Technology you hope to live long enough to see? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: electromotive
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 03:24:33 am
content: I just thought this would be a fun little thread about technology you hope to see in your lifetime. Being that my daughter has special needs, a lot of mine is medical based. However, some aren't. I hope I live long enough to see:1.) Cellular level targeted medicine delivery and gene therapy.2.) Missions to the Moon and Mars as common / simple (LOL) as sending astronauts to the space station.3.) Full scale mapping of the ocean floor to much higher accuracy than we have now -- enough to see something on par with a medium sized sailboat.4.) Mitigation and correction of nerve and brain damage through organic circuitry of some sort, correcting for things like MS, Alzheimers, ALS, etc.5.) Perfected, cultured clone/organic or engineered biocompatible replacement organs (heart, lung, kidney, digestive, skin graft, bone graft, etc) requiring no anti-rejection medications.6.) High speed voice and data communications available anywhere on Earth (including the middle of the ocean) as commonplace as a standard suburban phone / cell phone, and at least as fast as DSL.7.) Subconscious learning of some sort through neural / audio stimulation while you sleep. Imagine flying from Dave's lab to... say... Sao Paulo, Brazil and being a fluent speaker of Portuguese by the time you awoke from your in-flight nap.What are your technological hopes for the future?

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 03:31:53 am
content: Quote from: electromotive on March 21, 2019, 03:24:33 am

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 03:43:44 am
content: Teleporting.

author: electromotive
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 03:49:00 am
content: Quote from: Brumby on March 21, 2019, 03:31:53 amHAHAHA What could possibly go wrong?

author: Dundarave
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 04:30:37 am
content: I keep my technology dreams modest:1. Alkaline batteries that don't leak.2. Operating systems that don't require weekly "security patches" in perpetuity.3. Reducing/eliminating bulk email spam by making it impractical/uneconomical.

author: OwO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 06:41:16 am
content: Anime girl sex dolls.

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 06:49:33 am
content: Quote from: OwO on March 21, 2019, 06:41:16 amRight after 1 and 2 :Quote

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 06:50:00 am
content: Quote from: OwO on March 21, 2019, 06:41:16 amThe future is now bro...

author: Dataforensics
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 08:25:52 am
content: Fusion power in usable quantities.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 09:12:24 am
content: I'll go for a Tesla, with one of these instead of the batteries....

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 10:44:22 am
content: Quote from: OwO on March 21, 2019, 06:41:16 amWe already have them! Have you ever been in Tokio (Japan) ?Last time I visited a company specialized in queer robotic applications, I saw a few version of what is commonly known as "real dolls" but with a robotic skeleton inside.It was not able to walk without assistance, but seated on the sofa it looked like a real human being.Now, talking about the Turing test, well it was not something you cannot recognize as a "machine", but to figure out what it was it took a couple of minutes, during which I was really thinking there was a human cosplay actress seated on the sofaanyway, that's interesting because the company I visited is working on the human interface for their robots.Even more odds for my standards, buy hey? The Japan is out of any standards, there are already some silly but really funny applications used in hotels, where you can find a doll(1) at the reception, rather than a sexy-bot in a clothes shop(1) In the hotel I visited, the guest was able to choose among three rooms-kind, each with a different bot at the receptionsexy-bot, kind of hentai girl, dressed like Sailor Moondino-bot, kind of small dromaeosaurid dinosaur of the late Cretaceous periodmonster-bot, kind of spirit out from a horror movieThat's Japanese Entertainment

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 10:51:55 am
content: I hope to live long enough to see the rise of the strong artificial intelligence, like in the "Ex Machina (2014)" movie (with Alicia Vikander), where a young programmer was selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I. ... and I hope to pass the "who is the smartest, between me, and you, Mrs robot?", because it would be really embarrassing otherwise

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 11:07:56 am
content: 1) A new type of propulsion to replace chemical rockets for both earth and in space.2) A method to generate an artificial gravitational field using electricity3) Cheap solar panels with efficiencies above 50%4) Some sort of AI+speech recognition system for performing day to day tasks that's advanced enough to not require you to carefully pronounce each word, or need you to keep to a narrowly defined sentence structure.5) Better energy storage technology6) Mature and fast home 3D printing in high detail with metal or rigid plastic materials that will stand up to general use.7) Wearable heads up displays for people that are small enough to be cool and popular.

author: brabus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 11:11:18 am
content: Only for the (still open) social and ethical implications:- Human head transplant- Genetic optimization of children

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 11:31:31 am
content: Quote from: tautech on March 21, 2019, 03:43:44 amI'm in. It would allow my fellow techs and I to more easily meet our SLAs for service calls.

author: 2N3055
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 11:41:33 am
content: By that time all of us will want only one thing : a cure for arthritis

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 12:03:12 pm
content: A better power source - fusion, direct matter to energy conversion, whatever3D printing on steroids - universal molecular assembler kinda thingA means of communication that does not require vast infrastructure (sci fi quantum entanglement communication)Teleportation or portals - some kind of personal/cargo transportation systemFTL or some other reasonable means of interstellar travelWorking cure-it-all - universal cure for all ailmentsA long term sustainable economic+political system where the vast majority of people are happy, that does not require removal of the incompatible onesStar Trek-ish Holodecks would be kinda cool, but they could cause the downfall of civilization, so, probably not.

author: Nusa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 12:45:13 pm
content: Technology that extends healthy human life for a very long time. I can wait for the rest of the stuff then.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 12:59:57 pm
content: Eeewww. The hyper-sexualised depictions of infantile ("girl" in every sense of the term) femininity is one of the fucking creepiest things in manga/anime.Getting beyond that though, robots/cyborgs as sexual partners probably won't be outside of the realms of the perverted until the state-of-the-art has reached the point of "replicants", akaBlade Runner. I mean, it was a totally natural ending for Deckard to run away with Rachael, wasn't it? I wouldn't get my hopes up though as that isn't likely to be any time soon, but just imagine, for a fanciful moment, the bio-engineering possibility of a woman without any neuroticisms, who isn't always right and is actually capable of taking even the most mild and constructive criticism without erupting into either an immediate or delayed hissy fit.Though that's probably getting a bit too far into the realms of fantasy now.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 01:26:06 pm
content: I would like to see constant advances in energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy where possible, with fossil fuels only having niche applications where no workable alternative exists.Quote from: legacy on March 21, 2019, 10:44:22 amDetroit: Become Human is closer than we thought!Quote from: Psi on March 21, 2019, 11:07:56 amAlready exists for plastic - look up "PETG".

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 01:56:56 pm
content: Commercial Fusion Power PlantsI remember as a kid going to a presentation onhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_European_Torusand thinking it was absolutely awesome but here we are many decades later and it didn't live up to the promises in that presentation.However, Unlimited fusion power is unlikely to help the planet as it will probably encourage the humans to breed more and screw things up in other ways...... so maybe... Cheap personal flying machines (possibly quadcopters)... because it would be fun (and dangerous)!

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 02:00:42 pm
content: 1) Holodeck (virtual West World)or less ambitious2) Hololens within commercial reach (<$2000) and large historic software , like walkthrough ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt, 17th century Amsterdam, 19th century NYC, etc. and ofcourse some nice games

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 02:04:28 pm
content: I also will keep my list simple:a plastic, or plastic replacement, that is truly biodegradable and won't destroy our world's oceans.

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 02:53:20 pm
content: I hope to live long enough to see if the "Sprawl"(1) will really emerge from the spermassive urban agglomerate(1) William Gibson's fiction, the Sprawl is a colloquial name for the Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis (BAMA), an urban sprawl environment on a massive scale.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 03:05:43 pm
content: things that require kardashev V power supplies

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 03:12:04 pm
content: Quote from: legacy on March 21, 2019, 02:53:20 pmOr an even larger sprawl comprising the entire Chinese northeastern coast, from Beijing to Shanghai. Or even spreading further south, to Guangzhou.

author: electromotive
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 10:09:47 pm
content: Quote from: schmitt trigger on March 21, 2019, 03:12:04 pmGuangzhou all lumped in with Foshan, Dongguan, Shenzhen and Hong Kong metropolitan area is absolutely astonishing. I watch two channels (serpentza and ADV China) about a white South African and an American ex-pat living in China. It's very interesting.Quote from: Psi on March 21, 2019, 11:07:56 amI think NASA/ESA/JSA have made significant progress on propulsion in space, but so far we seem to be largely stuck with chemical rockets here on Earth, although quite a bit of progress has been made on thrust vectoring to make them more efficient.Artificial gravity (outside of one of those mass-rotation deals on a scifi space station) would depend largely on whether Loop Quantum Gravity holds true, and whether or not there's some sort of implication of the Higgs Boson inducing mass through some sort of quantum mechanical drag. This, of course, presently negates any relationship with dark energy / dark matter.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 10:20:49 pm
content: A battery tech that is more energy dense than fossil fuel and is usable on even large ships, transports etc and EVs becoming the gold standard. And it needs to happen in the next 10 years if we want to keep the planet in a decently habitable state. I'm 32 years old and have at least another 30 left assuming climate change does not kill us all first or render life very miserable.I guess this is more a political issue than a technological one though. I'm sure such battery could be invented if more funding was put into researching it instead of put towards oil related projects. (and I'm talking one that actually sees the light of day not something we see 1 news article of)

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 10:21:42 pm
content: Quote from: electromotive on March 21, 2019, 10:09:47 pmThere has been a lot of progress on ion thursters and they have got an order of magnitude more powerful.But we still need 1 or 2 more orders before we can use them to lift off earth.It looks promising though.

author: aargee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2019, 11:15:22 pm
content: 1. A good handle on climate change to effectively bring it under control.2. A way to slow down the world's lust for consumption (including mine), but I fear a pandemic / world disaster / meteor strike / etc, will be the only way that will effect change.I think we seek a technology solution for both of these but ultimately it may not come from there.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2019, 12:36:31 am
content: 1. PNP RF transistors.2. Fully documented small signal schottky diodes in all three fabrication types.3. An open source Linux desktop computer. (1)4. Universal replacement of plurality voting with approval voting.(1) This almost exists with IBM Power! WTF Intel?

author: rcarlton
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2019, 02:20:29 pm
content: Solar powered electric cars.

author: emece67
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2019, 03:25:47 pm
content: .

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2019, 03:54:52 pm
content: Time travel, then I can go back to visit my 18 year old self and whisper 'hold on there boy' in my ear at the right moments. Paying for this will be easy, instead of buying that Apple //e with the dual floppy drives I invest the money in Apple stock, which means that I will now have about thirty million dollars worth of shares.

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2019, 04:35:00 pm
content: I know a guy who maybe 30 years ago visited with several elderly people and asked the question has technology actually improved your life and what technology offered the most benefit. It wasn't phones, TVs or cars. By far the technology that improved their lives was the washing machine.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2019, 04:49:07 pm
content: Leisure society.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2019, 05:26:17 pm
content: A kitchen drain pipe that never gets clogged.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2019, 02:08:05 pm
content: Quote from: Bud on March 24, 2019, 05:26:17 pmIt's not normal to always be unclogging your kitchen drain pipe. I think ive done it once in my life.If your one keeps getting blocked there is something wrong with how it was installed or what you are trying to force down there.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2019, 02:20:54 pm
content: Quote from: electromotive on March 21, 2019, 10:09:47 pmIts absolutely astonishing that anyone would lump those places together. Foshan has now completely blended into GuangZhou as a suburb. DongGuan is still a completely separate entity. ShenZhen is adjacent to Hong Kong, just as many borders have a city on each side, but there is no sense of them merging into a single metropolis. If you are used to America, with its enormous distances between most cities, these places might not seem well separated, but they are a distinct as most European cities.

author: Awoke
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 25, 2019, 05:51:47 pm
content: I'm more interested in the penetration of current technologies than future ones. Broadband internet access being one of the top. I mean, the US started the whole thing and there are a bunch of people living there right now that can't even get dial up...As for future tech, I want a space ship. I want to be able to zip through space in my personal space ship like it was a car.

author: boB
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2019, 05:56:19 pm
content: The end of nukes

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2019, 05:59:27 pm
content: I think the technology many people would like to live long enough to see is the ability to be immortal. However, I wonder how well that would work out in practice.

author: cvanc
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2019, 06:12:22 pm
content: Well, I'm not getting any younger, so all I want is...Variable diopter reading glasses

author: Marco
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2019, 06:21:08 pm
content: I don't think I'll be around for brain uploads unfortunately. Within my lifetime I'd like to see artificial wombs, human genetic engineering and hyper efficient recycling technology ... just to have some hope for civilization.I'm not worried about global warming or energy, but if we don't tackle natural resource constraints we will ruin this planet for technological civilizations until the earth's crust recycles and if we don't tackle dysgenics we won't be able to maintain one.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2019, 04:58:25 pm
content: Quote from: Psi on March 25, 2019, 02:08:05 pmIf that was the case, shelves in home hardware stores would not be filled with drain cleaners, plumbers would not charge fortune for unclogging jobs, and suppliers would not sell drain snake cleaning cables for $3 per foot.

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2019, 05:49:36 pm
content: The First Private Moon Landing Attempt.Edit.Well I'd count that asan attempt.

author: electromotive
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2019, 08:42:52 pm
content: Quote from: Bud on March 24, 2019, 05:26:17 pmCoatings exist to prevent biofilm accumulation. I don’t know if it’s compatible with PVC, but it’s certainly capable of being used on stainless steel. When I worked as a pipefitters, my dream was to plumb an entire house with TIG welded stainless steel lines. On something like a 316L, it would *just* start to pit in around 20,000 years.

author: inhaller
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 12, 2019, 12:14:09 am
content: 1. I'd like to see a move away from fossil fuels for the planet's sake.2. A high speed public transit rail network would be nice to have (at least in the United States, here public transit is pretty much limited to cities)

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2019, 08:36:21 am
content: The ability to compress the fabric of space time and permanently hold it's dense form inside a small box, preferably a blue box.Imagine how cool it would be if that technology was relativity easy to do.