…and thus were born the Borg…
Hey this could fit into the 2 sentence horror story thread pretty well with a little tweaking.
I’m curious as to what your objections are. If you’re saying this might be a government mandated thing, than I agree. But I’m at a loss for any other objections.
Nanobots. Workable, programmable nanobots will arguably be a bigger game changer than efficient 3-d printing.
I think social media has since overtaken porn as the most popular thing on the internet, so maybe just a robotic friend that may or may not be used for sex?
The ST replicator is an interesting idea, and I think holodecks might be possible in the next 50 years.
I’m also optimistically hopeful for controlled fusion.
Even more optimistically, a radical update on how we get around. Self-driving technology coupled with electric motors and improved charging/battery tech, something smaller, faster, safer, cheaper, and greener is surely on the horizon.
Sign of the Beast? I know a few dipstick fundies who think bar codes are already the mark of SATAN. If there were mandated bar code tattoos, they would lose their shit.
If I could have an ID chip implanted, rather than carrying a driver’s license everywhere, I might just do it.
I’d sure want for it to be optional, not mandated. But I can imagine incentives in place to encourage the procedure.
My mother flippin’ flying car!
Self-driving cars. But mandated. I believe before I die that human-driven cars will be illegal. Insurance companies will lobby heavily for self-driving cars as they will be shown to be far, far safer. The epidemic of vehicular deaths in modern countries will plummet and be almost non existent.
I think this is plausible.
I also think that it’s plausible, even likely that we’ll see organ transplantation take off; someone will figure out how to grow immunologically neutral organs, and/or optimize them, and then people will just get a new heart/liver/prostate/etc… when their old one stops working right. Not quite off the shelf, but not necessarily from your own organs either.
I think we’ll see autonomous vehicles in the next decade or two for sure.
I think just barely on the edge of reasonable is someone figuring out how to directly implant sensations into the brain in a sort of ultimate virtual reality for movies, porn, heads-up displays, whatever.
As long as the premiums are adjusted for self-drive vs auto-drive, I don’t think the insurance companies will care that much. People will vote with their wallets on that one.
Plausible, I’ll go with fully grown human organs and limbs, enhanced life spans AND quality of life (i.e. I think we’ll live longer and better longer by some fairly large factor…maybe up to a quarter or half again as long as currently). More out there I’d say new space propulsion technology that allows for continuous thrust at least in the span of the solar system and nano assembly on a practical, industrial scale. Perhaps full human to computer/machine interfaces that use direct neural connections and VR technology that actually puts you into the simulation as if you are in the Matrix…or at least a lot more immerse than what’s possible today (though I can’t wait for the Oculus Rift VR stuff to come to market).
Micro manufacturing at the local UPS store or Post Office. You order something through Amazon and it is produced by a 3D printer in your neighborhood and delivered within a couple of hours.
I’m sure that’ll be like going to the public library to check your email nowadays. 3D printers will be ubi household items in the near future.
Oh! The bits about lab grown/constructed organs brings up an advance I imaged awhile back: designer organs.
You start off with mere replacement organs, sure, to take the place of ones damaged by disease, injury, or genetic defect. But then…hey, why not improve on the base model?
Sports hearts. Gourmand’s pancreas’. Mountain Climbers’ bone marrow.
“Juuuuust” plausible, perhaps, give or take a few "u"s.
(bolding mine, and this is not to dis Shakes but just to answer the question.)
Well, there was this uncle I had. Some say I was named for him. He did a tour of duty in Europe during WW2. He’s buried in Arlington now, ostensibly for his service defending a small town in France called “Bastogne”.
But afterwards, he got to travel with the US army in Europe a lil bit more. He was a bit messed up when I knew him; had nightmares weekly, but he never lied to me.
I Know from what he told me that things like this happened and were/are real. If dumbasses are allowed to forget & have their way, they could be again.
I’ll be Damned if I’ll ever let my family be tat’d with bar codes.
You have to carry an ID card everywhere you go, and losing it would be a huge hassle.
I understand why having a number tattooed on is problematic, but that doesn’t mean permanent ID is a bad idea.
Would you object to secure, instant, database of fingerprints and retina scans that could be used to ID anybody?
But, I really wanted to fusion power to the list.
Not bizarre, but I think it’s possible I may live to see it.
You have to carry an ID card everywhere you go, and losing it would be a huge hassle.
I understand why having a number tattooed on is problematic, but that doesn’t mean permanent ID is a bad idea.
Would you object to secure, instant, database of fingerprints and retina scans that could be used to ID anybody?
But, I really wanted to fusion power to the list.
Not bizarre, but I think it’s possible I may live to see it.
Throw Trucks With Your Mind, coming March 2014.
(Okay, it’s not quite thought alone–you use standard FPS controls to move and aim. Still, add another sensor or two to the headset, and you could probably play hands-free.)
I don’t think we’ll be able to ever achieve matter transportation, but I do think we may find a way to open portals/gateways/wormholes to walk through, like the Portal video game or Stargate. Okay, maybe not in my lifetime, but within 100 years.
I also think we ought to be able to record and playback dreams.
I hope to see the space elevator before I die.
Bizarre but just plausible in next 40 years? Hmm…
Conventional war almost completely replaced by robot drones, including things like swarms of robot insects.
Weight loss by adjusting body chemistry. Although doctors will still frown on unhealthy eating and exercise habits, athletes and celebrities will go the easy route.
Most people will record every moment of their lives; murder mysteries will have to take this into account.
Species that have gone extinct in the wild will exist as “virtual populations” in the form of gene banks, with zoos cloning individual specimens for display.