OK, so we talk ourselves blue in the face talking about what doesn't make sense in the Trek version of the future, so maybe now we can do something somewhat more constructive: take our stabs at what the future will actually look like (for the approximately -3 posts this will stay on topic )
We probably won't achieve FTL travel and time travel and all that stuff, at least not for a very long time, but we are more likely to see greater advances in the way we live from day to day on a fundamental level than have been observed in Trek. Computers will become photonic and then quantum in nature, and we may see more practical use of nanotechnology and the integration of man and machine (aside from the Borg, which we probably won't become).
Last edited by Teaos on Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:EDIT: Fixed title
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wonderous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross... but it's not for the timid." Q, Q Who
I believe we're going to hit the wall and hit it hard in a few decades. We may get a few cool bits of tech in the period until then but nothing amazing.
This planet is only so big and only has so much to offer. I dont believe we will be able to get to the point of being able to harvest resources from space thus we are screwed.
What does defeat mean to you?
Nothing it will never come. Death before defeat. I don’t bend or break. I end, if I meet a foe capable of it. Victory is in forcing the opponent to back down. I do not. There is no defeat.
I reckon that we'll end up like the plot of the film Wall-E. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend you do. It's quite the social comment and most likely to be the outcome of our future if changes aren't made now.
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and
the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to
know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is
to have succeeded.”
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and
the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to
know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is
to have succeeded.”
I have found this to be a tougher subject than one would think, because the ground-shaking advances seem to less ground-shaking when they actually happen. "Photonic computers?" Well, in the '60's we got the technology to compute using the properties of semiconductive materials on individual subatomic particles. However, most people don't consider the advent of the transistor to be an earth-shattering development. Flying cars? They are past development and have been in limited production, but no big deal has been made. Woirldwide instantaneous electronic communication and practically unlimited storage and data-mining? So mind-blowing that we use it daily to converse about Star Trek.
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
Teaos wrote:I believe we're going to hit the wall and hit it hard in a few decades. We may get a few cool bits of tech in the period until then but nothing amazing.
This planet is only so big and only has so much to offer. I dont believe we will be able to get to the point of being able to harvest resources from space thus we are screwed.
Well Teaos, the Daily Telgraph disagrees with you.
Warp Drive IS possible! They'll be telling us next that they've found a women who can shower, make-up and dress in less than 5 hours!!!!
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and
the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to
know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is
to have succeeded.”
Personaly, I haven't a clue about what the future will look like. People in the 80's thought we would have factories on the moon by now. No doubt our predictions will be just as crazy in twenty years.
"You've all been selected for this mission because you each have a special skill. Professor Hawking, John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Wu-Tang Clan, Usher, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Daniel Day-Lewis! Welcome to Operation MindFuck!"
I see us progressing over all slowely. Tech that would completely change the world will be withheld, so it can be slowly trickled out for years to come, to maximise profits. In a hundred years our world will likely be different, but in ten or twenty, not so much.
They say that in the Army,
the women are mighty fine.
They look like Phyllis Diller,
and walk like Frankenstein.
Oh, there have been theories like this for a while. It's simple for a physicist to find solutions of general relativity that create a "warp drive" effect. They all so far have the same flaws noted in the article: you need negative energy density, and a humongically collosically ginormously big amount of it.
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wonderous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross... but it's not for the timid." Q, Q Who
Mikey wrote:I have found this to be a tougher subject than one would think, because the ground-shaking advances seem to less ground-shaking when they actually happen. "Photonic computers?" Well, in the '60's we got the technology to compute using the properties of semiconductive materials on individual subatomic particles. However, most people don't consider the advent of the transistor to be an earth-shattering development. Flying cars? They are past development and have been in limited production, but no big deal has been made. Woirldwide instantaneous electronic communication and practically unlimited storage and data-mining? So mind-blowing that we use it daily to converse about Star Trek.
The modern microprocessor has changed the way business is done and the way we conduct our daily lives; moreover, the processing power unleashed enables scientists and engineers to carry out far more complex calculations than were ever possible, making future huge leaps in science and tech possible (or a heck of a lot easier anyway). Granted that improvements in computers are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, but if the purported nanotech revolution does indeed do what it is meant to, that would bring about revolutionary changes.
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wonderous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross... but it's not for the timid." Q, Q Who
Mikey wrote:I have found this to be a tougher subject than one would think, because the ground-shaking advances seem to less ground-shaking when they actually happen. "Photonic computers?" Well, in the '60's we got the technology to compute using the properties of semiconductive materials on individual subatomic particles. However, most people don't consider the advent of the transistor to be an earth-shattering development. Flying cars? They are past development and have been in limited production, but no big deal has been made. Woirldwide instantaneous electronic communication and practically unlimited storage and data-mining? So mind-blowing that we use it daily to converse about Star Trek.
The modern microprocessor has changed the way business is done and the way we conduct our daily lives; moreover, the processing power unleashed enables scientists and engineers to carry out far more complex calculations than were ever possible, making future huge leaps in science and tech possible (or a heck of a lot easier anyway). Granted that improvements in computers are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, but if the purported nanotech revolution does indeed do what it is meant to, that would bring about revolutionary changes.
Also, lest we forget, the Internet is the greatest gateway to porn ever invented. That's got to be worth something.
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wonderous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross... but it's not for the timid." Q, Q Who
Captain Picard's Hair wrote:The modern microprocessor has changed the way business is done and the way we conduct our daily lives; moreover, the processing power unleashed enables scientists and engineers to carry out far more complex calculations than were ever possible, making future huge leaps in science and tech possible (or a heck of a lot easier anyway). Granted that improvements in computers are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, but if the purported nanotech revolution does indeed do what it is meant to, that would bring about revolutionary changes.
Very true. All I'm saying is that all these past "revolutions" are barely even thought of while being used in day-to-day life. Do you say, "Thank goodness for the vacuum tube and then the transistor!" as you perform some statistical analysis on your computer, or "The miracle of the humbucker!" when you listen to music?
RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Well, some 'futuristic' stuff will probably never make mass production, like flying cars.
Not in mass production YET, but cough up the bucks and you can buy a flying car (as soon as the FAA finishes rating it under the "powered lift normal category" and establishes ppowered lift licensing): Moller Skycars
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
)
They'll be telling us next that they've found a women who can shower, make-up and dress in less than 5 hours!!!! 
