Back in Time by JD Hancock/CCBY

We grow more dependent on technology with each passing day, but where will it end? Or, should we ask, how will it end? The future of the IT & Tech industry looks to be limitless, and consequently, we must start to wonder if humans, what with our biological boundaries, could even begin to compete with our future motherboard overlords.

A poll carried out by Specialist Tech recruiters asked 517 IT workers if they thought we were doomed to shine the silver shoes of circuitry in the future, either by thanks for saving the world or by submission for destroying it, and the results were almost hopeful.

A quarter of all the workers asked believe that the IT and Tech industries were more likely to save the world, compared to the thirteen per cent of workers that say humans are fated to be ravaged by their own creations.

Interestingly, over half of the workers thought neither scenario was likely, perhaps instead of the opinion that humanity will continue to do everything and nothing whilst the tech world booms around us. Five per cent of IT workers could say they had no clue as to how the future would unfold, which at the moment seems the most sensible option.

When it comes to the technological utopia that we potentially face, eighty per cent of the workers who endorsed it think our electronic efforts will benefit healthcare the most, narrowly ahead of the environment, artificial intelligence, and space exploration. The industry expected to be least aided by these advancements, contrary to the last fifty years or so, is military and warfare.

Wall-e Makes a Wish by Morgan/CCBY

The bleaker side of a wired future, according to those who see an Orwellian image of the world in their minds, will be the stalled evolution of the human race, believing that Wall-E was only too accurate in its portrayal of fat and lazy creatures, floating in orbit whilst waiting for a cream cake. A militarized apocalypse is also at the forefront of the naysayers’ minds, making the worst possible outcome a world where humans are angry enough to destroy the world, but far too lazy to do it themselves.

Those of you who saw ‘Terminator’ will remember Skynet, the artificial intelligence system that attempted to destroy human life after becoming ominously self-aware. Could this happen in our own future was the next question, but over half of the IT workers in the poll thought not, whilst around a quarter thought so, and another quarter were most likely too busy fretting over the many and varied ways we could all die to take either side.

Some are indeed optimistic about the future exploits of the IT and Tech industry, of the opinion that “We’ll begin sharing consciousness: virtual reality will give way to shared reality; seeing the world through many different pairs of eyes,” which sends a bit of a flutter through the heart. However, others are less easily persuaded, thinking we “will become couch potatoes. Everything will have an app.” So not much will actually change then.

To see the full results of the poll, visit the CW Jobs website.