Kathryn Hulick - Welcome to the Future: Robot Friends, Fusion Energy, Pet Dinosaurs, and More!

WRITTEN BYKATHRYN HULICK

ILLUSTRATED BYMARCIN WOLSKI

In the future, will we teleport from place to place, keep dinosaurs as pets, live on Mars, or upload our brains to computers? Will we befriend robots or 3D print our dinners?

These are some of the questions well explore in this book. Each chapter opens with a vision of a wondrous future that technology might make possible. The challenge for you is to think deeply and carefully. What sort of future do you want for yourself, your family, and your world?

Technology advances at breakneck speed all around us, as scientists and engineers ponder and imagine, tinker and test, program and debug. They are creating the future. Today, cars drive themselves. People control mechanical arms or legs with their minds. Medical engineers print patches of human skin. Things change fast, but the more you learn about whats possible now, the better prepared youll be for whats possible next year or five years from now.

Beyond that, things get murky. Predicting the future is a tricky business. What actually happens is often even stranger than fiction. Back in the 1950s, people imagined robot servants, space settlements, and flying cars. They didnt imagine that a computer might fit in your pocket, or allow you to instantly connect with anyone, anywhere in the world. Now, we have smart phones, but cant visit Mars on holiday or ask a robot to make a sandwich.

Sometimes, a technical barrier holds back a fantastic technology. One reason we dont have robot servants is that mechanical hands cant yet pick up any kind of object. Other times, money is a barrier. Fusion reactors are ridiculously expensive to build and run, so research in this area has moved slowly.

The final thing to consider is whether something is right or wrong. This is also called ethics. Just because we can do something doesnt mean we should. So far, we havent been willing to risk peoples lives to go to Mars, so weve sent robots instead. Similarly, flying cars could easily exist; we already have helicopters, after all. But flying is trickier than driving and accidents that happen in the air are much more dangerous. Safety is only one of the reasons we should think twice about doing something. The rich and powerful may use new technology to oppress or control others. And new technology may clash with some peoples beliefs or values. The voices of all people matter when it comes to choosing our future.

Technology by itself is never simply good or bad. Technology is a tool and its how people use that tool that matters. For example, someone could use a 3D printer to make weapons. Or they could print homes to replace ones lost in a natural disaster. A mad scientist could some day genetically engineer a monster. But genetic engineering also made it possible to rapidly develop vaccines for COVID-19. We should not fear technology. We should seek to understand it and use it to make the world a better place.

Something may seem impossible today, but theres no stopping human imagination, creativity and willpower. When you know the world you want to live in, you can help create it. Welcome to the future.

You wake up to the sound of music youve never heard before. I thought you would like this song, says your personal robot. Youre already humming along. Save it to my favorites, you say.

Y our robot is here to wake you and make sure you have everything you need during the day. It brings you clothes to wear and takes away your pajamas to wash them. It suggests some ideas for breakfast, then prepares your food and cleans up when you have finished. Robots also run factories and restaurants. They build roads and houses and fix anything that breaks. They even repair and program themselves. Since people no longer have to work, the government provides everyone with the money they need to live, learn, and pursue whatever hobbies they enjoy. Today, youre practicing with your band.

A self-driving car takes you to band practice. Overhead, drones buzz past, delivering packages and taking away things people no longer need. Robots have made the world a safer and more convenient place. They take care of everything.

People might live life as a never-ending vacation.

Its easy to imagine a world in which mechanical servants care for humans. Wouldnt it be awesome never to wash dishes or fold laundry, ever again? And most people dont want to work long hours at a stressful or dangerous job or do piles of boring homework. If robots could take on any type of work, people might live life as a never-ending vacation. It sounds amazing.

Will people ever live in a world like that? I think we will, says Ross Hatton. Hes a robotics engineer at Oregon State University. To him, this future seems achievable within our lifetime. Robots are already making peoples lives easier. The Roomba and many similar floor-cleaning robots vacuum or mop floors automatically. The company Waymos self-driving cars have logged over twenty million miles on public roads in 25 different cities. You can buy a drone that will follow you and film you as you bike, skateboard, or snowboard. Robots are even more common in industry. They make things in factories, monitor construction sites, and fetch and deliver items in warehouses and hospitals. Robots even milk cows.

Robots take whatever shape makes sense for their job.

These robots were each designed to perform one specific job. They dont tend to look like the humanoid creatures of science fiction. Instead, they take whatever shape makes sense for their job. The first robot to become widely successful looked like a giant, boxy metal finger. It was called Unimate and its job was to weld car parts together on an assembly line. So what made it a robot and not just another machine? No one had to drive it. Someone could program it, or give it instructions, and then it would follow those instructions on its own. On the Tonight Show in 1966, Unimate knocked a golf ball into a cup, poured a drink and conducted a band.