How we got to this point... and where to next
1594: Sir John Harington invents the flushing toilet. 1859:
A forerunner to the fridge is invented by Frenchman Ferdinand Carré. 1901: The first vacuum cleaner in invented – horse-drawn! 1945:
Microwaves from a radar set melt a chocolate bar in an engineers pocket. The microwave oven is born.
1989:
The Internet of Things begins with the unveiling of an internet-connected toaster as star exhibit at the Interop Internet networking show. 2017:
At a technology conference in Hong Kong, digital beings imbued with Artificial Intelligence (AI) called Han and Sophia predict robots will do every human job and ‘joke’ about taking over the world. Billionaire Elon Musk, head of Tesla, echoes Stephen Hawking’s fear voiced three years earlier that AI is ‘a fundamental risk to
the existence of human civilisation’. 2018:
Average home has 10 internetconnected devices. And in the future?: 2022:
The average home will have dozens of internet-connectable devices.
2028:
Over a third of jobs that haven’t already been automated will be carried out by robots, which will move into transport, finance and media. 2100+:
Some thinkers and many sci-fi writers believe robots will rebel or trigger a war that destroys civilisation. According to scientist Seth Shostak, artificial intelligence beings will no longer follow orders from humans by the third generation. However, if we’re lucky, says Shostak, they will then ignore us and simply get on with thinking higher thoughts and developing their intellect to evermore impressive levels.