The medical field is one of the most technologically advanced, using high-tech machinery, equipment and methods to aid in keeping people across the globe healthy. Thus, it is no surprise that technologies such as Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence have also entered the medical sphere in a big way. There are a lot of areas that these technologies can permeate, especially when it comes to the analysis and manipulation of vast amounts of personal, and private, medical data. However, not all sectors of the medical sphere have moved over to more efficient ways, leaving a disparity across the field. While surgeons are using robotics to perform tiny operations, the National Health Service, in the UK, has only from the beginning of 2019 been banned from using Fax technology.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a term that is now widely used (and abused), loosely defined and mostly misunderstood. Much the same might be said of, say, quantum physics. But there is one important difference, for whereas quantum phenomena are not likely to have much of a direct impact on the lives of most people, one particular manifestation of AI – machine-learning – is already having a measurable impact on most of us. The tech giants that own and control the technology have plans to exponentially increase that impact and to that end have crafted a distinctive narrative. Crudely summarised, it goes like this: "While there may be odd glitches and the occasional regrettable downside on the way to a glorious future, on balance AI will be good for humanity. Oh – and by the way – its progress is unstoppable, so don't worry your silly little heads fretting about it because we take ethics very seriously."

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. I rode in my first self-driving car in the summer of 1997, as part of a demonstration to display the technology in "the real world" on a stretch of Interstate 15 in San Diego. The organizers took great pains to carefully regulate the separate HOV lanes of the highway to ensure that there were barriers preventing all other cars--and pedestrians--from interfering. Everyone involved knew there was a significant amount of work to get from that demonstration to having self-driving cars safely navigate normal city streets. In the 20 years since, I've continued to study automated vehicles, particularly their history, and the technology has continued to develop.