Technology is changing our world at an overwhelming pace.

Most people are deeply involved

with technology. They tend to be ever optimistic about its prospects and persistently eager to
adopt and promote it. Many focused their optimistic remarks on health care, food, energy,
environment, education, economy and agriculture. In the span of a few short years, social
media, mobile devices and internet have transformed how we communicate and get information
about the world. Rapid advances in science and technology foreshadow a world that can
displace some forms of human labor. In addition, nearly everyone expressed concerns about
the long-term impact of new tools and techniques on the essential elements of being human.
However, many shared deep worries and trepidation about the danger brought by rapid
technological change. It is of course true that no one can predict the future. The key variable in
understanding the future is rarely technology alone, but how humans use it, perceive it, and
adapt to it.

C.S.Lewis argued that humanity, so –called power over nature “turns out to be a power
exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument’. He feared that
modernism and its ability to explain away everything but “nature “would leave us emptied of
humanity. All that would be left is our animal instincts. The choice we have to see humanity as a
complex combination of both material and spiritual components or else to be reduced to
machines made of meat ruled by other machines with nothing other than natural impulses to
guide them. He also warned us of a society that has explained away every mystery, and the
danger of what he calls “man-molders which will be armed with the powers of an Omni-
competent state and irresistible scientific technique.

According to Francis Fukuyama, there are three possible scenarios for the near future.
First, the genetically enhanced intelligence or the prospect of living longer lives free from
genetic disease. Next, advance in stem cell research might soon allow us to regenerate any
tissue in the body. Lastly, the widespread use of psychotropic drugs like Prozac and Ritalin that
can make everyone happy without the side effects of the drugs.

Jacques Ellul warns that as technological capabilities grow, they results in countless
means to accomplish tasks than ever before. The more dependent we become on technology,
the more it conforms our behavior to its requirements rather than vice versa.

William Gibson, who coined the term “cyberspace”, has said the ‘the future is here”- it’s
just not evenly distributed”. Some of the important changes in the future will come not from a
new technology, but from a large number of people having access to something that already
exists (Scharre, 2017).

21st Century Technologies

1. Genetic engineering- is the process by which an organisms’ genetic material is altered

or manipulated so that the organism will have specific characteristics.
It has been applied in numerous fields including research, medicine,
industrial biotechnology and agriculture.
It can be used in Cloning, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), Gene
therapy.
2. Robotics
Is an interdisciplinary research area at the interface of computer science and
engineering. It involves the conception, design, manufacture and operation of
robots. (Wikipedia).
 Characteristics of Robots: Robots all consist of some sort of mechanical
construction, Robots need electrical components that control and power the
machinery.
Types of Robots: Pre-Programmed Robots ( operate in a controlled environment
where they do simple, monotonous tasks), Humanoid robots ( robots that look
like and/ or mimic human behavior- Sophia), Autonomous Robots ( operate
independently of human operators, Teleoperated Robots ( mechanical bots
controlled by humans), Augmenting Robots ( either enhance current human
capabilities or replace the capabilities a human may have lost),
Applications: military robots ( to search, rescue and attack), industrial robots
( IBM keyboard manufacturing factory in Texas), collaborative robots or cobots,
( intended for direct human robot interaction within shared space), construction
robots ( robotic arm and robotic exoskeleton), agricultural robots ( closely linked
to the concept of AI-assisted precision agriculture and drone usage), medical
robots ( da Vinci Surgical System and Hospi), kitchen automation ( Rotimatic,
flatbreads baking, Frobot, frozen yogurts), Robot combat for sport, domestic
robots ( Roomba vacuums the carpets), nanobots (Kinesin uses protein domain
dynamics in nanoscales to walk along a microtubule) and swarm robotics
(disaster rescue missions, target localization and tracking, simultaneous
localization and mapping, cooperative environment monitoring and convoy
protection).
3. Nanotechnology- is the study and manipulation of atomic or molecular scale to improve
or even revolutionize many technology and industry sectors.
4. Artificial Intelligence
Refers to “machines” that respond to stimulation consistent with traditional
responds from human, given the capacity for contemplation, judgement and
intention.
Alan Turing established the fundamental goal and vision of artificial intelligence. It
is the attempt ro replicate or simulate human intelligence in machines.
Norvig and Russell defined Artificial Intelligence in four approaches: Thinking
rationally, thinking humanly, acting rationally and acting humanly.
It is being used in health care, energy development, finance, transportation,
aviation and telecommunications.
It includes autonomous vehicles such as drones and self-driving cars, playing
games such as chess or Go, search engines such as Google search, online
assistants such as Siri, image recognition in photographs, predicting flight delays
and medical diagnosis.
Methods and Goals in AI: The symbolic ( or top-down) approach-seeks to
replicate intelligence by analyzing cognition independent of the biological
structure of the brain in terms of the processing of symbolic label. and the
connectionist ( bottom-up) approach- involves creating artificial neural networks
in imitation of the brain’s structure.

Potential Risks to Society

 Devaluation of humanity
 Decrease in demand of human labor
 High costs of creation
 Ethical issues
 Social isolation
  Environmental Problems

List of Emerging Technologies that will shape our Future

1. Electric/ self-driving cars

2. Robot butlers
3. Flying cars
4. Space tourism
5. Colonization of other planets
6. Wearable screens
7. 3D printed Food and Metal
8. 5G-6G connectivity
9. Re-engineering and Recycling
10. High-rise farms
11. Lab-grown meats
12. Robot soldiers
13. Roads over rivers and seas
14. Holography
15. Body implants prosthesis

WHEN TECHNOLOGY AND HUMANITY CROSS

The idea that new technologies can liberate us from the human condition is a
fantasy. In reality, the 21st-cenntury will be all too human. -David Mattin-

Humanity
 A virtue associated with basic ethics of altruism derived from human condition (
wikipedia).
 According to Confucius, humanity is a” love of people”, if you want to make a
stand, help others make a stand.

Human Robot Interaction

Today, in the era of present technology, robotics has become a big part of our
collective lives.
Robots are utilized for their knowledge, exactness and interminable vitality to
perform assignments
consistently and profitably, that when performed by people tends to create flaws. For
instance, AI
robots have already started an enormous job in improving waste administration and
finding distinctive
approaches to handle the waste issue endured by most developing nations like
India. Indeed, the robot
age has arrived. The possibility of robots may bring to most minds the possibility of
androids like T-800
in the movie “Terminator”. The vast majority of us are not able to understand that a
lot of robots exist in
the most basic forms today; they are not so much android but rather more like
industrial tools or
equipment. This implies the world would be prepared for more smart intelligence to
be utilized in day-to-
day applications (Singh).

The Impact of Technology on Human Health

Technology has crept into every corner of our lives, form obsessive texting to
checking emails more often. Most of us absorb three times more information
everyday compared with 50 years ago.
According to University of California researchers, we spend 12 hours in front of TV
and computers at home. Multitasking participants had more difficulty filtering out
irrelevant information than those focusing on one task at a time. Teens, however,
are emotionally more vulnerable to the effects of rampant texting and online sharing.
According to a 2010 Nielsin survey, we send and receive textmessages 3, 339 times
a month (Deodhar).

The Future of Humanity (Nick Bostrom, 2009)

Extinction

An estimated 99% of all species that ever existed on earth are already extinct (Raup,
1991).
There are different ways in which human species could become extinct: Primarily, by
transforming or evolving into one or more species or by merely dying out without any
replacement or continuation. Our species has survived earthquake, volcanic
eruption, typhoons and other natural phenomena for tens of thousands of years.
Nowadays, one of the utmost extinction risks arise from human activity. For
instance, Advances in biotechnology might make it possible to design new viruses
that combine the easy contagion and mutability of the influenza virus. A dreadful
pandemic with high virulence and 100% mortality rate among infected individuals
could possibly will terminate human species. Additionally, an all-out nuclear war
between Russia and the United States might be an example of a global catastrophe
that would be unlikely to result in extinction.
Recurrent Collapse

This means that the human condition will reach a kind of statis, either instantly or
after undergoing one or more cycles of collapse regeneration. Human civilization
may endure catastrophes that prevent it from moving beyond a certain level of
advancement. It also requires a carefully calibrated homeostatic mechanism that
possesses the level of civilization restricted within a relatively narrow interval.

Plateau

Human civilization may reach a level of technological advancement beyond which no

further advancement is feasible. Predictions that life span can be greatly increased
have depended in part on the apparent decelerations and plateaus.

Post humanity

People have developed significantly different cognitive abilities, population sizes,

body types, sensory or emotional experiences or life expectancies. Post humanity
has established itself as a label for a form of human existence radically transformed
by the most advanced medical techniques and by the use of biotechnology and
nanotechnology for human enhancement.

Technology Trends (Jayshree Pandya)

1. Biological Engineering and Bio-Economy

2. Molecular Manufacturing and Self-replicating Systems
3. Distributed Additive Manufacturing
4. Artificial Intelligence Driven Automation
5. Neuromorphic Computing and Computing Beyond Turing Limit
6. Quantum Computing and Control
7. Nanosatellites and Space Exploration
8. Internet to BrainNet
9. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine
10. Brain Mapping and Brain Uploading