Whenever someone predicted the end of the Internet, I’d wave it away as ridiculous.
But if “someone” is Neil DeGrasse Tyson, a man who fact checks everything, then I’m listening.
In fact, NDGT has often told stories of how he was corrected by members of the public. Scientists accept that criticism and skepticism all the time. They’re more interested in the truth than whether or not they’re personally correct.
Now, I think that I could happily live without the Internet. It feels like relief to imagine knowing less minutiae about the world and people I don’t know. There’s just too much of everything and how does it make me a better person? I don’t think it does.
I think it’s easier for those of us who lived for decades without it to imagine a life after it. We survived. Talked face to face. Got up off our butts and DID more things! It wasn’t so bad, kids.
In this super-short little clip, the renowned astrophysicist explains why he thinks the Internet will come to an end. He mentions 2026 offhandedly. But he has also said that it could take a little longer.
Here’s a roundup of some of the things Neil DeGrasse Tyson predicts will happen by the year 2050:
Mental illness will be cured. Good for everyone except psychiatrists and psychologists.
Self-driving electric vehicles will be everywhere. If you want to drive a gas-powered vehicle for nostalgic reasons, take it to a track.
Scientists will cure cancer and learn how to regrow limbs and organs.
AI will become just another tool at our disposal. There’s more but those are the highlights.
The advances in health sciences sound amazing and I do hope he’s right. But I can’t help but think of the future forecasters of my youth and how wrong they were. Oh, they were close in some cases. Plenty of people are living to 100 or longer but it’s not the norm. We have self-driving cars but they’re not common yet. And forever more I will lament the fact that my promised jet pack has still not arrived!
Where is my Paperless society? Self driving vehicles maybe, electric not sure that’s the end game. Technology evolves, rarely dies although it will sometimes implode. AI does have the potential to advance medical research and lets hope cancer is one of them.