'Secret Ink & Tiny Sensors': Bill Gates Predicts New Biotechnology That May Oust Smartphones

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has an obvious predilection for making predictions. However, from forecasting that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic would be over in 2022 to suggesting that the world will have ditched credit cards by 2007, the philanthropist has somewhat of a mixed track record when it comes to gazing into the crystal ball.

Bill Gates has predicted that a new type of technology is on its way that will render smartphones obsolete.

The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft in his recent admission touted the future benefits of the electronic tattoos currently being developed by the Texas-based software design and Development Company, Chaotic Moon.

The electronic tattoos, created in line with a biotechnology-based technique, would analyze and collect biometric data from the human body.

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According to the investor and philanthropist, the developer achieves this by using a tattoo ink made of conductive paint.

Chaotic Moon’s tattoo kit, which released its first prototype in 2015, will upload data related to the wearer’s health and environment rather like an Apple Watch, subsequently sending it to any device, offering seamless integration with the cloud to store documents. The tattoo itself, still in the development phase, will be applied temporarily onto the skin.

Its tiny sensors and trackers will send and receive information via a special ink able to conduct electricity.

As to the data that this tattoo will store, at this stage there has been talk of medical and sports information. Thus, the electronic tattoos could potentially enable prevention of disease outbreaks. If the wearer displays any signs of fever or other illness, they will be notified immediately. A function is envisaged to even notify one’s preferred doctor.

Daily activities could be monitored via the tattoo, and the creators are purportedly working on a way to store one’s medical documents in a digital format that can be accessed anywhere anytime.

Event attendees get a look at varieties of the new Apple Watch on display in the demo room after an Apple event on Monday, March 9, 2015, in San Francisco.

© AP Photo / Eric Risberg

In sports, the innovative technology of embedding electronics into one’s skin might help boost physical and sports performance by monitoring vital signs.

Furthermore, according to Gates, the ambitious project might eventually allow an electronic tattoo to replace a smartphone, becoming the go-to method of making calls, sending messages or looking up an address.

At this point it is hard to surmise how accurate this prediction regarding smartphones being made redundant might be. After all, the billionaire, known for often gazing into the crystal ball, has made many forecast with mixed results.

During a 2015 TED Talk titled “The next outbreak? We’re not ready,” Gates said:

“If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war — not missiles but microbes.”

However, he also predicted back in 1987 that the world of the 21st century would be filled with flat-panel displays, while credit cards would have been ditched by 2007. So its anyone’s guess how accurate the recent forecast might be.