# Technology prophecies anyone? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325 "2003-06-25T17:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/21 "2003-08-23T21:55:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Laughing Lagomorph \* > My prediction is widespread use of much more durable artificial organs…not just mechanical, but biological, or combinations of the two. Hearts, livers, pancreases, maybe even kidneys and limbs. I don’t think durability is a problem with replacement organs these days – rather, it’s the recipient’s immune system rejecting the replacement that’s the real holdup. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/22 "2003-08-24T01:57:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*I don’t think durability is a problem with replacement organs these days – rather, it’s the recipient’s immune system rejecting the replacement that’s the real holdup. \*\* Maybe with the biological ones, but my impression of the mechanical artificial hearts is that they aren’t able to last a natural lifespan yet. We’re working on the replacement biological organs, trust me 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/23 "2003-08-24T05:12:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fishcheer15 \* > \*\*Fine meat grown in vats. Good protein without the need to bother with them pesky animals. \*\* This idea has been around since the '60s and we’re probably about as close to doing it as we were then. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/24 "2003-08-24T07:11:24Z")
I started a similar thread on this, some ages back, but a hamster flail yielded nothing. Anyway, when I was a little kid, if you told me that:[ul] [li]Computers would be commonplace.[/li][li]You could buy a laser for less than $20 nearly everywhere.[/li][li]Movies and music would come on these small little disks.[/li][li]The US would have a space station in orbit.[/li][li]You could buy a robot dog.[/li][/ul]I’d have thought that the future was the coolest place in the world. However, knowing what I do about those things:[ul] [li]Computer crashes would be as common, if not moreso than computers.[/li][li]It’s a wimpy low-power laser that can’t vaporize _anything_.[/li][li]And most of the stuff on them is crap.[/li][li]And unless I win the lottery for millions of dollars, I’ll never get to visit it.[/li][li]It’s a cheap plastic toy, and _not_ like the one on _Battlestar Galactica_.[/li][/ul] I will make _one_ prediction about the future of technology: Whatever we have in 20 years won’t be nearly as cool as it sounds now. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/25 "2003-08-24T12:06:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*The US would have a space station in orbit. > \*\* Er… I think you mean “the world” here, don’t you (unless you’re referring to Skylab)? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/26 "2003-08-24T12:18:27Z")
Well, in 1903, virtually all of what the OP asks was already there. There were already cars, planes first took flight in 1903 but there were dirigibles and balloons, radio was discovered by [Heinrich Hertz](http://www.sparkmuseum.com/HERTZ.HTM), movies had been playing since 1895, courtesy of the [Lumiere brothers](http://www.holonet.khm.de/visual_alchemy/lumiere.html), computers go back to Babbage’s Difference Engine, vaccinations go back to Pasteur, and Rutherford and others were already exploring the atom. So what recently developed things will be ‘big’ over the next century? If I knew I’d be very rich. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/27 "2003-08-24T12:51:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by qts \* > \*\*Well, in 1903, virtually all of what the OP asks was already there. There were already cars, planes first took flight in 1903 but there were dirigibles and balloons, radio was discovered by [Heinrich Hertz](http://www.sparkmuseum.com/HERTZ.HTM), movies had been playing since 1895, courtesy of the [Lumiere brothers](http://www.holonet.khm.de/visual_alchemy/lumiere.html), computers go back to Babbage’s Difference Engine, vaccinations go back to Pasteur, and Rutherford and others were already exploring the atom. > > So what recently developed things will be ‘big’ over the next century? If I knew I’d be very rich. \*\* Thanks for validating the “incept dates” of the items in the OP. The fact that 1903 was 100 years ago was more the point I had in mind than the specifics of what precisely was available to people of that era. My parents were both born after that date and I still marvel at the technological advancements during their lifetimes (and those of my grandparents). I’ve been around just over half the time since then and I feel as if the things available at the time of my birth and childhood are much more advanced than those of my parents’ childhoods. But some of the things on that OP list, computers especially, are within my own lifetime as far as real usefulness and availability are concerned. The fact that my youngest son had a computer as a toy marks his generation as significantly more advanced than mine, since all we had in the same ballpark of technology were chemistry sets, crystal radio kits, erector sets and things along those lines. So the real question I tried to pose in the OP might be better stated as “Comparing your own childhood to that of your own children, what do you predict that your unborn grandchildren will have to play with that your children didn’t?” or something along those lines. Thanks again, **qts** , for putting some meat on the bones of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/28 "2003-08-24T18:20:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*Er… I think you mean “the world” here, don’t you (unless you’re referring to Skylab)? \*\* Nope. Despite being called the International Space Station, it is _primarily_ a US operation. The Russian built components were paid for with US dollars and most of the sections are hauled into space by the shuttle. The other countries involved have contributed very few things in comparison to the US and Russia. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/29 "2003-08-25T20:00:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > > - Computer crashes would be as common, if not moreso than computers. You’re using the wrong operating system. 😉 > [@](#): > > - It’s a cheap plastic toy, and _not_ like the one on _Battlestar Galactica_. What about the [Sony Aibo?](http://www.us.aibo.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/30 "2003-08-26T00:07:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > **You’re using the wrong operating system. 😉** Heh, but until fairly recently even Macs crashed.😛 \*\* > [@](#): > > What about the [Sony Aibo?](http://www.us.aibo.com/) \*\* Exactly the toy I was referring to. It’s nowhere near the size of the “dog” on _BG_ and probably can’t do _half_ the stuff the one on _BG_ could do. (Including, according to either _Mad Magazine_ or _Cracked_ [don’t remember which one it was], leaving a steaming dump of dirty oil and bolts in your bed to show it’s displeasure with you.😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/31 "2003-08-26T00:39:45Z")
In the future… -Drugs will no longer be commonplace, as people will have special genetically-engineered glands implanted in their brains that will secrete whatever pleasurable feeling they desire (without the debilitating side effects). Thank you, Iain M. Banks. -Travel will be more heavily automated. The advent of safe, commonplace flying cars will require a far greater control over a craft… as such, a system similar to “Steadyshot” mechanisms in camcorders will be developed, allowing full control of the craft to remain in the hands of the driver/pilot, but making sure they don’t “drift” too far out of their aerial lanes (which will be marked via active transmission from a central source and displayed on an HUD in the windshield). -Traditional hard drives will disappear, replaced by entirely solid-state media. The distinction between “PDA” and “PC” will disappear entirely. -Scientists will still be gnawing at the bit to construct a space elevator. They still won’t. -In 'n Out will STILL be the best goddamned fast food place in the state, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/32 "2003-08-26T07:24:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > Heh, but until fairly recently even Macs crashed.😛 But Windows _still_ gets viruses, and crashes, and has compatibility problems, and… 😉 > [@](#): > > Exactly the toy I was referring to. And here I thought you were talking about those plastic robo-pets at the toy store. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/33 "2003-08-26T12:04:24Z")
Boy, some people are never satisfied. We now have computers that are far more powerful than what we had 50 years ago, and they’re a _lot_ smaller and cheaper, too. Computers and microprocessors have been incorporated into a great many devices. People simply take it for granted. I was just reading Heinlein’s essay “Pandora’s Box/Where do we go from here?” last night. It was written in 1950, and made predictions for the year 2000. Heinlein updated it twice, in 1965 and 1980. He was amazingly on-target in some things (“By 2000, your phone will be the size of your palm and fit in your handbag”) and amazingly off in others (factory-made homes as a standard, widespread hunger in the US, manned exploration of the inner solar system). I haven’t seen very many articles predicting the future lately, and the predictions I have seen are pretty mild, just simple and short extrapolation on existing trends. So I could easily say that in the future we’ll have implants and micro=pumping of drugs. Maybe we’ll be implanting self-contained systems for treating diabetes. But that’s pretty tame. How about an increased trend to “cyborgs”, with not only more machine implants into living creatures, but with bio-engineered organisms performing tasks now done mechanically. Genetically engineered plant viruses, analogous to computer viruses, intended to attack only partticular strains of genetically engineered crops? ---
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/34 "2003-08-26T14:58:02Z")
[this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=205266) might shed some light on the subject as well. (Please ignore my title refering to “30 year”) I am so sick of Zeldar stealing all of my thread ideas!😉 ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325/35 "2003-08-26T15:09:41Z")
I meant to add that vaccinations will be a thing of the past as nanotechnology and/or some weird biotech white blood cell would be manufactured to rid oneself of virii. When I took biology in college my professor said that scientists were working on a strain of antivirals that were based off the human tear but antibiotics were faster, cheaper, and more consistant so that research was stopped. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-prophecies-anyone/184325.md?page=1)