Thanks for posting that. I've long since passed the point where I can rant about hydrogen anymore. Most people just don't have the tiny bit of physics and common sense it takes to understand the difference between energy source and energy carrier. I give them the lowdown on hydrogen, they give me the blank deer-in-headlights stare. Kind of like the pro-EV people in Who Killed the Electric Car? talking about how electric vehicles will free us from dependence on fossil fuels. Sure . . . if you're one of the relatively few people who obtain electricity that isn't generated from fossil fuels. And the worst thing is, they introduced the EV in California where the electrical capacity is already insufficient. Yet they think they could add a few million charging vehicles . . . Anyway, I think fusion power that was commercially viable on a large scale would be a world-changing technology. Virtually unlimited clean power, and no environmental downside. Well, not for a long time anyway. Eventually, even without greenhouse gas emissions the radiated waste heat of massive power usage will heat up the planet. But if we had workable fusion we'd also have the energy budget and propulsion technologies to expand off this dirtball.
imo its a basic human right to be who you want, not what someone else wants. Controlling someone's characteristics before birth is genocide (if the intention is to eliminate say the gay gene). Thou like most things its more how its used. I would also say nanotechnology for the next big thing, but i wouldnt say no to a set of x-ray glasses
An embyro has no ability to choose though, and isn't even a human. Obviously controlling someone's character before birth is no more genocide than abortion - and the people who call the destruction of a potentiality for life murder are egits.
The light bulb. This wondrous invention will bring light without need for fire. No more will we be limited by how much wax we have on our candles! But honestly, What ever prevents Fuel prices shooting through the roof and keeps America out of a recession/slump while im still alive, its the next Thing!
There are prototypes of these simple digital cameras, that can almost be concealed in a pair of sunglasses, and connect to the brain, so that blind people can see. The resolution of the ccd on the one i saw, was something like 4 x 4 or maybe 6 x 6, so it was almost useless, but imagine when they are able to get 1 megapixel? We might be upgrading our eyes with digital ones when we get old, and rich people will have the 5 megapixel, 10x zoom, f1.8, night vision capable & x-ray vision eyeball replacements. All the other organs would be replaceable aswell, of course. So maybe this means we all live to be 200? And you thought the population growth is bad now
that remembers me a film were a robot wants to be human and invents parts that are used by him and other humans.... anyone remembers this film?
I think that both MessiaH and Specofdust are thinking in the right direction. If we look at past technological revolutions, we had: the invention of writing (the birth of extelligence: external tools storing, organising and communicating information much better than humans could); next we had the industrial revolution (I'll call this "exefficience": external tools producing stuff and performing labour much better than humans or animals could); next we had the information technology revolution (I'll call this "exputence": machines manipulating and generating information much better and faster than human brains could). So first we enhanced our internal world, then our external world. Then we enhanced out ability to generate internal worlds, so inevitably, we will enhance our ability to generate our external world: we'll get "exgeneration": tools designing and creating other tools (without our intervention) to make and do stuff. This is where the self-replicating and self-organising properties of bio- and nanotechnology come in. We'll create stuff that just gets on with it and self-evolves along the way. Next, instead of creating tools to compensate for and enhance our shortcomings, we will probably modify and enhance those physical and psychological shortcomings directly. This is where genetic manipulation and cybernetic enhancements come in. GATTACA is just the tip of the iceberg; think more of the "forged" in Justina Robson's book Natural History. At some point, there will be little difference anymore between what is the product of technology, what is the technology itself, and what is "us": singularity. This is where Justina Robson is going with her description of the aliens in her book Natural History.
we will use fungi to do lots of stuff... either that or make a world that strangely looks like Super Mario world... TED = <3
I'm going with nano technology - once we get these wee little robots joining atoms together, and such, the possibilities are pretty well endless. Buildings that appear to build themselves in hours rather than weeks; a workable replicator of pretty well anything. But it raises just as many questions, especially about property and economics. And perhaps one day they will gain their own artificial intelligence and turn us all into grey goo. Those crazy nanites. On second thoughts, let's just stay as we are .
Nanotechnology is a pretty vague catch-all term. One specific form of nanotech with a vast array of potential uses, that's probably not too far off, is programmable matter. Basically, an element gets its physical properties (except mass) from its electron shell. Naturally occuring atoms are limited in the number of electrons they can have because the accompanying heavy particles in the nucleus make them unstable. Artificial atoms that use quantum dots to simulate the electrons without the destabilizing particles could have incredible physical properties and change these properties at will, making materials science as we know it today seem like Stone Age flint knapping by comparison.
nano'tech' is already used in stuff like shampoo Though I assume you mean the more technological type
link AI with nanobots and tada terminator is born mwuahahahha. I think that nano technology could have a significant impact on modern life, from (seemingly) self repairing things too.... well i dunno that else it could lead to
