By 2036 we will be living in a cashless world, where pizza will be delivered by drones and doctors appointments will be held in virtual reality.
That’s according to a study commissioned by London and Partners, inspired by predictions put forward by Imperial College London’s Tech Foresight research team.
Researchers asked over 2,000 British people a series of questions about how they believed their lives would be transformed by technology.
Fashion, healthcare and finance were listed among the industries that could be transformed in the next 20 years, according to British consumers.
More than 55 per cent of those surveyed believe people will regularly wear internet connected clothes, while 53 per cent think that 3D printing will be used to produce human organs.
Britons predicted that they will no longer visit the doctor when they get ill but will instead consult their GP from home using virtual reality technology.
More than half of the public also believe that driverless cars will exceed the number of regular cars on major roads in the next two decades.
Less than 20 per cent, think avatar girlfriends or boyfriends could be common place, while just under half of those surveyed think the world’s first cloned human will have been born by 2036.
The study has been released to mark London Technology Week which started on Monday.
Professor David Gann, vice president of innovation at Imperial College London, said the capital’s technologists, scientists, medics and entrepreneurs are creating the future.
“Tech-savvy Londoners welcome new digital advances that are going to revolutionise the way that we live and it is crucial that we harness those ideas to help the capital work even better as a city,” Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said.
Google and Amazon were quick to use drones for delivering orders but other studies have shown the tiny airborne vessels are going to become an increasingly important part of many businesses.
A study by Goldman Sachs found that the most popular use case for commercial drones in the near future will be construction, where they will be used for surveying and mapping.
The global market for drones, valued at around $2 billion today, will replace up to $127 billion worth of business services and human labour over the next four years, according to another research by consulting firm PwC.
Economists are increasingly concerned over the impact of the “rise of robots” and other technological innovations on employment levels.
Ed Rensi, a former McDonald’s CEO, recently warned that robots will take over the fast food industry because they are cheaper and more efficient than humans.
More likely to happen
1. Physical cash will be replaced by digital cashless technology
2. Appointments with doctors will happen via virtual reality
3. Internet connected clothes will be a regular thing
4. 3D printing will be used for creating human organs
5. Driverless cars will overtake the number of normal cars on the road
6. Drone pizza deliveries will become standard
Less likely to happen
1. The first cloned human will be born
2. Commercial space flight will be at every major airport
3. Humans will have connected devices embedded in them
4. The first AI on the board of a company
5. Having avatar girlfriends and boyfriends will be common
6. Robots will outnumber human beings
