WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: What Tech Will Replace the Smartphone?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. I'm more in vogel Bomb and this is

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<v Speaker 1>another classic episode from the brain Stuff archives. We first

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<v Speaker 1>aired this one back in which feels like a million

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<v Speaker 1>years ago, but wasn't really that ancient. Nonetheless, some of

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<v Speaker 1>the predictions it made are already outdated. But I still

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<v Speaker 1>think the question that this episode poses is an interesting one.

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<v Speaker 1>What technology is going to replace the smartphone? Hi brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogel Bomb. Here. Today, nearly eight in ten Americans

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<v Speaker 1>own a smartphone, and we've become accustomed to using them

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<v Speaker 1>for everything from listening to podcasts, taking pictures, reading news,

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<v Speaker 1>and posting on social media, to shopping and making financial transactions.

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<v Speaker 1>For many people, smartphones have even taken the place of

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<v Speaker 1>once common everyday implements like tape measures, flashlights, maps, and

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<v Speaker 1>wrist watches. Smartphones have transformed everyday life so much that

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<v Speaker 1>it's easy to forget that they only became popular a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit more than ten years ago. That's when Apple

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<v Speaker 1>released the iPhone, which combined mobile internet access and computing

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<v Speaker 1>power with a multi touch screen interface, making it possible

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<v Speaker 1>to do pretty much everything by tapping and flipping with

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<v Speaker 1>one fingertip or two. A recent survey found that smartphone

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<v Speaker 1>users now spend about five hours a day using their devices,

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<v Speaker 1>which is why it's tough to walk down a crowded

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<v Speaker 1>sidewalk in any major city without bumping into someone fixated

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<v Speaker 1>upon hit or her screen. But with technological process moving

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<v Speaker 1>at broadband speed these days, we have to think that

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<v Speaker 1>the smartphone as we know it has a limited life expectancy.

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<v Speaker 1>Survey of smartphone users across the world by Ericsson, the

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<v Speaker 1>Swedish communications technology and services company, found that one in

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<v Speaker 1>two people expected that the smartphone would become obsolete by

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<v Speaker 1>which leads to the big question, what's going to replace

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<v Speaker 1>the smartphone? Prognosticators predict that advances in technologies such as

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<v Speaker 1>virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and wearable electronics will

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<v Speaker 1>spawn a new generation devices that could change our everyday

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<v Speaker 1>existence even more than the smartphone did. We spoke with

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<v Speaker 1>Jack Aldrich, a futurist who helps business people figure out

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<v Speaker 1>how to understand and benefit from emerging trends. They said,

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<v Speaker 1>the transition we're about to experience is that we're going

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<v Speaker 1>to go from accessing the internet to living in the internet.

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<v Speaker 1>We don't have a suitably zeitgeisty name for those gadgets,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's a pretty safe bet that they won't be

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<v Speaker 1>palm sized rectangles with glass screens, or with any screen

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<v Speaker 1>at all, for that matter, and they may not even

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<v Speaker 1>be a single gadget. Brad Barons, the chief strategy officer

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<v Speaker 1>for the Center for the Digital Future at the University

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<v Speaker 1>of Southern California, predicts that the smartphone will give way

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<v Speaker 1>to personal area networks, clusters of tiny gadgets concealed in beads,

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<v Speaker 1>in a necklace, or built into eyeglasses or contact lenses.

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<v Speaker 1>Such devices will use VR and a R to project

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<v Speaker 1>information into our field of vision, eliminating the need for

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<v Speaker 1>a screen. And just as we control apps on today's

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<v Speaker 1>smartphones by moving our fingers, will be able to manipulate

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<v Speaker 1>our next generation personal area net works through voice commands

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<v Speaker 1>or by gesturing in the air, perhaps with the help

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<v Speaker 1>of haptic technology like that buzz when you get a text,

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<v Speaker 1>to help sipulate the sensory feedback of touching actual objects.

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<v Speaker 1>Typing may not ever become a completely extinct skill, but

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<v Speaker 1>it may someday become as rare as someone who writes

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<v Speaker 1>an elegant Longhand with calligraphy pens. But increasingly we won't

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<v Speaker 1>have to input as much information as we once did.

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<v Speaker 1>That's because next gen intelligent assistance, imagine a vastly more

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<v Speaker 1>intuitive version of Siri, Alex or Kirtana, will learn to

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<v Speaker 1>figure out what we want to know or do, sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>before we realize it ourselves. Aldrich predicts that in the

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<v Speaker 1>near future, our personal gadgetry will study our eye movements

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<v Speaker 1>in order to make predictions. Staring at something for two seconds, say,

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<v Speaker 1>might prompt it to give us more information about that thing.

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<v Speaker 1>Barrens and visions that the intelligent assistance of the future

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<v Speaker 1>will continually whisper in our ears and project messages that

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<v Speaker 1>only we can see that might help us in a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of ways. If we encounter a person and can't

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<v Speaker 1>recall their name, for example, doctor John Smith might flash

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<v Speaker 1>before our eyes to remind us. It's also conceivable that

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<v Speaker 1>our future devices and intelligent assistance may interact with other

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<v Speaker 1>people's digital assistance, possibly taking the place of some of

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<v Speaker 1>our interaction with actual people. That's a prospect that Baron's

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<v Speaker 1>finds both interesting and disturbing. He points to current trends

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<v Speaker 1>like texting instead of calling or using apps like Tinder

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<v Speaker 1>to avoid having to walk up to that cute person

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<v Speaker 1>in the bar with no introduction. Baron said, some of

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<v Speaker 1>this is good, but it also means that people can

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<v Speaker 1>increasingly live in their own little worlds inside what author

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<v Speaker 1>Eli Pariser has dubbed filter bubbles, where you don't need

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<v Speaker 1>to recognize that there are other points of view about things.

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<v Speaker 1>But next generation personal communication devices may also change us

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<v Speaker 1>in other ways that we haven't yet envisioned, as with

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<v Speaker 1>the smartphone, we'll have to start using them to find out.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's upisode was written by Patrick J. Kaiger and produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tristo McNeil and Tyler Clang. For more on this

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<v Speaker 1>and lots of other tech topics, visit house toff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>or more podcasts My heart Radio visit the heart Radio app,

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