Holograms, virtual reality and AI: The future is already here, says Google

Creative specialist Amar Thanki spelled out innovations ranging from holograms fashioned from 3D pixels to ocean-cleaning bikinis

LONDON — Forget "Back To The Future." The future is now, with a multitude of future-gazing research and technologies already shaping the way humans will live for years to come.

Speaking at BBH's SXW1 Digital Expo here Wednesday, Google creative specialist Amar Thanki delved into the future, pondering how sci-fi films like "Back to the Future," "The Matrix" and "Minority Report" have seeded wild ideas that are already fast becoming reality.

Here are the most forward-thinking, pioneering innovations out there, according to Thanki.

Virtual reality, frighteningly realistic holograms and the rise of the "uncanny valley" Virtual reality is somethig brands and technophiles have been obsesssed with for some time, but Thanki says technology is making it even more realistic and that the tech is "seriously about to level up."

VR has become so realistic, in fact, that gamers may find themselves experiencing "uncanny valley" — which is shorthand for being freaked out by virtual reality that is so realistic it looks and feels like the experience of real life but isn't quite right. This concept has been explored in films like "The Matrix" and "Inception."

Thanki outlined laser technology and holograms that can mimic physical physical objects to such a highly detailied degree so the human brain can't comprehend the difference.

Scientists are designing holograms that are made using "3D pixels," he said — tiny particles in the air to project images rather than traditional vapor or smoke.

Artificial intelligence as the next phase of human evolution AI could dramatically enhance human life as it evolves and "will impact technology in ways we can't comprehend yet," Thaki predicted.

Just two weeks ago, he said, Illinois university developed a robot that had the IQ of a four-year-old child — a development that is "pretty scary" and perhaps indicative of the human evolution path to come.

It can also enhance accuracy in surgery, he said, by separating cancerous from healthy cells, for example and pinpointing where treatment is needed.

A supercomputer has already been developed that can tell with 96% accuracy when a patient is likely to die within 30 days by reading data including blood pressure to oxygen levels.

Liquid data that can transform the human body Scientists have been able to transfer data including genetic information onto human cells and DNA, which could pave the way for future treatments. They can be synthesised into liquid form and can hold 490 billion gigabytes of data onto a single gram.

He said current predictions state that by 2020 all the data used in the world will amount to 40 trillion gigabytes. This could be stored on 82 grams of DNA — the size of an egg.

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