One way to view history is as a march of technological progression.
So how will 2020 be remembered in terms of the breakthrough technologies honed and advanced over the past year-plus?
- Personalized Medicine
Rare diseases can be difficult to fight in large part due to the scarcity of test subjects and thus data they provide. This can often leave patients suffering from them feeling helpless, unable to get the treatment they need. However, the rise of personalized medicine (made possible in part by more advanced and targeted DNA testing and genetic research) may change that. Genetic readouts can now be more easily compiled, making errors and issues in DNA sequences more easily identifiable. The result is a rise in medical treatments that are custom made for patients, increasing their chance of survival.
- Digital Currency
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have already carved out a niche for themselves, but the digital trajectory of currency worldwide changed when Facebook announced a planned currency, Libra. The backlash was as intense as it was immediate. However, China has purportedly explored doing the same with its currency. As a result, the question of digital currency is bound to become as much a political quandary as it is a technological one in the years and decades to come.
- Climate Change Attribution
Another defining issue of our era is climate change. Advances in weather tracking technology have allowed scientists to not just project the potential effects of climate change down the line but track its current effects in the form of weather systems. For example, certain floods have been tied to climate change. Advances in this technology may help us both better track such weather incidents and better explain why it’s so essential we take immediate and definitive action on climate change.
- Antiaging Drugs
They may not be the fabled Fountain of Youth, but the first wave of antiaging drugs may give us some tools to turn back our bodies’ clocks and combat the negative effects of aging. Called “senolytics,” these drugs work to remove “senescent” cells as we age, which can create low-level inflammation.
Time will tell what these and other breakthroughs will do to help shape our future.