Are We There Yet? – Are We Nearly At The End Of Technology?

Of course you’ll say – we do that a billion times a day. NO, I ASKED GOOGLE. Have you spotted the new function on the google home page? If you have the latest version of Chrome, it’s the little microphone icon at the right hand side of the search bar. Speak in your words and Google finds it for you and also tells you what it has found. If you need a hand look here.

This, with the news that Google are also leading the way with a car that drives itself and the much heralded Google glasses, made me think that all the things we thought the future would bring are nearly, almost, here.

Look at where we’re at – Apple, the leading technology company of the last 10 years – 7 years ago launching the iPhone. 4 years ago (yes 4) launching the iPad. Two absolute shifts in how we do things. What have they come up with of late? –Not a lot – Dr Dre’s headphones, a second rate and second to market version of Spotify and more recently – a new version of iOS, blimey, and some apps that help us work out if we’re fit or not. Crumbs

So, has the leading company we all look to (including other manufacturers) run out of ideas? Or more simply, are there no more new ideas to invent? Are we nearly there? We have robots to do many things for us in our lives, even to cut the grass, or do the hovering, so it’s surely not too long before we have Robbie the Robot style one’s walking and talking to us (as long as it’s not that one from confused.com).

I suggest that we are. And this is why. The ultimate future dream we had was flying cars. Well drones have filled that gap. The US military use them, Amazon say they will use them to deliver your books. And this week – Isreal’s military are pioneering their use as flying ambulances, the AirMule, ferrying troops from the battleground to the hospital. It will also be able to deliver aid to isolated populations and rescue civilians in the event of a natural disaster.

So, in a few years time, there I’ll be, flying round the M25, with the kids in the back seat, stuck in an aerial traffic jam. I turn round. My daughter opens her mouth and out come that terrifying phrase….”Are we……….”

What do you think? Share your views in the comments below or Tweet me @gavin_cib