The Future of Information Technology
By: Jack Raymond Borden
Tags: Future, Information Technology, AI, Blockchain, Internet of Things

According to Merriam-Websters dictionary, information technology is defined as, “technology involving the development, maintenance, and use of computer systems, software, and networks for the processing and distribution of data”. In simpler terms, information technology is technology which processes and distributes data. This technology could be hardware (the personal computer), or it could be software (Netflix). As the definition suggests, the processing and distribution of data could also happen on networks such as the internet.

Information technology is important because as humans we are limited in our ability to process and distribute data. By increasing the amount of data we can process and distribute, we can solve a lot of problems and answer a lot of questions our limitations would never allow us to solve. Without information technology, we wouldn’t able to predict the weather, use the internet to obtain new knowledge, utilize the GPS to take us from point A to point B, and do many more things that we take for granted thanks to information technology.

As this technology progresses, it’s going to take on characteristics and operate in certain dimensions that it’s never operated in before. Each time this technology operates in a new dimension, it’ll disrupt a different set of industries and provide a different set of benefits that wasn’t possible in previous iterations of the technology. Now before we dive in the future of information technology and what these added characteristics will be, we must first cover a little bit of the history of information technology. This must be done so that we can have an appreciation of where we are relative to what we will become.

I’d also like to add that I am not going to talk about the specifics behind how computers will be able to reach higher levels of performance. If you would like to read an article about this, check out my article titled, “Long Live Moore’s Law!”.

History of Information Technology Change

Internet — What started out as a top-secret government project in the late 1960’s eventually took the world by storm when there was an explosion of commercialization and innovation centered around this technology in the 1990s. The internet was a huge step forward for information technology and was revolutionary since it was able to add the characteristic of centralization to information technologies. By centralizing information not only did we democratize access to the worlds knowledge repository, but we also created a digital infrastructure that allowed for massive amounts of communication to take place which was previously unimaginable.

Mobile Electronics — While although mobile electronics (portable computers essentially) were starting to gain traction in the 1990s, it wasn’t until the 2000s when they began to take society by storm. This was initially due to iPods and cell phones, but later tablets, smartphones, smart watches, and even drones would join the ranks of this technology. This technology added the characteristic of physical mass distribution to information technology, which enabled the individual for the first time to take advantage of the information age while they were on the go. This was revolutionary because not only did it allow us to communicate and obtain information anywhere in the world, it also gave us new products and applications with capabilities which penetrated every field such as photography, music, media, and cinematography.

Big Data — For those of you who don’t know what big data is, big data is the analysis of data which is too complex for traditional data-processing software to process. Big data started to become huge in the 2010s thanks to the vast amount of information that mobile electronics were generating, improvements in the capabilities of our algorithms, and advances in machine learning techniques which made big data analysis easy.

Some of you might be saying to yourselves, “So what? Who cares if I can analyze larger data sets? Does that really matter?”. The answer to this is an unequivocal yes! By performing a big data macro level analysis on a particular problem, a lot of the times you will end up discover patterns in the data that you wouldn’t have been able to discover had you analyzed a smaller data set.

The ability to uncover these additional patterns are important since it allows for us to solve new problems such as understanding the complexity of the human genome (which opens up the door to unlocking the powers of genetic therapy and genetic engineering). By allowing us to have an increased understanding of everything, big data has been (and will be) crucial in helping us create a better world and solve some of sciences biggest mysteries.

The Future of Information Technology

Now that we’ve covered some of the history of information technology, this should provide a good base for understanding where we are, and where we are headed. The story of the future can now begin! — Chapter I: Blockchain

Blockchain — For those of you who don’t know what blockchain is, blockchain is a specific type of database. Unlike typical databases, the data on a blockchain is stored in blocks which are then chained together in chronological order. If the blockchain is decentralized (meaning that no single person or group has control of the blockchain), then any data which is entered into the blockchain cannot be changed nor deleted. Blockchain is a huge deal for two reasons. The first is that it allows us to have a perfect understanding of the history of whatever we choose to attach the blockchain to. This will have tremendous benefits in a large variety of areas such as figuring out the source of where contaminated food is coming from in seconds as opposed to days, cutting down on the level of slave and child labor in supply chains, and protect property rights in undeveloped nations where criminal organizations collude with officials to take advantage of the lack of transparency in the land ownership process.

The second reason why the blockchain is a big deal is because it allows for non-alterable data. This will make our data more secure and allow us to protect our finances, protect our intellectual property, and would allow for the consumption and analysis of highly sensitive information (such as health and financial records) without any fear of having this information potentially stolen. This is because the blockchain would have a complete record of everybody who accessed the data which would make figuring out who stole the data relatively easy. By adding the dimensions of security and historical clarity into our information technology, we will be able to enhance the human condition to a degree that past technologies such as the internet never could.

The Internet of Things — The internet of things are devices that have sensors, software, and other technologies embedded in them so that they can connect, share data, and collaborate with other devices and systems over the internet. This technology will add the characteristics of objectification and collaboration to information technology, and will take society by storm in the 2030s. While although the internet of things market is growing rapidly, I firmly believe that the internet of things in the 2020’s is going to be where the internet was in the 1980s. Following in the foot steps of blockchain, this technology is going to benefit society in multiple ways.

The first way the internet of things will benefit society is through how much data it will generate. Since everyday objects will be generating data in ways that they don’t currently, this will increase our level of data by many orders of magnitude. This will increase our ability to answer existing questions and open the doors towards having different types of questions solved. This will also make artificial intelligence much more powerful since they will have larger data sets to scale their abilities on. More data = better A.I.

The second way in which this technology will benefit us is is through personalization. As the devices collect more data from your interactions with them, they’ll be able to share data with other devices and learn from one another so that your environment can become tailored to your individual needs and desires. This will allow for optimal sleep experiences on a nightly basis, enable the elderly to stay independent for a longer period of time, increase your success at obtaining health and wellness goals, and perhaps even lead to the automation of household chores.

The final ways in which this technology will benefit us is through the usage of internet of things by localities. This could provide data which helps detect and prevent viruses, reduce the destruction of fires by alerting the officials as to which areas are in need of new fire alarms, and providing more information on traffic flows which will enable policy makers to reduce the likelihood that traffic jams occur.

Nanotechnology — Nanotechnology is technology which operates on the atomic or molecular level in order to solve and address issues which macro sized technology is inadequate to solve. Nanotechnology will add the characteristic of microscopic proportions to information technology and will enable us to manipulate matter in ways that will make us seem like Gods. This technology has tremendous promise which includes unlocking all of the secrets of the brain by tracking brain activity down to the individual neuron. This could potentially cure all brain related illnesses such as dementia, and Alzheimer’s. Nanotechnology will also lead to computers that will operate within our bodies and will assist the immune system in combating disease and aging. It is possible (although this is debated) that these atom sized computers could conquer death itself by targeting the molecular mechanism that is responsible for the aging process. These computers also could potentially eliminate any disease and keep us in a perfect state of health and functionality.

Going beyond the health applications, nanotechnology also has the potential of creating new materials which are tailored for specific purposes. New materials could be made which allow for computers to operate on the surface of Venus without melting, or for satelites to plunge through the atmosphere of Jupiter without being torn apart. New materials could be made which allow for batteries to last for days or weeks and perhaps even months or years on a single charge. Finally, nanotechnology also has the potential of ending material scarcity since it will have the ability to manipulate atoms on a micro scale to produce materials such as copper or nickel on a macro scale. This will fundamentally change the economy and will make it considerably easier for the impoverished of society to live a good life. Nanotechnology is going to change the game.

Transhumanist Technology — Transhumanist technologies (the biogenesis of information technology) are technologies which seek to amplify the abilities of human beings through becoming one with them. Nanotechnology in this sense will start the process of transhumanism since nanotechnology will be one with our bodies in the sense that they will become an active part of our immune systems. Humanity due to its insatiable desire for becoming more however, will seek to go beyond the benefits of operating at its biological limits. Perfect 15/20 vision for example will not be enough as many among us will wish to integrate technology into their sights so that they can see in the dark, quite literally see emotions, and even perceive objects in perfect clarity which are several hundred yards away.

Having our intellect limited by life experience and the amount of time we dedicated toward learning new things will no longer be acceptable, as many will choose to voluntarily connect their brains to the internet and access all of the worlds information simply by thinking about it.

When it comes to our hearing, humans will want to customize the hearing experience to their individual needs and desires. If a sound goes above a certain level, the human ears will filter out all the excess decibels so that the noise won’t cause an unpleasant sensations. Some of us will choose to adopt audio technology that’ll allow for us to only receive the sound of things that are generated by the object of our focus in order to spy on our neighbors or ease drop on our friends.

As people continue to reap the benefits of each evolution in information technology, we must be extremely mindful of how this technology can be used malevolently so that can have an action plan against its misuse. Blockchain technology makes it easier to track the start of an ecoli outbreak in the food supply, but also makes it much more difficult for law enforcement to arrest criminals who use blockchain-based currencies. The internet of things might customize the environment to our individual needs and desires, but it could also be used a system of mass surveillance by private and government entities that makes privacy a thing of the past. Nanotechnology can be used to end scarcity, but it could also be wielded to bring unprecedent destruction to the battlefield. Transhumanist technologies can amplify our abilities, but it isn’t clear that they’ll be immune from the negative intents of hackers who wish to make people abide by their bidding.

We have a choice to make. If we choose to be proactive when it comes to preventing egregious misuse of technology, the information age will usher in a renaissance where society will solve many of the most pressing issues which have plagued humanity since the beginning of time. If we chose not to be proactive however, then we will destroy ourselves and create a hellish nightmare where nobody wants to live. The choice is ours.