Bill Nye, everyone’s favorite science guy, recently appeared on the youtube series Big Think to answer a very difficult question from a young engineering student: “What technology can we expect to have 50 years from now?” Thinking back 50 years from 2017, it would have been impossible to imagine in 1967 that we would soon have computers, cameras, calculators, and phones all in our pockets and that jetpacks and flying cars would be a reality. So this was a difficult question to answer.
Bill spoke at length about the crossroads we find ourselves approaching, and that what might have been easy to predict before is now much more challenging. However, he hopes that in 50 years, at least 80% of our energy will be made using renewable resources. He also thinks that almost all cars will be both autonomous self-driving vehicles and powered by electricity. And while he discussed the grim possibilities of our future, he recognized that the progressive influence of younger generations can give us hope.
Though rising automation makes some fear job loss, many believe that if a universal basic income is implemented alongside these growing developments in automation, companies and citizens alike would benefit.
According to Bill Nye, “either, in the next decade or fifteen years, the US becomes the world leader in renewable technologies or the US just continues to divide the rich and the poor and global climate change gets stronger and stronger and the ocean gets bigger and bigger as it gets warmer and the quality of life for a lot of people goes down. We’ll see.”
Bill’s a cheerful guy, as you can see; either way, he emphasized, “I want you to change the world!”