# What will be the most important technological development in the next 50 years? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 23, 2007, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278 "2007-04-23T07:12:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278/61 "2007-04-26T00:36:24Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Can you give me the memories of your last vacation in perfect fidelity ? Can you really communicate how something smells to me, unless I’ve smelled it myself ? There are lots of things that speech and vision do badly, if at all. [/QUOTE] Oh, Ok, you’re talking about “Lossless” transmission ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278/62 "2007-04-26T01:43:56Z")
**Sapo** [Robot selling sex in Osaka](http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/04/the_amazing_osa.html) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278/63 "2007-04-26T05:36:27Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] **Sapo** [Robot selling sex in Osaka](http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/04/the_amazing_osa.html) [/QUOTE] If the robot could actually **be** a hooker, that would be the most important technological development in the next 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278/64 "2007-04-26T08:45:53Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] **Sapo** [Robot selling sex in Osaka](http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/04/the_amazing_osa.html) [/QUOTE] Fascinating. Although I am sure that a TV screen would have been just as good and cheaper. Not as jazzy, though. And BrainGlutton’s idea ain’t that bad either. A Blowj-o-matic 3000. Insert quarter here and penis there. Heck it could even be on a push cart “for the man who needs to come on the go” ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278/65 "2007-04-26T14:19:51Z")
I suggest it will be a Heisenberg compensator. All that pesky uncertainty needs to be dealt with before we can go where no man has gone before. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278/66 "2007-04-26T16:51:50Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] If the robot could actually **be** a hooker, that would be the most important technological development in the next 50 years. [/QUOTE] This is an argument in favor of nanotechnology being the most important. When the robot is configured on the molecular level, then it will be possible to simulate Kegel motions with a realistic, or hyperrealistic level of intensity. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278/67 "2007-04-26T17:03:05Z")
[QUOTE=DrCube] I suggest it will be a Heisenberg compensator. All that pesky uncertainty needs to be dealt with before we can go where no man has gone before. [/QUOTE] Actually, what we need is an Infinite Improbability Drive. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278/68 "2007-04-26T17:30:29Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Actually, what we need is an Infinite Improbability Drive. [/QUOTE] I’d be happy if I could just get the Nutrimatic Drink Dispenser to stop giving me unpalatable sludge that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278/69 "2007-04-26T19:22:33Z")
Seeing as how GW Bush not only was elected president but RE-elected for a second term, I’d say someone already has an infinite improbability drive out there somewhere… 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278/70 "2007-04-26T19:29:55Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] Seeing as how GW Bush not only was elected president but RE-elected for a second term, I’d say someone already has an infinite improbability drive out there somewhere… 😛 -XT [/QUOTE] I believe Diebold holds the patent. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278/71 "2007-04-26T19:47:39Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] Seeing as how GW Bush not only was elected president but RE-elected for a second term, I’d say someone already has an infinite improbability drive out there somewhere… [/QUOTE] _The President in particular is very much a figurehead — he wields no real power whatsoever. He is apparently chosen by the government, but the qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage. For this reason the President is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating but fascinating character. His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it._[right]–_The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy_[/right] Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-be-the-most-important-technological-development-in-the-next-50-years/401278.md?page=3)