What world changing inventions/discoveries might we see in say before year 2050 that will make a huge impact on everyday life. Or might even be in the pipelines right now?
Inventions on a similar level as computers, the internet, etc etc that we have seen in very recent history.
Any good speculations??
Nested quotes.
“Printing” of physical objects, aka “desktop manufacturing.”. It’ll start out with simple plastic shapes (still plenty useful, look at how many items around you qualify), and continue until we’ve got the practical equivalent of replicators.
The initial technologies are almost cheap enough for consumer adoption now; I think it’ll be soon.
The Matrix.
And I’m very serious. Not the “controlled by machines to be a battery” style, but a complete sensory immersion into a computer generated virtual world, connected globally.
Another 60 or so years of advancement in both brain-machine interface controls (currently being developed for artificial limbs) as well as computer graphics & processing abilities, and I think you’d be close to a rough version.
Room temperature superconductors.
Farmville bots.
I doubt if anything has changed in the last 3 weeks. Except maybe nested quoted.
Is there, any more, any Next Thing, any Coming Thing, any Rising Thing – any Future?
Humanity’s last invention: The whorebot.
Nanotech replicators
automated learning via direct injection into subconcious [matrix].
What are we debating here, and what makes it “great”?
locational awareness ~ the annotated world.
Which is kinda what the Layar app is trying to do
Yeah.
I’m still holding out for my flying cars.
This is more of an IMHO topic than a Great Debate, so off it goes.
There’s the Moller Skycar . . . Not good enough! I want George Jetson’s car: It flies, it floats, it hovers, it folds up into a 2-pound briefcase!
Supposedly, practical 3-D television is finally in beta development. If true, it would be the next “must have” consumer good.
Lab-cloned replacement organs? Proof of concept is already here, just a matter of making it work on a clinical scale.
Human cloning is probably already technically possible, just not ethically supportable due to the high failure rate. My guess is that it’ll make in way in through the back door of manipulating germ cells to treat hereditary diseases, as technique improves.
I like the idea, but why bother? I mean you could become a high tech artisan, making bespoke electronic items I suppose but mass manufactured stuff is always gonna be cheaper. I suppose if you had a ST-esque replicator that would be a game changer, but being able to manufacture paper clips or blenders at home doesn’t really seem that useful to me. I mean the artistic implications are astounding but the practical ones seem less so.
I believe the presumption is that it will replace buying junk from stores - if you lose a cell phone, just print another. If you want a clean fork, just print another. If you want the next Harry Potter book, just print one up. If you want a medum rare steak, just print one up. You wouldn’t have to design the specifications for them yourself, either; you could buy and download ‘mass designed’ replicator instructions online.
If this came to pass and supplanted retail sale, it would certainly be a world-changing invention. Of course, there are still a few minor problems with this plan, mostly relating to raw materials - where do you get them? And what can they make?