Back To The Future With Big Data

With today being “Future Day” due to October 21, 2015 being “the future” in the movie Back To The Future directed by Robert Zemeckis, it has got me thinking about Big Data and the future.

Without Big Data would we have achieved many of the predictions of the future made in the Back To The Future movie? 

Where will Big Data take us by 2030? 

With Big Data infiltrating most industries these days, we can bet that it will greatly effect the way we live by 2030. Healthcare is being revolutionized with better patient records, communication between hospitals and the CDC to control the spreading of epidemics, and even the race to cure cancer s being aided by big data. Transportation is evolving with better taxi apps and the beginning of self driving cars. Our own homes are even being upgraded by big data, with an improving real estate system and the ongoing progress in the idea of a “connected home”.

These are just a few of the different areas Big Data is making an impact, so what does this mean for our future?

What will daily life be like?

Are our jobs going to be taken over by computers?

My predictions for 2030 are as follows,

1. Doctors will have access to thousands of patient records with the touch of their finger. There will be a digital library that can analyze symptoms and present multiple similar cases, the steps taken and the percentage of positive outcome. This will decrease the amount of tests needed to diagnose symptoms and ultimately save the patient a lot of money and the doctor a lot of time.
2. Houses will be equipped with smart devices that communicate with one another to save energy and control routine actions such as turning a light on or off automatically. Houses will be able to tell when the owner is about to be home and automatically kick on the heat or air, turn on the lights, unlock the doors and who knows they may even make you  cup of coffee!
3. Transportation will be drastically improved with self driving cars and more efficient taxi services such as Uber. Uber will be able to track a frequent customer’s debit transactions to know when they close out a tab close to closing time in a bar. This will allow the Uber driver to be outside of the bar and ready for when the customer stumbles out.
4. Shopping will be more than likely completely different. With the way large stores track consumer habits I wouldn’t be surprised if the stores could communicate with our smart homes to determine which foods or household products we are low on and automatically deliver them to our front door by most likely a drone.

Does this mean we are going to start losing our jobs to automated technology? Yes and no. Sure some jobs will be taken over by computers because it makes the most sense, it is most efficient. That doesn’t mean everyone is going to be out of work. All of these technologies and programs must be monitored and serviced. I think in the next fifteen years we are going to see a major shift in our educational departments towards more technological training. We will need to have more people who are proficient in the new technologies to keep up with any of them. There will be a lot of jobs created to both monitor and service these technological advances.

Will any of this happen by 2030?        Will it happen at all?

 Who knows, but humans have never ceased to amaze me with their ability to create new and exciting things.

Let us know what you think, where will our world be in 2030?

Happy Future Day!!!