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takyon writes:

Intel conducted a survey of 1,000 consumers and 102 "tech elites"* to celebrate the 50th year of the company's existence:

Americans are excited about the future potential of technology, but 40 percent believe emerging technologies will introduce as many new problems as solutions in the next 50 years. This finding comes from Intel's "Next 50" Study of 1,000 consumers, conducted with research firm PSB, to determine prevailing perceptions about the future of technology.

"Emerging technologies have the potential to transform many aspects of our everyday life," said Genevieve Bell, director of the 3A Institute, Florence Violet McKenzie Chair and distinguished professor at the Australian National University, and a vice president and senior fellow at Intel. "Studies like this remind us about the diversity of human experience. When we talk about the future of innovation, we're talking about a range of ideas, technologies and attitudes that will impact our lives in important ways."

Even as consumers anticipate new technologies, they remain most excited about those that are most familiar. The survey revealed that consumers expect to rely most on smartphones (87 percent) in the future. Consumers also ranked PCs (84 percent) and smart home technology (84 percent) among the most important technologies in the next 50 years.

I thought the PC was dying.

Some highlights from the PDF include: much more excitement (56-71%) about "smart home technology" than gene therapy (43-55%) (page 10), little excitement (10-14%) over full automation of jobs forcing governments to issue a universal basic income (page 13), fathers being much more excited about "AI" than mothers (page 14), and Intel highlighting the worry of social isolation caused by technology when the top concern was robots and AI destroying jobs (page 24).

_{*All technology elites are aged 25 years or older with at least a college education, have a household income of at least $100,000 and follow news about technology closely.}

Original Submission