Fusions of Tomorrow

The total fusion of technology and the human race might no longer be a question of whether we will fuse with technology, but rather when will we totally fuse with technology. The vast majority of the world can already be considered a product of this, considering how many people have smart phones and use them like an extension of their bodies for getting tasks done and as a means to connect to the world’s global network to communicate with others or receive new information with just a few taps on a glass screen. 100 years ago, the concept of cell phones was a thing of science fiction so one can only imagine what the future has in store with all these new inventions urging people to become closer to technology.

Waymo

Waymo is by far the most advanced in terms of companies that specialize in having self-driving vehicles services. Owned by Google, Waymo is primarily operating in Arizona, focusing on developing an autonomous vehicle taxi service. The reason Arizona was chosen was due to the favorable weather conditions and traffic patterns. Waymo uses vision, lidar, and radar detection systems to allow vehicles to detect, determine, and maneuver through the environment effectively and safely. The goal of Waymo is to develop the safest means of transportation by creating fully autonomous vehicles that will be able to better detect and maneuver on roads than human drivers in an attempt to eliminate human driving errors from the roads. According to Waymo, 1.35 million deaths are caused by vehicle accidents every year and in the US roughly 94 percent of car crashes are caused by human error.

Midjourney

Midjourney was created in 2021, but recently released its text to image services to the public in 2022. This essentially allows people to use artificial intelligence to create artwork using a machine learning software system utilizing the internet for reference material. While many people expressed concern over AI making artists irrelevant or at least taking away various jobs from artists, according to Midjourney’s creators, their goal is to “make humans more imaginative, not make imaginative machines” and they have also claimed that they are “trying to expand the imaginative powers of the human species.” Essentially, the creators of Midjourney insist that they want their program to be used as a tool for artists instead of a replacement.