Following a talk at the Euroscience Open Forum earlier this month, Intel principal engineer and futurist Brian David Johnson sat down with ScienceNOW to discuss his forecasts about “the interaction between humans and computers.” Noting he’s focused on the year 2020, Johnson had the following to say as part of the Q&A:
Q: You study the interaction between humans and computers. What do you foresee in the next 10, 15 years?
B.D.J.: Looking at the past, technology has been about command and control. In the future it will be about relationships. Our technologies will get to know us and we’ll become more tightly connected. That has an impact on what we do productivity-wise, but even more it connects us to the things and people we love. Siri, the personal assistant built into your iPhone, is an early example of that. You literally talk with your phone and it can talk back to you.
Q: In what way does the development of chips play a role in this?
![Brian David Johnson, Intel Corporation [image courtesy EuroScience Open Forum via ScienceNOW]. Brian David Johnson, Intel Corporation [image courtesy EuroScience Open Forum via ScienceNOW].](http://www.cccblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/sn-johnson.jpeg)

