I take it this is prediction like the 1950’s predicted we’d have a flying car? Okay then:
Homes will have a Matter Compiler (thanks Neal Stephenson), Want a new PDA? Print one out. Need a new hand mixer? Print one out.
Of course, that was the PLAN, then Braun, Palm, and Oster had to get all pissy and make it illegal.
Universal Integrated Technology - We are on the verge now. Your fridge, shower, toaster, heater, A/C, lights…all linked and communicating with each other.
Universal Integrated Technology viruses - Imagine a Blaster Worm for your toaster! :eek:
Nano-Tech - In all areas.
Paintable TV screens - I see the development of TVs that can be painted on the wall. Attach a small chip to allow for signal reception and power, and you are good to go. Satellite/cable input broadcasts from a unit on your roof.
Individually-Customizable TV channels - Soon, there will be no “general” stations. Everybody will have “on-demand” access to every show. Think TiVo on steroids. Never again will there be a “show that everyone watches,” at least at the same time.
Banks will either enhance ATMs, or have new machines that will enable you to instantly buy a certified check with the funds in your account. You can withdraw cash without going to the window, so why shouldn’t you be able to get a certified check?
Let’s hope that it doesn’t turn out like it did on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch…
“…and that’s everything! poof Rollerblahs? I wanted Rollerblades!”
Genetic engineering and gene therapy will be much more advanced, to the point where we’ll have personalized medication. It might not get to the point that Shirley Ujest suggested, but there would be significant genetic testing of babies to identify possible ailments they’ll have and other genetic characteristics.
I’d go further, but then I’d just be describing the world of the movie “GATTACA”, which despite being not that popular, is probably one of the most prescient sci-fi films made in the last 20 years.
Robotic miniaturized pets. All the fun, none of the mess.
Oh, and the United States will require everyone to have a chip implanted in their ass that contains their identity information, their total life history, and a GPS locator.
The ass is too easily removable. It would be in the head.
Another stolen idea, the previous one from a BBC documentary.
Plants that actively clean up the air, turning pollutants into soil and similarly, plants that mine earth and sea, extracting minerals and elements from micro-concentrations in sea water and earth.
My indigenous prediction is a staple carbohydrate that grows in brine.
Better Bottoms
We have got 'em
Don’t be a chump
Dump your rump!
imagine a prisoner, confined to solitary for most of his life, suddenly re-enters society 50 years later…
It happened in “bird man of Alcatraz”: filmed in 1955(?) about a prisoner who had been cut off from society since 1910. The movie starts with a reporter looking directly at you, the audience, and saying " imagine a man who has never :
– ridden in a motor car
– spoken on a telephone
– seen an airplane fly overhead
hard to imagine…"
so what will our reporter have to say in the year 2055?
2020’s-style death rays.
Hm…50 years ehe? Well, I think that we’ll have several significant improvements in medical technology from things like stem cell research that will increase life spans measurably and improve the quality of life.
Something similar to wifi will be pervasive but with an order of magnitude more bandwidth, and will handle voice, video and data in a single standard. This will be available pretty much everywhere.
As was said earlier, computers will become more all purpose and smaller, with a lot more computing power and I think they will have greater capacity AI’s that act as bots scheduling time, keeping track of all manner of appointments and collecting data that is interesting or desired by the owner. My take on interface changes are they will be profound. We won’t have screnes or keyboard/mice anymore but direct implants…think bluetooth headsets taken to the next level that allow one to ‘view’ the data almost as a HUD directly within the eye and ‘hear’ the music or whatever directly within the ear. Perhaps even other sense direct stimulation (smell, feel, maybe even emotions).
There will be a new revolution in energy as nations go to wholesale use of nuclear power. The US will lag behind as our fundamentalist eco-nuts continue to block the use of nuclear power here, until they realize that the rest of the world (including, gasp, Europe!!) are going that way to SAVE the environment…then there will be a huge turn around as the US begins a massive effort to catch up. Hydrogen power for personal vehicles (as well as other battery technology) will take over as fosil fuels are used for other things than simply burning for power.
Nanotechnology will just be coming to fruition as the first practical auto-assemblers/disassemblers begin to be used. In the NEXT 50 years I predict the end of ‘work’ as we know it today, with the ability to manufacture anything that can be designed on a computer by simply bringing in bins of raw materials and programming nanobots to assemble the desired device automatically.
Space travel will be much more common. Single Stage to Orbit craft will finally be making inroads on making space travel and exploration cheaper and resources from the rest of the solar system will be beginning to be tapped (all made moot when those nanobots take over :)). We will send an expedition to Mars and establish a perminent base on the moon, and there will be talk of sending expeditions to Europa and some of the outer planets both for commercial purposes and for pure discovery. A space elevator will be seriously proposed and perhaps funded by several nations.
Dogs and cats still won’t live together in peace and harmony.
-XT