One of the things I see mentioned very often in journals, on TV, and even light weight magazines, is the development in robots. We have had robots for a long time, but for most of that time, they have been pretty damn stupid. An arm that screws a widget onto a gadget on an assembly line is not high tech by today's standards. But more recently, they have been becoming much more sophisticated, and there are signs that the cost is dropping dramatically.
I see a robot vacuum cleaner advertised on TV., cheap enough for the average householder. New Scientist talks of a worm shaped robot under development, which will dig through the Earth and test minerals as it goes as a prospecting tool. The first self drive cars are already built, and some governments are already passing laws to make them legal on public roads. I know that robot lawn mowers are being sold. Mini robot arms are in use to permit more precise surgery. Robot submarine probes cruise under the ocean while sampling and testing water and sediments, and radioing data home.
Computers developed and continue to develop under an exponential law, called Moore's Law, in which their complexity (number of transistors) doubled each two year period, without increasing in price. I strongly suspect that robotic technology is doing the same, though I am not sure of the doubling time.
My interest is the impact on human society. The Japanese have prototype robots for caring for old people in retirement homes. They are pretty sophisticated, though it is predictable that the new nurse robots of 20 years hence will be even more sophisticated, and flexible.
How is this new trend going to change the world over the next few decades?