To the mods - I’ve placed this question here because I’m not looking for opinions but facts about the incipient delivery of new technologies.
I’ve pretty much given up on a flying car at this point and with the exception of some exciting advances being made in the biological sciences most hard science seems fairly mundane over the last few decades, ekeing out a few more seconds of battery life here or a little bit better rubber there.
Affordable PC’s in the 80’s and notebooks and flat screen monitors in the 90’s were interesting for a while but they’ve sort of lost their newness and charm. Broadband is/was the latest neato WOW! for me but I’ve had it for over 6 months now and it’s just become an everyday (but appreciated) fixture. I’ve driven the new hybrid cars and while interesting (esp the Toyota - very nice car) they’re not really all that exciting.
I want the future now! Any dopers know of some WOW! technologies on the brink of being delivered into my jaded but eager hands, grasping for new sensations?
Are you asking which new technology will change the world? Or just some new consumer product? In either case, I don’t see how you can expect factual answers. You won’t know which technology will change the world until it’s already happened. As for new products, “interesting” is a matter of opinion. Many people will say “fuel cells” or “Segway” but I’m sure many others would disagree.
How about direct transmission of images into your retina using low powered laser beams, enabling you to have images overlaying your regular vision? This probably fits your criteria…
Oh, come on… It’s not THAT relative. There are some things in the wings that we would all agree would be revolutionary.
For example, breakthroughs in aging and age-related diseases. There are a number of teams that seems to be very close to some substantial advancement in this area, which suggests that those of us under 50 today might well live to be 100, 120, maybe even 150 years old. I think everyone could agree that doubling the human lifespan is revolutionary.
Then there are other advances in medicine, such as the ability to clone an identical organ for yourself and have it transplanted. So instead of having to do quintuple bypasses on your diseased heart, you’d just go in and get a heart change, with a fresh, young, healthy heart replacing the old one. And no requirement for a lifetime of immuni-suppressant drugs.
Constellation 3d is working on (and about to release) tremendously higher capacity optical discs. They still use the cheap and readily available red lasers. These will easily hold enough data for HD format movies on CD size discs. link
Yale recently made some incredible advances in cancer research. If I prayed, I would pray that this works in humans as well as it has in animals. We should know soon. I can’t believe this hasn’t gotten much more news coverage than it has.link
Scientists have discovered a small chemical inbalance that leads to paranoid fantasies and radical positions in the face of all logic in its sufferers. Appearently it is easily correctable with an inexpensive medication. The first real trial is scheduled next week on Ann Coulter. If it cures her, it will be hailed as a miracle discovery. Ooops, just kidding on this one.
There was also a report a few days ago that there was a successful test of monkeys controlling a mouse pointer just by thinking about it. The test connected a small number of brain neurons a small transmitter, and the monkey learned that firing the correct neurons made the mouse pointer move. This is still highly experimental, however, and the scientists thought the neuron connections would quickly become disconnected, but it’s a start.
The only reason I can think of it hasn’t gotten more news coverage is because it has only been done in animals so far. I used to work in cancer research, and still do work in medical research, and there have been many, many treatments and drugs that worked in animal systems but unfortunately didn’t pan out in people. I agree it looks promising, though.
It may not be quite what the OP had in mind, but I was going to mention that medical science in general should advance unbelievably over the next, say, 10-20 years. In addition to replacement organs as has been mentioned, such things as gene therapy, “small molecules”, and nanotechnology are going to have a huge impact.