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I always get a kick oput of remembering the science digest and popular mechinaics issues when i was a kid. By the 70's we were supposed to have moving sidewalks and car that double as airplanes and boats. Kitchns had very thing you need that just popped out of the cabinets you needed. Robots doing all house chores and cutting the grass.
I always get a kick oput of remembering the science digest and popular mechinaics issues when i was a kid. By the 70's we were supposed to have moving sidewalks and car that double as airplanes and boats. Kitchns had very thing you need that just popped out of the cabinets you needed. Robots doing all house chores and cutting the grass.
Water power is probably a sham, but E does equal MC^2 (no matter how much Al Gore & friends may hate that fact), so there's lots of cheap energy in the universe, and I'm sure there's a more compact way to store / transport it than H20...
Also, "computers as smart as all mankind", what does that mean really? Humans used machines to aid in calculation since antiquity (i.e. abacus, equitorium, water clocks, etc), but those are just inanimate objects built by man. It's man's use of them that gives them meaning.
My prediction: mass-produced flying RV's, as I've mentioned elsewhere in arguing what might happen without government interference in the energy market and transportation infrastructure, and they will eventually come down in price to be affordable by the middle class, as well as evolve to go into space. So your home is your car is your plane is your boat is your spaceship! As they grow bigger, some people will rent living space aboard them instead of owning their own, etc. It would make sense to design those RV's to dock together like legos, thus making it possible to create little "sub-urban" neighborhoods in space, or dock to much-larger space stations that become the urban centers of the future.
Earth really isn't that good a place to live full-time if you think about it: the gravity gets in the way, for example, making mining, manufacturing, and many other things way more expensive. Surface and air friction limit transportation possibilities. The Earth itself, as well as its atmosphere, is a huge barrier to telecommunications. It would take less time to get to a space station hovering on the other side of the Earth than it would to go from New York to Hong Kong, and the ping time would be better too. Solar panels work best if you put them near the sun, and nuclear power plants work best far away from Earth so nothing of value gets damaged if one leaks. Etc.
So most people would live in space, and the Earth would be prized for its agricultural resources and natural beauty. All the cities will be dismantled in favor of space stations (urbanity works better in 3D). If the population gets high enough, only the rich would live on Earth full-time, with the rest coming down on their days off and vacations, if they so choose. The Earth would look different after a few centuries: all of it irrigated, with every point of the ocean dotted with artificial islands. Every square inch of land would be utilized as much as possible, either for food production or recreation.
Terraforming of other planets will not happen for thousands of years: it's cheaper to live in space anyway, and for agricultural resources you'll still get a better bang for your buck squeezing more out of the Earth. Swarms of underwater robots will herd fish, boosting the world's fish output by a factor of several thousand, and giant aquariums would eventually be built in space as well - you need to store water (which is recyclable) anyway, so you might as well put it to productive use to ensure fresher sashimi. Meat, on the other hand, will be far more expensive because of the resources required to produce it, especially beef.
Earth and nearby space stations will be centrally managed with "democratic" governments and all that, but many people would choose to withdraw from the collectivist system, settling in the outer reaches of the solar system, gradually drifting into the Oort cloud and beyond. The Internet would become fragmented, because some space stations on The Rim will be more than a light-year away, with at least as much communications delay.
Depending on how tyrannical EarthGov gets, natural selection could take place over time, with many John Galt types drifting away from the Earth and the densely-populated core of the solar systen, taking their capital and ideas with them. War between "The Center" and "The Rim" is possible, or the two could drift apart peacefully, over thousands of years almost becoming completely different species.
Last edited by Alex Libman; 01-05-2009 at 11:13 PM..
I remember many years ago, reading Reader's Digest. One article was about this guy building kits for gyroscopes. There was no license needed. I thought after a few years went by, there would be more of them.
Ohh.. you want some real predictions.. not just made of the fly stuff..
- Biotechnology is key to future technologies.. growing things can remove are infrastructure needs of pulling things out of the planet
- Internet everywhere.. yep.. I think at some point we will wear wired computers around with us..
- In some variations of our society we will have alien contact within 40 years...
- And a person I know says (and there maybe right) we will have invented A.I. within the next 50 years..
These are just some aspects of the future you should remember though that the future is usually kind of a blend of all our ideas in a way..
Nano tech is the future, but just keep in mind that it is a generic term that is subjective to the present point in time. The average processor in an average home computer today is considered nanotech by 1960's standards just as computer tech, and technology in general, in the future will be considered such as well. However, there will always be that reach to build smaller and more powerful.
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Originally Posted by gy2020
Space Elevator
This idea is just too goofy; I am surprised that there are people who are still seriously considering such a thing. The physics involved with in keeping such an object safe is mind boggling. It sounds like a simple idea, but in reality it will be the engineering feat of a century.
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Originally Posted by gy2020
Moon Colonies
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Originally Posted by gy2020
Living on and terraforming Mars
I read an article in Omni Magazine about ten or fifteen years ago that discussed the idea of populating Mars. The idea circulating at the time was to go to Mars and build giant factories that produced the necessary molecules to sustain life and then pumped these molecules out through giant smoke stacks. The author of the article estimated that within 100 years, there would be enough of an atmosphere to sustain life.
The current idea is to just build giant bio-domes that will act as a hamster habitat, aquarium, and green house all rolled into one.
There are many problems to living on both the Moon and Mars. The four most prominent aliments are (in no particular order): (A) Water. While ice has been found on Mars, unless there is an underground reservoir, there is going to be a problem. Water can easily be created by combining hydrogen and oxygen, however, if one of those two, or both, are not readily available then they would have to either be imported or mined (removed from other materials found near-by). Both practices would be expensive and thus water would become the most valuable commodity (as if it isn't already here on Earth). (B) Air. I don't think that this one needs much explanation. (C) The mental state of the 'pioneers', most of which will probably go bat-sh*t crazy. Even in this day and age of being instantly connected with anyone else on the planet, many people still have anxiety over moving to a new place whether it is just another city in the same state, to another state or even another country. Now, imagine moving to another planet. In all likely-hood, it will be a one-way ticket, at least for a century or so. Another thing to consider is politics. Who is going to 'own' Mars, or the Moon? And if you think that a country, or corporation is not going to try and stake a claim you are only kidding yourself. Who will be allowed to go? These new inhabitants would have to leave their country(ies) and politics behind as they learn to live as one for the success and survival of the colony. On second thought, that sounds like a damn good idea. (D) Meteors would be a big problem as neither the Moon nor Mars has a thick enough atmosphere that would cause meteors to burn up from friction. If your dome was not built adequately, then your habitat would be toast.
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Originally Posted by gy2020
Life extension to indefinite age
I believe that within fifty years this will become a definite possibility although in some ways, at least in the beginning, will require that man become more machine than human.
However, the only three ways in which indefinite life spans would be able to happen are (A) Colonizing the Moon, Mars, and space in general (B) severely limiting the number of births allowed, and (C) having more wars, executions, the moral encroachment of suicide removed, et. al. in order to keep the population levels maintainable.
I can also see a lot more Julius Caesars vying for power and control if (when) this becomes reality.
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Originally Posted by gy2020
Robots in every home
In some form or another, but I think that the day of Rosie and the Jetsons are still far off into the future.
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Originally Posted by gy2020
Machine technology far outstrips slower man
This is already here.
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Originally Posted by gy2020
Internet everywhere, including Moon, Mars and Beyond
Yeah, the internet is here to stay and it will definitely extend beyond the bounds of our planet someday.
Watch out when robot swarms mix with nano-technology an artificial intelligence. Can you picture swarms of micron sized particles that determine humanity a threat? Nanovirus.
Watch out when robot swarms mix with nano-technology an artificial intelligence. Can you picture swarms of micron sized particles that determine humanity a threat? Nanovirus.
You are thinking like a good old red blooded human, but why would they believe humans to be a threat? Humans are a threat. We are the only species on this planet that is not only more then willing to wipe out portions of our own kind (yeah, I know what you are thinking; the Russians are not like us....the Chinese are not like us.....the blah blah effin' blah are not like us....save me the grief) and if we happen to wipe us all out as well, then so be it.
But how are they going to know that?
Seriously, AI is a long way away form being able to form such opinions, and in the mean time, they will be programmed not to.
I think that they will take on more of a Spock approach; pure logic.
IDK when it will happen if ever...maybe impossible. No doubt someone out there is working on it though.
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Nanovirus.
