So what’s next? I think it may just be robotics, but can we get there before the late 20th century? There’s now a passive “machine” that requires no power or intelligence to move, simply a gentle downward slope and a slight push to get it’s legs walking. It’s nearly perpetual motion and it’s beautiful.
But no, I think it’s going to be someone who figures out AI, but in an extremely elegant way, combining hardware and software, that creates an extremely different type of building block (if history repeats itself).
I don’t pretend to know what that type of building block will be, but maybe a building block at the cellular level that repairs and even creates skin tissue. Or maybe it’s even further down at the molecular level, where we’ll be able to “program” an object using a molecular 3D printer. Want a new phone? Just push the button. All you pay for is the molecular “program” from Apple, and it’s made at your home in real-time. The same way you make your food. And the 3D printer is smart, because it has small bits of AI, like Siri, where it learns what you need and when you need it, then creates it for you.
Both of those things working together, I think, will solve our greatest problem of all in the next 100 years: more time.
