Technology Hot Issues

Hot Issues cut across emerging technologies to focus on points of great technological uncertainty and social controversy. TechCast brings together our technology forecast data and other evidence to frame issues, and we survey our visitors on these crucial questions. Here are the issues presently covered, although others will be added:


Sample image How much of bio-tech is acceptable?  Bio-technology Bio-technology offers God-like powers to select children’s traits, extend life, cleanse the gene pool, grow organs, and other controversial breakthroughs. But many consider such changes unnatural and dangerous. Which of these new powers are likely to be accepted? By what portion of society? When will these social taboos fade, if ever?

Upsala Glacier What to do About Global Warming?People have recently accepted the threat of climate change, but many are adamant this is simply a natural cycle that humans cannot control. To what extent is global warming just a blip in nature or caused by carbon fuels? What should be done to alleviate the threat?  

Human mind Can AI Automate Human Consciousness?With computer power poised to match the brain by 2020, scientists think AI will soon replace human thought. But most people think there is something fundamentally superior about the human mind. Is computer intelligence capable of replacing human consciousness?  Or does the mind inherently transcend information and knowledge?