The digital age is producing waves of technology that were completely unimaginable just a few years ago. At the top of my list are advances in microchips and in biotechnology, the safe and constant mapping of the human brain. The results, I predict, will completely change who we are as a species.

Meanwhile, exciting things are happening in the development of hardware technology and we are about to enter an era where lasers are ubiquitous and integral to almost everything around us. In fact, they already are (although overwhelmingly, they are now used as simple sensors in our supermarket scanners with remote controls). Similar technological advances use infrared and ultraviolet light, but the laser has multiple applications and, among countless other uses, will become the eyes, ears and noses of the robots we are about to see explode on stage. From personal computers to surgery to rugged industrial work, lasers will be everywhere.

In fact, they already are. If you feel that your privacy is no longer what it used to be and that a lot of information about your personal habits is being collected all the time, you’re right. And when you shop with your credit card at a retail store or fly somewhere, lasers play a role in scanning your buying habits. But don’t worry, everyone else is being scanned too, and while your information is of course used for marketing purposes, it’s also used to improve the service.

So far, we haven’t been able to harness the power of light very well, while we’ve done wonders with electricity. But we have with lasers, which are after all highly concentrated beams of light. There is no doubt that we have built a firm foundation with laser technology and the applications are tremendous. Lasers will soon be everywhere.