Forecasting future
technology has never been easy. In the 1950s, scientists and technologists
envisaged that by now the world would be free from disease, traversed by flying
cars, and fueled by minerals from distant planets.
Such visions, of course,
have not come to pass. But then again, as recently as 10 years ago, few would
have envisaged that 3D-printed food, bionic body parts and invisibility cloaks were just around the corner.
So, in what areas will
the next major breakthroughs occur? Keeping in mind that prediction is more of
an art than a science, CNN spoke to a host of design and technology experts --
from academics to magazine editors -- in search of what might well just be the
shape of things to come.
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| Marcus Fairs, editor of Dezeen |
The Editor
According to Marcus
Fairs, editor-in-chief of influential design magazine Dezeen, the most
high-impact developments over the next decade will be primarily in the areas of
manufacturing and wearable technology.
"New digital design
tech, 3D printing, robotics and the emerging field of 3D scanning, plus
exponential leaps in manufacturing -- together, they are putting really
powerful tools into the hands of individuals," he says.
"In the same way
that laptops revolutionized personal computing two decades ago and cheap video
editing software did for film, so too there will now be a revolution in
manufacturing."
For Fairs, wearable
technologies such as Google Glass point to another major evolution in design:
the disappearance of objects altogether.
"The broader
movement in design no longer asks 'is something a nice object?' but rather 'how
can we get rid of this completely?'"
From wearable devices
such as those being pioneered by sportswear manufacturer Nike, and Jawbone to digital tattoos and
"things that you can swallow that will check you out from inside, (such
as) a project that adds an artificial
organ to help the body use water more sparingly", Fairs
believes the future could well be defined by objects almost disappearing
entirely.
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| Director of London's design museum, Deyan Sudjic |
The Curator
Deyan Sudjic, the
director of the Design Museum in London, controversially selected a simple
website as the winning entry in the 2013 design awards. The government site
GOV.UK won, he said, because of its dramatic subjugation of form beneath
function: "The overall winner this year is very interesting. It is
apparently very simple, but it works beautifully. I think there is nothing more
irritating than design that doesn't work."
For Sudjic, the future
of design is about how well an object fulfills its function, not just its
aesthetic qualities. At the same time, Sudjic believes there is a revival of
interest in physical objects, noting that 2012 was the first year in two
decades that saw a rise in vinyl record sales.
"I see design
trying to get to grips with both the longing people have for the physical world
and those other more slippery digital developments. People are still interested
in tangible experience (...) You see that with the Makerbot,
which is currently just making combs and shoehorns, but will soon be creating
objects which are significantly more complicated."
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| Industrial designer Ross Lovegrove |
The Designer
Ross Lovegrove, an
industrial designer whose work covers aviation, transport, timepieces, consumer
electronics and everything in between, says that the future of technology
requires complete understanding of material structure:
"You have to
understand materials at a deep scientific or nano level. Once you get to that
level and understand ... you can reconstitute anything."
Lovegrove points to the Nike Flyknits -- an
ultralight shoe with a knitted construction -- as an example of how future
design will draw heavily on the latest thinking in science, health and
manufacturing.
"The way they are
industrialized, the way they are woven. They put strength and structure where
it is required. There are no aglets so they only need to be constructed with
one material. They are so lightweight you hardly feel them. They promote
ergonomic health in the way they adjust posture."
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| Miles Pennington, head of Innovation Design Engineering at London's Royal College of Art |
The Academic
Professor Miles
Pennington, Head of the Innovation Design Engineering programme at the Royal
College of Art in London, thinks we are on the brink of huge technological
change.
"Some people believe
that there are no big leaps to come, but then people said in the 18th century
that man could never travel more than 40 miles per-hour."
Pennington predicts that
the next decades will bear witness to significant change.
"We are within 20
years of developing an artificial brain capable of matching our own ...
Material developments in the nanotech field are starting to bear fruit ... (and
so is) the field of synthetic biology, which can produce artificial
muscle."
Is it possible to
distinguish genuine technological contenders, from those that will only ever be
the realm of science fiction? Perhaps not. But Pennington suggests he will be
able to "answer that question in 50 years' time, when I have got my feet up,
sipping a cup of my GM tea grown in the Antarctic, in front of a fire powered
by synthetic bacteria and hovering on a comfort-pad-chair using
reverse-magnetic forces whilst reading a copy of Isaac Asimov's latest novel
(written by a quantum computer-cloned version of the man himself)."
In the meantime, he
suggests we all sit back and enjoy the ride.
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Most people feel anxious when
their smartphone is out of arm's reach. But what if it was actually on your
arm, woven into the very fabric of your sweater? Sportswear designers Under
Armour are already on the case. They recently unveiled their touchscreen t-shirt
concept, Armour39, which measures your athletic performance.
It's just one recent example
of how design, technology and science are coming together to form a new
generation of consumer products that look set to shape the future.
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Of course the next step from
learning about your lifestyle is actually feeling it. These headphones from
Neurowear can read your subconscious mind. Yes, really. With a sensor that
measures brainwaves they detect your mood and select music from your playlists
to match it.
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But the future isn't all
high-tech gadgetry. Some of the best innovations will still draw heavily on
technology from the past. This is modern-day clay oven won the coveted D&AD
award earlier this year. Designers have given a 21st century makeover to a
product whose age-old function is still the best. By inserting a porous stone
disc, it acts in the same way as a traditional wood fired oven.
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Another update of an ancient
yet unbeatable design -- the wheel. Devised by Vitamins design, this is the
first ever foldable wheelchair wheel, earning it this year's transport Design
of the Year Award at London's Design Museum.
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Marcus Fairs, editor-in-chief
of design magazine Dezeen, says that wearable technology will be a defining
feature of future design. Fairs points to the likes of MC10, whose founder
Professor John Rogers designed the stretchable circuit, and whose mission statement
is to "extend human capabilities by making high-performance electronics
virtually invisible, conformal, and wearable".
The Biostamp is a digital
temporary tattoo that stretches and twists seamlessly with our bodies to
monitor our health.
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While augmented reality
devices such as Google Glass may for now be the preserve of middle-aged men
from Silicone Valley, Fairs is convinced this sort of technology will be the
norm in years to come.
Among Google's early
competitors is the Vuzix smart glasses. Vuzix M100, which won the award for
"Best of Innovations" in the design and engineering category at CES
2013, sync with apps on your smartphone and display them before your eyes.
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One step on from wearable
technology is technology concealed inside the body altogether. In this way,
Tokyo designers Takram have devised a solution to a future where drinking water
is scarce. The Shenu: Hydrolemic System includes inserts for your nasal cavity
to preserve water lost through breathing, a urine condenser and a radiating
collar to lower body temperature and abate perspiration.
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The emergence of sophisticated
3D-printing tools is also likely to shape consumer technology in unexpected
ways, says Design Museum curator Deyan Sudjic. While domestic 3D printers are
largely "just making combs and shoehorns" for now, Sudjic says that
in the future we will be using them to manufacture much more complex devices.
The CubeX Duo, which won
"Best Emerging Tech" at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this
year, is one of the more accessible 3D printers around, designed to be used at
home by the average consumer.
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As 3D printing advances, so
too will our ability to produce accurate 3D digital models. For those of you whose
skills are lacking in the digital design department, the FARO Focus3D is a
high-speed laser scanner that can create three dimensional digital models of
existing objects, meaning that we can produce exact measurable copies of
whatever we want.
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Industrial designer Ross
Lovegrove says that the best future designs will be a marriage of science,
health and manufacturing, the likes of which we are beginning to see with
relatively low-cost and stylish health monitoring devices.
Award-winning company Fitbit
specializes in products to aid fitness, in particular the Fitbit Flex, a
wireless-enabled wearable tracking device that measures your daily movements.
Lights on the device indicate how you are stacking up against your personal
goals.
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