# What do you think the next big invention will be? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-the-next-big-invention-will-be/206947 "2003-10-12T02:39:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-the-next-big-invention-will-be/206947/61 "2013-01-19T05:16:41Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > What I would like to see is an all in one gadget, that allows you to surf the net, make phone calls, store notes, check email, take photos (at a decent resolution), play music (of a decent quality, and preferably more than 20 songs), tells you exactly where the nearest pub is, and exactly how to get there, and switches the office coffee machine on whilst you’re en route to the office. All in a gadget that I could fit into my back pocket. Tell me, what is this “eye-phone”, Mr. Jobs? ---
**Author:** ![Postariti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Postariti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Postariti)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-the-next-big-invention-will-be/206947/62 "2013-01-19T08:03:44Z")
Angua is obviously that time traveler talking on a cell phone in that old silent film clip. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-the-next-big-invention-will-be/206947/63 "2013-01-19T08:46:03Z")
Energy HAS to be radically improved or people must get used to staying home under super-insulation (also needing incredibly great improvement). Algae producing hydrogen for fuel cells is an idea of the kind of thing we need - direct photovoltaic devices with 90+% efficiency would be ideal. Currand solar technology is incredibly expensive and inefficient. Housing: We either control population\* or give up the idea of having large back yards and big houses. Economy: This is the stuff of revolutions. The US is leading the way. In the last 50 years, we have gone from considering someone who is homeless as an emergency to be dealt with before sundown, to having large encampments of the homeless. 50 years ago, only the occasional wino would ask for a handout. Today, we look at beggars (haven’t heard that term lately, have you?) the same way as the folks in third world countries look at theirs - just walk around them and hope it doesn’t disturb you by talking. As more and more jobs are replaced by machine, there will be more and more people for which there is no work. Someway must be devised to distribute the wealth based on something other than (unneeded) labor. We really should not use warfare as population control. Medicine: we haven’t begun to understand how the bodies work or how to fix them. Cutting someone open and removing diseased tissue is incredibly crude. We know a great deal about how cancers spread, but we still have no means of keeping ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-the-next-big-invention-will-be/206947/64 "2013-01-19T09:54:06Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Hey, this is one topic where a zombie thread is actually preferable! It gives us an opportunity to see how wrong we can be: > For example, look at post number 6: > > It’s been a full 10 years since this somebody typed this…and the number of correct predictions contained in the post is: zero > (but,on the positive side, at least he didn’t make any claims about nuclear fusion, or jet-packs…) 🙂 Three out of four are correct. In common usage, the word hologram is used to mean a 3d image, today 3D computer monitors and TVs are mainstream. Voice recognition has matured even futher as an imput method, I ‘wrote’ this post without touching my keyboard. You can get a weightloss shot of natural hormones, it’s called leptin and it greatly speeds weightloss, it hasn’t become mainstream though, as it’s expensive and needs to be injected daily. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-the-next-big-invention-will-be/206947/65 "2013-01-19T15:33:55Z")
Interesting relevant article about graphene: [Graphene: Patent surge reveals global race - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20975580) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-the-next-big-invention-will-be/206947/66 "2013-01-20T14:12:42Z")
> [@j\_sum1](#): > > [slight hijack] > I had a conversation with a friend a few years ago; the gist of which was: > Hardly anything got invented in the nineties – at least in terms of normal household items. A whole lot of eighties and seventies inventions got improved and made accessible, but not much actually new. > Eg:, the PC, the microwave, the VCR, the CD, the internet, cellphones… > Can anyone supply a common use item that was actually invented in the last 13 years? > [/SH] E-books may have been under development in 2000, but they didn’t exist as a consumer item. Wheeled luggage could have been invented at least 100 years before it actually was. Why wasn’t it? Not ever the next big thing of course, but an invention. The next big thing will be a glrrk. What does it do? Damfino; if I knew I would invent it myself. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-the-next-big-invention-will-be/206947/67 "2013-01-20T15:01:37Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > The next big thing will be a glrrk. What does it do? Damfino; if I knew I would invent it myself. (Do we give awards for the most appropriate username/post content combination?) Because, well, excuse me, Mr Seldon… but if _you_ can’t tell us what the future holds, does that mean that Isaac Asimov was a liar? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-the-next-big-invention-will-be/206947/68 "2013-01-20T15:01:47Z")
I heard that Google could be up to something about making [glasses](http://www.phonearena.com/news/Google-unveils-Project-Glass-to-the-world_id28762) that work like a phone. So you can control your phone with your eyes or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-the-next-big-invention-will-be/206947/69 "2013-01-20T15:23:06Z")
> [@SpectBrain](#): > > How about e\_balling (and there’s bound to be a better name, I just can’t think of one at the moment) Commonly called “Teledildonics”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-the-next-big-invention-will-be/206947.md?page=3)