A poem for the future - it's not virtual or augmented

When I started coding my Dad thought I was fool.

He thought I’d turn into a weird geeky hermit,

In fact, he tried to make me study law and get a law permit.

But the visions for the future excite me more than the past,

Because when it comes to tech, the past fades fast.

So I’m definitely not a hermit and I’m proud to be a geek,

Which you’ll know if you go online and maybe read a tweet.

And maybe I’ll reply or maybe it’s my bot,

Because maybe I’m real and here, or maybe I’m not.

The future isn’t just augmented or virtual you see,

It’s set to be a blend of several realities.

And as the future keeps advancing and we become more connected,

We’ll all be liked and rated and ever more self reflected.

Will we strive for 5 gold stars or get jobs based on social ratings?

In a future that’s rose tinted and won’t allow for ‘slatings’.

Will robots steal our jobs? Will Skynet really happen?

Or is that as likely as a one handed man clapping?

Will tech become so seamless that we won’t be able to tell,

Where I begin, you end, and the tech blends in as well…

Does the future of ‘blurred lines’ mean mortar and bricks,

Become synonymously intertwined with pixels and clicks?

Today we pay with fingerprints, tomorrow our voice

In the future, our faces, will this remove our choice

To be recognised or not, to have ambiguity?

Or will we be on camera everywhere, live streamed to the street?

When our lives are in the cloud, seamlessly connected

Will we be faster, more efficient, or will our memories be neglected?

I only know one phone number, that’s the one I’ve had for 15 years,

If tech fails us, are we lost, stuck in a tech-less fear?

Will we all walk round in circles when Google maps decides to stop?

Will our short hand math become really shit? Will that matter, or not?

Does a bit of humanity get lost when we rely on tech?

Do we discover less, feel less, care less, meh what the heck…

Or is tech making us efficient so we get more out of life?

And if we supercharge this in the future do we negate trouble and strife?

I’m at a conference with talks about ‘cheating MRI’

And every little thing becoming powered by AI.

In a future where every heartbeat and every drop of sweat,

Is calculated, decoded and uploaded to the net.

When connected collars tell us when our dogs have got a fever,

Or our cats can be interpreted through intelligent receivers.

When Jacquard powered jeans tell guys ‘you’re flying low’,

Our clothing interprets stress and tension, head to toe.

In a future where cars aren’t just autonomous but fly,

In highways constructed over cities in the Sky.

Where these cars are an extension of our physical being,

Our fridges order milk, our homes capable of seeing.

In the future are we dumb? Just run by automation…

Or are we elite and empowered, an unstoppable ‘one nation’?

In OUR future we WILL stand beside robots that are intelligent,

But further more we face a future that goes beyond this and is sentient.

There will be competition, co-petition, ambition and decision

But convergence and empowerment will come to fruition.

If biology is programmable and we can program 3D printing,

Will we solve poverty and hunger, now that got me thinking…

If a world built on noughts and ones merges with atoms,

Does that provide a world that you and I can barely fathom?

If we can put interfaces into brains and quadriplegics can move cursors,

Will we enhance that human life, is the advance in science worth it?

If we contemplate the dialogue between human and computer,

Do we invite tech to take over or, just to help us when it suits us?

There are so many things that today we do not know,

But if we super charge our neurons there’s nowhere a brain can’t go.

We can speed up our learning curve and mass communicate,

Have conversations without speaking, silently collaborate.

Whether this five minutes makes you laugh or maybe makes you wonder,

There is one thing for sure that we should collectively ponder;

Is technology and innovation a force for good or force for bad?

Is it going to bring us closer or going to drive us mad?

To quote Einstein ‘it’s obvious it’s exceeded humanity’

And he’s been dead for decades so it’s pretty clear to see,

That the trajectory we’re on isn’t slowing down,

And in fact with quantum computing we can go to town.

I for one would rather be in the driving seat,

Amongst you crazy bunch of awesome techies, devs and geeks.

For the ONE thing about the future that we should ALL be aware

Is love it fear it, WE are ALL going there …

And we can choose to lead or we can choose to follow

So I say, let’s grab the future by the balls and go invent tomorrow!!!

Karen Boswell is Adam&EveDDB's agent of change and her blog can be followed here.