Maybe we are already living in the future?

During a business trip to San Francisco, I saw a Waymo self-driving car zip past me as I got into an Uber. A woman sat in the back of this white Jaguar, casually looking at her phone while the car switched lanes without a driver. This was 2023. 

When I mentioned to my Uber driver that it seemed these autonomous cars might become more common in other cities, his response surprised me. He pointed out that self-driving cars won’t because they are too slow because they follow all the rules, unlike humans who are busy and can break the rules to get places faster. This encounter made me reflect on how we perceive technological advancements: we are so busy being busy we don’t have time to look around.

When I was young, I asked my mother if she grew up in a black-and-white world because old TV shows were in black and white while my world was in color. For me the world and time seemed binary: just a past and a present. I think I was only four years old, so to be fair I didn’t have a lot of time on the earth for comparison. Similarly, I now realize that the future is not some distant fixed point in time—it’s already here, continuously evolving if we stop to see it.

Not long ago, artificial intelligence, high-speed computing, video-teleconferencing, and self-driving cars were science fiction. Today, they are integral to our lives. In 20 years, our current technology might seem as outdated as syncing a Palm Pilot, and it’s impressive to see how far we’ve come.

Technology’s progress follows Moore’s Law, doubling computing power every two years. This impacts AI, 3D printing, drones, and robotics, quickly integrating these innovations into our daily lives.

Key Innovations that I appreciate over the last five years include:

• Artificial Intelligence: From Siri to personalized algorithms, AI enhances productivity and convenience.
• High-Speed Computing: Modern computers perform complex tasks effortlessly, revolutionizing work and entertainment.
• Video-Teleconferencing: This tech has broken geographical barriers, making remote work and virtual gatherings commonplace.
• Self-Driving Cars: Autonomous vehicles are now a reality, navigating traffic and making driving decisions.

So the next time you use your AI assistant, relying on your phone’s processing power, to connect via video call while riding in a self-driving car, take a moment to reflect. We’re living in a future once imagined only in films, and the journey is far from over.