Elon Musk talked about becoming a Droid in a speech a couple years back. He held up his hand and was holding his smartphone at arms length. He exclaimed, (paraphrased for brevity) look at my android arm. He went on to say the many things his android arm would do for him, and then the penny dropped when he stated, we need to move this up to our mind and increase our speed exponentially. I am not talking about an episode of Star Trek or Star Wars, this is happening in 2021. This is not an article for or against the current trends in technology, let’s call it an observation. I will talk about several emerging technologies. As always, these are brief articles to make you curious, to think and conduct your own investigations.

How many devices do you own?

I am almost hesitant to divulge this information, but here we go. After doing a quick inventory (I am a technology nerd) this is my discovery: an iPhone 12, MacBook Pro, iMac, iWatch, iPod Pros, Kindle Reader and Bose Quiet II noise canceling headphones. That is seven electronic devices, and yes, I use all seven. You might be as surprised the number of devices accumulating in your house. The point being, you will not have a choice in 5 years, these devices will become a necessity. Yuval Harari has a great book on this subject: “21 Lessons for the 21st Century”. He concludes the book with a look into the future and paints a picture that I believe is eerily accurate. The number of devices will not grow in number in the future, I believe they will be integrated into a single chip.

Do you Read a Newspaper?

This question is not the “Tell All” for becoming a droid, more an observation of how we consume our daily reading. I confess, most of my reading is done online. I am very particular about my sources of information. I closed all my social media accounts one month ago my best move thus far in 2021. Misinformation is a problem everywhere in the world. This misinformation was once called propaganda. News agencies like the National Enquirer (If you are old enough to remember) were infamous for the ridiculous articles that were sprinkled with enough truth to prevent law suits, but not nearly enough correct information to quote as a reference. Today, information changes so quickly fewer organizations worry about accuracy, they desire to be “The One” to break the story. Corrections can be made later if at all. Most news is consumed in digital form through social media, websites, blogs and podcasts. The days of newspapers leading the way are done. You will need electronics to consume news and information in the future.

My Schedule, My Devices

Remember the days of the Day Planner? If you walked into a meeting in the 1980’s you would see a host of leather attache’s and Day Planners. People lived their lives on a schedule that fit in a small (sometimes not so small) booklet. Today, there are a host of digital programs to be used on computers, iPads, Phones and even kindles. If my Apple account with all its information disappeared tomorrow, life would be interesting for a couple of days. I have alerts that go off on my iWatch and my iPhone to keep me on schedule. These devices are an extension of our brains that long ago gave up memorizing phone numbers. The future is depending more on digital data and high speed connections, can anyone say R2D2.

Chips and Inplants

I remember a few years ago when they started in-planting chips into pets for safety and tracking. It was a great idea and has worked splendidly, but will it work in a human being. In Sweden, a country known for its technological innovations, thousands have already implanted microchips into their bodies. The Swedish firm, Biohax International, was founded six years ago by former professional body piercer, Jowan Osterlund, and currently dominates this market. Swede’s with the in-plants can unlock their house, pay for a subway token, identify themselves on line and in the doctors office just to name a few. In case you feel comfortable because this is happening in the Netherlands, we have tests being run in the United States with the same purposes. Three Square Market, a Wisconsin based vending-solutions company, surgically implanted chips into more than 50 volunteers employed at the company in 2017. The growing trend with a pandemic is to consider these chips for travel and identification of vaccinated citizens. Which brings up another interesting subject.

Can we be tracked more than we are today?

The short answer to the title of this section is YES!! We are losing more privacy everyday and we sign away this privacy one EULA (End User License Agreement) at a time. The EULA is what you say yes too when the software is loading. The Big Tech Companies Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple and Amazon to name a few are not as concerned about your information but your habits and daily routine. Those that have small kids, predict what their child will do with a great deal of accuracy. This is from information gathered by watching your children many hours in a plethora of situations. By the way, I just described what the Tech Companies are doing today. We are creatures of habit and this is important to companies. If the company can prompt you, show something that stimulates you at the right time, they can have amazing control over your routines. We are being influenced (aka programmed), just like droids, each time we pick up our electronic devices.

Is it all bad?

It is not all bad. Many great things have come out of technology and will continue in the future. Are we becoming more like Droids? This answer is complicated but I believe the short answer is yes. Mankind has gone through many changes over the millenniums. It is nearly impossible to go back in time once a new technology is introduced. What will men and women look like if we make it to the year 2300? Your guess is as good as mine, but don’t dismiss the thought mankind could look more mechanical before it is all said and done. If you have any thoughts on the blog, please feel free to share.