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2036 timeline contents 2036 - In-vitro meat is a rapidly growing industry | Alzheimer’s disease is fully curable | Bionic eyes surpassing human vision | Detailed probing and mapping of the Kuiper Belt is underway
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2036 In-vitro meat is a rapidly growing industry Recent advances in tissue engineering have made it possible to "grow" synthetic meat using single animal cells.* This first became affordable to the public in the 2020s.* After years of further testing and refinement, a wide range of meat products are now available in what has become a rapidly expanding market.* In-vitro meat has a number of advantages. Being just a lump of cultivated cells, it is produced without harm or cruelty to animals. It is unusually pure and healthy whilst retaining the original flavour, texture and appearance of traditional meat. Perhaps most importantly, it requires far less water and energy to produce, greatly lessening the impact on the environment. Like GM crops, political and psychological hurdles delayed its introduction to consumers. The emerging food crisis, however, along with endorsements from animal welfare groups, later gave impetus to its development. Though still years away from completely replacing traditional meat, it is now a mainstream product in many countries.
Alzheimer's disease is fully curable New treatments for Alzheimer's developed in the 2020s reduced the risk of acquiring the disease by more than half.* Thanks to pioneering efforts, a further decade of progress has yielded what may be considered an effective cure. Drawing from a myriad of long-term studies, researchers have identified the precise mechanisms and processes involved in the loss of neurons and synapses in the cerebral cortex and subcortical regions. Faulty genes can be "switched off" with a new generation of drugs, while the brain itself can be regenerated using stem cells.** This breakthrough was aided in part by reverse-engineering of the human brain, which provided researchers with a complete model of its neurological system down to the cellular level. Nanobots – first developed in 2025 – are now seeing widespread use in medical establishments and these machines can precisely target individual cells.** The ability to combat Alzheimer's is one of the great success stories of the 2030s. It comes at a time when dementia rates are soaring: with an ageing population, the number of cases was predicted to quadruple by 2050.*
Bionic eyes surpassing human vision Although yet to become mainstream, bionic eye implants are now available that not only restore sight, but actually exceed human vision. This breakthrough has been made possible due to exponential advances in sensor technology, computing and neuroscience. The first generation of these implants began appearing in the 2010s.* They were somewhat crude initially – providing only a pixelated view of the world and requiring the use of glasses frames for mounting the cameras. This latest generation, however, is such high resolution that it far exceeds the sensitivity of natural human eyes, and is physically indistinguishable from the latter. Gigapixels of resolution can be captured and transmitted to the optic nerve into the visual centres of the brain. Externally mounted cameras are no longer necessary – these have been miniaturised by a factor of thousands and incorporated within the eye itself. Bionic eyes will soon begin to offer more than just ordinary sight. They will be capable of providing infrared vision, for instance, for improved health and safety in night-time situations. They will include video recording capabilities, serving as the ultimate in portable webcams. The convergence of Web 4.0 and augmented reality will enable users to receive detailed information on their surroundings, just by looking around them.* The cost of these implants is dropping substantially, thanks to exponential improvements in price performance. Costing tens of thousands of dollars in earlier decades, they will soon be available for less than $100.
Detailed probing and mapping of the Kuiper Belt is underway Advances in telescopic power have revealed countless new bodies in the Kuiper Belt, many rivalling Pluto in size. At the same time, a new generation of solar-sail technology is emerging. Spacecraft using this form of propulsion were first demonstrated in 2010. Much larger versions are now being deployed. Some have membranes extending hundreds of metres, with greatly improved thrust-to-mass ratio – up to 50 times higher than in previous designs. This is made possible through nanotechnology and space-based production of sail panels.* Following in the footsteps of New Horizons, a series of these probes is now being sent to the Kuiper Belt, which until now was largely unexplored. Close range studies are conducted on a number of the ancient, icy planetoids of this remote region.* With better telescopes and longer-range probes, humanity is penetrating ever further into the depths of space. Astronomers are now forming a highly detailed, extremely accurate map of our Solar System as a whole.
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References 1 In vitro meat, Wikipedia: 2 What's next: the future, from 2009 to 2049, Wired: 3 "Eating real meat in 2035 could be as morally questionable as eating foie gras – and about as expensive." 4 See 2026. 5 Institute
for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM), University of Washington: 6 Human
stem cells combat Alzheimer's, Machines Like Us: 7 "When
I was a student at MIT, we all shared one computer and it took up a whole
building. The computer in your cell phone today is a million times cheaper
and a thousand times more powerful. What now fits in your pocket, 25 years
from now will fit into a blood cell and will again be millions of times
more cost effective." 8 Nanobots
Flip Off Cancer Switch in Cells, TechNewsWorld: 9 Alzheimer's
disease to quadruple worldwide by 2050, PhysOrg: 10 See 2019. 11 Augmented
reality contact lens could create bionic eyes, theregoesdave.com: 12 Solar
sail - Investigated sail designs, Wikipedia: 13 "Solar
sails in coming decades will be used for increasingly complex missions,
even in the far reaches of the solar system."
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