Fight Aging!

A few things are of interest in this survey, with one being that a majority of people don't like specific instances of societal change resulting from technological advances if asked about them, which isn't much of a surprise given human nature. Another is that extended human longevity shows up as a desired goal for a larger minority than has been the case in the past - I would expect to see growth in this number when measured, given the events of the past few years. This being a survey there is little distinction made between the fantastical drawn from science fiction and the plausible drawn from science, which is unfortunate, but it is still worth a look.

The American public anticipates that the coming half-century will be a period of profound scientific change, as inventions that were once confined to the realm of science fiction come into common usage. This is among the main findings of a new national survey by The Pew Research Center, which asked Americans about a wide range of potential scientific developments - from near-term advances like robotics and bioengineering, to more "futuristic" possibilities like teleportation or space colonization.

Asked to describe in their own words the futuristic inventions they themselves would like to own, the public offered three common themes: 1) travel improvements like flying cars and bikes, or even personal space crafts; 2) time travel; and 3) health improvements that extend human longevity or cure major diseases. One in ten Americans (9%) list the ability to travel through time as the futuristic invention they would like to have, and an identical 9% would want something that improved their health, increased their lifespan, or cured major diseases.

At the same time, many Americans seem to feel happy with the technological inventions available to them in the here and now - 11% answered this question by saying that there are no futuristic inventions that they would like to own, or that they are "not interested in futuristic inventions." And 28% weren't sure what sort of futuristic invention they might like to own.

A substantial majority of Americans (81%) believe that within the next 50 years people needing an organ transplant will have new organs custom made for them in a lab. Belief that this development will occur is especially high among men, those under age 50, those who have attended college, and those with relatively high household incomes. But although expectations for this development are especially high within these groups, three-quarters or more of every major demographic group feels that custom organs are likely to become a reality in the next half-century.

Link: http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/04/17/us-views-of-technology-and-the-future/