John Henry

A lot of scientific and technological developments have been predicted and even inspired by science fiction. Aside from the obvious choices, like time travel, cold fusion and teleportation, what scientific or technological developments do you expect, or would you like to see in the future?

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"No one was behaving from very Buddhist motives. Then, thought Pigsy, he was hardly a Buddha, nor was he a monkey. Presently, he was a pig spirit changed into a little girl pretending to be a little boy to be offered to a water monster. It was all very simple to a pig spirit."

Sticky

Shiny silver suits.

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Sticky The Stickman

John Henry

lol. One day, we will learn to weave tinfoil!!

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"No one was behaving from very Buddhist motives. Then, thought Pigsy, he was hardly a Buddha, nor was he a monkey. Presently, he was a pig spirit changed into a little girl pretending to be a little boy to be offered to a water monster. It was all very simple to a pig spirit."

Somenosuke

A robotic maid. Like Rosie, from the Jetsons. Yes, I'm serious.

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gov135

I expect to see more medical conditions on the neuro side being cured - in other words, instead of advances in attaching muscles, we will see advances in curing MS or Alzeimers(sp).

Lebell

Fusion Energy and then Vacuum Point energy.
Space Elevator
Permanent Moon Base, Mars Base.
Nanobots
Cloning new limbs and organs for the injured/ill

or if we're not careful...

A 'Matrix' or 'Terminator' future

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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

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SecretMethod70

Remember Back to the Future II? Clothes like that. Not necessarily ones that change size, but clothes that 1) will heat or cool off your body depending on the need and 2) are, to some degree, self-cleaning. With this, everyone could pretty much wear the same thing all the time - just like every futuristic TV show and movie pertty much - and wouldn't have to wear less or more depending on the weather.

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

John Henry

What's Vacuum Point energy?

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"No one was behaving from very Buddhist motives. Then, thought Pigsy, he was hardly a Buddha, nor was he a monkey. Presently, he was a pig spirit changed into a little girl pretending to be a little boy to be offered to a water monster. It was all very simple to a pig spirit."

Sticky

<br><b>Somenosuke</b><br> thanks for the jetsons reminder. <p>I know that Judy Jetson is not a technological advance, but I would like to see her in the Future.

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Sticky The Stickman

spanky spangler

It's the exhilarating thrill you get when you clamp the hoover attachment to your cock.

scope

Virtual Reality Stuff...So you can simulate situations such as historical events, u can have extremely vivid video games/movies, it'll change the face of entertainment.

greytone

Instant point to point travel. I say this just having spent two weeks on 8 planes, 10 buses, and 3 boats in a single trip.

Sometimes the journey is the point, usually it is not.

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phunktastic

The ability to grow body parts or implant stem cells anywhere in the body to fix defects/injuries. We should be able to make the blind see and the deaf hear. And if you get into a car accident and lose an arm, they'll grow you a new one just like it.

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Lebell

John Henry, do a google search on it and you'll learn more than you ever want to know.

But in brief, it has to do with the incredible energy that exists at the Plank Distance (so small, you don't have to worry about it.) If we can tap it, we have unlimited power for ever, no pollution, no muss.

One possible downside, we may destroy the universe the first time we try.

Fun, huh?

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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

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Phaenx

-Sentient A.I.
-Robots
-Personal Spacecrafts
-The McBeans n' Weiners

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"I went shopping last night at like 1am. The place was empty and this old woman just making polite conversation said to me, 'where is everyone??' I replied, 'In bed, same place you and I should be!' Took me ten minutes to figure out why she gave me a dirty look." --Some guy

Atropos4

warp drive would be cool....

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meembo

replacement body parts would be cool, like on Star Wars

Peetster

High temperature superconductivity. I think we're up to 83 degrees kelvin or so. Not only would that change everything, it would double our power, since we lose about 50% through powerline resistance.

sapiens

How about a state instituted genetic caste system (like in GATTACA)? I don't want it, but if we start to understand what genes/gene complexes lead to susceptibility to mental illness, personalities, etc. I could see the government using it (at least for public service jobs like police officers, etc.).

Macheath

I'm looking forward to really advanced virtual reality systems.

In the short term though, blue lasers should be nice with the high capacity CDs and whatnot.

Loup

A holodeck would be nice.

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"If you cannot lift the load off another's back, do not walk away. Try to lighten it."
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ARTelevision

Fixing human brains so that we aren't so miserable and don't create so such misery for ourselves and others.

It would be along the lines of something to boost our intelligence just a notch above the level of the dead sea.

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gloveshot3

i think a living carpet would be nice. it would eat dead skin particles, spilled beverages, dropped blueberry pie, doggie accidents etc. in return, it would give off a pleasent fragrence, a quality atmosphere, and act as a year-round heat/ac unit.

Xell101

High Velocity elevators utilizing the same basic ideas behind Pulse Detonation engines. 1 mile long mach 2 submarines using propulsion similar to the Pythagorian(?) Screw. Extremely effecient yet very small solar panels for all kinds of electronics and super long lasting batteries.

I bet we'll cure most things but as result the same base problems will give way to even more complex and dehibilitating illness/disorder/diseases/bacteria.

At first I thought this would involve Civ III.

Nefir

Expansion slots in the back of our heads.
"Brain chips" which go into these slots, to which you can offload some of your brain's processing, sort of like a "brain accelerator card", or chips that provide internet access, or chips which can store concrete memories, like numbers, dates, facts, etc. Some times you just can't live without that extra 120 terrabytes of storage in your head. Seriously, how cool would that be?

Wonder what will happen to the SUVs? Will they get larger and larger until we end up with city-block-sized hulks on treads, just so people can feel safe? I do hope that giant SUVs will be replaced by tiny vehicles with room for four but no engine compartment (four tiny electric engines, one on each go-cart-sized wheel). Automatic proximity sensing will prevent accidents. Operated with your thoughts, like in that post about the monkey experiment with the robotic arm.

No speed limits on highways. All cars on the highways will switch to autopilot, and traffic will be controlled by computers, who will let cars go as fast as they can.

Oh hell, lets have flying cars, like in the 5th Element.

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Gortexfogg

- Tricorders
- Cloaking devices (like from Predator)
- M41-A Pulse Rifle
- A colony of some sort on the moon

I think it's only a matter of time and money till these things enter our lives...

oberon

I think this is something where you "have to be careful what you wish for". If we say we'd like to have cancer (or any other human disorder) cured, are we prepared to accept the consequences of the journey?

For example, one approach to curing cancer may be through nanotechnology. That is one field I can see myself working in, if it weren't for the moral issues it is bound by. What keeps humans from abusing it?

Granted, there have been many things invented or discovered in the past that brought about the same question. Nuclear weapons, for one. But nanotechnology is even more powerful. It has the power to change people at a very fundamental level sight unseen.

For more enlightenment, I highly recommend "Act of the Apostles" by John F.X. Sundman.

Well, that said, I'll put my vote in for cold fusion. I think fusion power plants, if ever made practical, are the way of the future.

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Peryn

I want my damned flying car. That goes brrrrrrprrrrprrprprprpr like it did in the Jetsons.

Seriously, growing up i was promised that they would be in flying cars by the time i was driving. Well, i have been driving a while now, so where are they?

On the same note, rocketpacks. I was told as a child it wouldn't be too long before we would all have personal rocketpacks. So, I want one. Now.

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bundy

i want a jet-pack!!

apparently one of my brothers colleagues in Japan is studying in some lab in Tsukuba, and in the lab next door, they are working on Jet Packs - i hope the wait is not too long.

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GakFace

yeah Holodecks would be sweet.. along the same lines but on a smaller scale... Kinda

Holograms!!!... They could replace Monitors and TV Screens, and... AND... /me drools... Take a square table... P&P... now known as HRPG...

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RoboBlaster:
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Reese

I wanna see huge advances in Robotics and A.I. I wanna have a teddy bear like Teddy from Spielberg's A.I. He frickin rocks!

Although not technically a Hologram I recently saw video projected onto thin air on Tech tv. It looked pretty sweet. I think I'll see if I can dig up more info on it.

Also, I'd like to see self driving cars. Maybe not as dramically as Minority Report, but the same concept. With a magnetic strip down the road the car can follow. Go a little farther with pre programed destinations and you're set.. The speed limits could be raised to over 100mph and traffic wrecks would be very low.. unless they use microsoft OS.. then you might wanna walk.

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vermin

We already have this. It's called "Lobotomy".

I'd like to see Farcasters a reality. From the Dan Simmons Hyperion novels. Step from one planet to another through what looks like a doorway.

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