Technology of the future

[Hitokiri]

Kinda like the idiots who are pulling off scams in the name of the Tsunami victims. Like putting up false websitrs to get your money. Some guy I heard in a report say "I didn't see anything wrong that I was doing. I don't even care if they die over there anyways. As long as I find a easy way to make money, at other's expense, I'm fine with it."

grrr...::holds back urge to strangle::

[AnsemK_R]

[AnsemK_R]

I wouldn't be holding back anything in that situation.

But really just because someone says something different than normal doesn't mean they are trying to take advantage of people. MAYBE this guy is an idiot trying to make a quick dollar, but if somebody ever did find true cures do you really think they would be released unopposed? The food and drug companies he attacks are just as money hungry as he possibly is. That is why you should always try to get a neutral opinion, if you can find someone like that.

I just hope that in the future we still have rain forests and other natural resoures. I think we are digging our own grave in that respect.

What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet,
Long live the weeds and the wildness yet.
~Gerard Manley Hopkins, Inversnaid

[Technomancer]

But really just because someone says something different than normal doesn't mean they are trying to take advantage of people. MAYBE this guy is an idiot trying to make a quick dollar, but if somebody ever did find true cures do you really think they would be released unopposed? The food and drug companies he attacks are just as money hungry as he possibly is. That is why you should always try to get a neutral opinion, if you can find someone like that.

No, you can be pretty sure he's just another fraudster. Look, there's nothing new, or especially wonderful about "natural" curatives]Every[/i] researcher would give their eye teeth to come up with these kinds of advances. In addition, much of the research is government funded and in countries with public health care systems their is an obvious motivation to make these cures available if they exist. I may not always like the practices of the pharmeceutical companies, but even they couldn't pull off a scam like this, nor do I think they are outright malevolent.

[AnsemK_R]

Those who have some knowledge of biology and disease aren't going to be taken in by this nonsense, but they're really a minority. People who don't have that kind of background unfortunately don't know good science from bogus.

That I can't argue with since its true that I know almost nothing about biology.

Every researcher would give their eye teeth to come up with these kinds of advances.

True. Every researcher would, but the world isn't ruled by science it is ruled by money and power. And any business man can tell you that the less products you sell the less money you make, and the less money you make the less power you have. Therefore it would only be common sense to withhold products from the public that would instantly and permanantly cure diseases. Does that mean these cures exist? Probably not but they will try to make medicines better in small doses. You don't really think that they care that people are hurt do you?

"Business is the art of extracting money from another man's pocket without resorting to violence." ~Max Amsterdam

[Yojimbo]

True. Every researcher would, but the world isn't ruled by science it is ruled by money and power. And any business man can tell you that the less products you sell the less money you make, and the less money you make the less power you have. Therefore it would only be common sense to withhold products from the public that would instantly and permanantly cure diseases. Does that mean these cures exist? Probably not but they will try to make medicines better in small doses. You don't really think that they care that people are hurt do you?

"Business is the art of extracting money from another man's pocket without resorting to violence." ~Max Amsterdam

Well if this was how the field always worked we never would of almost completely eliminated polio and smallpox to name a few.

[Dante]

Or we may destroy all our civilization's accomplishments during WW3.
"It is my belief that WW3 will be fought with neuclear weapons and WW4 will be fought with stone spears and rocks" - unknown

Actually the quote goes
"I do not know what world war three or four will be fought with, but world war 5 will be fought with spears and rocks" It is by Albert Einstein.

[Fsiphskilm]

I beleiv

[Yeshua-Knight]

i realize that i'm neither an administrator, nor am i a moderator, but perhaps we should get back on topic, otherwise things could get ugly

[KOBUSHInoTENSHU]

I think we r in WW3.

[ClosetOtaku]

I think the biggest technological challenge, and one that most of you will likely face the implications of, is the search for alternative energy sources to fossil fuels.

Let me set the stage: we still have very large oil reserves that we are just starting to tap. Oil is still plentiful and fairly inexpensive.

However, we're not finding a whole lot more. We're at between 95% and 99% production capacity right now (e.g. even if we were able to drill more, it would just sit around and wait to be turned into useful derivative products).

And, for the big news, China and India, two countries with over a third of the world's current population, are just now entering the consumption market.

If the populations of China and India at anytime in the near future begin even approaching the per capita oil consumption of the peoples of the West (and there is little doubt they will demand it), our existing oil supplies will be dangerously close to depletion within 30 to 40 years.

Now, that still gives us time to come up with alternatives -- if any exist. Current alternatives, however, are falling short of expectations hyped during the 1970s. We've dammed just about every source of hydroelectric power on the planet. Wind power has proven to be too unreliable. Nuclear, despite its controversial nature, will work well until we exhaust uranium supplies in about 60 years (at current rate of consumption, so don't bother building more). Solar is a great local solution, but how do you bottle solar power collected in Arizona and get it to Bangladesh? You can't. Coal will be depleted soon enough (no projections, but clean burning coal plants aren't being built at a rapid enough pace to keep up with future demand).

What about wonder technologies such as fusion? Still possible, but 30 years of fusion research has yet to produce a single working reactor capable of demonstrating net energy gain. If we can make fusion work, terrific, most of your problems are solved. But what at one time seemed like a sure bet is now, even from optimists in the science community, very doubtful.

Now, you say, OK, so we'll go back to more conservative means of energy use, build our houses with solar power and use fuel cells in our cars. But that's not the issue. Close your eyes, point randomly with your finger, and open them. What are you pointing at? Chances are it took a lot of oil and oil derivatives to produce and deliver that product, even though it may not take a drop of oil to maintain.

Most sensitive to this is food. Oil to get the seed in the ground. Petroleum by-products as insecticides and fertilizers. Oil to harvest the food. Oil to process it, can it, freeze it, preserve it, or deliver it fresh and unprocessed before it spoils. Oil to make the cartons or plastic wrappings that prevent exposure to harmful bacteria. Oil for you to get it to your local stores from large distribution points. Oil for you to get in your car and make it to the market which is now, rather than a 10-minute walk from your house to the village center, now a 10-minute drive some five miles distant. Oil to construct and power your refrigerator to keep it fresh. Oil to cook it. Get the point?

All the technological advances in the world don't mean squat if there's no power to power them. All the technological advances in the world don't mean anything to the person who doesn't have access to 2,000 calories a day. Connect the dots. We've got two or three decades left of cheap oil, at most. The stopwatch has started; where will you and I be when the buzzer sounds?

I'd like to leave this topic on a positive note, but I don't see one, at least not at the moment. We won't "run out" of oil -- the marketplace will never allow that, per se. Oil will simply become more and more expensive until the world is split into haves and have-nots, and then political processes will intervene and take over. The world is moving far too fast to be able to see where this is headed. However, the underlying reality is that fossil fuels are being depleted at an astounding rate.

Don't just believe what I've said. Do the research yourself. Get online. Get some numbers. Do your math. Break out that funny calculator you use for physics and figure out how to do exponentials, because that's the rate at which we're seeing our unrenewable resources being consumed on a planet where almost all processes are following geometric, not linear, curves.

Find a replacement for fossil fuels, if there is one, and you will have a rewarding career and be rich beyond your imagination. The Nobel Prize awaits. But a lot of good minds are already working on this, and they are shaking their heads in frustration.

[KOBUSHInoTENSHU]

I think the population will decline by the people who r in charge.. cause Demand of more food and stuff.. -_- The world will "unite" soon.... (Sorry if im scaring u guys but its true) But we all kno that Jesus is gonna come back and kick Satan's butt! lol

[ClosetOtaku]

<Double post. Arrgh!>

[AnsemK_R]

Wow ClosetOtaku...that may have been more depressing than MY posts.

Anyway the future could be heading in a rather grim direction

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/tec?guid=20050122/41f1ddd0_3ca6_155262005012275430445

"We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there." ~Charles F. Kettering

[Technomancer]

Replacing fossil fuels is a big issue, and not just one of supply; there's global climate change to consider as well. Both China and India are going to be relying heavily on their massive coal deposits to fuel their growing industrialization. As it happens, their reserves are mostly the low quality, high sulphur type as well, which means massive air pollution issues(beyond their already serious problems). As bad as it can sometimes get here in Steeltown, it's nothing compared to the problems they have over there.

The potential scarcity of oil poses a problem more serious than fuel and transporation. It is also a necesscity for the chemical/plastics industry. I expect it will be easier to find alternate fuel arrangements than replacements for common plastics. However, we also have far more oil than is currently economically feasible to extract. The Alberta tar sands (near Lake Athabasca) are known to contain more oil than all of Saudi Arabia, although it is expensive to extract. Other hydrocarbon fuel sources such as methane clathrates may also become more feasible depending on technology and economics.

Nuclear power I think is going to become a matter of necessity. We have far more than 60 years supply even in Canada alone. With fuel cycling and the use of Thorium we can extend the lifetime of current Canadian reserves to ~10,000 years, at least at current consumption values. However, the CANDU system is currently the only one in operation that can achieve this kind of efficiency and flexibility. Reactors elsewhere in the world rely on enriched uranium and have a more problematic fuelling issues.

[Fsiphskilm]

"you must

[AnsemK_R]

Its's doubt full we will find any new elements on other planets that aren't somewhere on earth. The whole universe was basically made of the same stuff during the big bang, or whatever science theory they are throwing around now.

"In all science, error precedes the truth, and it is better it should go first than last." ~Hugh Walpole

Why isn't my sig showing?

[kryptech]

I think the biotech industry will continue to grow at a pretty quick rate into the future, and like a few of y'all have mentioned, influence and mingle more with electronics and mechanics. I think stuff like organic clothes, carpet, and such would be cool. Imagine a self-healing shirt? Or if you want it to be thicker in the winter, it just grows more fur. I suppose you might have to feed it though... ß-)

If they built a new city I think it would be cool to create a new transportation system that almost entirely does away with cars. Instead pods with two - six seating capacity could provide transportation. When you want to go to work in the morning you summon a pod ahead of time (or better yet preprogram your departure time). The system determines the closest available pod and scoots it over. Once aboard you can catch up with the news, play games, make calls, etc via the onboard computer terminal. There could be an onboard coffee machine (Tim Horton's, of course) for one's morning dose. When you arrived at the 28th floor of your office building you step out and the pod zooms off to its next appointment (perhaps someone two floors down needs a ride out). It is pretty inefficient to have your car sitting unused most of the time. The pod system would use the pods efficiently 24-7 and could easily collaborate movement - no traffic jams. It could even learn traffic patterns. For long distance travel to other cities large numbers of pods could be loaded onto a larger vehicle for faster delivery.

Anyway, that's my little dream of the future.

[Technomancer]

That's about it, it's worth noting that any transuranic elements that may be discovered (or produced) are going to be radioactive and likely very short lived. There is supposed to be an island of stability further up the table (just longer lived), but no such elements have been observed and currrent particle colliders don't have the energy to produce them. Of course, such elements would also be very heavy, given their large atomic weights.

PS. Your sig only shows up once per page.

[ice122985]

i, personally, see the future in terms of biotechnology. For instance, remember the back thingy that fused with Octavius' spine. Imagine if it had input from another human user, instead of the AI that supposedly controlled the tentacles(and forget those for now); if there was input, you could theoretically control the guy whose spine now has a thingy connected to it. Or it could go the other way around.

For example....

Gundam wing. love the show. but one thing i hate is the fact that with joysticks and stuff, they manage to pull of acrobatic and combatic feats. But if a guy had a spine thingy attached, with an output module, and the suit had a reciever, then those moves could in theory be pulled off.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

We could download smells off the internet!

*Now downloading strawberry scent*

MMMM! Strawberry!

[ClosetOtaku]

As bad as it can sometimes get here in Steeltown...

Are you from Pittsburgh?

However, we also have far more oil than is currently economically feasible to extract. The Alberta tar sands (near Lake Athabasca) are known to contain more oil than all of Saudi Arabia, although it is expensive to extract. Other hydrocarbon fuel sources such as methane clathrates may also become more feasible depending on technology and economics.

...and represent a temporary extension of fossil fuel availability, although by the time prices reach the level where such drilling is profitable, I suspect some very catastrophic economic and political shifts will have already taken place.

Nuclear power I think is going to become a matter of necessity. We have far more than 60 years supply even in Canada alone. With fuel cycling and the use of Thorium we can extend the lifetime of current Canadian reserves to ~10,000 years, at least at current consumption values.

I'm glad you mentioned this, as I was unaware of the proposed use of thorium as a replacement for Uranium... but after a little web research, wow, that's very plausible. I still think all projections point to exhaustion of conventional uranium supplies in between 40 and 100 years, but thorium looks very promising.

Of course, now you have electricity, but you still have the problem that running out of fossil fuels presents (independent of the need for cheap electricity). Still, it's somewhat heartening to think that we are not on the verge of "Energy Death", although we still are headed to an oil tipping point crisis (according to some commentators, it has already started, with per barrel oil prices bound to continue increasing over the next 4 years). Time will tell.

[termyt]

This topic is rife with all kinds of interesting angles - from conspiracy theories and junk science - some of which may be true and correct; others may not pan out like we think they may. The only thing to be sure of is that the future is uncertain.

A nice little exercise - lets go back and look at what they thought the future may hold in 50 years, 50 years ago (perhaps many of you have seen this, but I think it's grand):

[Fsiphskilm]

termyt - bless you

[Technomancer]

Are you from Pittsburgh?

Nope, another steel-making town in Canada

I'm glad you mentioned this, as I was unaware of the proposed use of thorium as a replacement for Uranium... but after a little web research, wow, that's very plausible. I still think all projections point to exhaustion of conventional uranium supplies in between 40 and 100 years, but thorium looks very promising.

It seems I was mistaken about the projection. I forgot that the larger figure included projected gains made using fast breeder technology. Breeder reactors have been around for a while, but have not seen widespread use. This in part due to availability of fuel, but also due to the fact that current designs are dynamically unstable.

Of course, now you have electricity, but you still have the problem that running out of fossil fuels presents (independent of the need for cheap electricity). Still, it's somewhat heartening to think that we are not on the verge of "Energy Death", although we still are headed to an oil tipping point crisis (according to some commentators, it has already started, with per barrel oil prices bound to continue increasing over the next 4 years). Time will tell.

I tend to agree with this, although I think we have a workable time-frame in which to reengineer our technologies. My main concern isn't energy availability, it's global warming which seems to have a smaller window of opportunity

[Yeshua-Knight]

[quote="ice122985"]i, personally, see the future in terms of biotechnology. For instance, remember the back thingy that fused with Octavius' spine. Imagine if it had input from another human user, instead of the AI that supposedly controlled the tentacles(and forget those for now)]


if you will also recall in G-Gundam, they had a pilot system that responded to the movement of the pilot by causing the mech to move the same way, they already have a system that can do that for plug 'n play video games

[ice122985]

the only problem with that one is when you're using your feet to jump, move, etc. Either you end up outside your sensor area or the computer refuses to interpret the move

[Spartan-117]

I was talking with Kenshin17 last night at school, we decided that soon they will have cars that com pick you up at the entrence to the place that you are going to when you click a button, and they park in a parkinlot al by themselves....the thing is, then they'd drive them selves everywhere too probably....

[Fsiphskilm]

It's called

[Technomancer]

It might be a silly toy, but there are real products that actually do incorporate face tracking. Basically, the idea is based on image segmentation where the computer determines that what it is looking at is a face. It can further identify the location of the eyes, nose and mouth and track their motion (probably using some kind of Kalman filter).

If you really want to know where technology is going, read IEEE publications.