Four technological developments to spur momentum for new quality productive forces: Kevin Kelly

An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 20, 2024 shows a view of Sun Island scenic spot in the Taiyangdao (Sun Island) National Wetland Park in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. (Xinhua/Wang Song)

HARBIN, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Developments in energy networks, robotic tasks, real-time language translation and accelerated innovation will collectively boost new quality productive forces, said Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of the U.S. magazine Wired, in a forum of the 2024 Sun Island Annual Conference for Entrepreneurs that concluded on Saturday.

Themed "New Quality Productive Forces: New Industries, New Models, New Dynamics," the conference was held in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

At the main forum, Kelly shared via video his opinions on new quality productive forces and envisioned future changes in human life.

Kelly said that renewable and evenly distributed energy sources, such as solar and wind power, can constitute localized energy production and what he called the "energy networks."

Such decentralized energy sources will liberate humanity from dependence on finite resources like oil or uranium and facilitate future increases in productivity, he added.

The second game changer is robotic tasks, noted Kelly. He further explained that this means most human work will be split into different tasks, many of which will be accomplished by robots and artificial intelligence (AI), while humans will be freed to focus on more valuable and genuinely desired work.

"You're not gonna lose your job. You're just gonna have new tasks," Kelly said, adding that this technological development would create plenty of new jobs and possibilities that did not exist before.

The renowned internet expert also envisioned that real-time translation will connect global talent and the economy in a previously unseen manner, stimulating the vitality of new quality productive forces. He is impressed by the real-time translation devices and applications developed by Chinese companies like iFLYTEK.

Highlighting the quick emergence of innovations as another impetus for new quality productive forces, Kelly said this is enabled by the development of online video platforms, which allow people to learn and share without industry barriers.

Technologies like virtual reality, 3D experiences and AI-assisted learning will be integrated into these platforms and create many more well-educated innovators, he revealed.

However, Kelly also made it clear that as widespread adoption of technological breakthroughs takes time, these four trends will be the sources fueling new quality productive forces over an extended period.