It is often said that nature has given every organism on this planet, some sort of specific abilities so that they can fend for themselves and ensure their survival.



Some have the ability to fly while others have a heightened sense of smell, some are poisonous while others can swing on trees. We humans, have our intellect and it is quite unique a characteristic. 



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Using our intellect we have devised ways over hundreds of thousands of years to transform our lives and climb to the top of the food chain. Science and technology have always catapulted our species to new heights as our current modern civilisation stands proof.



Now however, we are at a very interesting point in our history. We are at the brink of major technological breakthroughs in various fields that will force us to revisit some of the fundamental ideas we have about ourselves and the world around us in general. We are at a crossroad burdened with ethical dilemmas and the decisions we make today will shape our future accordingly.


1. 3-D Printing

3-D printing is being heralded as one of the most important technologies of our generation. It takes away the limitation of creating something and not being able to give it form.



Right now this tech is only being used by architectures and designers and for research purposes here and there but scientists are constantly at work to make it more pervasive and to increase the use case scenarios.

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In the future we will be able to print not only design models but clothes, utensils, even the food we eat and more surprisingly the human organs. This is not science fiction, it is going to be a reality very soon.



But therein lies the problem. It could easily be misused to print guns and explosives, drugs and other illegal items that would be impossible to stop as everyone who would have a printer and internet could do it. It will be interesting how we get around this problem. 



2. Human Enhancement


Recent advancements in gene editing technology (especially the CRISPR Cas9 system), nanotechnology, medicine and neurotechnology have opened up a lot of doors previously closed for us. 



In not so distant future, we will have the full range of capabilities to essentially create super humans with the help of the various tech available to us. Ageing could be stopped permanently, we would be able to have super smart designer babies, there would be implants to give us ‘abilities’. 



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This all sounds really scary. We humans have always had a knack for destruction. We can only imagine what level of it we could do with the super humans of the future. 



Of course there are legitimate and important uses like making us immune to almost all the diseases, replacing limbs and other important parts of the body thereby eradicating disabilities and others, but at what expense?


3. Space Colonisation

For the first time in our history, we are planning to begin the colonisation of other planets in the hopes of ensuring the survival of the human race and to expand our presence in the cosmos.



This, I believe is the natural course of evolution in any intelligent species’ history. Currently, there are plans being made to set up moon bases and establish a self sustaining population on Mars. This will take some time but it is in humanity’s roadmap and there is a good chance we will make it.



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The dilemma here is regarding our identity. We identify ourselves as the citizens of a country first, then the inhabitants of the continents we live in and finally we identify Earth as the next line of address. How will it work when there will be human population in two different planets. 



Other questions that arise are, who will govern the Mars population. Will they have their own government? If so, will this government be accountable to people on Earth? If not, does it mean a greater separation on the scale of planets? How will everything work out? Who gets to decide the future steps of humanity?



4. Autonomous Systems

This is something we are already beginning to face to some degree and it will only get worse in the future. Various technologies have enabled a lot of different aspects of our lives to get automated. 



Apparently, we won’t need to drive our cars anymore as we will have fully autonomous cars within a year, if Elon Musk is to be believed. Also, automation in factories is increasing by the day as workers are replaced by machines that can work non stop. 

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Also, as AI gets smarter a lot of the ‘thinking’ that humans do, along with analysis and interpretation of information, even inventions and research will be handled by AI too. Couple that with walking, talking humanoid robots and you get the picture I’m trying to paint. 



In such a world where much of our work is done for us, what will our civilisation look like? More importantly, what will our civilisation even do? Although the prospect of sitting at home and playing video games all day might seem very inviting, it would render us a useless species and we all know what happens with useless stuff.