4 ways tech is going to change the world

The Colorado State Fair recently held its annual art competition, and one of the top prizes went to an AI-generated image created by Jason A [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( The Colorado State Fair recently held its annual art competition, and one of the top prizes went to an AI-generated image created by Jason Allen. He used a platform called [Midjourney]( to turn text into a work of art. Artists of the paint-and-canvas variety are [up in arms]( about the whole thing, astonished that somebody who typed a string of words on their keyboard and hit “enter” is now considered a member of their community. “Theatre d’Opera Spatial,” by Jason Allen. Regardless of which side you land on the debate, you can’t deny that in the past year, the world of AI art — and technology in general — has moved incredibly fast. Not only do we have NFTs and Shiba Inu coins, but we also now have [DALL-E](, [robots that run restaurants]( and [smart contact lenses]( (more on that later). How will the world work in 20 years, let alone 200? Let’s take a closer look at four major technological innovations that could potentially transform our future. Can AI Help the Underprivileged? Right now, robots are primarily positioned in the manufacturing and auto industries, but that will change in the future. By 2042, it’s quite possible that a human will not be writing this newsletter (if they still exist at all). Tyler Cowen says AI may bring “big changes in compensation” to the knowledge sector, which is a nice way of saying that I, a journalist, am in deep trouble. “Software can already write simple news articles, especially for standardized events such as earnings reports or sports scores. The wages of journalists will fall accordingly,” he writes. But the demise of my career is, on the whole, a good thing. In fact, Tyler says AI has potential to become [a great equalizer for the world](. Artificial intelligence has knock-on effects that will make goods and services cheaper, to the benefit of all. And although the technology might end up devaluing certain jobs, it can’t replace the entire service sector. Tasks like gardening and plumbing are way harder to automate, so we’ll still need humans to snake the toilets and square the hedges. The main change in the jobs sector might come in the form of retraining, a task that will become far more mainstream in the coming years. Our jobs are all going to get tweaked a little bit, whether you’re holding a paintbrush or manipulating pivot tables in Excel. Can You Make an Electric Car Without Losing Billions? One of the most promising technological revolutions that has been afoot for years is electric vehicles. We’ve heard plenty about Tesla (and [Elon Musk](), but there are more players on the road now than ever before. Startups Rivian and Lucid are already crowd favorites in the race to create the most efficient EV, but Chris Bryant says there are [many in-house manufacturing hurdles]( that stand between them and the first-place trophy. The problem isn’t getting customers — they’ve got plenty! It’s in the actual making of the cars … which isn't so great yet. Other EV startups are having an even harder time. Arrival, an electric-van producer in the UK, had originally told investors that it would make 600 vans this year. It has since revised its output to 20 vehicles this year, a measly 3% of what it promised. Instead of building cars in-house, Fisker (another EV flower child) has decided to outsource its production to a manufacturer that has a bit more experience under its seat belt. Chris says it’s a fine idea, though not exactly great for retaining control of the process: There’s a lot riding on the EV industry — the future of the planet, no biggie! Are We Building a Supply Chain to Beat Climate Change? Another sector that carries the future of our planet on its back is the solar industry, which, lucky for us, [is undeniably winning the energy transition](: “2022 has been a blockbuster year for energy transition — and nowhere is spending racing ahead more dramatically than in solar,” writes David Fickling. David was [absolutely astonished]( — his words, not mine — to discover that construction of the solar supply chain we need to reach net zero is barreling full speed ahead. The key here is a semiconductor called solar polysilicon, a term that you should absolutely remember so that you sound smart at your next dinner party. David takes a deep dive into its transformative nature, and he says that the gigawatt growth is so impressive that it’s hard to wrap your head around: “The solar boom of the past two decades has left the world with a cumulative 971GW of panels. The polysilicon sector is now betting on hitting something like that level of installations every year,” he writes excitedly. From the looks of it, [the decades-long war]( over the renewable energy transition has already been won by the sun. Will Contact Lenses Replace Our Phone Screens? When I was a child, I was completely obsessed with “Spy Kids” — specifically, these glasses: Now, over 20 years after the movie’s release, we have a prototype for something even cooler: [smart contact lenses](! Screenshot from a video showing Mojo Vision CEO Drew Perkins wearing the Mojo Lens for the first time in June. Source: Mojo Vision/YouTube Parmy Olson recently visited [Mojo Vision](, a company that specializes in developing the next-level technology. Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse better watch out: “I think the bigger shift will be to augmented reality, where glasses or contact lenses display information on the world around us so we can see both the online and real world at once,” Parmy writes. The human attention span is already so short, what with half-watching TV and half-scrolling TikTok for hours on end. An augmented-reality smart contact lens will only push us further in that direction, giving us all the information — and TikToks — we could ever want in the blink of an eye. More Tech Opinions With its new watch, Apple’s got the [Ironman crowd]( right where it wants it, writes Tim Culpan. Stephen Carter says [internet trolls]( won’t rain on Amazon’s parade. [Facebook’s glory days are over](. Who would want to pay for it now? asks Parmy Olson. More Data From Bloomberg Opinion Your friends aren’t actually retiring in their [late 50s and early 60s](. — Justin Fox Wall Street might want to think twice before trying to [buy this dip](. — Jonathan Levin [Free college]( is an idea that should never come to America. — Allison Schrager Notes: To contact the author of this newsletter, email Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. This is the Theme of the Week edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a digest of our top commentary published every Sunday. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022