The Technology Of 2022

If the pandemic has implemented the technology that enables telecommuting and eLearning, while giving a powerful boost to e-commerce, the technology of 2022 will not lag behind the previous year. Blockchain and cryptocurrency are going strong, the Zuckerberg metaverse, NFTs or space technology are just some of the solutions that will make people talk during the year that begins.

1. Zuckerberg’s Metaverse

In 2021, the leak of the employee Frances Haugen caused real problems for Facebook, showing that the company knew the mental damage and toxicity it produced and did nothing to prevent it. To defend himself and relaunch his company, Mark Zuckerberg renamed his company Meta. Virtual reality, augmented reality and avatars already existed, but the Meta company wants to take it to the next level with the metaverse, a complete virtual universe in which to interact. It remains to be seen if with this technology from 2022 it will be able to stand up to the new networks that have emerged in recent years, such as TikTok, Twitch, or recently Substack.

2. The New Cryptocurrencies

The currency of the future still generates many suspicions. However, the emergence of stable coins (a cryptocurrency associated with the value of a “ fiat ” currency -the dollar or the euro-, material goods or even another cryptocurrency), could make 2022 the year of its normalization. Last year we have already seen the emergence of Proshares Bitcoin Strategy , an investment fund linked to the value of the cryptocurrency.

3. Other Blockchain Applications

It’s not just the technology that makes cryptocurrency possible. Blockchain has proven to be a powerful tool for traceability (for example, of vaccines) or interaction with public administrations, while enabling Smart contracts  and even digital works of art with NFTs, as we will see below. Your applications are just beginning.

4. Hybrid Formulas For Teleworking

From 60% to 70% of workers have considered teleworking a good experience. However, the future of this technology in 2022 seems to be in hybrid models, led by large technology companies such as Google, Microsoft or Apple. Virtual work or video conferencing solutions are living their golden age, with systems such as Teams (Microsoft), Slack, Zoom or Google Meet (Google).

5. The New Space Race

It seemed stagnant a few decades ago, but it is experiencing a new silver age driven by private companies. Personalities like Jeff Bezos, who made his first 11-minute space flight in July 2021 aboard New Shepard, or Elon Musk, who plans to boost space travel in the coming years with his company SpaceX. The founder of Tesla has stated that the key to normalizing space travel lies in being able to reuse rockets instead of using them in a single space trip. Despite the risks and international conflicts that he has already had due to his space adventure , in 2022 he and other millionaires will put even more effort in achieving it.

6. The New Generation of Ransomware

During this year, the attacks via ransomware (kidnapping and encryption of company files asking for a ransom in exchange for the keys to decrypt them) will increase. At the end of last year, it was companies like Estrella Damm or Media Markt that suffered these attacks and had to stop their production or distribution. During 2022, Artificial Intelligence will be incorporated as one more tool to anticipate obstacles and break down the defenses of companies, so cybersecurity techniques must also become more sophisticated to repel attacks.

7. The Rise and Fall of NFTs

NFTs, or Non Fungible Tokens , are unique digital assets that cannot be modified or exchanged for others of the same value, because no two are the same. They carry a digital certificate of authenticity and use blockchain technology to record their starting value and subsequent transactions. Although millions have been paid for digital works made by this technology, it is expected to deflate in 2022. The reasons are that, although they are compared to works of art, they are easier to copy than these, and they also facilitate money laundering. But we will not see the end of this technology in 2022, there will still be much to talk about.

8. Artificial Intelligence and Its Regulation

If until now AI had emerged as an important technology, we are already beginning to find its limits. For example, the Ask Delphi project, which aimed to make AI learn ethical judgment from humans, ended up showing that it could become racist and misogynistic. The same had happened with Microsoft’s AI Tay when it was launched on Twitter years ago. Therefore, in 2022 we will see attempts to endow AI with principles and values, reviewing how it makes its algorithmic decisions and controlling its learning. AI is behind technologies such as facial recognition, and can make, for example, a human being considered suspicious just because of the color of their skin. Its use becomes dangerous without adequate control.

Conclusion

In short, in 2022 we will continue to talk about blockchain, not only for cryptocurrencies, social networks will live their umpteenth reincarnation, we will deal with telework and cybersecurity, and we will find the ethical and legal limits of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, manipulation weather, or spacecraft. 

The technology of 2022 will not only be the vaccine against the latest variant of the coronavirus, but there will be significant technological challenges and we will have a whole year to discover them.