The Future!

[Stark]

I was just thinking of the future and today's society. Should we be at certain milestones that old authors wrote about in sci fi? Should we have airships and bikes? What about more advanced robotics and robots in our homes?

What are your thoughts and what would you want to see before we all die off and there is nothing

[Justin.]

I always think about teleportation. Hover bikes/cars would be nice. I would like holo-interface computers, but we are picking up speed in that department. I would like to see anti-gravity inline skates, perpetual energy, and a fusion between an apple and a lemon.

[JM]

I wanna see taking trips into space for civilians that's as common as hoping on an airplane, or colonization of Mars and me going to live there - but I may be getting too ahead of myself by a few centuries.
Unless someone comes up with some kind of super long life pill :P

[subversive-imaginati]

I'd like technology that would slap anyone who stole other people's artworks. Not likely to happen but a girl can dream can't she?

[Goog]

I'm going to invent holograms.

[kingshaj]

far more space travel!
wheres the moonbase?

i would do anything to see mars or any of our nieghbors!

[Elwell]

We are all interested in the future...for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives!
180883

[purplerose]

We're getting the hi-tech stuff, but it's happening at a slower pace than they imagined in the past (take a look at the "Jetsons" for example) and it's mostly reserved for the wealthy. People who aren't astronauts are going to space, some of us have the little vaccuum and mopping robots in our homes, some cars are reading fingerprints instead of keys, MP3 players can transmit through car radios and phones and palm pilots can access the internet. (I know I left a lot of stuff out of that list.)

I'd like to see anti-gravity and teleportation technology though. It'll be sweet. :)

[M.C.Barrett]

I want a future that allows me to live in peace and quiet with clean air, wholesome food, and a house that uses so little electricity that I could run it off of solar energy collected on my rooftop. I want cities that are constructed, or reconstructed, to enhance pedestrian and cyclist safety and convenience. A day in my future sees me waking up in a bed that contains fibers which actively break down and dispose of skin oils and other dirt, getting dressed clothes made of a similar material that have been in a nearly-waterless wash cycle overnight. I get on my bicycle and head off to work, or if it's raining, I hop on one of many small, robotic buses that can take me practically to the front door (many small buses make schedules far more flexible- if one bus is running a few minutes late, chances are another one can be along before the other one. Work is work, nothing much will change- I draw, eat lunch, draw, take the little bus or bicycle back home. In my future, TV has died a proper fitful, agonizing death and is absent from most homes- replaced by multitudinous entertainment options across the internet. I may play a game, I may spend a few hours on Wikipedia, or simply dial in to my favorite music programs and do some painting. Next week I'll probably take some time off to take a wingship ferry up to B.C. or Alaska for some plein-air and hiking. Flying cars are an indulgence of the wealthy, and they're generally seen as spectacular ways for Hollywood celebrities to end up on the headlines for some boneheaded stunt or another.

I just want the future to let me live the way I do now, without the environmental damage that I really can't get out of right now, however much I try to limit that.

[asoir]

I want a Philip K Dick, Do Androids... future, bleak as it is, it's kick ass!
no wait! fifth element...no wait! argh.

[Elwell]

I'd like to remind everyone that the one thing that NO ONE predicted was the very thing that you are communicating by way of right now.

[0kelvin]

Think about it this way: You're asking this question to people all around the world, instantaneously. Elwell replied to your question with an image of a book from the 60's, an image that, despite its obscurity, one can find in a few seconds. And if you don't get the reference, you're mere seconds away from finding descriptions of or buying the book (http://www.amazon.com/Criswell-predicts-now-year-2000/dp/B00005VQC4), reading biographies of the author (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Criswell), listening to him make some of his predictions (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76CwvvahhXs), and even watching movies he's been in (http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-7038656109656489183&q=plan+9+from+outer+space&total=155&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0). You can do all this from the comfort of your bedroom, from a coffee shop or while riding a bus, on a computer or a phone or a game console, or one of the many gadgets in between.

Would a flying car really be that useful?

EDIT: Damn, Elwell beat me to it.



Eric

[Stark]

well, of course. That's a given considering that we are currently using it. I wouldn't want the future to have the same, virus/spyware/adware/porn filled (though I do love my pron :P) internet that we have today. But that was an implied given. That's a question that our parents and grandparents would have wanted to see come to light before it did.

My main question is what about our future. What would you like to see in it and why don't you think it hasn't occurred and why not in the style/dreams that some authors or movie directors envisioned.

[Robert.B]

this is the future

[Elwell]

We need a pot talk thread icon.

[seba_boi]

Ah, Criswell... Haha... I worry about pollution and the ecosystem in the future (am I crazy for thinking so?)... What would be the solution to the almost full landfills, toxic rivers and lakes, changing weather climates, etc...


And P.S. Plan 9 From Outer Space is one of the worst films of all time... It sucks!...

[Duq]

I'd like to remind everyone that the one thing that NO ONE predicted was the very thing that you are communicating by way of right now.

I think William Gibson did. Maybe not the start of the internet, but definitely the way it has been used over the last 15 years ( a visual "cyberspace").

[Mungus]

A flying car would be nice, if it was enviro-friendly - the bicycle can only go so far. And lots of times I dont want to go with the crowd, so i wouldnt always catch the sun-powered hover bus.
M.C Barrett's vision of the future is fantastic, - On a whimsical level I can barely improve on it, - addresses all my daily concerns pretty neatly.

There's an aspect about the future that a lot of sci-fi authors address, but no-one's yet mentioned. In my dream of a future (ok, this might sound corny) humanity achieves a level of co-operation, emotional intelligence and intellectual/philosophical enlightenment that brushes aside all the negative forces within societies worldwide.
That's a big one, but brings a cascade of benefits, in every department.

For me any other future is a death knell for this species.

:}

[Magic Man]

...pleasure bots:

http://realdoll.com/dpcs64/annamae/annamae002.jpg

[Coinpurse]

whoa, anime goodness :D

Anyone see "Children of Men?"

What if we hit some sort of time rift or used up all of our resources through war or the like and actually starting going back to our traditional roots. A mixture of modern sword fighting and castles. Kinda steam punk if you ask me.

unfortunately, we wont be around to see such things. Bless those grandkids 8)

EDIT: holy hell, check out that site lol (www.realdoll.com) now that is some weird shit.

[asoir]

I think William Gibson did. Maybe not the start of the internet, but definitely the way it has been used over the last 15 years ( a visual "cyberspace").

Ahh yes, I remember that in Johnny Mnemonic (movie version) those gloves are wild!

[Molly]

BOOM! ^ THAT and anime goddess? LOL - you obviously have no taste....
Asoir - the Johnny Neumonic film was shit, did absolutely nothing for the book/short story - go read that instead, much much better...

[seba_boi]

I wonder what the Chinese manufacturers were thinking when they were ordered to make that doll...

[walnut]

They were probably worried about the extra man hours the boobs would take to glue on.

[JAG.]

flying cars?? i dunno man.. hardly anyone around here can drive the ones with 4 wheels on the ground.. i seriusly doubt theyd be able to effectively maneuver thru 3 axes of free movement.. :nohope: still itd be a cool idea ;)

what id like to see is a real life UNDO button. now THATS something i could use every day.. - JAG

[Nerahla]

All we need is nanotechnology for all these things to become a reality. Don't you guys read your http://www.foresight.org ?

[yinteck]

what id like to see is a real life UNDO button. now THATS something i could use every day.. - JAG

:D :)

[Coinpurse]

BOOM! ^ THAT and anime goddess? LOL - you obviously have no taste....

Bwuahahahahahah :nohope:

anime goodness not goddess ><

[seba_boi]

They were probably worried about the extra man hours the boobs would take to glue on.Hahaha!...

They gave her pink armpit hair too...

[Mr Man]

Elixir of life. Some prof dude with a massive beard is currently looking for a solution to increasing your life span. By the time we figure it out though....

[Molly]

Bwuahahahahahah :nohope:

anime goodness not goddess ><


HAHAHA - my bad..anime goodness -but how nutritionarse is it really? theres a possibilty of suffocation...

I 'hoped' the hover board from Back To The Future 3 would at least be in production by now...

[Jason Rainville]

I want to see immortality in my time. Seriously. Not so much afraid to die, just really really curious about what will happen that I won't see...

[Gnosis]

I'd like to remind everyone that the one thing that NO ONE predicted was the very thing that you are communicating by way of right now.

No one except inventor, futurist and author Ray Kurzweil, who in the mid-eighties precisely predicted the rise of the world wide web a decade later. Google him, read his books and check out his films on YouTube. One of the other things he predicted in the eighties was the time when a computer would beat the human world champion in chess.
He missed by one year (his estimate was 1998, while in fact it happened in '97).
He knows very well what the future holds.

[Slash]

a cure for death would be nice. But only after we start colonizing other planets and moons, otherwise there would be an overpopulation problem.

[Gnosis]

The cure for death is coming. Check out, for instance, Aubrey de Grey and his SENS -- Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence.

[bunny]

When I'm walking downtown I think how convenient it would be if there was just a system of conveyor belts (or tubes, a la futurama) that could replace walking. I'm so lazy :(

Do they have wireless vaccum cleaners yet? That would help.

Sometimes when I think about the future I think about post-apocalytipca and lots of zombies. I imagine myself and a band of hot scantily clad women patrolling the streets and shooting zombies.

[Elwell]

Do they have wireless vaccum cleaners yet? That would help.
ROOMBA! (http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=95)

[Farvus]

In future I'd really like to see teleportation through internet. That would need fast connection though....

[Katfayheirti]

Whenever I think of the future I think of a world like this:

Wealthy parents genetically select the features of their children and one can often tell when a person was born just by noting their hair/eye/skin colour/build in relation to the fashions of the time. Birth defects, and many other diseases have virtually been eliminated, but depression, stress and insanity run rampant. Humans have become more and more fused with technology and many have convenient implanted devices that connect them to the internet and other virtual networks, however their implantations are subject to computer viruses and when they get a virus they become physically ill and may have to go see a doctor as some computer viruses can even prove fatal. Virtual reality has become a staple of entertainment, but is mainly used for porn chat 'experiences' with other users over the net or fully-immersive MMORPGS. Many become addicted to the porn chats or the MMORPGS and die of delusion or dehydration.

Also, I think we'll eventually have clothing that changes colour according to our moods (like cuttlefish skin). That would be awesome.

[0kelvin]

Also, I think we'll eventually have clothing that changes colour according to our moods (like cuttlefish skin). That would be awesome.
Yeah! Hypercolor is totally set for a comeback!


I think in the future we'll have computers that whenever we want to do an operation we'll just say, "Computer, run program videophone." and then your computer would say, "Loading Videophone... Videophone Loading Complete," in a woman's voice, and then you'd say, "Videophone, place videophone call to Judy's Videophone." and then you could talk to Judy and also see Judy as you talked to her on VIDEOPHONE! Although to be honest you can only really see the bottom half of each other's faces because you're both wearing big VR goggle headsets.

Also, videogames will come to life and try to kill you.



Eric

[M.C.Barrett]

Visions ahead, dystopian... visions of hordes of fat, pill-popping Americans clamoring for handouts from a government that's been forced by unchecked capitalism to defend corporate interests abroad, and is overextended and largely bankrupt. The giant has fallen, and all people care about is the next great pill they've been told will fix all their problems, or the junk entertainment streamed into their homes, phones, cars, furniture to distract them from the reality of the mess their parents and grandparents left them. The nation is mired in the consequences of the socioeconomic debt accrued by decades of complicity in the exploitation of less-developed nations by multinational corporations and their own governments. Housing markets collapse, tens of millions unemployed, resulting in yet more burden on the whipped government to provide programs to keep as many people working as possible. It's gonna be a whiney, bitchy, noisy, irritating future. People will whine about traffic, then whine about robotic cars keeping them from acting stupid and impulsive on the highway, then whine about the children and grandchildren of immigrants doing the crap jobs they themselves still refuse to do because they're red-blooded-Americans-god-dammit, then whine some more about who-knows-what other imaginary threat to their emotional well-being. If there's one thing Americans today are leaving to future generations, it's a culture of whiny bitchy reactionary fatassed ignorance.

We'll have shiny cool future toys, but they'll just be another thing to whine and bitch about while we continue being scared and spiteful and suspicious of each other.

I blame it all on TV. Quite a lot of what's wrong with America today can be pinned on commercial television. Death to television, death to corporate propaganda, death to the idiot-box!

I really really really hate TV...:nohope:

[Coinpurse]

Also, I think we'll eventually have clothing that changes colour according to our moods (like cuttlefish skin). That would be awesome.

I'd be like... HOT PINK 24/7, what does that mean? :D

[Katfayheirti]

I'd be like... HOT PINK 24/7, what does that mean? :D

...consult your mood-ring manual?

[JAG.]

i think what could be semi usefull is cars with 'accident repellant' systems.. like electro-magnetic force fields that sourround the car just before impact to repell or cushion each other before collision. of course stopping the magnitudes of such forces almost instantly means all the kinetic energy gets transferred to the occupants inside. so the interior restraining system would have to be critically redsigned to assist the repellant system. still, it would be cool.. - JAG

[Professor Az]

It's gonna be a whiney, bitchy, noisy, irritating future... If there's one thing Americans today are leaving to future generations, it's a culture of whiny bitchy reactionary fatassed ignorance...

Amen, brother! Amen! I keep telling this to my extended family and friends, but nobody listens to me. Maybe if I went on television... :tihi:

[JAG.]

most definitely.. cuz if its on tv, then it HAS to be true :D - JAG