Today, predicting the direction in which technology is heading is a lot easier than it was 65 years ago. Unfortunately, these advancements don’t always have the potential to benefit mankind, sometimes the opposite is true. Is our way of life, or indeed all of humanity, at risk from these dangers? Or are these predictions just as outlandish as those made in 1950?
The Total Loss Of Privacy
There are plenty of people who would argue that this isn’t a problem posed by future technology, but one which is already here. After the recent revelations that Samsung’s range of new smart TVs may be recording users private conversations and sharing the details with third parties, the fear that our home appliances may be spying on us is becoming less sci-fi paranoia and more a real concern.
So where will this end? Will the rush to embrace the digital era mean us waving goodbye to our privacy forever? The worry is that a day may come where every single aspect of our lives is monitored and recorded by governments who want to know what we’re up to, conglomerates investigating our spending habits, or even banks making sure we aren’t living above our means.
The often repeated line from those wishing to take our privacy away from us is that it is for our own protection. That if we’re so concerned about our privacy, then we must have something to hide; so stop closing the bathroom door when you go to the toilet, it makes you look suspicious.