Disruptive Emerging Technologies: Understanding their Impact and Potential

This century has seen rapid growth in new technologies such as 5G, AI, cloud computing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, smartphones, cryptocurrency, augmented reality, gene editing, social media platforms…and quantum. This is a perfect example of the Law of Accelerating Returns posited by American inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil. In an essay published in 2001, he argued that the rate of technological change accelerates exponentially. “So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century – it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate),” he wrote.