50 years from now, 50 years ago
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Agent
Member # 464
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written Sunday, February 26 2006 21:27
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Hola. I don't know if anyone still remembers the name... hey to the old members, hi to the new ones. Spiderweb still thrives. :cool: I've come back from the grave to ask for help for a school project I'm doing, and I hope I could get something from this forum. I've posted it on one or two others, too... I've been given an assignment to come up with some predictions on a day in the life of a high school student would be 50 years from now (i.e., what technology would be available), in 2056. My teacher said that to help the class get an idea of how much things can change, we're to look back at the past 50 years and see how much had changed since then. Indeed, a lot has changed: Who would've thought in the 1950's that there would be personal computers everywhere and information available at our fingertips? Or cellular phones that enable us to communicate almost anytime, anywhere? And this is only in 50 years... I'm here to ask those who were in high school fifty years ago, more or less. What was a day in your life like? What did you expect the future would be like? What kind of technology was available then, that is changed nowadays? Also you don't have to have been in high school back then to answer. If anyone had predictions/expectations for the future not just during the 50's, please feel free to share your ideas. I know there's a lot of young people here but there's also a good number of older people. But anyone could've had expectations. I'm basically trying to get an idea of how far things can really go compared to how far we expect things to go, and I'll apply that to my predictions for the next 50 years. I'd appreciate any and all help. Thanks guys. :) -------------------- You go girl! All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher. - Ambrose Bierce If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. Posts: 1158 | Registered: Monday, December 31 2001 08:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 4
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written Sunday, February 26 2006 21:39
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If we use the last 50 years as an example, we learn one primary moral- the rich will continue to get better stuff, and some of that will trickle down to the poor, but as technology grows higher and higher, less and less of that technology will improve the lives of the poor. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 4153
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written Sunday, February 26 2006 22:15
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quote:So you want to find the septuagenarian Eskimo then, right? But anyway, my 2 cents on the future: We'll all be walking a lot more than we do now. -------------------- Gamble with Gaea, and she eats your dice. I hate undead. I really, really, really, really hate undead. With a passion. Posts: 4130 | Registered: Friday, March 26 2004 08:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 5450
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written Sunday, February 26 2006 22:25
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quote:Most of us, probably all of us, were not even born 40 years ago. But, anyway: In 50 years we will al live in space, like the Gap series. :ph34r: -------------------- I'll put a Spring in your step. :ph34r: Posts: 2396 | Registered: Saturday, January 29 2005 08:00 |
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? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
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written Sunday, February 26 2006 22:30
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It's as likely that the answers are found in Asimov or Pohl. There probably won't be school, but instead education centers. Pay your bucks and get implanted with the knowledge you need. Indeed, the rich will get richer. -------------------- quote: Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 6403
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written Monday, February 27 2006 00:01
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quote:Well go figure, do you expect the poor to pay for what the people who invent this stuff give them? Hell no. -------------------- ??? ?????? ???? ????? Posts: 883 | Registered: Wednesday, October 19 2005 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Monday, February 27 2006 12:51
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quote:For having been here a year, you are disturbingly uninformed. I can list about 4 members right now who are over 50, and I know there are some I forgot about. quote:... On second thought, it'd be better to let TM come up with a response to that. When it comes to communism, I'm out of my debating territory. [ Monday, February 27, 2006 12:52: Message edited by: Arancaytar the Grey ] -------------------- Encyclopaedia Ermariana • Forum Archives • Forum Statistics • RSS [Topic / Forum] My Blog • Polaris • I eat novels for breakfast. Polaris is dead, long live Polaris. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, February 27 2006 13:11
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The most careful and insightful approach to this question will reveal only that it is impossible to predict 50 years. So make up anything you like. A bit of arguing for the plausibility of whatever it is will be quite as much intellectual rigour as this question deserves. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, February 27 2006 13:13
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Nobody enters high school at birth. Although some people are in high school while very young, I'd say it's fair to assume that most people who were in high school half a century ago are in the 65-70 range. —Alorael, who assumes that the world in 50 years will be as alien as today would be to someone 50 years ago. Trying to predict it is likely to work in some places and fail radically in others. Predicting universal computers with word processing and widespread laptops from ENIAC is a difficult task. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Post Navel Trauma ^_^
Member # 67
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written Monday, February 27 2006 13:26
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If you look back fifty years, you'll see that the biggest changes were things that hadn't been slightly thought of back then, and changes they did expect either didn't happen or progressed at a far slower rate. We don't have flying cars, but we do have the internet. Based on these trends, any idea we have now of the technology of 50 years time will be completely, laughably wrong. -------------------- Barcoorah: I even did it to a big dorset ram. desperance.net - Don't follow this link Posts: 1798 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 4574
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written Monday, February 27 2006 14:06
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I predict that someone will have invented a box, and on this box is an image of a place. When you touch the box you go to that place. What you really do is get downloaded into the box. You appear in a virtual recreation of that place. What's more the place doesn't even have to be real. Also they will be able to download everything you'll learn from pre-school to college onto an incredibly compact disc, so to say. This disc can plug itself onto your forehead, and using the plug download this information into your brain. But that's just a guess. :D :P :rolleyes: ;) -------------------- Constitutional monarchies are the in monarchies. Posts: 1186 | Registered: Friday, June 18 2004 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 4153
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written Monday, February 27 2006 15:12
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quote:Downloaded into the box? You know, someone would be tempted to liberally apply magnets to said box, resulting in the poor downloaded soul being erased. quote:Possible outcomes: 1) The person's brain would promptly be fried by the information overload. 2) The disc-plugging-into-your-brain would inevitably be adapted for recreational use, possibly surpassing skribbane as a form of escapism. 3) Some radical terrorist group would sabotage the discs so they could brainwash people who were foolhardy enough to use them. 4) Some error (or possibly another terrorist-type aggressor) would corrupt the discs so that ordinarily productive people would become mentally-broken freaks of nature upon plugging in. 5) Microsoft would gain control of the project, causing everyone who plugged in to crash every five minutes. 6) Google would take control of the project, and the verb "to Google" would take on new and uncalled-for meanings. 7) The governments of the world would take control of the project, instituting a thought-control police state via methods already covered in 3). Or, my personal favorite... 8) All of the above. The moral of the story: think about the consequences of stupid inventions before they have a chance to become real. Only you can prevent stupidity. :D EDIT: Post #1111! That feels... I don't know, significant? [ Monday, February 27, 2006 15:13: Message edited by: Ephesos ] -------------------- Gamble with Gaea, and she eats your dice. I hate undead. I really, really, really, really hate undead. With a passion. Posts: 4130 | Registered: Friday, March 26 2004 08:00 |
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Master
Member # 4614
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written Monday, February 27 2006 15:22
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Maybe in 50 years everyone will carry a portable super-computer to school that is capable of projecting its display across our natural vision via selective stimulation of optic nerves. -------------------- -ben4808 Posts: 3360 | Registered: Friday, June 25 2004 07:00 |
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Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
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written Monday, February 27 2006 16:19
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If you want to see predictions of the future made 50 years ago, read the 1950s science fiction. :) According to most of those novels we should at least be able to vocation on Mars and at most be able to live anywhere in the galaxy by now. As for current predictions of the future, Ray Kurzweil's books are probably closest to what you are looking for. He is either a very optimistic scientist or a very realistic sci-fi writer, depending on how you want to see his books. Kurzweil is predicting that growth in computing power will continue indefinitely at ever accelerating rate: after reaching the physical limits of semiconductor chips, we will move on to quantum computing, or something similar. This means that computers will reach raw computational capacity of human brain by about 2020. After that, he predicts that people will start using computers to augment their brains first using implants to get 20/20 vision, perfect memory, etc. and then completely replacing their biological bodies with artificial ones. [Insert your favorite Borg joke here.] :) Kurzweil himself expects this change to happen within his lifetime and seriously thinks that he will live forever with an artificial body. [ Monday, February 27, 2006 16:22: Message edited by: Zeviz ] -------------------- Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword, For it too has the power to kill. However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword, Can also have the power to heal. Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, February 27 2006 17:54
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Let's put this succinctly: In 2056, everyone will bramver their neoprocs often, sometimes up to every two minutes. Klebs will be using both LORMs and KP-MVMs, while proddies will prefer ViWells. —Alorael, who wishes he had a neoproc. Or at least a proc. Waiting for the future is so frustrating. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 4
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written Monday, February 27 2006 17:59
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quote:I agree. Because it's clearly the poor's fault that they can't adequately compensate the poor, maligned inventors whose only benefit was a vastly superior and incalculably more expensive education that enabled them to create the devices that only help the worthy portions of humanity. I wonder, though. If we invent a cure for death, could you consider putting a price on it tantamount to a new holocaust? -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 2836
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written Monday, February 27 2006 19:56
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In 50 years time, we will all be dead from global warming. Posts: 587 | Registered: Tuesday, April 1 2003 08:00 |
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Agent
Member # 4574
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written Monday, February 27 2006 20:00
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quote:I don't know to call that pessimistic or realistic, so I'll call it both. My opinion is that someone will create a way to prevent global warming, I hope. -------------------- Constitutional monarchies are the in monarchies. Posts: 1186 | Registered: Friday, June 18 2004 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Monday, February 27 2006 22:12
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quote:That'd have to be something fantastically revolutionary. Such as... I don't know... switching to non-fossil fuels? :eek: -------------------- Encyclopaedia Ermariana • Forum Archives • Forum Statistics • RSS [Topic / Forum] My Blog • Polaris • I eat novels for breakfast. Polaris is dead, long live Polaris. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 464
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written Monday, February 27 2006 22:33
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It'll probably be safe to predict that 50 years from now Spiderweb forums will be relatively the same. Thanks a lot guys! This really helped me out, and as always the posts are amazing. :D Hope to come back as a regular again one day, it's been a while... -------------------- You go girl! All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher. - Ambrose Bierce If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. Posts: 1158 | Registered: Monday, December 31 2001 08:00 |
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Too Sexy for my Title
Member # 5654
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written Monday, February 27 2006 22:44
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Actually, I didn't see much help in most of the posts. Then again, it would be impossible to give you much help. It would all come down to your creativity, and what you'd think it could happen next. Just do a bit of research on technologies that are being worked on as we speak and won't be done for a couple of years. And then you could take them to the next level. And I beg you; please do not say anything about flying cars. I swear that if I see another movie with flying cars I'm going to go mad. [ Monday, February 27, 2006 22:53: Message edited by: Amelia ] Posts: 1035 | Registered: Friday, April 1 2005 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 6403
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written Tuesday, February 28 2006 04:41
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quote:Whether or not it's their fault, they still can't pay for the product, to put it simply, if you can't pay for a pizza, are you going to get a pizza? The "vastly superior and incalcuably more expensive education" is irrelevant. In answer to your question, no. Are we killing now? Will be killing in the future? Or will we be preventing death? -------------------- ??? ?????? ???? ????? Posts: 883 | Registered: Wednesday, October 19 2005 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 4153
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written Tuesday, February 28 2006 10:14
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quote:But it's practically the same thing when you're deciding who gets to live and who gets to die based on who can afford it. It's dooming people to die when they can't pay to live, which is as semantically close to killing them as possible. EDIT: I hate quote tags. [ Tuesday, February 28, 2006 10:15: Message edited by: Ephesos ] -------------------- Gamble with Gaea, and she eats your dice. I hate undead. I really, really, really, really hate undead. With a passion. Posts: 4130 | Registered: Friday, March 26 2004 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 6403
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written Tuesday, February 28 2006 10:48
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quote:No it isn't, people won't be born with the guarantee that they will live forever then just as we aren't born today with the guarantee that we will live forever. If scientists provide a substance that will allow people to live forever, it's not the inherent right of the people who who purchased it, it's something they've bought. If I may use another commonplace example, are you born with the guarantee that you will own a car or do you have to buy one in order to own it? [ Tuesday, February 28, 2006 10:48: Message edited by: Infernal666hate ] -------------------- ??? ?????? ???? ????? Posts: 883 | Registered: Wednesday, October 19 2005 07:00 |
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Councilor
Member # 6600
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written Tuesday, February 28 2006 14:42
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Why would you want to live forever? It would be so boring and depressing, especially if others died but you didn't. And overpopulation is bad enough already. Dikiyoba. Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00 |