localzuk Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 I am 27 this year, and it has started me thinking - what will the world, and technology in particular, be like in a further 27 years. In 1984, Hitachi announced the world's first memory chip capable of holding 1MB of data, IBM introduced its AT computer, Tetris was released in the USSR, and 3.5" floppy disks were introduced. In that time, we've had mobile phones become ubiquitous, with smart phones now starting to dominate, electric cars are finally starting to make some progress, we've determined that there is water on Mars and started moving away from fossil fuels. So, what do you reckon the future holds? Will we finally get flying cars? Personal robots? Colonise the moon or Mars? Have another world war? Move to holograpraphy for displays? What affect will these new technologies have on society? Mobile phones have changed the world completely, as has the internet. Do you reckon we'll cope?
MK-2 Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 this is all based on the fact we live past judgment day right? 1
localzuk Posted July 26, 2011 Author Posted July 26, 2011 this is all based on the fact we live past judgment day right? peak oil Wow, you 2 are a bundle of joy. I'd love to hear what you'd say as speeches at a wedding.
X-13 Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 Will we finally get flying cars? Personal robots? Colonise the moon or Mars? Have another world war? Move to holograpraphy for displays? No, no, no, yes, yes. There will also be no cure for cancer, no AIDs/HIV vaccine, homelessness will skyrocket, we'll have Nigerian levels of inflation [£1,000,000 for a loaf of bread anyone?] and obesity will be so bad "morbidly obese" will be simply known as "normal weight".
aerospacemango Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 I'm sorry, but I cannot see technology racing forward, as some people might. I'm old enough to remember watching Tommorow's World, and them PROMISING that by the year 2000, we'd all have given up work, and be zooming around in flying cars..... LIARS!!!!! Why am I sat at a desk, and not whizzing around the skies in my Saab Viggen (Carplane)? It should have an auto-land facility for when I've had a couple too many, at the bar on Titan. It should have a universal translator fitted, for those moments when I've broken the speed of light, and the Saturn Police Corps want to "chat" to me! Oh....and I should be eating steak bernaise out of a tube. LIARS....ALL OF THEM! I blame YOU, Judith Hahn!!!
X-13 Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 Oh....and I should be eating steak bernaise out of a tube. You know... That is possible. Want me to help you achieve it? /BaseballBat
aerospacemango Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 You know... That is possible. Want me to help you achieve it? /BaseballBat Yeeeeahhhh....I rather think you're missing the point of the thread, there. I'm sensing a lot of anger in you.....Were you dropped on your head as a child?
X-13 Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 Yeeeeahhhh....I rather think you're missing the point of the thread, there. I'm sensing a lot of anger in you.....Were you dropped on your head as a child? Possibly. That would actually explain a lot of things.
sonofsanta Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 No flying cars - people are dangerous enough driving on a flat 2D plane, let alone with a third dimension to confuse them. There's a reason pilot training takes so long! I think the biggest change will be ubiquitous connectivity. You'll have a constant connection to the 'net, probably through glasses with OLED lenses, possibly through augmented eyeballs (Deus Ex style), and you'll be able to look up anything instantly, possibly via sub-vocalisation. We'll be rapidly approaching the singularity, the point where humans become unrecognisable from now, where evolution becomes a mechanical rather than biological process. Electronics will be embedded in anything and everything, and Near Field Communications (or equivalent) will be the glue that holds the world together. Cars will use it for safety and traffic management, shops will use it for stock, advertising billbaords will use it. I would like to think we'd have a sizeable space station from which to launch a manned mission to Mars but I suspect that if that were to be ready in 27 years, we'd have to be planning it now, and we're not. I'm going to peg Minority Report as the most likely view of the future, at least in terms of the tech, not the precogs. I, Robot was a bit eager with its dates but I suspect is only a few more decades down the line. Of course, all this will only happen in South Korea, Japan, America and Western Europe, and other first-world countries. Africa will still be in drought, famine will be worse than ever thanks to a population around 8 billion and not enough arable land on the planet to support them, hippies will still be protesting any and all progress and we'll probably still be in an economy defined by limited resources - if not oil, then rare earth metals.
Oaktech Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 but on the subject of steak bernaise in a tube, you can get icecream in a foil packet... it's very nice if you get over the initial notes of 'polystyrene packing material'.
teejay Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 I can see one of two outcomes in 27 years: We all become augmented, 'connected' humans, probably controlled, almost zombie like fashion by a few elite mega corps We run out of resources, reject technology, half the planets population dies and the rest live a much simpler life
localzuk Posted July 26, 2011 Author Posted July 26, 2011 Ok, well, I can see that I should've asked this question at a meeting of 'depression anonymous'... I might've got cheerier answers! I was thinking we may start planning something like a space elevator in the next 20 years, as graphene appears to be a possible solution to the material problems that exist with the concept.
jinnantonnixx Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 Get hold of Douglas Adams's fabulous (but posthumous) The Salmon of Doubt. H2G2 the Salmon of Doubt Search for 'Predicting the Future'.
teejay Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 Ok, well, I can see that I should've asked this question at a meeting of 'depression anonymous'... I might've got cheerier answers! I was thinking we may start planning something like a space elevator in the next 20 years, as graphene appears to be a possible solution to the material problems that exist with the concept. I would like to be the first person to commit suicide from the top of your space elevator please. There ya go, brought things back down to a nice depressed level...
jamesb Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 Informational singularity, each of us with our own private noospheres, able to interlink and communicate with other's at will. Augmented reality will be commonplace through GAG displays (gloves and goggles) meaning that we can all walk around in our own customised bubble-reality (to a point). Whole new concepts of crime and communications, and quite possible with a generation on the way who will be as alien to us in their way of interacting with technology/extelligence as we are to the previous generation who struggle with google. Add to that expert systems bordering on emergent property complexity, and that's where I think/hope it goes.
teejay Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 Informational singularity, each of us with our own private noospheres, able to interlink and communicate with other's at will. Augmented reality will be commonplace through GAG displays (gloves and goggles) meaning that we can all walk around in our own customised bubble-reality (to a point). Whole new concepts of crime and communications, and quite possible with a generation on the way who will be as alien to us in their way of interacting with technology/extelligence as we are to the previous generation who struggle with google. Add to that expert systems bordering on emergent property complexity, and that's where I think/hope it goes. Well I suppose that would make the adult websites quite interesting:eek:
Hecate Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 We think progress is fast but just think back a little further. When my Grandmother (died 1994) was born hardly anyone had a telephone, air travel was still a dream and motor cars were rare. Just consider how much changed in her lifetime
simpsonj Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 As I will be joining you in the wonderful age of 27 this year (In a few weeks in fact) I thought I'd add nanotechnology to the mix, which has a massive potential in medical science, I can see the first augmented human being trialled in the next 27 years, and perhaps the rise of of robots? I want a pair of those OLED glasses though, would still have to use them to check students passwords though!
jinnantonnixx Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 From Douglas Adams The Salmon of Doubt " I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that s invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
joe90bass Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 From Douglas Adams The Salmon of Doubt " I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that s invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things. Oh jeepers, I'm 35, life is set to get pretty boring for me now then.............
MK-2 Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 There probably wont be any time travel there were a LOT of comments over on the register about this
mthomas08 Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 One things for sure, we will still be complaining
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