearers first).
These will provide on-screen advice such as email notifications and directions, but will evolve quickly.
Nick says, “The way we interact with computers will evolve. Remember that initially users had to use punch cards to get things done. Then the keyboard, mice and finally voice input.
“The next stage will be vision, that is, allowing computers to see, will become a mainstream of input, allowing people to ask human questions related to a visual image and point to something they need help with.” For example, you take a picture to ask ‘what’s broken and how do I fix it?’, ‘how many of these vegetables should I eat to get enough nutrients and vitamins?’, ‘is this pineapple ripe?’ , ‘what is this?’, ‘is this expense tax deductible?’
We will have found intelligent aliens
Seth Shostak has predicted that we will have found aliens by 2050
Alien-hunting astronomer Seth Shostak of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project bet fellow astronomers a cup of coffee that we’d find aliens within two dozen years in a 2012 Ted Talk.
That means we could be in contact with ET by 2036 (and Shostak means intelligent life, rather than microbes or something like that).
Shostak has since doubled down on his prediction, saying newer readings suggest there could be billions of Earth-like worlds.
That means if Earth is the only place with life, it’s like a winner in a lottery where the odds are a billion to one, Shostak says.
Shostak says, “That is perhaps the strongest case for life in space. Because if there isn’t, there’s something very exceptional about what happened here on Earth. Although that is not ruled out by the data, it does seem a bit egocentric.’
UFOs have been in the news lately – but could an alien species arrive on Earth in the next 50 years?
Large parts of the earth may be uninhabitable
Rising humidity and heat will lead to heat waves that will make it nearly impossible for people to survive outdoors in areas such as South Asia, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, according to NASA.
By 2070, this will also be the case in parts of Brazil and China.
‘Wet bulb’ temperatures refer to conditions where the temperature AND humidity are high, making it difficult to survive outdoors.
Humans can survive temperatures of up to 50°C when humidity is low, but humans cannot survive in high humidity because there is no way to cool down by sweating.
Even extremely strong and fit people die within hours.