The Next Technological Revolution: What’s Coming?

Technology has shaped our civilization as it grew down the centuries, and since the industrial revolution, each new generation seems defined by some new technological revolution… So what will the next revolution be?

Credits:
The Next Technological Revolution
Episode 460; August 15, 2024
Produced, Written & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur
Editor: Lukas Konecny
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images
Stellardrone, "Red Giant", "Ultra Deep Field"
Sergey Cheremisinov, "Labyrinth", "Forgotten Stars"
Taras Harkavyi, "Alpha and ..."
Miguel Johnson, "So Many Stars"

Chapters
0:00 Intro
4:30 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing
8:58 5G and Telecommunications
11:37 Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
12:26 Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality
15:04 Autonomous Vehicles and Electric Vehicles
19:03 Big Data & Analytics
19:38 Biotechnology
20:33 Blockchain & Cryptocurrency
21:27 Energy
25:32 Financial Technology
27:15 Health Tech & Digital Health
28:26 Information Technology
29:06 Internet of Things
30:04 Nanotechnology
30:27 Quantum Computing
30:52 Retail
32:46 Robotics & Automation
34:39 Smart Cities & Infrastructure
36:17 Smart Home Technology
37:42 Space Technology
38:52 Wearable Technology
41:28 Summary

[GubekochiGoury]

36:30 "the equivalent of Windows for your home"

Pff. My home already has windows!

[sertorius]

My dad said his uncle converted all the vans for his grandfather clock repair business to run on propane to save money during the 1970s oil crisis. He always says he’s surprised that wasn’t more common whenever he tells the story.

[iriswaters]

The notion that advancements in financial tech will in any way help consumers not spend money they don't want to is INCREDIBLY optimistic, and goes against all evidence, and every historic trend. Every advance in financial tech has always and only, in practice, resulted in the opposite and I see zero indication of any inclination to do otherwise.

It's an arms race between financial tech finding new ways to convince people to give up their money and cultural knowledge building up to act as counters.

[michaeljf]

The lesson from history is its not one thing (despite what every new Tech venture capital cycle tryes to convince us).

It's many technologies, across any fields, synergising towards a better future.

[ABQSentinel]

It has not been a good week for me. But the arrival of a new video on Arthurdays always lifts my spirits!

[MoonMorningstar]

I desire for my Toaster to make me poems as the blender sings! TRUE TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS!!!

[cognisant]

Regarding printing and additive manufacturing this is why Aluminum was such a revolutionary material, you can make decently light/strong parts out of it and melt down the chips easily to make more stock material. Selective laser sintering (SLS) has similar advantages and can make some truly wild shapes, but 99% of the time a mill/lathe is going to get the job done faster and will produce a better surface finish. I don't see this dynamic changing until we can grow things out of crystal of biomass.

[seditt]

The biggest game changer is going to be Acoustic Lasers. Similar to how Light based Lasers changed everything. They currently exist but like lasers people dont see the potential. I have been studying it for about 2 decades now and am convinced it will without a doubt change everything as Xrays become a thing of the past and the equivalent of a CT or MRI scan can fit in the palm of your hand. This is not even to mention their abilities to levitate objects around ones self. Its a sleeper technology but its going to explode fast and hard like lasers did and totally take over the landscape as I suspect they will have far more uses than even lasers. Hell, they can create plasma dots in the air allowing holograms that many thought lasers would give us.

[mattfitzgerald]

43:41 And the first rule of space warfare is...bring a drink and a snack. :)

[tomcraver]

Financial apps - one obviously needed app today, is one that would have hundreds of people "shop" for the item you want, to see whether the retailer is skewing prices based on who you are, what other activities they know you're engaged in, etc. Even just letting you know how much they're doing that to you would help squelch that practice, as people mysteriously stop buying when the retailer has boosted the price of something.

[shnma]

35:35 - in Japan, all the medium/large hotels I stayed at with a laundry room had a TV channel showing you status of every machine. Japan has already found a way lol

[ChinchillaDave]

I showed up prepared with my drink and a snack

[cannonfodder]

Another great overview of future technologies and their potential civilizational changing impacts. If even a few of these happen later this century... I hope to be around for it.

Fantastic work, Isaac.

[zekejanczewski]

Another thing 3D printers help with is that we are probably overpaying for a large number of items we buy, because we don't have access to the means to construct a screwdriver ourselves from raw iron and rubber. But by knocking down that barrier, and making the production of thousands of widgets accessible at home, products made by bulk manufacturing possesses would need to either stand out in some way through quality or features, or be much much cheaper.

[whitemagicalhat]

Augmented reality contact lenses. Now experience the convenience of A.I.-personalized advertisements everywhere, anytime.

[dariustiapula]

We are truly living in the future. Once hologram advertisement is put up everywhere.

[freecat]

The international space station will probably get a 3D printer after that astronaut let a few million dollars worth of tools float away.

[greggweber]

20:57 Safe voting includes only you knowing how you voted and you knowing that the vote you made was counted in the right pile of votes you wanted it in.

[francoiseeduard]

We were supposed to have Immersive FullDive VRMMORPGs with a free, preset series of program packages that can be used for creating Virtual Reality (VR) worlds as well as control the input and output of the five senses of the players, allowing players to FullDive into the created world game and an engine that allows conversion of one account in a VR world to another by now! Where’s my NerveGear!?!?

[FGMagala]

While time/cost of delivery may be a reason for 3d printing, especially for more extreme situations like orbital infrastructure and early colonization, I believe in the private sector that won't be even show up on a list of positives. Instead, I imagine the single most driving factor would be customization. The ability to get pants in two-toned purple and yellow no matter how much sales reps and market research denies its marketability, to have 3PO breakdancing on a miniature Star Destroyer engraved in the back of your smartphone protector, or to get shoes that perfectly fit your feet while leaving extra space to avoid irritating your ingrown toenail would be the reason for 3d printing to take off in terms of private use.

I think people don't care about next day delivery enough in comparison to being able to get it to an exacting specification, especially if it's something esoteric, at an easily affordable price, especially if all you have to do is load some raw materials into your home 3d printer, and tell your the AI what you want made with some reference photos to help it.