Technology

[Madame Adequate]

I still don't understand this "We're going to blow ourseves up!" thing. If it didn't happen during the Cold War, imo it shows it's bloody unlikely to happen, full stop.

Edit: Also, once we get self-sustaining space colonies, we'll kinda win at survival.

once we perfect fusion.. its a real possibility..

i think a nuke will explode somewhere in the future.. but not a thousend of them.. maybe 5.. but thatll prob be it though

Yeah well we've already detonated over two thousand of the things and we're still here just fine.

And we already have fusion bombs. It's the fusion power that we're trying to get.

[blackmage_nuke]

I still don't understand this "We're going to blow ourseves up!" thing. If it didn't happen during the Cold War, imo it shows it's bloody unlikely to happen, full stop.

Edit: Also, once we get self-sustaining space colonies, we'll kinda win at survival.

once we perfect fusion.. its a real possibility..

i think a nuke will explode somewhere in the future.. but not a thousend of them.. maybe 5.. but thatll prob be it though

Yeah well we've already detonated over two thousand of the things and we're still here just fine.

And we already have fusion bombs. It's the fusion power that we're trying to get.

Yep at the moment there really isnt any way that improving nuclear fusion can make it any more destructive

[Aerith's Knight]

no i didnt mean that.. psh idiots..

i meant fusion as power source.. then space stations and such can be a possibility.. at least we would have enough power to do so.

[Tavrobel]

So, how did they actually use the seashells anyway?

Maybe they used it like real toilet paper, except to scrape things off.

no i didnt mean that.. psh idiots..

I hardly think that calling someone an idiot is a good way to cover up your own unqualified statement. Plus, MILF has already preempted you, in case you were indeed talking about fusion power.

once we perfect fusion.. its a real possibility..

Notice here, there is no indication of what type of fusion you meant. Fusion power? Fusion bombs? Blood transfusion? Furion Stormrage? Cenarion Circle?

i think a nuke will explode somewhere in the future.. but not a thousend of them.. maybe 5.. but thatll prob be it though

This text here, serves to back up the previous point, it would make sense that the unqualified "fusion" you were speaking about referred to weaponry, as you started talking about nuclear weaponry.

[drotato]

As far as I'm concerned it doesn't matter either way. The world is going to hell sooner or later. ^^

[Rengori]

Edit: Also, once we get self-sustaining space colonies, we'll kinda win at survival.

Do we go to building Gundams from there?

[Loony BoB]

I'd say there are a lot of things we'll have to find our way through yet - technology wise and culture wise, too.

1) Energy. That whole cold fusion power type thing will be immense.

2) Jobs. There will come a time that doesn't look too far off where jobs will begin to fall away. There are more and more people in the world and companies are constantly finding new ways for one person to do the same job as two did beforehand. Once computers do start taking over more people's jobs - and they certainly will - I do wonder how long it will take before currency comes into question. Who will provide income for families? Will food be free? etc. etc. etc. There's just so much to go into here. x_x

3) Space travel. I sadly don't imagine it will happen in my lifetime, but I long for the day that manned space travel to other planets finally happens, and people begin to colonise other planets. This is probably the one thing that I feel will change everything, forever. If people ever get to the stage that they can fly from planet to planet in what feels like months, then we are certainly well beyond what I could ever hope to see. It almost makes me sad that I won't get to see such a thing happen.

All this flying car business? Yeah, that's not technology that is out of reach. That's already here, guys. It's just not a sensible or efficient mechanism in today's world as of yet. I think people will still be travelling in cars despite being able to fly for quite some time.

As for Artificial Intelligence, it's there already, too. I assume what you mean is just an advanced version of this - a 'thinking' robot, which makes it's own rules and it's own decisions. If we ever get to this, well, we're certainly getting to the point where one must consider the "I, Robot" and "Terminator" deals - but eh, I won't bother considering putting much thought into that until we're a lot closer to the time.

[Aerith's Knight]

i agree with all those points, except the AI one, a thinking, rulemaking robot can still only make those rules by the parameter the programmer gave him, again, he isnt making the decision, but the programmer is, because he gave him the algoritms and such to randomly choose something. its not AI, its clever programming.. and that can improve.

[BardTard]

I had a dream that I saw a flying car and I thought it was Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. I don't think technology will ever surprise us because it gradually gets better and better... With the technology we have we can always expect something else, you know? It's not like all of a sudden we've got something we've never expected. Like we're cavemen and all of a sudden we've got internet access and MP3 players.

There's still alot more technology-related stuff that needs to be... to be. Like a simple way to destroy your reproductive orgnas using lasers. Just zap 'em. You know, without damaging your skin or other organs... Why is that not a form of birth control? (is that safe?) Bah who cares. Safer than having kids. What's the worst that could happen?

Hmm now that I think about it, I can see that happening. I'd like to have my reproductive organs laser-zapped when they figure out that's an effective method.

Also, there will be more ways to deal with unruly hair. Also beneficial to me.

[Lynx]

im waiting for Nintendo to improve on there motion sensors so that i can have a real sword fight with the controller useing all the sword techniques and them actually being done on screen. also dot hack type of simulation would be cool except for the coma parts of it. so yeah we still got some distance to go with technology. just have to sit and wait or go out and invent. but inventing isnt for me damn solar powered flashlights that never sold.

[Madame Adequate]

2) Jobs. There will come a time that doesn't look too far off where jobs will begin to fall away. There are more and more people in the world and companies are constantly finding new ways for one person to do the same job as two did beforehand. Once computers do start taking over more people's jobs - and they certainly will - I do wonder how long it will take before currency comes into question. Who will provide income for families? Will food be free? etc. etc. etc. There's just so much to go into here. x_x

BoB's highlighted my greatest concern about the next decades. In fact, we're already at the early point of this stage - the 90s saw the longest period of jobless economic growth since the depression. Increased efficiency is rendering tens to hundreds of thousands of people jobless, and there simply are not enough jobs to take their place. We're still at a stage far from complete automation, so there are still enough new jobs being made for us to remain essentially as we were, but how we react to things over the coming decades will define our future societies. It could be utopian, or it could be dystopian.

BoB's also right on the flying car and AI stuff. We do technically have AI everywhere - it's surprisingly integral to our day-to-day live. But it's not the kind of AI we tend to think of when we hear the words, so it gets neglected. The only thing I'd disagree with is regards to space travel. In fact, it's reasonably likely that we will live to see it. It seems fairly probable that life extension technologies will start to arrive in a big way over the next couple of decades, so even if high-tech space travel is far off, we've at least some chance of making it there.