Try imagining a world without technology. Picture a world where we don’t get minute by minute updates of events that are happening in every corner of the world, where we can’t video call people on the other side of the planet, where we can’t play video games with people in a different state, and where we can’t even take a picture with our phone and immediately upload it. These simple, almost mundane tasks have become commonplace. It’s easy to overlook how technology has united the world
Innovations that have been around for a few years have spurred this unification. Social media plays a big role in uniting people both every day and when tragedy strikes. Many newsworthy events and tragedies immediately develop their own hashtag. For example, during the Boston Marathon Bombing of 2013, the hashtag #PrayforBoston cropped up on social media. Photos and videos from the bombing filled news feeds causing the FBI to send out a call for people to send in their pictures and videos. With that evidence, they were able to identify the suspects based on the pictures, according to NBC News.
The latest innovations will unite us further. Skype has created a translator that allows people of different languages to speak to each other in real time without learning one another’s language. The translator is currently available in English and Spanish but more languages are on the way. Imagine how this will unite the world. As seen in the video below, even children in classrooms across the globe will be able to talk with each other and learn about the other’s culture.
New currencies will make it easy for us to make transactions with people in other nations. According to Peter Diamonds of SingularityHub.com, these “cryptocurrencies” will “provide some level of stability and independence from your country’s political turmoil, or whether your country’s GDP is based on oil exports.”
In the past, technology has only connected us by what we read, see, and hear but even that is about to change. Apple’s iWatch, coming out in early 2015, has haptic feedback. Someone will be able to send you a touch and you will feel a tap or a caress on your wrist.
Technology allows us to share our experiences like never before. Whether we are sharing recipes with a friend in Spain, chatting with grandma in Guatemala, or discussing world affairs with foreign nations, new innovations, if used wisely, can have the ability to connect us like never before.
