“Within 10 Years, We’ll Be Transplanting Printed Hearts and Kidneys”
How far off is the 3D printing of more complex human organs? Will we one day manage to replicate the structure and functions of the brain? What comes after that? Is technology changing us as a species, and what do the next steps in evolution look like? Dr. Vanyo Vezirov’s story is as colorful as the man himself. Driven by curiosity since childhood, he graduated from a mathematics high school and, for unusual reasons, turned to medicine. Before he had even finished his second year, he and a friend founded a startup focused on bioprinting—the three-dimensional printing of living structures. A young entrepreneur, a doctor, a science communicator, a man with a broad worldview and an unexpected take on the world: we meet Dr. Vezirov to talk about the big questions of medicine and the big answers each of us is looking for today. About fear, and about the decisions we should make not with our brains, but with our hearts…
02Which Predictions for 2025 Came True—and What Lies Ahead?
In 2015, seven leading futurists laid out their expectations for the decade ahead. In a few hours we will welcome that very 2025, so we can now judge how well they did in the dynamic and turbulent first quarter of the 21st century. Then comes the more interesting part: a look at what the same futurists expect today, especially the ones who turned out to be right, and what the coming years hold according to the people who called the last decade.
03“AI Is a Crude Jolt That Will Wake Humanity Up”
How is technology about to settle the eternal battle between dictatorship and freedom? Why might the great technological threat to humanity actually come from the East? And this backed by the serious arguments of a man who knows China and its peculiarities up close. Technology specialists, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs and even clergymen have shared their views on technological change with Digital Stories. Now the time has come for a fascinating meeting with a special guest from the world of design. Svilen Gamolov is a world-renowned product and interior designer who has worked for more than 23 years in Bulgaria, Cyprus and China. In 2018 he made the top 100 of the Design Intelligence Award world design ranking in Hangzhou, China. That same year, in Como, Italy, he won a platinum design award in a competition with 45,906 projects from around the world. He is working to turn Varna into a meeting place for design in Bulgaria and the world through Design Hub Varna. He runs Gamolov Design Studio. What will the homes of the future look like? Why will the real estate market change from the ground up in just a few years? Should humans give up competing with the machine and learn to offer an alternative instead? Why is technology here to wake us from decades of complacent stagnation?
04Hello, Cobot!
“A robotic assistant bakes moussaka in the oven while hanging out the laundry from the washing machine…” Doesn’t sound bad at all, does it? While we were still getting used to the idea that a vacuum cleaner could be a cute, round robot… it has been roaming our homes for years, mapping the rooms and saving us from the dust. Might the same thing happen with the next everyday innovations? Very soon, on August 26, software engineer Zhivko Petrov will show us “firsthand” why a robotic assistant may arrive sooner than we expect. He is one of the speakers at the annual DEV.BG All in One event, which brings the IT community together with guests who sketch out the big topics. Zhivko will be there shoulder to shoulder with Mara the robot. Before that, it is time for a few important questions about the future of robotics. For Zhivko, and for the mechanical lady he is bringing along…
05Five Jobs on Their Way Out and Five the Future Is Bringing In
Technology is drastically changing the needs of society, needs that must be met by the daily work of its individuals. Today whole professions vanish and new ones appear faster and more quietly than ever, and although forecasting in so dynamic a field is nearly impossible, we will try to sum things up: which five professions will soon disappear, which five will be most in demand in the near future, and what five professions we can only imagine might one day exist?
06Do We Even Feel Like Dreaming Anymore?
Nikolay Tellalov offers some precious reflections in a slow interview about the stars and happiness, love and meaning, and the words someone has to say and write down. Have science fiction writers stopped dreaming, or has technology overtaken them? Is humanity still learning to walk, or has it hit a midlife crisis, and why don't today's young people rebel?
