Since the first man came out of his cave into the light, we have tried our best to never repeat this terrible experience. For thousands of years we have been trying to avoid the horror of going outside so as not to strain our muscles in vain. The Egyptians tried to use slaves, but damn it, the slaves would complain and run away. The Europeans gave us the Industrial Revolution, but we had to sit at the cars and turn the pedals, levers …
But scientists do not give up and strive to achieve their goal. We are constantly inventing something new, just not to get out of the chair, in the hope that our white hands will one day be completely free. And here's what we got.
A drug that mimics the effects of exercise
When you first go to the gym, people might give weird advice. They say “don't get carried away,” as if there is a risk that a sane person will enjoy work to a sweat. And as you know, scientists are not very fond of lifting weights. Therefore, they are working on creating a pill that could replace exercise.
And not without success. Scientists have analyzed the signals our bodies send during exercise by scanning people doing cardio. Based on this information, they mapped out what our bodies do when we exercise and tried to create the same reactions with the pill.
The most successful exercise pill so far has been an artificial molecule called compound 14. She tricks her body like it’s tired by running a marathon. The body thinks it is exhausted and spins up its metabolism, allowing you to lose weight.
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The molecule was tested on mice, and one lazy rodent managed to lose 5% of its body weight in seven days without moving at all. Imagine a 90-kilogram carcass shedding 5 kilograms in a week, relaxing on the couch and watching TV shows.
Scientists call their invention a cure for obesity and diabetes. But since in our world one in three, one might say, suffers from excess weight, I would not be surprised if this "medicine" will fly like hot cakes.
You don't have to work
If you live in the USA, you may have noticed that many jobs are simply disappearing. But obviously not because people go abroad. It's just that robots start working instead.
And apparently, this trend is just beginning and will soon overwhelm all the developed countries of the world. Many of the most common jobs will simply be gone in 20 years - including translators, taxi drivers, truckers. Amazon is replacing its drivers with unmanned aerial vehicles. In China, factories are fully equipped with robots and operate more efficiently than factories with humans. Workers' unions are starting to count employees with robots.
It's not just factory workers and drivers that can disappear. One of the innovators from technology put it this way: "Tell me something that the robot cannot do, and I will tell you the time after which it will be able to do that."
While it sounds awful, it might actually be the best thing that has happened to us. It's not just that we might lose our job. And the fact that we will no longer need it. Many people in the tech industry are preparing for a world we don't have to work in. Along with the proliferation of robots, they are pushing governments to provide all people with a basic income so that they do not return to jobs.
And governments are listening. In some states, independent income is already paid. Germany is testing the My Basic Income project, which pays several people $ 1,100 a month to see what they do with them. The hope is that people will spend this money wisely and spend extra time on creative projects. We may not have to do black things in the future, which is great.
Stores passing through
You've probably seen these self-propelled carts in which obese people travel to supermarkets. But why stop there? Scientists are trying to fix this too.
The Russian inventor has already patented the idea of driving through a grocery store. The idea is to place each individual product on a rotating belt. It will be enough to stop the car, press a couple of buttons and get everything you need.
According to the plan, such a store should be very “convenient”, and of course it is - but you won't have to get up again. It is possible that such stores will become popular in the future. Wal-Mart and Amazon are already interested in this idea.
Robots that cook for you
After your robot brings home food from the travel store, of course, he must cook it. After all, pouring boiling water with pasta into a colander is fraught with serious injuries. Robot chefs are undergoing intensive training.
For example, there is a company that is building robotic arms that can cook almost any food you can imagine. The engineers trained the manipulators in the movements of a professional chef. But the best part is that you don't have to lift a finger. The manipulators are controlled using the iPhone. Enter the code and the first-class dish begins to cook.
So far, the robot chef can cook up to 2,000 dishes, but more will soon be available. The future promises to be delicious.
Fat-saving enzyme
Thanks to a new scientific discovery, soon you will be able to cover yourself with cakes and not worry about calories (if, of course, you keep an eye on your figure; if not, skip this point). How? Scientists recently discovered an enzyme that stops the storage of sugar as fat.
Usually, if you eat cakes with a shovel, all that extra glucose in your body goes to your liver and turns into fat cells. The fact is that your body still thinks that you are living on a tree, so it stores excess sugar for future use. So that if you don't find food next week, you don't have to starve.
And yet, we got off the trees a long time ago, so if you eat a lot of sweets, your body is literally poisoned by all this excess glucose. You get bigger, your life is shorter, it becomes more difficult to climb the stairs (up the tree).
And now scientists have found the G3PP enzyme. Instead of allowing sugar to build up and become fat, G3PP converts this sugar into glycerin, which is easily eliminated from the body.
G3PP also detoxifies sugar. Too much sugar is bad for your body's insulin production - and can lead to diabetes. But in the future, cake may be healthier than vegetables.
A machine that plays with pets
What if the dog wants to play and you are too lazy to get off the couch? Let him play with the car. And it's not such a futuristic device: you can buy it now. Sly and lazy inventors have created a machine that throws balls for your pets. They realized that taking a tennis ball, throwing it and watching the dog rush headlong in search of it can be exhausting. But the machine can throw balls all day long.
Lamps simulating the sun
In such a world of the future, we will have little to worry about. But one cannot do without the light of the Sun, it is necessary for the normal existence of a person. Fortunately, scientists have developed what are called full spectrum lamps, and they are just as good as sunlight.
According to the people who created them, these lamps should preserve our eyes by giving them a more natural glow. They also give off ultraviolet radiation like sunlight. Full-spectrum lamps have a psychological advantage: they will make you feel better and happier as if you were in natural light.
Of course, the benefits and harms, and indeed at least some of the effects of these lamps are not fully indicated. The main argument is that natural light may not affect our mood at all. Some argue that the "effect" of natural light is only in our heads. In other words, natural light bulbs will only make you happier if you think you need to be outdoors more often. But when you come to terms with your secluded existence, you no longer need the sun at all. The warm artificial glow of pretty little screens is enough for you.
A chair for traveling around the house
Sometimes, when you are sitting at the computer, you suddenly remember that it’s time to take a walk, walk, play on the street. But, thanks to science, soon it will be possible not to get up at all.
Nissan has taken the technology it uses in its self-driving cars and incorporated it into office chairs. These chairs are equipped with sensors and self-parking technology, and Nissan has already taught them how to park under office desks.
Perhaps they can be adapted for automatic trips around the house, down the street, or even to the store. While our robot prepares a wonderful meal, we slowly drive up to the table on the veranda. Beauty, not the future.
Furniture that moves on its own
Life would be much easier if we lived in the cartoon "Beauties and the Beast", in which furniture and dining utensils lived their own lives and took care of themselves. So scientists at Stanford University think that would be cool.
Stanford has created an entire set of furniture that obeys your every command. The inventors have created moving couches, a self-folding table and a waste basket that walks around and looks for rubbish. They even made a cute footrest that adjusts to fit your feet when you sit down. So the next time, if the wardrobe does not come to you, you go to the wardrobe.
Robots offering beer
We are growing towards an amazing future. While the pills are practicing for us, robots will do the housework for us, and we will roll on motorized chairs, we will only have to celebrate the wonderful future with a can of cold beer. And the robot will take care of it.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed robots that will gladly treat you cold. The machines are called Turtlebots - the blue one is Leonardo, and the red one is Raphael - and their only job is to wander around a populated building looking for people to drink.
These robots want to make sure you don't have to move at all. If you want a drink, you don't need to press a button, clap your hands, or speak magic words. The robots will come. They are designed in such a way that when they are not bringing beer to someone, they are looking for someone to drink. And when they find someone who, perhaps, would not refuse Pivchansky, they give him a hint: “Hey, how about a beer? You deserve it."
Well, brave new world, I'm ready. In the end, we deserve it. Born at the right time.