The future woven into the present

A trip to China shows that futuristic technology is being quietly incorporated into everyday life

- Aarti Bhana

During a recent visit to Shanghai, China, to attend the Mobile World Congress — the world's largest exhibition and conference for the mobile technology industry I expected to see flying delivery drones, machines autonomously completing mundane tasks and robots that talk.

It was not that futuristic but I saw technology being developed to pave the way for such a future and it was fascinating.

The three-day conference had displays of new smart watches and laptops one was 3D and another was transparent and cars that were entirely automated and could transform from an SUV into a pickup (a bakkie, in local terms).

I teased a robot that copied my hand gestures and saw a human-figured robot carry and deliver a crate. The developers said it was a prototype. They spoke about other advancements, like faster 5G networks and assistants, powered by artificial intelligence, to hold us accountable with our diets, exercise and tasks.

The really fascinating way that technology is deployed in China is in the streets. The locals had everything at their fingertips - literally.

Ahead of the trip, I was informed that everything was cashless and mostly digital. I didn't need to worry about exchanging currencies and carrying cash. I just had to set my Visa card to international payments, and I was sorted. However, China has localised its pay options through WeChat and Alipay, so I was a bit limited in this regard.

The country also localised its social media platforms so the things the West uses to communicate: WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Google, were blocked.

I found that out at the last second, so I downloaded a paid VPN to bypass the firewalls a few minutes before boarding a 12-hour flight to Hong Kong and hoped it would give me connection - just to let my family know I was safe, and share some pictures on Instagram, obviously.