Where do you think the future is heading

Technology is moving at an astonishing pace. What direction do you think we are going?

 

i would like to answer to the poll, nut first i would like to know more about an option: what's mad max?

and where's matrix future?

ok , ok.......

:smt043

 

Bubblegum Crisis. One corporation owning everthing.

 

cahaz: Mad Max is a pretty dark future in a style a little bit like Fist Of The Northstar

but i won´t vote yet because i like to see the future as unknown

 

With virgin geekdom on the rise, and cyber crimes being their favorite past time, I went for GitS.

 

Ditto.

 

Ghost In The Shell was almost a little too far-away future for me - plausable, but a bit too far off.

Anyone ever read William Gibson? I'm thinking a Neuromancer/Virtual Light-type world is what's coming up fast.

 

But with only half the carbs, right? :smt043

 

I think it will be something more akin to Bladrunner myself, with lots of high technology around but people are still segmented into very tiny subgroups among socitey, where each particular monority developing it's own customs and approach to use of such technology, as well as gigantic megacorporations taking more and more control over our daily lives.

It's only logical that private entites would take control with the decline of nation states, in effect that's whats already happening (WTO, internatonal monetary fund, NAFTA, Free trade agreement of the Americas, etc.) Nations will still be there and still be important, but thier power and ability to regulate such companies will be limited.

This however does not have to be a negative thing. This has the potential to stabalize world economies, bring high technology and the accompaning social benefits to the most primitive peoples, bring everyone up to the same standard of living we enjoy in the west.

It also has the potential to create a world system based on classes, with poor people living in explotation market colonies while the rich fat cat stockholders live well off thier labor. Entire countries and populations could be traded like commodities.

Some predictions:

First human clone: within 10 years.

First "cyborg"- actually, we already have people like that now, with chips in thier bodies, artificial robotic limbs, etc. But if you mean Robocop/terminator/inspector gadget-like cyborg, I'd say within 50 years, although I think people will start doing to themselves on purpose as soon as the technology becomes availible, kind of like an extreme tattoo thing

Artificial intelligence/robots that can function well enough to replace humans at menial/dangerous jobs: 25-40 years

Robots take over the earth/demand voting rights/protest thier status as slaves/kill us all/finally build a spaceship and tell human race to suck robot cock: 200 years

Cars that drive themselves: Within 20 years until they are commercially availible

Predator-like camoflauge: Within 10 years

Teleportation: 100 years (first photon was teleported in Australlia in 1997, give it about 2035 until computers are fast enough to rebulid a human being at the molecular level, another 70 years until power requirements are met.)

Lazer guns/directed energy weapons including ultrasonic, microwave, etc:

Used in military operations- 5 years (if they don't already that is.)

Handheld version used by military/police (ala Starwars) : 20 years

Availible to the general public: shortly thereafter

Nanoprobes: within 30 years- They start reviving people who had thier heads frozen in the 20th century shortly thereafter. A whole class of old people who are still in young bodies get to work at Burger king for the rest of their lives because they have no modern skills.

Wetware/ play-a-game-in-your-brain: 15 years

Warp Drive: first experiments by 2060, full warp drive by 2100 - The Mathmatics behind warp drive have already been discovered, problem is it would take more energy than the whole earth can produce in a year

time travel- 40 years - I know it's a stretch to think we'll have time travel before warp drive. The energy requirements are much lower, and would be easily obtainable via microscopic artificial black holes. Thing is for warp drive you'd need a much more refined black hole engine that could sustain one for a considerable length of time, whereas time travel could utilize the energy from an unstalbe microscopic black hole that disappeared in a few nanoseconds.


Also, the wolrd will be polluted as fuck.

 

Nah, we'll just teleport all our trash to the past :smt043

 

Stephen Hawking made a very good point on time travel. If time travel is possible.... then why have we not seen any visitors from the future?

 

How would we know? And it depends on what you mean by time travel.

You've got to remember that time doesn't actually exist. ;-)

 

It... doesn't exist?!?11?!!?!?!???// *Head explodes*

Don't you mean the general public of the US? We're only just getting used to sawn-off shotguns and Kalashnikovs over here! And don't knock the WTO - if it wasn't for them funding UL, I probably wouldn't be here abusing (possibly) the fastest internet connection in my stupid country!

I'm hoping things will go too far with technology, there'll be some sort of EMP war (possibly started off by Greenpeace), then it'll be post-apocalyptic fun for all, a la Mad Max - but hopefully not the American dub.

And the only computers that will survive are the few Sinclair ZX Spectrums that they accidentally put military-grade Z80 processors in. Too bad all the magnetic tape in the world will be completely blank, so no more Jet Set Willy for us :smt022