By With all the technology surrounding mankind in the modern society, one can only wonder what the future may hold. Well, IBM Company conducted various studies in order to determine the major new features that should be widely available in near future in about five years (around the year 2017). Some of these new features come as no surprise (given the current development), whereas others may not be expected from the current point of view.
IBM’s project, ‘5 in 5’, concluded the most probable five features that should be available to mankind in the next five years. The studies conducted made elaborate predictions regarding the future, through the analysis of current research, social features, marketing techniques and various other aspects of the modern society.
Similar projects conducted in the past by IBM proved to be quite accurate, a lot of predicted features becoming a reality, such as: telemedicine and nanotechnology (used in biotechnology and agriculture).
In terms of what the future may hold, IBM experts predict that by 2017 most gadgets will be able to read people’s minds in order to make the interaction easier and safer than it is now. Even though mind reading techniques seem to be a science fiction feature, experiments are on the verge of proving this as a scientific fact, being able to be used in various technological features in order to make life easier. Scientists are currently working on such projects that can connect the human brain to various devices (computers, smartphones, etc), therefore a breakthrough is only a matter of time.
Another future feature presented by IBM scientists represents the voice-operated devices or the retina scan. Therefore, passwords used today to secure computers, bank accounts or other devices should disappear in the next five years.
2017 should also bring improvements to the energetic field. Scientists believe that electric energy could be created and stored via everyday human tasks, like walking or riding a bicycle. Basically, any kind of movement could be the source of electricity, assuring electric supplies in a simple and environment-friendly way.
Yet another major feature that should be available in the near future is the access to information via mobile phones. Current estimates suggest that, by 2017, around 80% of the human population should have access to a personal mobile phone.
The last major prediction made by IBM scientists resembles the spam-free environment. Such a feature is already used by some cable companies in theU.S., providing each costumer with only the wanted commercials. Apparently, this technique will vastly expand, as suggested by IBM.