ACCOZZAGLIA

Editor note: The scholarship was awarded to an applicant at Stanford.

As modern comparisons are made retrospectively with 1956, one assumes that much of what is common today will persist in 2056. Current research shall yield practical solutions which are now a challenge to conceptualize. For instance, digital data transfer using copper and fibre, between nodes forming global networks, would in 1956 be largely inconceivable.

TELECOMMUNICATION. Wholesale migration from wired data transfer shall benefit regions where lack of wired infrastructure stymies economic development. Telephony and broadband will be managed wirelessly under emerging IEEE topologies. Uninterrupted broadband data transfer, while in rapid motion, shall benefit terrestrial and aerial travellers — the latter saving time on scramjet aircraft.

STORAGE. Distributed, redundant data storage schemes shall migrate to non-volatile, solid state media, reducing latency and energy consumption. Viability of organic media shall permit stable storage at the molecular level. Consumer biometric security shall supersede passwords. Strong, redundant encryption shall ensure that wireless traffic remains secure without compromising speed. All personal data shall be retrievable from any networked device, anytime. Self-reshaping, tactile interfaces shall encourage universal computer accessibility. Desktop consoles will vanish. Organic LEDs will be applied to polymer sheets for use in dynamic literature.

SOCIAL COMMUNICATION. Heuristic, open-source development shall usher instant, interpreter-quality translations; businesspeople requiring immediate translation between English, Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi/Urdu and Arabic will be intrepid early adopters. Products using this technology shall become the first “universal translators”. Assistive “companion” technologies shall drive development for computer-literate, post-”Baby Boom” seniors.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ECONOMIES. Commodifying patents as tradable “shares” shall open new investment markets — facilitating exchanges of intellectual property “rights” by developers, isolating innovations which expedite the development of complex projects. Copyright law shall accommodate digitization of all global media into searchable repositories: a unified “super library” with open, free access and instant interpreter capability.

BIOMETRICS. Passive manipulation of “junk DNA” shall allow data encoding within genomes, yielding immediate forensic identification without full DNA testing; matching biometric data to birth certificates (ending identify theft); encoding genealogical data; and providing link markers for triage teams needing instant access to patient history.

ENERGY. Energy optimization shall dominate public concern. Industry shall implement standards reluctantly for using less energy with higher efficiencies. Cleaner power generation shall usher massive underwater turbines using ocean currents. Wind power shall have matured. Adoption of “grey water” re-usage shall be universal. Wholesale replacement of municipal street-lighting with “smart”, object-sensitive, rheostatic LED illumination (dimming in traffic’s absence) shall propagate. Lamp designs shall curb light pollution and and crowned by coloured LED clusters which signal the presence of hazards, accidents or intruders while serving as public broadband nodes.

WATER. Water scarcity shall compel conservation, but not at “life quality” expense: ofuro bathing shall popularize globally. Semi-decentralized environmental systems shall ventilate only those rooms in use. Recycling will accelerate; CO₂ reduction shall also dominate. Implementing scalable catalyzers on vehicles and power plants shall split CO₂ into oxygen and elemental carbon — the latter bought by fabricators to make carbon-fibre components more cheaply than with steel.

Along with others, these innovations shall come to gently revolutionize how we live.