First, let me start by saying that the intention of this article is not to make a prediction about what technology of tomorrow is going to look like. This article is more about my thoughts of what could potentially happen with technology and its use in the future. It is my thoughts (wishful thinking if you will….) about what good technology of the future could look like and its utility. Also my is plan to possibly write several follow up articles with regards to technology across several disciplines. As they say….we will see…….

As we all know, over the last 10-15 years the world has seen such rapid pace of technological development. What has been more amazing is the rate of technology adoption by people in all walks of life. What in the late nineties was pipe dream in terms of how technology would be used in various facets of life, today is a reality in many fields. Just look at all the companies and their products that are widely used today like Amazon, Apple, Google, Tesla, Amgen, Uber, AirBnB, PayPal, Box, GrubHub, the list goes on and on. And now we are at the dawn of artificial intelligence, machine learning (which may not be one and the same thing), augmented reality, virtual reality, 5G wireless technology (not really new to the world but certainly at its early stages in our country), biotechnology, gene therapy etc etc. It is exciting to think about what all these developments could lead to and how they could change, may be not necessarily our lives, but certainly the way we live it.

Can you imagine what things will look like in the next 100 years……2118?… I cannot either, but what I am pretty sure about is that 100 years from people will look back at us as primitive in terms of our use and adoption of technology. But that is okay. We are the early adaptors who would have made it possible for rapid technological progress and the evolution of its future form!

Hundred years from now could be too far out for me personally given my age. Nonetheless I think about what I would like technology of the future to do for me in my personal and professional life, like as an investment advisor and wealth manager?

If I could dream up a technology of the future and what I would like it to look like for me? Here is what it would look like! I see a combination of various technologies working for me. This combination results in a personal intelligence system (PIS) that stays with me all day, from the moment I wake up to the moment I go back to bed and between that time. I see the PIS as a wearable form of technology (hands free). A device that combines the features of the devices that we know of and exist today like google glasses, apple watch, smartphones, homepods (amazon echo etc) and other devices that do not exist today and we have no idea what they would look like in the future. I see this PIS as a system that I can talk to and the PIS responds verbally, and visually as well, depending on the response required.

In the morning my PIS wakes me up and only me, not my wife or family. While I brush my teeth, my PIS can give me an update of any emails or text messages that I received while I was sleeping. Any device that is linked to my smartphone of today should be able to do that. Somethings I may want to see (visual output) and my PIS can show them to me.  I ask my PIS to update me on overnight markets across the world and it will provide me with market movements across various countries, breaking news if any, overnight policy announcements by either governments or central bankers or any other entity that I may be interested in. PIS will be able to learn my preferences and priorities as it interacts with me on a daily basis (machine learning). My PIS will also help me interpret and analyze current events and breaking news by helping me with some mathematical calculations, historical data analysis, past outcomes and potential future possibilities along with probability calculations (artificial intelligence). All this before I get ready to start work. Such an efficient use of time……😊! Then while I am drinking my morning coffee and eating breakfast, I would ask my PIS to show my favorite morning shows only to me, without waking up the household. Something like google glasses could easily do that.

I end up driving quite a bit for work, to see my clients. My PIS would follow me in my car and sync with my car’s intelligence system seamlessly, acting as one system and there is a continuation of my PIS experience. As much as I like the technology behind driverless cars and the concept of driverless cars, I like driving and I do not see myself giving up driving. On a separate but relevant note, my biggest reservation about driverless cars is…….not safety, but speed limit issues! Think about it, what happens if every car on the highway travels either at or below the speed limit? The current infrastructure will not be able to handle the long lines of traffic. I am not saying that today everyone speeds uncontrollably but they at least go about 10 miles over the speed limit more as an acceptable practice. But with driverless cars, I don’t think it would be that simple. Meaning if the car is going 10 miles over the speed limit and gets in an accident, who would be liable? The manufacturer? Passenger who wasn’t driving? It can get really complicated. I just don’t see existing infrastructure carrying driverless cars without being overwhelmed and breaking down. May be some sort of pod based transportation could be more practical……I don’t know.

That said, I do agree that there is a lot of unproductive time during driving. Using driverless car technology without actually going driverless, I should be able to continue to interact with my PIS and improve productivity. I could ask my PIS to log into my systems at work. For e.g. I would be able to log into my CRM system and type in (speak in) notes from my client meetings to document them before I get to the office. I would be able to log into my custodian account and place trades in client accounts using verbal commands to my PIS.

While all this is going, my PIS, being that it is synced with my car’s intelligence system would keep track of my driving and work with my car to either take over driving when I am too distracted or alert me when only an alert is warranted. Sweet!

When I am at the grocery store (when I do go to an actual store to get things that I needed last minute and could not plan an online purchase), my PIS would be able to sync with the intelligence system of the store and be able to guide me at the store. For e.g. I just ask my PIS, “where can I find a shaving brush?” and the PIS will tap into the store’s system and answer my question if the store has it and what aisle it is in. While checking out, again my PIS should be able to work with the store’s system to ring me up and pay for the items (of course, my PIS is paying using my credit card or other payment information which is already in its database. This can be applied to so many situations I come across on a daily basis.

My PIS will also help me connect with my family throughout the day in a very easy manner. Call, text, facetime etc. Also, my PIS would sync with my home security system and cameras to help me see where our 4 year old is and what she is up to. Further more, my PIS should warn me if our child is in danger of any sort because of external conditions and also if there is a medical emergency.

Speaking of medical emergency, my PIS should be able to communicate some of my vital signs to me. Like what is my heart rate? Blood pressure? Sugar levels? Calorie intake for the day?  Etc etc and also using artificial intelligence be in a position to warn me of possible emerging medical situation or medical emergency. If I am in an accident and emergency services take me to a hospital, my PIS should be able to sync with the hospitals system to communicate with the hospital regarding how to contact my family, my primary care physician, my blood type, my medical power of attorney etc. I cannot think of everything, but I know that this would be just the beginning of possibilities in the medical field.

These are just a few areas where I think technology applications will definitely be there during our lifetime. I could go on and on….the possibilities are endless. There are so many companies already working on these things at different levels of development. What I have not seen is an integration across different technology providers to create a seamless solution and experience for users. But I am sure someone will come up with an operating system (PIS if you will) that will help bring all these technologies together!