Reflex : Six ideas that are changing the world
© 2013 EPFL
EPFL’s magazine provides a special report on understanding the trends that will profoundly modify our way of life.
Reflex unveils the challenges of six important scientific, industrial and sociological movements which reshuffle the cards of the future.
Drawing on genetic engineering, researchers imagine that they will be able to harness bacteria to make them produce chemical substances useful to society, trap CO2 or even transform it into biofuel. The development of 3D printers heralds a major change in the manufacture and marketing of products: 3D printing will helps to avoid waste in industrial production, while individual 3D printers could turn each citizen into a manufacturer.
The rise in importance of the “grey lobby”, which defends the interests of senior citizens, is leading to the creation of new markets and the development of a new way of living together. Inspired by scientific methods, the evidence-based policy movement intends to reform politics by rigorously testing any administrative decision. The semantic web or “Web 3.0” wants to deliver an intelligent internet, by indexing data in order to make it more understandable by software. The 21st century human being is also changing: more and more often he or she is living on his or her own, but in a connected way.
Apart from the special report, Reflex also introduces the issues raised by the crypto-currency – the “Bitcoin” – as well as a large computer graphic showing the major causes of mortality in Switzerland.