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00:00 Have you ever watched it in a film or read it in a book and thought, "I could do with
00:05 some of that"?
00:06 We've long been hooked on imagining characters with superhuman abilities, but it hasn't
00:11 always been the case that we could ever seriously expect the magic of science fiction to bleed
00:16 over into the mundane of everyday life.
00:19 In this generation, however, that could all be about to change.
00:24 This is Unveiled, and today we're taking a closer look at the real-life superpowers
00:28 that you could have before you die.
00:31 Do you need the big questions answered?
00:33 Are you constantly curious?
00:34 Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
00:37 And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
00:41 In terms of modern technology, time seems to move at a faster rate than it does for
00:45 everything else.
00:46 In the 21st century, we've seen a tech boom that's grown and grown, constantly gathering
00:52 pace.
00:53 It's like a shiny, twinkling, humming snowball that's rolling down a hill with seemingly
00:57 no end… leaving everyone to watch and wonder just what will they think of next?
01:03 In this episode, we're looking at four technologies in particular that really could give you superpowers,
01:08 starting with the subtlest and ending with the most significant of all.
01:12 First up, how smart would you say you are?
01:14 Because the chances are that no matter how you'd rate yourself right now, you'll
01:18 be much smarter in the future.
01:19 Now, this video isn't solely interested in artificial intelligence, but AI is the
01:24 foundation for our first superpower.
01:27 In recent times, we've begun to see how prevalent AI will be.
01:30 At the turn of the century, it was the plain old internet that had seemed like it would
01:34 birth supreme knowledge in our species.
01:37 But now, just googling something is kind of old hat.
01:41 Instead, search engines, social media sites, encyclopedias, libraries, teaching aids, government
01:47 reports, sports scores, movie scripts, menus, and just about anything else you can think
01:52 of… exist in a kind of bottomless data pool.
01:56 And experts say that that pool will be easily mined and sifted in the future… by self-replicating,
02:02 machine-learning, AI applications with infinitely more processing power than even, by comparison,
02:08 the humble human brain.
02:10 Contrary to the well-peddled doomsday predictions of the looming singularity and of humankind
02:15 being "killed off" by vengeful robots, however, there are already hints towards how
02:20 we might harness superintelligence for ourselves.
02:23 Brain implants have come a long way in a short time.
02:26 For decades, they were seen as far-future possibilities.
02:30 Although, as no one back then really knew how the brain worked, no one was seriously
02:35 expecting to meddle inside it, nor to enhance it.
02:39 But that's all changed in the modern world.
02:41 There are now, and have now been, multiple attempts to map the brain in extreme detail.
02:46 One of the most famous was the Human Connectome Project, started in 2009.
02:51 At present, we still don't have the complete, finished article… but the mounting data
02:55 from brain studies all over the world has enabled us to better understand certain sections
03:00 in particular, including the hippocampus and areas linked with memory.
03:04 This knowledge is then being translated into data inbuilt into proposed AI implants on
03:10 the brain, inside the skull, and perhaps even inside the brain, as well.
03:15 For the most part, the primary goal here is to specifically tackle various neurological
03:20 disorders, including Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.
03:24 What are known as "deep brain stimulation" therapies are being trialled to tackle Parkinson's
03:29 disease and OCD.
03:31 However, some foresee a near-future time when the same technology will be used not only
03:36 to combat brain conditions, but also to increase brain capacity.
03:41 Consider a time when every person has instant access to that same bottomless data pool that
03:46 AI apps currently enjoy, and you really could be super-intelligent before your time is out.
03:51 Of course, many of the superpowers on the page and screen are much more visually dramatic
03:56 than simply everyone being really clever.
03:59 But fear not, if it's battles and explosions that you most want to see, then you're in
04:03 luck.
04:04 "Super-strength" is kind of a catch-all term for a lot of superpowers, but most of
04:08 them are now within our grasp.
04:10 For a start, exoskeletons are already here.
04:13 These are mechanical frames that a person can wrap around their normal, organic bodies
04:18 to enable them to achieve more than they otherwise could.
04:21 There are exoskeletons to enable you to lift more than is humanly possible, with potentially
04:26 massive implications in construction and engineering.
04:30 There are also reported skeletons that can be strapped onto soldiers to enable them to
04:34 move quicker in battle.
04:36 But in and out of war zones, this essentially equates to giving us super-speed.
04:40 Meanwhile, the development of "bulletproof" materials has been something of a constant
04:45 for decades, so that now the standard vests are better, but also sleeker than ever before
04:50 – to the point where there's already talk of the potential for bulletproof, artificial
04:55 skin.
04:56 So, during your lifetime, the stage is set for all of those enhancements.
05:00 However, the quest for super-strength will go much deeper still, and will be more fundamental.
05:06 Because forget exoskeletons, what about the regular skeleton that we all already have?
05:11 X-Men's Wolverine is probably the most famous demonstrator of this kind of power, with his
05:16 adamantium bones.
05:18 But the hope is that these will be available to more than just a henched-up Hugh Jackman
05:22 before long.
05:23 Since as far back as the late 90s, scientists have known of certain genes that seemingly
05:28 enhance bone strength.
05:30 So now, with the advent of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, it isn't beyond possibility that
05:36 an increase in those genes could be gradually installed into more and more people.
05:41 At the same time, and more recently, researchers have been able to identify in detail the trace
05:47 metals that already form a kind of scaffold in our bone structure.
05:51 It's work that's led to questions on whether we could ever tweak those trace metals, to
05:56 perhaps ensure that one day, everyone's bones will be unbreakable.
06:01 But now that you know everything, and you're basically impossible to hurt or beat in a
06:05 fight, you might just want to breathe for a bit.
06:08 Get away from it all.
06:09 And here's where superpower number three would be a godsend.
06:13 Invisibility.
06:14 There are two main routes to take.
06:16 Either you could have an inbuilt power to bend and corrupt light to make yourself invisible
06:21 that way, similar to how Susan Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, achieves it in Marvel
06:26 comics.
06:27 Or you could use a device to render yourself unseeable, as per Harry Potter.
06:31 In terms of what will happen in your lifetime, the second one is much more likely.
06:35 In general, we see things because light reflects off of them in specific ways and into our
06:41 eyes, which are then capable of processing certain parts of the light spectrum.
06:45 The job of a real-life invisibility cloak is then quite simple.
06:49 It needs to stop that from happening.
06:52 In practice, it's not easy… but there have been multiple attempts made, and we are
06:56 getting better at it.
06:58 The development of invisibility cloaks has all to do with a research field known as transformation
07:03 optics.
07:04 Within that field, scientists and engineers are working to create metamaterials which
07:09 are made up of intricate, deliberate nanostructures that can bend and redirect light away from
07:15 themselves.
07:16 The Canadian company Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corporation is a leading developer of military
07:21 camouflage products, but it claims invisibility invented with its highly innovative Quantum
07:27 Stealth.
07:28 This is a thin, card-like material that, when wrapped around an object you wish to conceal,
07:34 can render that object fully or partially invisible.
07:37 Sometimes you can't see it at all, and other times it's blurred or indecipherable.
07:41 What's clear, though, is that Hyperstealth isn't on its own.
07:45 There's a rush of competitors aiming to produce ever more flexible, more reliable,
07:50 and more convincing invisibility.
07:52 So, soon, you really will be able to just… disappear.
07:56 And finally, what, above all else, would be a pretty handy invention between now and the
08:01 time that you die?
08:02 How about… not dying?
08:05 The quest for immortality has been a long one until now, but increasing numbers are
08:09 coming to believe that we could finally be reaching the end of it.
08:13 Again, there are a couple of directions we could head down.
08:16 There's digital immortality, and physical.
08:19 The digital type is largely focused on ongoing attempts to convert the human mind into transferable
08:24 data.
08:25 It's another realm where AI will be key if it is to succeed, as advocates claim that
08:30 the entire human race might one day be housed on huge servers… with our lives, experiences,
08:37 thoughts, and feelings effectively saved, as though at a checkpoint in a video game.
08:42 In some ways, it's like cryonics for consciousness.
08:46 The promise being that we will all be able to digitally freeze ourselves before all the
08:50 information that makes us is lost forever.
08:53 Many more are hopeful for physical immortality, however.
08:57 For a way to live forever but to still exist in physical space, rather than be reduced
09:01 down to a list of numbers and symbols.
09:04 Here, it's life extension technologies that will be crucial.
09:08 The goal is to push life expectancy higher and higher, so that it becomes more and more
09:12 likely that you will live for longer, the longer you live.
09:17 One proposed method is via the use of nanotechnology.
09:20 The futurist and AI specialist Ray Kurzweil has previously predicted a remedy to ageing
09:25 thanks to nanotech solutions deployed inside the human body.
09:29 It's an idea with a lot of heritage, too, as the 20th century US physicist Richard Feynman,
09:35 in collaboration with Albert Hibbs, previously mused that we might one day be able to quote-unquote
09:40 "swallow the doctor".
09:42 The precise applications are only now coming into view, but if we were to give our bodies
09:47 over then perhaps it won't be long until those bodies never die.
09:52 But what do you think?
09:54 Which of these near-future capabilities are you most excited by?
09:57 Which do you think may cause more harm than good?
10:00 And which do you suspect might never come to fruition, no matter the promises that have
10:05 been made?
10:06 Let us know in the comments!
10:08 Because superintelligence, superstrength, invisibility, and immortality… those are
10:15 the real superpowers that you could have before you die.
10:19 What do you think?
10:20 Is there anything we missed?
10:22 Let us know in the comments!
10:23 Check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell
10:27 for our latest content.