Posted December 30, 200915 yr What kind of new devices do you think will become common by 2020, what will they do? What do you think our computers will be like? How about other technologies in the automotive or healthcare fields? It's incredible to think back in 1999, so few people knew what an MP3 was, virtually an entire new industry rose from it and now we have the ipod Here's a few of my predictions Government puts an official end to dial up internet, replaced with high speed, low cost alternatives Most surgeries are done robotically. Open heart surgery is considered crude and archaic procedure. Our computer monitors become panes of glass with a thin film overtop that is the screen. (I think we are already close to this actually) Most computer circuitry is replaced with optics circuitry. This will make our current computers look about as powerful as a typewriter. "Smarter cars" but nothing like a full AHS. New technology will result in fewer accidents.
December 30, 200915 yr Apple will invent a device called the iYou, which is simply a microchip with the Apple logo on it that gets implanted into the back of our heads. iYou users will then be able to communicate telepathically and develop a hive mind, at which point the human race becomes Borg.
December 30, 200915 yr Our computer monitors become panes of glass with a thin film overtop that is the screen. (I think we are already close to this actually We are starting to see this with OLED technology. Right now it's about $2000 for a 7 inch screen, but we'll probably see large screens at reasonable prices in about 5 years.
December 30, 200915 yr - DVDs and CDs will go the way of Cassette Tape, with all personal media residing in cloudspace and accessed--and controlled--via DRM. Old-fashioned types will opt to host their media on ultra compact, ultra-high capacity personal flash servers. - The concept of computer monitors and LCD TVs and e-books and media players evaporate as the walls and surfaces of your home become are coated with a photo-reactive membrane controlled by your home operating system, which, along with your media, resides on the cloudspace mainframe.
December 30, 200915 yr What kind of new devices do you think will become common by 2020, what will they do? What do you think our computers will be like? How about other technologies in the automotive or healthcare fields? It's incredible to think back in 1999, so few people knew what an MP3 was, virtually an entire new industry rose from it and now we have the ipod Here's a few of my predictions Government puts an official end to dial up internet, replaced with high speed, low cost alternatives Most surgeries are done robotically. Open heart surgery is considered crude and archaic procedure. Our computer monitors become panes of glass with a thin film overtop that is the screen. (I think we are already close to this actually) Most computer circuitry is replaced with optics circuitry. This will make our current computers look about as powerful as a typewriter. "Smarter cars" but nothing like a full AHS. New technology will result in fewer accidents. It won't matter if we're all dead by 2012 :) jk
December 30, 200915 yr I am rather conservative, but: -OLED will replace LCD -Hydrogen cells will begin to become commercially available, powering things like laptops, cars, small vehicles -Photovoltaic paints allow passive power generation on any surface -USA, Europe or Korea will achieve a sustained Fusion reaction -Most media, including video games, books, magazines and movies, will be distributed online -CPU's and GPU's will re-integrate -Persistent, Massively Multiplayer games will be a common past-time and exist in enormously complex virtual worlds -Researchers currently simulating parts of small mammal brains cell-by-cell will achieve a quasi-conscious AI -Nanotechnology and cell biology begin to converge, medicine becomes increasingly personalized -Exotic materials, such as light-bending cloth, are a major driver of research and industry -India's population stabilizes, Africa becomes a major breadbasket and raw materials supplier for Asia -Climate change continues unabated, as does the destruction of the Brazilian and African rainforests -There are more Chinese in space than Americans, Russians or Europeans
December 30, 200915 yr There will be several devices at CES next week which have the technology that will be the predecessors of Minority Report screens and interactive wallpaper to come. Hopefully won't be too overshadowed by cell phone apps and 3D television.
December 31, 200915 yr I'm excited about the future! Some of the good things I see coming our way: -Hair pieces that change color with your mood -Genetically engineered hybrid Kentucky Blue/Teen Goth lawns- "grass that cuts itself" -A reinvented wheel with a built in 20 megapixel camera and mp8 player that stores 1 billion songs (it doesn't roll so good) -Flint knapping technology will reach new heights (thanks Kentucky Scout Troop #173!) -Biodegradable nuclear fission reactors -Sex toy technology advances to the point that natural reproduction stops completely -GPS equipped cheeseburgers
December 31, 200915 yr I'm excited about the future! Some of the good things I see coming our way: -Hair pieces that change color with your mood -Genetically engineered hybrid Kentucky Blue/Teen Goth lawns- "grass that cuts itself" -A reinvented wheel with a built in 20 megapixel camera and mp8 player that stores 1 billion songs (it doesn't roll so good) -Flint knapping technology will reach new heights (thanks Kentucky Scout Troop #173!) -Biodegradable nuclear fission reactors -Sex toy technology advances to the point that natural reproduction stops completely -GPS equipped cheeseburgers
December 31, 200915 yr I'm predicting... We'll see the end of hard drives, Most people will stop having separate screens for their computer and TV, Those screens will be OLED, Law enforcement is revolutionized when the police realize the criminals are so addicted to Facebook that they can't help posting that they just robbed a bank, murdered their spouse, etc. Osama Bin Laden is killed after posting to Twitter that the bomb just dropped at the compound he's staying in was 15 feet closer to Mecca than where he was. Cars are going to become even more "hybrid" by combining more technologies to gain efficiency without giving up power. Solar panels on the trunk roof and sterling engines along the exhaust for a couple extra watts translating into a couple extra horses. Cars become capable of driving themselves as technology that keeps them in their own lane is combined with radar capable of keeping them a safe distance from vehicles around, more accurate GPS and highly accurate maps. Automakers go bankrupt from lawsuits brought by ignorant passengers who told their car to go to Portland and find themselves in Portland ME when they meant Portland OR. (Or any other city name that's in multiple states) NanoTechnology develops microscopic mechanical treatments for viruses, Viruses develop immunity to those same treatments, Incandesent and CFL light bulbs are replaced by LEDs
December 31, 200915 yr Leather seats and MP3 players will be added options for the handbasket we are all riding to hell in. Bubblewrap clothes so kids can play outside. All interscholastic sports will be played on xbox live. Gaydar
December 31, 200915 yr Leather seats and MP3 players will be added options for the handbasket we are all riding to hell in. Bubblewrap clothes so kids can play outside. All interscholastic sports will be played on xbox live. Gaydar Hell? What is this place you speak of? Kids know what "outdoors" mean? Sports? I think you mean Gaydar 8.0
December 31, 200915 yr Bubblewrap clothes so kids can play outside. Now you can do can do laundry with a hose!
December 31, 200915 yr My predictions: -Water is looked at as a major source of fuel -Gasoline prices reach $10.00 per gallon -The Water Belt becomes a place where people want to move to
December 31, 200915 yr Then I predict an old hobby will come back for the first time since the French Revolution! "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
December 31, 200915 yr Cars become capable of driving themselves as technology that keeps them in their own lane is combined with radar capable of keeping them a safe distance from vehicles around, more accurate GPS and highly accurate maps. That's closer than you think. BMW and a few other companies already have "adaptive" cruise control that senses a vehicle in front or behind and adjusts the throttle/brakes to keep a safe distance.
December 31, 200915 yr Cars become capable of driving themselves as technology that keeps them in their own lane is combined with radar capable of keeping them a safe distance from vehicles around, more accurate GPS and highly accurate maps. That's closer than you think. BMW and a few other companies already have "smart" cruise control that senses a vehicle in front or behind and adjusts the throttle/brakes to keep a safe distance. Yeah, a lot of new tech like that is under development or beginning to be used in a few higher end models, but I'm guessing within a decade we'll be seeing the auto makers tie in a lot of these technologies to make them close to fully automatic. I don't really think that we'll ever have completely driverless cars though as it would subject the automakers to too much liability.
December 31, 200915 yr Yeah I agree. I know within the next 5 years a lot of the new technologies that are in the really expensive luxury models will also gradually trickle down into the less expensive models, and all cars will be very high tech and sophisticated. Another prediction I have, while tying into what I just said, is the gradual extinction of the standard transmission. So many vehicles, especially the sports cars that embrace the manual gearbox, are changing over to either paddle shifters, or clutch-less manuals. Probably with all of the new technologies that are emerging in cars, the standard transmission will become inefficient. I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling it will happen.
December 31, 200915 yr ^ Don't tell that to my clutch manufacturing client! I'm with Living in Gin. We're all going to have chips in our heads, which allow us to interface with each other on the net. No more need for face to face anything. We all can exist in little pods collected in hives, with the jack implanted in the back of our heads allowing us to live our lives virtually. Heck, I bet some clever person can figure out a way to harness our bodies to provide electrical energy to fuel this virtual world. Someone should make a movie about this. It's good stuff!
December 31, 200915 yr On the "chips" issue.... I do expect to see implants that can identify like we have for our pets. But I also expect that parents will elect to have those chips installed in their kids to track location. Yeah I agree. I know within the next 5 years a lot of the new technologies that are in the really expensive luxury models will also gradually trickle down into the less expensive models, and all cars will be very high tech and sophisticated. Another prediction I have, while tying into what I just said, is the gradual extinction of the standard transmission. So many vehicles, especially the sports cars that embrace the manual gearbox, are changing over to either paddle shifters, or clutch-less manuals. Probably with all of the new technologies that are emerging in cars, the standard transmission will become inefficient. I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling it will happen. I really, REALLY do not understand the point of having a manual transmission without a clutch. It baffles me. The clutch action is the whole point of standard shifting, not the shifter. For that reason, I doubt manuals will go completely extinct. As a matter of fact, I think they have made a bit of a comeback as of late with this whole "Fast and the Furious" generation. Me, I will NEVER go back to automatic. NEVER. I owned one once and it really took all the joy out of driving for me. Well, my truck is automatic but I don't drive it enough to care and I still reach for the clutch whenever I get in it (kind of feels like expecting an extra step up a flight of stairs that is not there).
December 31, 200915 yr 1984 is upon us and people jumped into it willingly. The camera/video phone + social networking are in combination the most dangerous invention in decades, a combo that changed culture fundamentally and for the worse.
December 31, 200915 yr Only if you get involved in social networking. Since I never understood why I should make it easy for people to stalk me, I have resisted participation in this foolishness. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
January 1, 201015 yr Gattaca came to mind when I read that post. That movie was so ahead of it's time and so accurate.
January 4, 201015 yr I do think cars might be able to drive themselves by 2020. They already can, the problem is the technology hasn't been all that marketable. People still love to drive their cars. I don't think the research of AHS gets much funding anymore either. It's better that the technology is introduced into the market in pieces rather than all at once, allowing people to slowly adapt.
January 4, 201015 yr Our computer monitors become panes of glass with a thin film overtop that is the screen. (I think we are already close to this actually We are starting to see this with OLED technology. Right now it's about $2000 for a 7 inch screen, but we'll probably see large screens at reasonable prices in about 5 years. Before 2020 the technology will become so inexpensive that we'll see it in animated greeting cards, first with pre-loaded ones, and then with ones we can load with our own animations, GIF or MPEG. ... If hard-copy greeting cards haven't become obsolete by then, replaced by images sent telepathically through our implanted chips. :wink: Speaking of which, consider the possible consequences of telepathic communication, unless it's accompanied by some very reliable user-controlled filters and switches. :-o
January 4, 201015 yr If Back to the Future 2 is based on reality, and I believe it is, then we only have 5 more years until we all ride hoverboards.
January 5, 201015 yr If Back to the Future 2 is based on reality, and I believe it is, then we only have 5 more years until we all ride hoverboards. Cool, so instead of spraining my ankle falling off a skateboard I can break it falling off a hoverboard.
January 7, 201015 yr Posterboard-thin LCD screen tv's. Wait, scratch that. LG's got that covered: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/06/lg.flatscreen/index.html This could probably give HD wall projectors a run for their money. So I guess we'll be seeing either very thin TV sets or maybe higher quality HD projectors...
January 9, 20169 yr WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
January 10, 20169 yr Delta has now changed their boarding announcement to add that hoverboards are not permitted to be taken on the plane.
March 6, 20169 yr My prediction is all the cool kids will own one of these.... https://youtu.be/tONNo0FpTws "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
March 6, 20169 yr Amazon Echo (Alexa) and other similar devices will be quite common in senior households.
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