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16 Incredible New Technologies You’ll See By 2021

We have all read science fiction stories and have seen the movies. Depending on your age, it may have been Capt. America. It could have been Star Wars, maybe it was 2001 A Space Odyssey. Perhaps you liked reading Popular Science when you were a kid. All these different types of media gave us glimpse into the future about what is to come in the future. Well let me tell you something, THE FUTURE IS NOW.

This is the year 2015. By the year 2021, we will have all kinds of high tech gadgets and gizmos at our beck and call. In a previous article I wrote about the self-driving car that Google is testing. And I just heard about their accident rate. If you leave out being rear ended or sideswiped by other vehicles, they pretty much have a ZERO accident rate. Pretty good for a machine, don’t you think?

So what is in store for us by the year 2021? Let me give you some ideas that I know of:

1. Helping the Paralyzed Walk: There is something called an exoskeleton. A mechanical device worn over your clothes. It is designed to help the paralyzed stand and walk “on their own”. This has taken a lot of work by mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and computer geeks to get this thing going. But this will be available long before 2021. I have seen this being tested now on the news and looks very promising for those that have had accidents, strokes, and the like.

2. Insect Sized Robotic Spies: We used to have spy planes. They flew high in the atmosphere and used high powered lens and cameras to spy on whoever we wanted to spy on. Now we have drones. Low flying remote controlled miniature air insect sized craft that have the ability to carry still and video cameras. Next will be insect-sized robotic spies. These will be super miniature versions of the drone. Flying undetected going places larger drones could not. Perhaps right into your home to spy on YOU. I don’t like the sounds of this do you?

3. The Mars Science Laboratory: Speaking of Sci Fy, we are now going to other planets. Not yet with people. Still with robots. But we are going to do it again, and each time with a more sophisticated robot than the last time. We are looking for life. Life now, or life that could have been there many years ago. Maybe we will find it, maybe we won’t. Stay tuned and see.

4. Electronic Paper: no, it’s not what you think. It’s just a substitute for paper. In this electronic, cell phone, tablet world, paper is used less and less. Everyone reads their news online with a phone or tablet or desktop computer. What is good about this is we will stop cutting down so many trees to print something on paper that just gets thrown away.

5. Super Telescopes: The Eye of Gaia is a billion-pixel telescope that will be sent into space to begin its search of the heavens. It will photograph and map. This device will allow scientists to do this on a scale that was never before possible. With the human eye, we can only see about 1000 stars on a clear night. Gaia will be able to see more than 1,000,000,000, that’s ONE BILLION, stars. Sounds like a lot, but keep this into perspective. That is only about 1% of all the stars in the Milky Way.

6. Super Memory Cards: We all have them. In our phones, cameras, and computers. Currently they are 4, 6, 8, 32 gig capacity. The new goal is 1 Terabyte SD Memory Cards. THAT’S A LOT OF MEMORY. Most computers don’t have that capacity. But in the future, one little SD memory card will. We have the ability to store “in the cloud” but I for one like to have my data handy at my fingertips. This will allow this.

7. Round the World Solar Air Travel: With the increase in technology of solar power, and the ability to better store the power we create with solar panels, one thing that will be possible is Around the World Air Travel using solar power to get us there. This will be truly environmentally friendly air travel. No more fumes, no more gas being used, no exhaust. And an endless supply of energy. We still have a ways to go with this, but consider how long it took to learn to fly and then how long it took to fly using solar. We are almost there for mass usage of this technology.

8. More Advanced Polar Ice Breakers: We have just begun to tap the resources in the Polar Ice Cap. Oil is the buzz word there now. Is this a good thing? That’s not for me to say. All I am doing is telling you that man is finding new and better ways to access the polar ice cap to take advantages of the resources available there and to get there to tap into these resources we need new and better ways to get there. Along with looking for oil, our scientists need to get there to study climate changes. If we lose the ice caps on the north and or south poles, sea levels will rise tremendously and affect us all.

9. DNA Sequencing for less than $100: Ever wonder if you were predisposed to one disease or another? Many diseases are based on hereditary factors. You inherit the predisposition to this disease or that from your parents or grandparents. With this testing you can find out if you carry the markers for untold numbers of diseases. Also, the DNA could be taken from let’s say a tumor, and your doctor will be able to treat THAT tumor in a way never before possible. We used to treat all tumors the same. Then we found out they are NOT all the same. Now we can test yours and treat it in a way that is more productive for you.

10. The First Zero-Carbon, Sustainable City: it’s hard to retrofit a city to have a zero carbon footprint. But if you build it that way from the start, it is possible. Masdar City just outside Abu Dhabi will be such a city. All power will be obtained from solar power and other renewable resources for a city of 50,000 people. Small scale for now, but what ELSE will the future bring?

11. Personal 3 D Printers: most of us have heard about 3 D printing. It’s the latest in printing technology. You have the printer, download an app to “print” whatever it is you want to print. Some gizmo or gadget. There are medical applications for this where they can print an ear, or some other such appendage. Unfortunately some would try and have succeeded in printing a pistol. Fortunately it doesn’t work very well, not yet. These printers are very expensive. But in the near future, like everything else that is new that comes out, the technology gets better and the cost comes down.

12. Crash Proof Cars: This is the goal and in some cases already the reality. The industry would like to see its more expensive cars have this ability since it cost so much to repair these high end vehicles. Basically what the cars possess are ways to warn the driver of an impending accident. Maybe someone is in your blind spot, maybe you are following to close or someone is following you too close. Maybe something is behind you that you can’t see but your car will warn you of a possible collision. These will use sonar, radar, and TV screens to help you and your car be safer and accident proof.

13. Fusion Energy: Atomic power as we know it is called Fission. What we need is Fusion. If we can harness Nuclear Fusion, it would solve all our energy problems for this country and the world. Endless supplies with no harmful effects. What could be better? It is possible. We just haven’t figured out yet how to do it.

14. Space Tourism: Hey, I LOVE to travel. I live in the US but love to travel to Europe. We go on cruises, we go to Islands in the Caribbean. How cool would it be to take a trip to outer space? Right now the cost is prohibitive and the safety factor just isn’t there yet. But in time as we perfect the space vehicles and they become more dependable (safe) and the cost comes down, it won’t be long before your next vacation will include orbiting the earth, or a stay in a space station.

15. Sunscreen Pill: So when we go on those vacations I just talked about, we all need sunscreen. But it washes off and most times forget to reapply. How about a pill to protect us from the sun’s harmful rays? We need to protect ourselves from the sun’s harmful UV rays. Scientists are using the same means that Coral Reefs use to protect themselves from UV Rays and adapting it to use by humans.

16. Portable Laser Pens to Heal Wounds: this is a pocket version of some hi tech gadgets only found in hospitals at the present time. Imagine you are out hiking, and stumble and cut your leg or arm. You have a serious gash and have to stop the bleeding. You could take out your pocket Laser pen, and seal the wound to stop the bleeding. I like this.

That’s the tip of the iceberg. What else can we come up with in the next 10 or 20 years that up till now had never thought of. Sometimes these things are foolish and not really needed. Others can change the course of society. The driving force it seems today is connectivity. Electronic means to connect us all. Facebook, Twitter, I phones, I pads, you name it, you probably have it or use it. Some changes will happen within Man. From all the changes going on around him, it changes him in ways he does not even see. Is this good or bad. You be the judge.