I’ve written a lot about future technologies. As often as I’m asked “what technologies do we need to make money?”, I’m rarely asked “what technologies are going to change the world for the better?”. It’s a much better question, and one we need to address quickly if we are to live as well as our parents did. Below are some answers.
1. Carbon capture and storage: Carbon capture and storage is the process of capturing CO2 before it enters our atmosphere, transporting it, and storing it underground for the next few hundred years.
2. OceanTech: OceanTech offers tools based on the exploitation of data or natural resources of marine origin. The field is positioned as an ideal response to issues relating to energy, agriculture, medicine, and even cosmetics.
3. Green Mining: Green mining is not a technology, but rather a technological concept. It promotes material, water, and energy efficiency to reduce the environmental footprint of mineral-based products life-cycles.
4. EVTOLS: Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing aircrafts combine the vertical take-off of helicopters with the horizontal flight of airplanes. These vehicles are being discussed thanks to great innovations in motors, batteries, fuel cells, and electronic controllers.
5. NextGen Batteries: We can get all the energy we want from renewable sources, it will be useless if we cannot store it properly. NextGen batteries are the future of energy storage. They can take many forms, and the world has not yet decided which technology will be the winner.
6. Wireless electricity: this technology allows electricity to be transferred from one place to another without the use of a wire. This is done via “coupling” for short distances (ex: phones) or electromagnetic radiation / laser beams for long distances (ex : satellites).
7. Synthetic biology: Synthetic biology is the process of redesigning living organisms to give them abilities nature hadn’t foreseen. Whereas “genome editing” simply changes existing DNA in a “small” way, synthetic biology allows the insertion of new DNA in organisms.
None of these technologies are magical. Politicians and entrepreneurs will try to tell us otherwise, but there is no such thing as a magic solution to our unfolding ecological disaster.
This is however not a reason to avoid persevering. Tackling complex challenges in the face of daunting odds is what humans do best. One thing to remember, however, is that these technologies are heavily intertwined: success in one may mean doom for the others. That’s why it’s so important to understand the possibilities offered; we may soon need to make hard decisions, the ramifications of which might be felt for centuries.
Good luck out there.
This is a very short summary of a longer article which you can find by clicking this link. I encourage you read it if you enjoyed the above.