“Everything that could be invented has already been invented,” said Charles Duell, an employee of the US Patent Office in 1899, and was wrong. The greatest minds of the 19th century could not imagine how much the life of civilization would change in the 20th century. But we live in the era of informatization, and, using the available data, we can dream up what inventions will appear in the future.
Cancer and AIDS medications
In the Middle Ages, a plague pandemic killed a third of Europe's population. The then medicine turned out to be completely powerless against a terrible disease, but today the inhabitants of the civilized countries of the world often do not even have an idea about this disease. Perhaps in the future, diseases such as AIDS or cancer will also disappear forever.
Interestingly, scientists from the University of Jerusalem Roni Novarski and Moshe Kotler proposed to treat cancer with … HIV. The fact is that even after radiation therapy, cancer cells can repair their damaged DNA. But the immunodeficiency virus contains the Vif protein, which prevents them from doing this trick.
HIV molecule 3D model / Depositphotos
Of course, this technology is just one of the many medical developments that have been presented recently, and there is no guarantee of its success. Moreover, often the main obstacle to recovery is not the lack of drugs, but their high cost. Therefore, in the future, drugs should become not only more effective, but also cheaper.
Billions of dollars are spent on the search for a cure for AIDS, but progress in combating this disease is limited only to prolonging the life of patients: so far, only two out of millions of patients have been therapeutically cured of HIV. In 2008, leading American virologist and Nobel laureate David Baltimore questioned a possible victory over the "scourge of the 20th century". One of the reasons for this is the high level of adaptability of the virus to new drugs.
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Cancer cell / Depositphotos
Human cloning
Despite Dolly the sheep and a number of other inspiring examples, human cloning is still a matter of the future. There are a lot of obstacles to carrying out such a complex experiment - from technological to moral and ethical (we wrote about the problem of cloning in the June issue of the magazine from 2013, in the article "Attack on Clones" - NS). Religion, which opposes such experiences, contributes to this issue. Nevertheless, in the future we still have a chance to see real clones. But do not believe the movie stamps - it will not be possible to exactly repeat the appearance and structure of thinking of a particular person, because each of us gets his own unique path of formation, development and life experience.
Russian physician Viktor Yarovoy in 2008 described a mental disorder that allegedly spread in modern society - "bionism". According to the doctor, it lies in the fear of cloned people, who may be more perfect than mere mortals.
Now the most promising method for cloning large mammals is the method of transferring the nucleus of somatic cells. It consists in removing nuclear genetic material from the egg and replacing it with another DNA. In the future, other, more advanced methods of human cloning may appear.
Fantástica
Memory implantation
According to some scientists, implants will appear in the future that will allow a person to restore damaged memory. They will prove to be indispensable for severe illness or brain injury.
One of the possible ways to expand the possibilities of memory was discovered by the Canadian researcher Andres Lozano: electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus allowed the patient to recall long-forgotten events that took place about 30 years ago. Interestingly, Andres Lozano was working on a completely different task: by stimulating the hypothalamus, he wanted to influence the obese patient, suppressing his irrepressible appetite. And as a result, I came across a method that, in the future, may provide invaluable help in Alzheimer's disease.
But this approach can only become the first link in a long chain of scientific discoveries. Already, scientists from the United States are working on creating a mathematical model of memory programmed on a microchip. The researchers believe that in the future, such a chip with pre-recorded memories could be implanted into the brain of a person suffering from memory disorders.
The idea of using memory implants is played out in the famous melodrama "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". The film tells about a certain company that can erase unwanted memories of his past from a person's memory. However, such ideas have appeared on the big screen before - just remember the cult epic with Arnold Schwarzenegger "Total Recall", based on the novel by Philip K. Dick.
Perhaps, in the distant future, technologies will appear that will make it possible to implant any "memory" at all into the human brain. Science fiction writers love to write about this, and, as you know, they are often right. The introduction of other people's memories can be considered one of the key technologies for manipulating people. Fortunately, this will not threaten us in the foreseeable future.
Brain
Tricoders
Always having a device at hand that can analyze any substance, object or living organism in a second is a tempting prospect. Portable tricorders have become an integral part of future novels and science fiction films. Viewers could see such a device in the famous science fiction series "Star Trek". In the film, the tricorder could reveal the structure of a particular substance, determine the degree of physical damage, or even recognize a new organism - for this, it was enough to bring the device to the object under study.
Inspired by the romance of Star Trek, scientist Peter Jansen set about creating the first tricorder in 2007. The device he developed should determine the ambient temperature, humidity, range, electromagnetic spectrum and composition of matter. The tricorder has a touchscreen display and communicates with a computer via Bluetooth.
There are other attempts to create something similar, one such project is being implemented at NASA. However, all these systems exist in the form of concepts or prototypes, in their capabilities they are infinitely far from the devices familiar to us from science fiction films and novels. But in the future, the tricorder may become as common a part of our life as a computer or a mobile phone.
In addition to the listed models, there is at least one more prototype of the fantastic tricorder, and it can even be purchased. The Scout medical scanner is the latest development from Scanadu. With this small device, you can measure your heart rate, heart activity, temperature and blood oxygen levels. It is enough just to bring the device to the temple.
Tricorder Peter Jansen / Pieter Jansen
Moving holograms
Not so long ago, a project with the uncomplicated name Holho was presented. The display designed for smartphones and tablets is more correctly called pseudo-holographic, since a three-dimensional image is created through optical deception. The device itself is a small translucent pyramid.
What about more serious developments in this area? Very soon, the world may change the project of Provision 3D Media. HoloVision technology will be able to reproduce a human-sized hologram and will be based on fundamentally new technical solutions. The company has not yet announced what these decisions are. Now Provision 3D Media is looking for investments for its project.
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Flying cars
While flying cars cut through the skies only fictional worlds, but someday we will be able to see such a development in real life. What might such a development look like? The main difference between a flying car and conventional helicopters and airplanes should be its compactness and independence from complex infrastructure. This is exactly what developers are trying to achieve today.
One of the latest projects of this kind is the air car presented by the Slovak designer Stefan Klein. He named it Aeromobil 2.5. The machine has wings and, while in the air, moves due to the pushing propeller. On the ground, the device can accelerate to 160 km / h, in the sky - up to 200. Stefan Klein worked out the design of his invention in detail, guided by the principle: "only beautiful devices fly well."
Stefan Klein project Aeromobil 2.5 / Aeromobil
To date, about two dozen operating models of flying cars have been created. Among Russian projects, the experimental model "Lark-4", developed by the efforts of the National Aero Club of Russia, gained fame. This flying car can accommodate four passengers.
Another interesting development was the TF-X car. Terrafugia's project is a flying car with folding wings. In terms of its aerodynamic design, the TF-X is somewhat reminiscent of a tiltrotor and can accelerate to 160 km / h in flight. The approximate price of the car is 280 thousand dollars.
But cars like the TF-X probably won't make the revolution. A very high price and many bureaucratic obstacles negate the massiveness of such new products. Of course, by attaching wings to the car, you can amuse the public, but this does not mean that everyone will immediately rush to buy it. To change the world, developers will have to make a real technological leap.
Flying car with folding wings TF-X / Terrafugia
Teleportation
Like many inventions of the future, teleportation came into our lives from the pages of science fiction novels. Perhaps, of all the futuristic ideas, it is this one that causes the greatest admiration. The ability to travel anywhere in the world in a split second makes you feel awe. But is something like this possible in real life?
The word "teleportation" is also used in science, although here it does not mean exactly "instantaneous movement in space." For example, quantum teleportation implies the transfer of a quantum state from one particle to another, "linked" to it. If we talk about teleportation in the usual (sci-fi) sense, this idea is only a deep theory. And although science fiction writers have outlined many issues related to teleportation, movement in space remains infinitely far from real life.
The main problem is that in order to instantly transfer an object in space, this very object must first … be destroyed, having previously "saved" its initial state. In this case, after the trip, the structure of the object will have to be put together. And even this is just a bold fantasy, far from science. However, who knows, maybe teleportation will still get a start in life.
History knows many mysterious cases related to teleportation both in space and in time. Allegedly, people in a matter of seconds were transported thousands of kilometers, while remaining unharmed. According to eyewitness accounts, they did not even understand what happened to them. However, the well-known laws of physics refute the possibility of such travel.
Quantum mechanics
Force field
Another guest from the distant future is the "power shield". According to the artistic concept, this unknown field will be able to provide complete safety for everyone inside it, protection from any external influence, including nuclear weapons.
In real life, one of the main problems with this idea is the need for energy. It is difficult even to imagine how much of it is needed to power such a screen. But even if a suitable source of energy is found, scientists are not clear on how the "power shield" works. It will take decades (and probably hundreds of years) before it will be possible to imagine what phenomenon or physical principle can be used for this.
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Opinion
“It is important to understand what kind of future we are talking about,” says the famous Russian futurist Danila Medvedev. - But if you remove the time frame, then the main changes will be associated with the improvement of artificial intelligence. Some scientists call the development of artificial intelligence "the last important invention of mankind." Probably, in the 21st century, most of the processes that are now performed by people will be automated. We may even expect the automation of intellectual activity. Of course, all this will radically change the way we are used to it. In addition to the development of artificial intelligence, major changes in the future may be associated with the extension of human life. In the future, it will be possible to reorganize and grow organs. Of course, all this will affect life expectancy.
Our expert: Danila Medvedev, futurologist
Ilya Vedmedenko