For preview only. Get it at Amazon.com  #ad.

The World in 50 Years: Our Body

2007, Science  -   9 Comments
8.10
12345678910
Ratings: 8.10/10 from 91 users.

An effective hybrid of narrative and documentary, The World in 50 Years: Our Body details the probable innovations of the future through the guise of dramatic reenactments. The imagined subject of the film is a twice-divorced father who has lived with a fragile heart condition since childhood. Through his story, viewers are escorted through a plethora of breakthroughs in the fields of medicine, housing, and other areas that impact our daily lives.

It begins with the intelligent home, which is wired to function like a personal secretary and caretaker. Computer sensors remind occupants of the day's appointments, test the breath of the person brushing their teeth at the sink, and even order take-out food. This level of full-service convenience is a double-edged sword, however. For every innovation, there's a price to be paid both in terms of rising costs and invasions of privacy. These same sensors are connected to various agencies across the region, including health insurance companies. If a customer is found to be living recklessly - such as engaging in nightly drinking binges - his premiums are likely to skyrocket.

Some of the advancements highlighted in the film are expected to become the norm within the next decade. Such is the case for smart fabrics, a line of clothing which is seamlessly wired to monitor blood pressure, heart function and other health-related concerns. The film introduces us to Sundaresan Jayaraman, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology who has fostered this invention towards its inevitable widespread application. If the subject of the film's narrative suffers a cardiac episode from his pre-existing condition, sensors in his clothes will immediately call out to the paramedics and transmit a full medical history before he even reaches the hospital.

From the bedroom to the operating room, The World in 50 Years: Our Body orients us to a vast number of future technologies we never dreamed possible in our lifetime. While the predominant tone of the film is one of wonder and amazement, it remains clear-eyed in its forewarning of what we may be giving up once we implement these comforts into our lives.

More great documentaries

9 Comments / User Reviews

  1. watchtheduck

    Sounds a lot like the movie, The Island. The next step will be to harvest our organs.

  2. j.smith

    ''This video is private'' -Why can't I watch it? Anyone know?

  3. keith jensen

    That's some future!

  4. Hollis Ramsey

    the heart clone and transplant surgery are SO COOL! i hope that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is focusing on some of the science in this doc. none of it is beyond the scope of our invention; only of our technical ability -- e.g., the thickness of the woven wires in clothing. and how about room-temp semiconductors? are we there yet?

  5. jay907

    Hey you naysayers, what you don't understand is that although the speed of conventional processors has slowed down we are processing more data each year on an exponential scale regardless. Advancements in all fields will continue to flood our society in ever increasing frequency. Besides this fact, new computing methods are right around the corner that will enhance the process by a multiple that is truly unimaginable to us today via the very recent advent of programmable quantum chips (imagine humanity as we were just discovering integrated circuits and what the result was, this is the same). It's not conspiracy, it's basic logic when you understand what is going on.

  6. Mahmoud BouRaad

    Well done documentary but where the world is getting to? It's such a dream with such advance technology for us not to see now but for the future generation to come 50 years more or less from now.

  7. me

    Not very accurate at all. This will all happen sooner rather than later within the next 10-20 years so far as 3-d printed organs go. But, all in all an interesting view of the future.

  8. And yet...

    I remember watching on TV circa 1985 that around year 2000 the maximum lifespan will be at least 30 years longer than the then longest living human beings (which was around 120 years) thanks to "inevitable" advances in technology. And we just saw David Bowie die at 69... in 2016!!! You know that Stephen King novel 11/22/63 where a guy goes some 50 years back in time? There a woman asks the guy how's the future and he goes "people pay more for gasoline and have more buttons to push. Otherwise, it's about the same." Probably it'll be the case 50 years from now.

  9. it should be tagged as technology doc ...

    but i really like it and enjoyed thanks for keeping us tunned :)