UPDATED 08:01 EDT / APRIL 21 2014

Scary stuff: Drones, robots and wearable tech

medium_3774175The world of tech has advanced enormously in just a few short years – we’ve got smartphones, smart homes, 3D printers, hell, we’ve even got drones and self-driving cars! It’s as if we’re living in the future already, and most people think that this rapid pace of change is set to increase over the next few decades.

That’s according to a new survey out from the Pew Research Center, but not everybody thinks this rapid advancement is going to be such a good thing. On the contrary, it turns out there’s quite a few things people are wary of.

Overall, American sentiments are positive, with 56 percent of survey respondents saying they’re optimistic “technological and scientific changes will make life in the future better”, however another 30 percent had a less glassy-eyed view of things.

For one thing, people don’t like the idea of drones. 63 percent of respondents said the advent of personal and commercial drones would be a “change for the worse”, while another 53 percent admitted to being scared of “implants or other devices that constantly show them information about the world around them”.

In other words, there’s a lot of people who’re wary of Amazon shipping parcels by drone, and they’re equally concerned about Google’s vision for its Glass and perhaps, its smart contact lenses of the future.

There’s other, more fanciful ideas people are worried about too, such as genetic modification – altering the DNA of unborn kids to make them “smarter, healthier or more athletic” was a big no-no for more than 66 percent of respondents. Just as unacceptable is the idea of robot caregivers according to 65 percent of respondents, though sadly the survey neglected to ask those people if they felt the same way about robot housekeepers.

Less worrisome is the idea of sitting in a driverless car, with around half of respondents said they’d be okay with this. Other other hand, there’s not too many takers for lab-grown meat, with just 20 percent saying they’d be willing to sample it.

As far as new innovations go, most people agree that science is going to advance pretty rapidly. As many as 80 percent of respondents said that scientists would be able to grow new organs in a lab within the next fifty years. Meanwhile, around 30 percent said they expect humans to be living on other planets during that time frame, with another 20 percent saying we should also have mastered control of the weather.

But just because people aren’t too thrilled with some of these ideas yet, doesn’t mean they won’t become more accepting later. Google Glass is still being tested out by a few select ‘Glassholes‘, self-driving cars haven’t been given a free reign, and commercial drones haven’t been legalized yet. It’ll be interesting to see how people’s attitudes change if and when such innovations become more widespread.

photo credit: Bistrosavage via photopin cc

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