GO mBEANNAÍ DIA daoibh, welcome Class of 2020 to the Bluffer’s Guide to Irish.
It’s the start of a new decade, if not a new approach, and all eyes are on an todhchaí - the future.
While many of us will spend our time navel gazing at what seems important today or sa lá atá inniu ann - at the present time others are thinking about what life is going to be like in 50 or 100 years time.
Had someone gone to sleep in the 1980s and woke today, they’d think the were living in a world created by ficsean eolaíochta - science fiction.
Gutháin chliste - smart phones on which you can have cinema, a juke box with 35 million songs (Spotify), maps that use satellites to tell you were you are – or where your wife/husband is – and a trillion other uses.
Intleacht shaorga - artificial intelligence would blow their minds as would na meáin shóisialta - social media, modhnú géanóim - genome editing, Idirlíon na nEarraí - the Internet of Things and we haven’t even mentioned the Glider yet!
Some of these inventions have changed the way we humans behave, the way we communicate for example, but who could have predicted that even in the late 20th century.
So what do you think is going to happen in the future.
Mairfidh muid beo go bhfuil muid 150 bliain d’aois - we will live until we are 150 years old.
That is indeed a possibility so, if I were you, right away I’d buy shares in Saga and in the people who make those ardaitheoirí - lifts that take you up the stairs.
Beidh daoine in ann eitilt - people will be able to fly.
Well, James Bond famously used a JetPack in the film Thunderball and you can now buy one for yourself.
It can only fly for up to 10 minutes but can reach speeds of 60 mph.
That would get you from an Ómaigh - Omagh to an Goirtín - Gortin or from Iúr Cinn Trá - Newry to Ó Méith - Omeath.
007 of course, finishes his journeys without a hair out of place, while in reality, the Buffer would be covered in pigeon poo after flying down to the offy and back so maybe Jetpacks aren’t for him.
Neither is the gluaisteán uathrialaitheach - driverless car. There are too many human variables in driving around a city or through the countryside that would make them inherently unsafe.
What about robait bheo - living robots?
Already, scientists in the University of Vermont and Tufts University have created tiny hybrid robots made using stem cells from frog embryos could one day “be used to swim around human bodies to specific areas requiring medicine, or to gather microplastic in the oceans.”
Elon Musk is working on a train that will travel at 760mph, ie Belfast to Dublin in 15 mins.
But it’d probably be níos daoire ná droichead go hAlbain - more expensive than a bridge to Scotland.
Science is talking us in all kinds of directions but we can never know the implications until we arrive there.
It’s an exciting time - but one to be wary about as well,
CUPLA FOCAL
an todhchaí (un taykhee) - the future
sa lá atá inniu ann (sa laa ataa inyoo un) - at the present time
ficsean eolaíochta (fikshun oleakhta) - science fiction
gutháin chliste (goohaan clishta) - smart phones
intleacht shaorga (inchlakht heerga) - artificial intelligence
na meáin shóisialta (na maaain hoesheealta) - social media
modhnú géanóim (mawnoo gaynome) - genome editing
Mairfidh muid beo go bhfuil muid 150 bliain d’aois (marhee midge byaw gaw wil midge cayd cayga bleean deesh) - we will live until we are 150 years old
ardaitheoirí(ardeehoree) - lifts
beidh daoine in ann eitilt(bay deenee in un etchiltch) - people will be able to fly
an Ómaigh(un omiy) - Omagh; an Goirtín (an gortcheen) - Gortin
Iúr Cinn Trá(yoor kin traa) - Newry
Ó Méith (o mayh) - Omeath
gluaisteán uathrialaitheach (glooishtaan ooareealeehakh) - a driverless car
robait bheo (robatch-vyaw) living robots
níos daoire ná droichead go hAlbain(nees deera naa drihid gaw halabin) - more expensive than a bridge to Scotland