Common Technology in the next few years.

[Heaven_Bound]

Hi all,

I was just wondering what everyone thinks what commom technology will be introduced in the next several years. Lets just say my cousin was just reintroduced to society after 17 years and he is amazed at where we are with technology. He had never seen a PC never seen a cell phone and still owns a commodore 64 and still thinks electric car windows are the best. It is true how far we have come in the last 10 years with all the high tech gadgets being developed for the public. What do you think will be the next big technology product(s) in the next 10 years?

 

[watt]

citywide wireless internet access should be around soon
hopefully that means my stock will go up so i can sell out of tech for good and invest in a more stable market!

 

[rgbivens]

Broadband internet access can be ran through electrical lines with electricity...as soon as somebody says "hey, lets make more money" and makes broadband available to everybody who has electricity then that would be great...they have been testing it somewhere in Great Britain for a year or so.

Besides that I can see how cell phones could become obsolete because our pocket pc's will become so advanced that we can have video conversations while we are walking around town...

Thats not even half of what I have predicted to happen in the next 50 years but i don't want to write a novel...

-Grant

 

[rdale]

Good question...

Not sure that I like where its leading, was it Dickens that said "it is the best of times and the worst of times" ? DNA mapped, forehead\arm ready for scanning, cancer cured... yeah, exciting and horrific beyond human understanding, atm... It is soooo easy to get caught up in the 'technological wizbangery' of the moment and forget your bearings. At the same time you know that when it's here, you'll want to have 'your' - 10Ghz cpu, 200terabyte hd, plasma ram ball, holographic monitor, internet II connection, computer that could run a country... I think Dickens was right, but what do I know?...

 

[WeakButHopeful]

Please bear with me (I promise this is on topic). Back when I was a freshman in college (they called that 1972) I wrote a paper where I said there were many technological developments being held back not by technology but rather by a kind of shared denial of (or inability to grasp) possibilities. So in my opinion that's what has always made it hard to predict future developments in our technological age...when will the people finally see the possibilities that have been there all along?

Examples are obviously called for here. I think eventually it's going to become obvious that big cities and highways need significantly better traffic control, that a household robot could flexibly assist in a wide variety of roles around a home and that a computerized record of elected representatives votes, campaign promises and their sources of funding should be used to rank those representatives on quality of job performed (similar to how mutual funds are ranked on performance). Notice that 2 out of 3 of these ideas could have been implemented 20 years ago? I grant that the household robot needs leading edge technology.

As for the applicability of technology to Christianity, I think technology has no soul, but it magnifies the soul of its user. You can use your car or cell phone to rescue a stranded motorist, or you can hit a stranded motorist because you're not paying attention to your driving while talking on the cell phone. I think if we can all come together in teamwork and use technologies to facilitate reaching our goals, great things are yet to be accomplished.

I'll be interested in seeing what others think.

 

[Heaven_Bound]

As for the applicability of technology to Christianity, I think technology has no soul, but it magnifies the soul of its user. You can use your car or cell phone to rescue a stranded motorist, or you can hit a stranded motorist because you're not paying attention to your driving while talking on the cell phone. I think if we can all come together in teamwork and use technologies to facilitate reaching our goals, great things are yet to be accomplished.

I'll be interested in seeing what others think.

I agree if something is used improperly it can affect alot of people in bad ways. I do believe your idea about computerized records for elected officials is a great idea and yes it should have been in effect over 20 years ago but who do you think actually is controlling that from being a possibility.

 

[Sketcher]

What I see is cell phones with with built in mp3 players - the iPod phone.

 

[Stryper]

holograms

 

[Ormo]

There are already phones with mp3 players, they will just get bigger (capacity wise)

And I think as CDs become old hat and the music industry will produce pay-per-play music


You can already have video conversation walking about town, but no one does it. Why? Two reasons, one the costs are two high and two its much harder to do than just talk into a phone handset. I don't think video telephony (which could have been widespread easily by now) will take off, people have been saying that it will since the 70's, but unless there is a special reason for it (like never having met, eg webcam or a big event or something) I don't think it will become widespread. If you look at the UK people have actually withdrawn from even phoning someone often preferring to text instead.


My prediction is that wireless techniologies will begin to combine. There is only so much bandwidth there and soon people will realise that most of it can be more efficiently shared. Existing cell network technologies (used in cell phones) will be combined with growing wifi technologies to provide continually usable bandwidth, with email (already multimedia) taking the place of sms and mms etc and developed voice over IP taking the place of regular voice calls.

Something similar will happen in the home and existing telecoms lines will be replaced with an always on internet connection and home servers handling everything from entertainment to telephone to security to central heating.


On the traffic issue, more and more vehicles are coming with GPS installed and most modern cars/truck etc have an onboard computer controlling many functions from engine to stereo to security etc. I think that this will become more complex. I think that eventually wireless data links (wifi internet maybe) combined with GPS will mean that toll areas within cities (something like London has recently introduced using cameras) will become even more viable. Perhaps your own car will track the miles you do in what price zones and you will be charged at the end of the month like a telephone bill rather than road/vehicle taxes. Also it would be possible for the vehicle to detect the speed limit of the road being driven on and monitor the speed of the car either restricting it or notifying traffic police of speeders and dangerous drivers. And I forsee a lot of arguing over privacy issues!

 

[Heaven_Bound]

On the traffic issue, more and more vehicles are coming with GPS installed and most modern cars/truck etc have an onboard computer controlling many functions from engine to stereo to security etc. I think that this will become more complex. I think that eventually wireless data links (wifi internet maybe) combined with GPS will mean that toll areas within cities (something like London has recently introduced using cameras) will become even more viable. Perhaps your own car will track the miles you do in what price zones and you will be charged at the end of the month like a telephone bill rather than road/vehicle taxes. Also it would be possible for the vehicle to detect the speed limit of the road being driven on and monitor the speed of the car either restricting it or notifying traffic police of speeders and dangerous drivers. And I forsee a lot of arguing over privacy issues!

Ormo very good points, I really like the traffic issues response about regulating a cars speed or notifying the police on dangerous drivers. I can still see this actually happening even with the privacy concerns. Some truck drivers are already having their speed monitored by their companies, as well as the companies can see exactly where the drivers are located by satelite.

 

[Stryper]

i think that microsoft will make a solid operating system similar to OSX which was released years ago.

 

[Heaven_Bound]

i think that microsoft will make a solid operating system similar to OSX which was released years ago.

Lol, kinda like the Xbox is taking similiar walks like Windows to the Playstation 2

 

[Stryper]

Lol, kinda like the Xbox is taking similiar walks like Windows to the Playstation 2

Actually I think the Xbox is the best product out by microsoft. They didnt screw up there. The Xbox is the most powerful system out of them all. It just doesnt have the selection of games that ps2 has although im happy with the choice of games. No system offers an online service like Xbox live. Xbox live is the reason for the Xbox. The Xbox, my friend, is microsofts best and in no way to do I see it "taking walks" to the Playstation 2.

 

[Dyrwen]

I just hope those virtua-hologrammed imaging systems arrive for computing soon enough.

That'd be much more efficient having a virtual keyboard extend before the panel on the back now displaying the image for your monitor. Without a mouse, you just click the arrows and such or scroll with your friggin eyes. heh..Ah, either way, gaming should become WAY too fun with new technology.