ABU DHABI // You can instantly change your hormones to pick yourself up when feeling down, upload that weird dream you had last night for others to experience and eat all the junk food you want without any negative repercussions.
These are some of the things we can look forward to in 2035, if you are to go by the predictions in an exhibit in Dubai.
The Museum of the Future opened its doors to the public at Madinat Jumeirah on Monday.
Guests were able to view and interact with displays featuring existing cutting-edge technology as well as theoretical devices that would allow us to enhance our mental, emotional and physical capabilities, as well as tell us what career we should be pursuing.
The segment of the exhibit focusing on human augmentation concerned as well as intrigued some visitors.
Jules Angibeau, 24, believed that brain implant devices – such as one linking people’s minds and another that would help you better interpret people’s moods – could vastly improve our communication.
“We have issues expressing our thoughts and feelings, and we’re losing substance in our communications, so anything that can deliver 100 per cent of our message will be good,” said the Dubai resident.
Mukesh Pandey, 35, said he would particularly look forward to seeing the AutoLingua, another brain implant that would provide instant audio translation – come to fruition.
“It would help erase the barriers,” said the Indian national. “I would love to go to a different country, put the device in and understand what people are saying.”
Mr Pandey said that he was not in support of physical enhancements such as bionic knees, which would allow you to jump as high as 5 metres, run at superhuman speed and lift objects twice your body weight.
Meghaela Kaiser, 42, who was visiting Dubai with her family from Germany, said she regarded some of the ideas dangerous.
“I am not looking forward to, and would not want, everyone knowing my emotions or sharing my dreams,” she said.
“I think these things should stay personal.”
Although Ms Kaiser was in favour of improving people’s physical and mental attributes, she said she would draw the line at using any devices on her children.
“Like a diamond, my children are very valuable to me so I would not want to test these ideas out on them,” she said.
Dr Noah Raford, chief operating officer at the Museum of the Future Foundation, said the exhibit for the World Government Summit was a great tool to get leaders thinking about, and collaborating on, the future.
“It is an extremely interesting way to get senior leadership to think about the emerging future, get people who are actually building that future to come together, and to try to peruse real solutions today that might help us toward the future we might want to have,” Dr Raford said.
The museum’s pop-up exhibition will be open to the public today and tomorrow evening.
Those interested in visiting must preregister online at museumofthefuture.ae.
Dr Raford said ground for the museum’s permanent site would be broken within months and the facility would opened on December 2, 2018.
Located in the Emirates Towers area near Sheikh Zayed Road, major sections of the Dh500 million facility will be built using three-dimensional printing construction technique.
“Recently 3-D printing of concrete at the architectural scale has not only become feasible but quite economically viable, and we hope to make Dubai a hub for this type of technology as well,” he said.
tsubaihi@thenational.ae
