2011-06-16

The future: maybe it’s already here

For a long time, people have been saying that the future of email is already here. That the government has been working on a new kind of email and internet for quite some time. The same can be said of war: weapons straight out of science-fiction novels...lasers capable of destroying a vessel from miles away.

And, while much of this is conspiracy theory nonsense – we think – there is certainly truth in the fact that the future is, to some extent, already on our doorstep. And we all know that if we have fairly decent email connections then the experts are already 2 or 3 steps ahead and they always will be.

In regard to war, I first heard about invisibility suits online (and was directed there by an email, funnily enough). To begin with I thought it was a joke. Then I looked it up and discovered that it was in some ways true: for some time the US Army had been working on developing intelligent materials that could copy their surroundings. Rather than actually becoming invisible, these incredible, hard-to-get-your-head-around fabrics would mimic their environment. In places like jungle this would prove invaluable.

All this reminded me very much of the film Predator, in which an unknown alien being stalks a group of soldiers out in the jungle with only their wits and a limited supply of weapons.

Another example of science-fiction becoming science-fact is that of lasers. Only recently, the BBC News covered the story of an Army boat which had used lasers, for the first time, to disarm a nearby threat (a smaller boat). Impossible as it sounds, it does appear that much of the future technology discusses about in science-fiction forums on the Internet is already well underway in becoming the norm.

So next time you hear about dome dedupe Software which converts into a covert listening device, or some kind of visual equipment which miraculously becomes invisible in the blink of an eye -- or an email device which works by actually tuning into your mind and what you are thinking -- you may not want to dismiss it so readily.

The chances are that someone, somewhere, is already working on making it a reality.

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