Devices of the Future

In the near future, MemCams the size of an ant will be implanted into the affluent, recording the events of their lives for posterity. In this way, the wealthy will be able to replay their most cherished memories and also provide inerrant testimony to misdeeds great and small. The MemCam may be toggled on and off by touch, so that certain moments can remain temporal. Spies and undercover detectives will employ this device, which will be positioned in the epidermis around either one eye or both for superior depth perception. Some may opt for a MemCam resembling a sapphire, ruby or emerald, planted in the forehead in the way of the Hindu. As the technology matures, MemCams will become accessible to the poor as well. The energy source will initially be a battery, until a method is discovered to make MemCams organic, at which point they can receive energy from the hosts' blood vessels.

(I discovered recently that my idea is not new.)

The great discoveries of the future (if there is to be a future for our violent race) will be in the area of biology. Silicon is on the way to obsolescence. Most devices of the future will be both organic and living, because life forms are self-sustaining, self-replicating, more adaptable, and more capable.

The future returns to the horse and abandons the car. "Horse" in this instance must be understood to encompass any large living organism designed and bred by humans or their successors. There will not be a distinction between car and house anymore. Houses will be born, not built, and need not be stationary, but may be the primary means of transportation, such that when one travels, one travels with everything one owns, leaving nothing behind.

These innovations may be the fruit of H. Sapiens--or of another species, either extraterrestrial or of Earth.

H. Sapiens, if it destroys itself, may be succeeded by new breeds, because there is time left, no matter what happens to us. The Sun will not diminish for many millions of years, and in that time, a new intelligent species could evolve either independently of our own or derived from us but different enough to constitute a new species.

H. Sapiens is the tyrant of the world, not its protector. We bring death to the other life forms on Earth--almost nothing except for death. When we are gone, other lines may prosper and may even develop a greater consciousness and awareness than our own species.

The diminishing of the ozone layer and nuclear war, dooms for us, are not without benefit for the other creatures upon Earth. Either event increases the rate of mutation, accelerating the process of evolution, leading to new species. This has happened before, from meteor impacts that kicked up radioactive dust into Earth's atmosphere.