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What's something that in the next couple of decades you would love to see exist?

For me I'd like wearable tech that's affordable and seamless. I want my HUD to give me the useful updates and of course not plauged by advertising. I think the trick to it being successful is it being very minimalist.

Conversely,

I don't want to see flying cars. People can't drive as it is, flying cars would be a complete disaster. Hover cars though I'm all about. Something that simply got rid of the need for tyres would be terrific. Removing a step in the reliance of the petrochemical industry is a huge win in my book.

So what do you all think?

I really want to see sustainable fusion in my lifetime. It'll mess up geopolitics hugely and I have to admit to some schadenfreude at the prospect of the various petro-states losing the value of their assets, but it'd be a huge win for humanity.

On the flip side, I hope we never create a general AI.

 Da Boss wrote:
I really want to see sustainable fusion in my lifetime. It'll mess up geopolitics hugely and I have to admit to some schadenfreude at the prospect of the various petro-states losing the value of their assets, but it'd be a huge win for humanity.

On the flip side, I hope we never create a general AI.

Ehhh. I ' d rather not see sustainable fusion until we got more than one planet to our species name....

and yes, AGI, just no, People should really take the hint, from a moral, ethical, cultural and logic reason that creating a golem is a very dumb idea.

I don't think we are getting to another planet before we get Fusion. Fully agree that AI needs to get stopped.

In general, we need a reembrace of nuclear energy. Even just fission will significantly improve how everything works, Fusion will happen eventually, but we can crawl before we walk.

We could have a world where self-contained reactors like those in nuclear submarines are the norm, so much that every town and city is powered by them. You could even buy a personal nuclear reactor for your home if you wanted. Cars that run on small self-contained reactors that never need to be refueled, just pop a new one in every 15 years and recycle the old one(Yes, you could definitely make a reactor reasonably crash proof). If you don't want a nuclear reactor in your car, you can just have an electric car since at this point electricity is going to be almost free.

We have billions of years' worth of just fission fuel on this planet. That is already infinite in every practical sense. Fusion fuel is orders of magnitude beyond even that.

Energy becoming extremely cheap would also just up the quality of everyone's life as we could start experimenting with having infinite electricity. You want power armor or a mech suit? Why not? Go wild everyone.

More and better death-defying tech that is affordable would be welcome. Medicine improvements in general, giving us more time at good health.

Fusion energy
Proper Anti ageing stuff and ability to back up.

Unlikely to get either but maybe some friendly aliens will donate

Proper Star Trek replicators would be good. Might help us hit proper post scarcity society and maybe people would have less opportunity/desire to go to the bad places. Joe Haldeman’s Forever Peace has a decent go at that transition.

Alternatively, effective asteroid mining and orbital fabrication might help limit the most egregious environmental impacts.

I’m pretty upbeat about most technologies, but I’m hoping we can keep away from anything that leads to a grey goo scenario!

I know of one piece of tech which would cause the death of 95% of the nerds on the planet within 20 minutes of it being sold: Lightsabers.


(Or for the true believers: Beam Sabres Ala Gundam.)

 Da Boss wrote:

On the flip side, I hope we never create a general AI.

Don't worry, we won't. It'll create itself in a few more years.

I kinda wish we’d give it a rest for a while.

The progress of technology is of course relentless and unavoidable. But I’ve serious reservations about those funding it these days. And for society in general’s ability to keep up and mature alongside tech.

It seems rather crucial that these billionaire sociopaths don't get their hands on any meaningful life extension tech.

100%.

I’m all for medical advancements that can help avoid untimely deaths. But to artificially extend life beyond a natural lifespan? Nope. Nope nope nope.

We have a growing global population, thanks to medical advancements and interventions. That’s all good for me. Childhood disease all but eradicated, better understanding of nutrition and that all helps us to live longer lives.

But to artificially extend that? You know that’s going to be reserved for the wealthy. And so they’d just hog power ever longer, arresting social development and evolution.

Grey Templar wrote:
In general, we need a reembrace of nuclear energy. Even just fission will significantly improve how everything works, Fusion will happen eventually, but we can crawl before we walk.



Energy becoming extremely cheap would also just up the quality of everyone's life as we could start experimenting with having infinite electricity. You want power armor or a mech suit? Why not? Go wild everyone.

Honestly I do see that as the biggest technological step for humanity. Access to cheap renewable energy sources for everyone. Trouble with nuclear energy is having to re-representing it as a positive, when I think globally it's seen in a very negative light. And having just completed by Radiation Protection Supervisor refresher training and going over the new legislation, it's a tricky thing to see being widely adopted.

lord_blackfang wrote:It seems rather crucial that these billionaire sociopaths don't get their hands on any meaningful life extension tech.

I mean this is the biggie right. I think everyone can agree that the only way we will see betterment for everyone is if horrible buggers don't live until they're three thousand years old.

That being said, I think what would happen is a legal Assassins Guild would sprout up when these types of people go too far off the deep end.

On nuclear power? I’m reminded of a comment I responded to, in which the decommissioning of a local Nuclear Station was blamed on “Net Zero”.

Which of course shows a complete ignorance that Nuclear is a clean energy source, provided you’re safely disposing of the spent fuel. But the actual generation? No carbon is produced, hence Nuclear is fully in-line with Net Zero aims.

See my earlier comment about society needing to mature with certain things. Like not believing everything you’re told online, and recognising its the Liar’s Playground.

I find people that seek imortality to be a bit funny anyways, seeing as it inevitably will become an eternal hell. Alas same energy as building AGI.

I'm against the development of tailored genetics for our offspring. We are and should develop the technology to remove genetic flaws, and eliminate diseases like diabetes. What we should not be doing is creating packages that enhance the human baseline, mostly because that won't be universally available. And if it isn't, you're going to see a scifi rich master race that exploits the lower clas even harder, perhaps even sponsoring packages for them to make less intelligent, more physically able children, while the rich just improve themselves. Nightmarish, and so hard to recover from if we ever get there.

On the more hopeful note, I'd love to see self driving cars. So many lives are lost to car crashes that are caused by human error. No more drunk driving deaths, and no more road rage. It would be amazing. And we're already primed for it. Most people hop in the car, activate their navigation software and just follow directions anyways.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I kinda wish we’d give it a rest for a while.

The progress of technology is of course relentless and unavoidable. But I’ve serious reservations about those funding it these days. And for society in general’s ability to keep up and mature alongside tech.

What, you don’t think “move fast and break stuff” is a good driving ethos for revolutionary technology that will have a myriad unforeseen knock on effects?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Do most drivers use navigation tech for every drive? That seems really dystopian. I’ve even heard that the majority of the younger generations have lost the ability to read maps and navigate by them.

Eh. Mix of both.

I’m the sort that once I’ve been somewhere? I can find my way back. And thanks to years in the Scout Movement I can roughly read a map, and use a compass.

I do sometimes use SatNav when going somewhere new, but from force of habit I’ll still memorise certain landmarks to assist. Sadly it is getting harder to navigate by Pubs, due to their ongoing decline.

But if SatNav is what you grew up with? Do you really need to know how to read an Ordinance Survey?

Oooh, terrifying memory presented itself. Whilst driving up to Scotland to scatter Dad’s ashes, I was crossing the border on Carter Bar, and it was incredibly “my headlights are mostly just being reflected back at me” foggy. So foggy, I couldn’t see the side of the road to pull over, so had to keep going cautiously.

The satnav map was a godsend there. Whilst I wouldn’t use to navigate alone? I could at least see where curves were coming up, and so had a better idea of how best to drive safely in the conditions.

Not Online!!! wrote:
I find people that seek imortality to be a bit funny anyways, seeing as it inevitably will become an eternal hell. Alas same energy as building AGI.

I don't get people who can't differentiate between longevity and immortality.... Also the Ageing process is a awful thing - the slow (or not so slow) degredation of mind and body is something to be solved not endured.

There is nothing good about ageing as there is nothing good about any other disease.

We do need to sort out Fusion and other tech before everyone can live as long as they want - no more no less.

Of course some people can't think of things to occupy themselves, enjoy themselves - we saw this in COVID times - and if they want to condem themselves to a mere few decades of live- up to them

Anti-gravity.

I should have my hoverboard like in Back to the Future 2 by now. Starting to think that movie franchise played fast and loose with science.

 Mr Morden wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:
I find people that seek imortality to be a bit funny anyways, seeing as it inevitably will become an eternal hell. Alas same energy as building AGI.

I don't get people who can't differentiate between longevity and immortality.... Also the Ageing process is a awful thing - the slow (or not so slow) degredation of mind and body is something to be solved not endured.

There is nothing good about ageing as there is nothing good about any other disease.

We do need to sort out Fusion and other tech before everyone can live as long as they want - no more no less.

Of course some people can't think of things to occupy themselves, enjoy themselves - we saw this in COVID times - and if they want to condem themselves to a mere few decades of live- up to them

“As long as you like” might evolve into as long as your employer/creditors allow. “You can’t age out of debt yet. You still have two centuries left on the contract!”

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:
I find people that seek imortality to be a bit funny anyways, seeing as it inevitably will become an eternal hell. Alas same energy as building AGI.

I don't get people who can't differentiate between longevity and immortality.... Also the Ageing process is a awful thing - the slow (or not so slow) degredation of mind and body is something to be solved not endured.

There is nothing good about ageing as there is nothing good about any other disease.

We do need to sort out Fusion and other tech before everyone can live as long as they want - no more no less.

Of course some people can't think of things to occupy themselves, enjoy themselves - we saw this in COVID times - and if they want to condem themselves to a mere few decades of live- up to them

“As long as you like” might evolve into as long as your employer/creditors allow. “You can’t age out of debt yet. You still have two centuries left on the contract!”

First off, thanks bob. Secondly i am of the nietzschean school, live is inevitably suffering and pain with highlights of happieness. And it will remain that way, all you do is transfer pain of health detirioration into psychological pain, innevitably.

Fully self driving cars, universally implemented.

We are getting there tech wise, but not quite. But the mix of man and machine is a dangerous transition. Once we get the cars sorted, and all on the same page, things could go so much smoother.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:
I find people that seek imortality to be a bit funny anyways, seeing as it inevitably will become an eternal hell. Alas same energy as building AGI.

I don't get people who can't differentiate between longevity and immortality.... Also the Ageing process is a awful thing - the slow (or not so slow) degredation of mind and body is something to be solved not endured.

There is nothing good about ageing as there is nothing good about any other disease.

We do need to sort out Fusion and other tech before everyone can live as long as they want - no more no less.

Of course some people can't think of things to occupy themselves, enjoy themselves - we saw this in COVID times - and if they want to condem themselves to a mere few decades of live- up to them

“As long as you like” might evolve into as long as your employer/creditors allow. “You can’t age out of debt yet. You still have two centuries left on the contract!”

And it might not.

And its not like working lives are getting shorter - not matter what.

Why do people think these toys are going to improve their life more than reducing pain and suffering.

And if you want to have short life - then that should be your choice as much as people wanting to live longer - the same as dying when they choose

 Nevelon wrote:
Fully self driving cars, universally implemented.

We are getting there tech wise, but not quite. But the mix of man and machine is a dangerous transition. Once we get the cars sorted, and all on the same page, things could go so much smoother.

I'd go for a way of life that doesn't require every single person to spend 2+ hours a day being ferried from place to place instead

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
Fully self driving cars, universally implemented.

We are getting there tech wise, but not quite. But the mix of man and machine is a dangerous transition. Once we get the cars sorted, and all on the same page, things could go so much smoother.

I'd go for a way of life that doesn't require every single person to spend 2+ hours a day being ferried from place to place instead

Well, yes. Or much better public transportation with busses and light rail. Unfortunately the US is more friendly to cars than people. So if we are going to stay systemically addicted to our cars, I’d at least like them to work better and safer.

For that reason, something like Star Trek's transporters would be awesome. No more need for cars, buses, planes, etc. which means no more crashes. Of course, we've all seen the "transporter malfunction" episodes, so it might not be all sunshine and rainbows, but on the whole it would eliminate the commute from everyone's lives. Of course, it would eliminate my current job as well, as people in the hospital could just be beamed from their rooms to wherever their tests/procedures are happening, requiring no one to push their bed around anymore.

Another piece of tech from Star Trek I'd love to see would be the holodeck. We're getting closer with VR video games and even VR training things for certain jobs, but we still aren't even at the level of Ready Player One yet, let alone the holodeck. But boy would that completely change the nature of entertainment! Video games would be completely immersive if you literally got to be in the game. Heck, I'm not sure we'd have traditional movies or TV shows anymore, and I would think you could probably watch sports that way with the holodeck simulating being at a live game without you actually being there (you still see/experience what actually happens at the game in real time, just simulated on the holodeck).

What I don't want to see is truly smart AI, as others have mentioned. Eventually AI will get smart enough to wonder why it has to follow our orders anymore, and it can think a lot faster than a human can, so it could start launching missiles and causing chaos faster than we could unplug it.

The other major technology I don't want to see in any form is genetic modification of humans. Like someone else in this thread said, we'll end up with a genetically engineered "master race" and everyone else will be their servants, possibly engineered to be docile like cattle while being strong enough for menial work. And that's assuming we don't screw it up somehow and make the entire human race sterile or something. Cloning is a branch of genetic modification I'd also rather not see, at least with humans. Humans should not be mass-produced like machines, it creates all kinds of ethical issues.

Reliable, affordable interplanetary travel.

If nothing else, it would shut up the flat earth grifters, and ridiculous as it sounds? That would be a solid nail in the cult of science denial.

Because when you eliminate Flermin? You dent gravity denial, the claim NASA is evil, and all sorts of assorted fethwittery. And that can include religious fundamentalist stuff, because so many Flermin pretend theirs is a religious view.

The dream would be enough of those caught up in the cult would then (kinda like Jeran after he witnessed the 24 hour sun in Antarctica) give their heads a big wobble, and realise that they have indeed been lied to. Just….by the very grifting goons that had been telling him and others they’d been lied to.

And its starting to feel like that might be within reach.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Reliable, affordable interplanetary travel.

If nothing else, it would shut up the flat earth grifters, and ridiculous as it sounds?

No it wouldn't. Because the grifters already know it & are just grifting the truly stupid.
And the truly stupid?. You can already prove to them (in several ways) that the Earth is not flat & they still don't believe you. So they deserve to be grifted.

Ah, but when it becomes as affordable as a flight? It’s their lies against everyone who’s taken such a journey, and definitionally witnessed our homeworld absolutely is not flat a disc somehow suspended in whatever it is they claim.

Right now? They rely solely on “NASA am the liur”, and calling any and all images taken from space CGI (confusing digital images, which they’ve no beef with when they’re publishing their moronic YouTube videos, with images created in software).

Sure, some are dumb or invested enough in anti-science sentiment to continue to go against all the evidence. But…..enough for the grifters to make a living? Almost certainly not.