Futurism: What do you expect?

[Flash's Lightning]

Technology seemed to slow for a while, but now is booming again. Or, at least news stories of technological wonders are booming again.

Here's one example, the recent story of a car that drives itself.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17989553

There are plenty of other stories I've seen recently, one featuring realistic androids (basically a robotic face with AI algorithm that was set to interact with a child and was extremely realistic). Augmented reality is definitely leaping forward. And we now have (very rough) translation devices through Google translate which can translate language as you speak.

You can even use your smartphone to shop if you're lazy or short of time.
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/16/view/15557/tesco-virtual-supermarket-in-a-subway-station.html

I think it's obvious that the robotics field is going to get much more complicated in an Asimovian way; perhaps not tomorrow, but I don't think we're too far off from personal robot assistants and the like in every home.

What advancements are you excited about? What do you expect to see within the next couple of decades assuming we're still around?

[StoneGold]

Technology never seemed to slow. It's just stories of old technology are old, so you shove all of them together, and it's been a while since there's been anything on a singular event scale like man on the moon.

[Flash's Lightning]

Technology never seemed to slow. It's just stories of old technology are old, so you shove all of them together, and it's been a while since there's been anything on a singular event scale like man on the moon.

Good point, basically saved for a slow news day.

Though doesn't change my main question! :biggrin:

[Arvandor]

I expect holographic technology to start coming into its own soon. It's been used for musical performances, and its only a matter of time before some film maker decides to experiment with it, and after that, it's only a short leap to home use.

[Cavemold]

I expect holographic technology to start coming into its own soon. It's been used for musical performances, and its only a matter of time before some film maker decides to experiment with it, and after that, it's only a short leap to home use.

Apple is working on that

[Joe Rice]

I look forward to the inevitable weeding out of caucasoid genes from the general population.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

The popularization of food pill suppositories and of the three sea shells

[cactusmaac]

A smartphone with a battery that lasts more than a day.

[Flash's Lightning]

A smartphone with a battery that lasts more than a day.

Wait, are you serious?

Yours lasts an entire day? I wish mine would last throughout my workday! :frown:

[Michael P]

I expect futurists to continue to come up with ludicrous ideas for what the future will be like, and for the actual future to outdo them in ways they never even considered.

[mikekerrIII]

That we will woould be surprised, if we remember what we predicted now by what happens

And that the revolutions will come with surprisingly little fuss and bother.

Tryng to predict the future another than the very short term is a fools game or con-mans game.

Remember when we were told to expect a new ice age and the world was going to starve when to population bomb went off with a population of 7 Billion?

[Flash's Lightning]

Right, but looking at current technological trends, I think you can extrapolate certain things over the next 15 to 20 years.

I'm not asking if we're going to be living underground in 200 years; I'll settle for the next decade or so, with some simple common sense scrutiny of current trends.

[o1pickleboy]

What I expect of the future is to be somewhat embarrassed by the hair and clothing styles I had in my 20s and 30s. I expect to surprise my daughter with tales of pre-internet life and to tell her when we got computers they were big things that took up a whole desk-space not something you carry with you in your pocket.

[SteveGus]

Intelligent life will once again prove to be a self-limiting phenomenon.