What are Some Emerging Technologies?
Emerging technologies are technologies in their infancy or adolescence that some observers consider likely candidates for partially or completely replacing legacy technologies. For instance, some futurists believe that nuclear power — both fusion and fission — and renewables will entirely replace the burning of fossil fuels. This would be a highly appealing outcome, as it would provide us with electricity without contributing to global warming. It should be noted that some emerging technologies and their impacts are more speculative than others, and have differing degrees of support among experts. For instance, futurists in the 1950s predicted flying cars and Moon cities by the year 2000, but these never happened. Major emerging technologies can be put into roughly six categories: energy technologies, transportation, information technology, biotechnology, robotics, and material science. The most talked-about are energy technologies, so we’ll start with those first. For decades, porti
