‘Future Frontiers Survey 2018’ launched

Dubai / WAM

The Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils launched the ‘Future Frontiers Survey 2018’ to explore the key requirements of future meetings, discuss the most pressing issues, and diversify knowledge sources.
The survey seeks to identify potential scientific developments in vital sectors linked to human life, and examine the global emerging issues in the light of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). It will bring up 10 questions annually addressed to more than 5,000 scientists, experts, members of the Young Scientists Forum of the World Economic Forum, network of experts, in addition to the network of the Global Future Councils.
The Future Frontiers Survey 2018 will contribute to diversifying the sources of knowledge and expertise, understanding the impacts of technological transformations under the 4IR that adopts the principles of integrating emerging technologies, reshaping the boundaries between physical, digital and biological worlds, designing the agendas of future meetings and identifying proper solutions.
The Survey will also consider a parallel perspective of the frontiers of knowledge, an understanding of the long-term impact of technological transformations in different scientific fields, especially in the most promising future fields as well as the sectors that face major challenges.
The survey will cover a number of fields that contribute to foreseeing the future of technology, biological sciences, and data, in addition to changes that may occur in the field of robotics and their integration with the society. It will also discuss the areas that promote scientific discoveries including quantum biology that explains the quantum behavior and how the current science of biology is evolving, in addition to understanding the potential role of quantum physics in
enhancing human minds and consciousness.
Fields that drive development as included in the survey are artificial intelligence, AI, and machine developments that boost learning from small data and comprehend things easier, which will ensure providing valuable services without the need to use big data. This is in addition to the science of discovering innovative treatments using toxicology and effectively explain their characteristics; contribute to treating diseases and disorders that affect humans through a comprehensive understanding of the chemical compositions of toxics and other basic elements.
The Future Frontiers Survey 2018 will discuss fields that pose major challenges to the future of societies including self-controlling military robots that can search for targets independently based on pre-programmed features and data. Such challenges further include the ability of computer systems to diagnose the health and physical condition of individuals according to the “digital phenotype” through sensing any symptoms or signs of illness that doctors may not be able to spot without the assistance of modern technologies.

In the same context, ‘Limited Neuromodulation’ is of extreme importance as it considers the use of certain tools such as electric current or magnetic stimulation to alter the functions of the brain or the psychological and behavioral condition of individuals without surgeries, medicines or transplants. In addition, there might be ways to use AI, neurological system scans and big data within the ‘Predictive Justice Systems’ in order to identify people, set scenarios before they happen, which further highlights the risks arising from the use of these types of analysis in a world dominated by algorithms.