20 posts in and nobody’s mentioned sexbots?
I agree about fusion power.
I’d like to see the a working space elevator. Presumably a lot of the other space-related goals would follow from that. Also possibly an Orion nuclear-pulse ship or similarly fast vessel.
I’d like to see something to extend the progress of Moore’s Law (the common notion of it, involving processor speed) for decades to come. We’re running up against a wall and building multi-core chips instead of faster ones, already. I’d like to see some new development, like 3-D chips or something more exotic.
All my life computers were always getting faster, and I’d watch Star Trek or whatever and assume that it’s just going to keep happening indefinitely. For it to already be slowing down is disappoining.
Oh! And a cost-effective procedure to transplant embryos, making non-therapeutic abortion obsolete.
A couple posters seem to have their hearts set on the real thing.
Cybernetics/bionics. We have some sort-of quasi bionic arms and legs, but they really aren’t that great. I want arms/legs that are fully mechanical and electrical, and operate like the real limb was still there. Going beyond that, artificial organs that really work would be damn cool, especially the kidney. I know a lot more work seems to be going into the heart, and a lot of progress has been made (that guy lived for what, 6 months with a fake heart?) But think of how many people would no longer have to be on dialysis 3 times a week if we could make an artificial kidney working.
Also, holodecks.
I’d like to see an optimistic version of the SIngularity, together with what has been already suggested. Fusion powered intelligent starships for the win!
Man sets foot on Mars
Space tourism
Male birth control
Cure for cancer
Acceptance of Gay Marriage.
Lions win the Superbowl. We are overdue.
Michigan’s economy become #1 in the Nation through industry diversification.
A cure for Muscular Dystrophy and Cystic Fibrosis.
We get to spend 20 minutes in the Marianas Trench. Again.
Total understanding of the human genome.
A Mars colony.
An easy, cheap, painless total hair remover.
A cure for Alzheimers (before I get too old to need it).
A cure and/or vaccine for AIDS. I want to see that disease taken out in my lifetime.
Google Earth.
(real-time)
A U.S. President whom I, and the rest of the world, can admire and respect.
OJ Simpson to be found criminally guilty in a court of law (PLEASE let this happen)
A supernova with a magnitude in the negatives. Well, us Americans will get a total lunar eclipse in 2015, so I’ll settle for that.
Like a lot of other people here, I’d like to see gay marriage in all 50 states, extraterrestrial life (even one cell, as long as it’s alive), and holodecks. I also want to see:
*workable transporter technology as well, especially if it’s used to help people move. (Never struggle with a box of books again!)
*a cure for Alzheimer’s. (I’ve lost too many family members to that. One is too many.)
*a more complete understanding of the human brain. (Imagine the possibilities!)
*a Moon base (I refuse to believe that science fiction has lied to me about this.)
*a practical replacement for the space shuttles (We’d have to have that to have the Moon base.)
*politicians with good common sense (Gotta have one pipe dream on here.)
Also in 2008 (map showing where it will be visible). Total lunar eclipses aren’t that rare.
In 2017, there’s going to be a total solar eclipse visible from part of the continental US. That’s rarer- we haven’t had one in a long time.
Hearing from other intelligent life in the universe, definitely. My take: it’s certainly very plausible this will happen in the next 30 years though it is also hard to be confident. And it won’t involve physical contact or travel, and won’t even involve back-and-forth communications for a long time to come, but we’ll hear something.
>A supernova with a magnitude in the negatives.
Ah, not too far in the negatives, OK? We weren’t looking for a swan song here…
[ul]
[li]I hope that wealth will someday become more evenly distributed. Everyone has enough to live comfortably and happily without obscene excess. No more poverty on one side and super-rich ultra uber-billionaires on the other.[/li][li]Finding a long-term solution to dwindling oil/energy supplies.[/li][li]Finding some form of life on another planet. Intelligent life would be a bonus, double if we form a meaningful communication link to them.[/li][li]A cure for AIDS and cancer.[/li][li]Some verifiable, scientific proof of a diety’s existence.[/li][li]The ability to inhabit the oceans.[/li][li]Colonization of the moon and Mars.[/li][li]The ability to visually and aurally record thoughts (though I can easily see this being grossly misused.)[/li][li]Telemarketing, spamming and all other forms of unwanted and intrusive advertising are abolished.[/li][/ul]
A benevolent Terran Interstellar Empire. I’m planning on living a long time.