Each and every day most of us are faced with a deluge of data.
Just scrolling through social media some of us might wonder if we are on the verge of
the end of the world, being bombarded by so much negative information.
It can feel very overwhelming for many people, but the truth is many things in our world
have improved considerably.
We just often don’t hear about the good news.
So, today we’d like to make you feel a little better about the state of things.
Here goes: We’ll start with technology.
We’ve all been hearing about how self-driving cars will be all over the place and a few
years back you might have heard it will happen in 2020.
We all hoped that such technology would cut down on accidents, free up parking spaces
and cut down on pollution.
If you keep up with the latest updates and tests you’ll know that 2020 might not be
the year this happens.
But the software in these cars continues to improve and you’ll see firms testing their
tech in more places.
Google’s self-driving arm Waymo reported started testing in Los Angeles as we wrote
this.
Unfortunately, while we believe such technology will impress us even more in 2020, we don’t
think the streets will be full of such cars during this year.
Keep an eye out, though, because we think we will see some vast improvements.
Some tech will surface in 2020, and we will see the full roll-out of 5G.
For you that will mean faster connections and affordable data plans.
It will mean faster streaming, which is good for the consumer, but it will also mean AI
can improve at a better rate.
But one of the most exciting developments in technology is personalized and predictive
medicine, and in 2020 you are going to start hearing a lot more about this.
Doctors are using data like never before, which means you’ll get a more personalized
kind of treatment.
Using data the doctor will be able to compare your problem to someone else’s somewhere
in the world, and so you’ll get a more refined diagnosis.
At the same time computer vision will get much better.
We all know that facial recognition is improving, and while some critics believe this will create
a kind of ‘Big Brother” scenario, vision technology can be used in different ways from
just looking at people’s faces.
Imagine a camera hooked up to a computer that can look at a production line.
If something is about to go wrong, that technology can spot it in time.
If something dangerous is going to happen, perhaps the computer can thwart this.
If there is danger in the street and something terrible is about to go off, then these cameras
might be able to catch it before it’s too late.
2019 was a big year for such vision technology, but we have no doubt that 2020 will be a bigger
year.
Then there’s things happening that don’t necessarily involve us, but they are still
pretty cool.
NASA reports that in 2020 Japan will be well on its way to finishing its $2.2 billion project
to build a place on the moon for robots.
It will be built by robots for robots to use.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said this about the project, “Various commands
have been executed — the routine operation is repeated, driving over specified distances
is automated, and operations requiring fine tuning are controlled remotely.
The operational process has shown feasibility of the unmanned technologies to build a lunar
base.”
We can’t promise it will be fully operational by 2020, but it seems next year things will
happen.
That’s what the media is telling us anyway.
Sticking with space, many other interesting things will happen next year.
NASA will launch its Mars Exploration Program in July, which will check out the red planet
more thoroughly than before and try to ascertain what could live up there.
Down on Earth we are told that in 2020 the world’s most powerful particle collider
the Large Hadron Collider will get some big updates.
As for who has access to the Internet, well, a lot of us just take being online for granted.
But still it’s reported that in 2019 there are just 4.4 billion people online.
There are more than 7.7 billion people in the world, so a lot of folks can’t enjoy
what you enjoy online.
The good news for them is that the forecast is good, and many more people will be connected
year-by-year.
In fact, it’s estimated that by 2022 there will be 6 billion Internet users, which will
then be around 75 percent of the world’s population.
Not only will more internet users mean more people have access to vital information, but
more people online means job opportunities and the chance just to have fun online.
The same goes for smartphones.
In 2019 it was said 3.3 billion people owned a smartphone but in 2020 the number will be
3.5 billion.
This is according to the website Statistica.
While smartphone addiction is something critics are concerned about, we all know there are
many benefits to having such technology in our pockets.
As for those phones, the prediction is that they will improve.
Foldable phones will become a much bigger thing, while battery technology consisting
of several connected blocks should make it possible for our phones to last longer on
a charge.
This last technology is a work in progress, so we can’t say it will definitely be ready
in 2020.
Talking about batteries, some news reports tell us that the use of electric cars is going
to surge in 2020.
We are told that the surge will mainly be in Europe, with zero emissions vehicles there
being on the rise.
We looked at a graph of how many new electric cars have been coming to market since 2012
and how many more will come to market in the next few years.
Yes, it seems there will be a surge in 2020 but it will keep surging into the future,
too, which is a good thing for our environment.
Talking about the environment, UN Climate Chief Christiana Figueres has said 2020 is
a critical year as to how we might change things around.
The world has set distant targets in reducing carbon emissions, but whether we meet them
is still not certain in the least.
The good news is that people are much more aware now of environmental issues, so we at
least expect some positive things to happen next year.
We might take one thing of note here.
That’s that the country of Liberia will become the first country on the planet to
stop cutting down its trees.
For this, the country of Norway will give this underdeveloped nation $150 million.
This deal has been on the table for a number of years but it looks like it will happen
in 2020.
As for completely different matters, in 2020 the U.S will have a presidential election.
Is that a good thing?
Well, democracy is seen by most as being something positive in this world so we think it is.
We just looked at betting odds, and current president Donald Trump as well as candidate
Elizabeth Warren are hot favorites.
Anything could happen, and we are not here to tell you what we think is a positive result.
It should be fun anyway, and no doubt the election will take some of your time up.
Over in the UK if Brexit has been finally implemented the transition period will end
December 31, but again, anything could happen here.
In other news the world will get taller buildings and records will be smashed.
The Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia has been under construction for quite some time and
has seen some setbacks, but it’s thought it could finally be finished in 2020.
If that happens we will see the only building in the world that is a massive one kilometer
high.
That’s 3,281 feet.
It will comprise of 5.7 million square feet of concrete and 80,000 tons of steel and will
cost a whopping $1.23 billion.
Also in the Middle East, but this time in Dubai, we will get the 2020 World Expo, and
it’s going to be a great event from what we can see.
Over in Japan from 24 July – 9 August 2020 Tokyo will host the Olympic Games.
If you can’t make it there why not stay home and play on your Playstation 5, because
Sony has said that it’s coming some time in 2020.
It will have more computing power than anything we have seen so far and will also support
virtual reality, another technology that will vastly improve that year.
That’s all we can tell you, but we’d like to know why you think 2020 will be a great
year.
Tell us in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out our other video These Will Be the Most Powerful Militaries
In 2020.
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.