Trends to Watch As We Invent the Future, Again

My entry in a four-part series on the future, by four technology thought leaders.

by Rod D. Martin
March 29, 2007

Technological change is accelerating at an accelerating rate. It’s hard for even the greatest technologists to keep up, much less analyze the societal implications of their work.

So where are we headed? Here are four of the trends you most need to watch.

» Adult stem cells: While all media and political attention seems focused on the ethically challenged field of destructive embryonic stem cell research ("destructive" because human embryos must be created and then killed to get the cells), a scientific revolution is quietly going forward in the area of adult stem cells, which, ironically enough, offends no one.

Already, adult stem cells cure or treat more than 70 diseases and are involved in almost 1,300 human clinical trials (none for embryonic cells). Competing for funding, embryonic advocates cite all sorts of objections, but these are quickly falling away, so much so The Washington Post recently reported that "the new [sic] cells are adding credence to a…