The Next Big Thing, Cuban Says

Mark Cuban told CNBC on Tuesday at the iCONIC conference that the next big thing in technology would involve genetically modified humans.

Cuban came to this prediction by discussing the development path he sees based on investments in companies that make sensors.

These sensors could include trackers mounted on building to monitor the surrounding area, or a “tattoo patch that can analyze chemical structures in the human skin,” which pointed to a future that “is all about health-care technologies,” according to the report.

"I've got a 5-year-old son. By the time he's 25, the idea of going to a drugstore and buying over-the-counter medication will seem barbaric," Cuban said. "He's going to say, 'Dad, what do you mean? You bought this medicine and on this over-the-counter-medicine there was a warning that said you might be the one unlucky schmuck that dies from this. And you actually bought it and paid for it?'"

According to Cuban, using sensors and data, physicians will be better equipped to monitor and diagnose diseases far more effectively and sooner than traditional technologies.

“Cuban has invested in companies such as Mobile OCT, which has created a mobile colposcope to help improve cervical cancer detection. He's also financed Electrozyme, which focuses on temporary tattoos that analyze the chemical compounds of sweat, and Validic, a company that makes data collection easier for health-care companies and physicians via mobile health apps and devices,” CNBC’s Sarah Whitten reported.

Making the leap from sensors and healthcare, Cuban claimed that 25 years from now, "depending on what happens with global warming or the lack thereof, or however you want to think about it, where we are going to try and reverse engineer evolution and natural selection. We're going to say, since already screwed up or enhanced the Earth, how can we change ourselves in order to match what our environment is going to be?"

Cuban concluded that the transition to genetically modified humans was “already happening” and it was just a question of who would make it work while the ethical questions remained unresolved.