MulciberXP
Regular
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What can we expect at the end of this century?
- Thread starter Deepak
- Start date
Right about the energy crisis. Some guys posting in here are not lving in reality if they think we are going to carry more or less as affluently (comapred to previous generations) as we have been for the past 50 years or so. The existing proposals to solve the energy issue are far from perfect, and we shouldn't take it for granted that new technology will come along to save the day.
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If we look at successful civilizations in the past, the ones that either learn how to seriously expand on current energy methods or utilize new and more powerful ones kick ass all over.
Whoever gets the next wave of energy gets to do whatever we do now, then do it 10x bigger.
Whoever gets the next wave of energy gets to do whatever we do now, then do it 10x bigger.
Well, one thing to bear in mind is that while no single alternative energy proposal is enough to solve the energy crisis, a combination of them should be.
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
Cheap commercial space flights!
Within a couple of years you can already go on a short space flight for a couple of thousand euro's. Things like that should be pretty normal at the end of the century. Personally I love that kind of stuff. Human nature is to explore and there is so much tech and all involved in space exploration. I dont know much about it but I really love it. Its just to bad that there is so little money invested into space exploration. You cant tell me that if we really wanted we couldnt make things like spacewalks alot easier. But ofcourse its all a money issue and as most governments probably dont see space as something to get money from they'd rather wast it on giving the poor people in africa money... Which is a never ending story. And stuff like fighting useless wars. I mean, just think of what the NASA could do if they'd be getting the budgets the USA sets for the hopeless iraq/iran wars. If they'd got that they should have to build that lame appollo like succesor to the spaceshuttle. No, instead they'd be able to build something far more awsome. Something that can fly into space on its own and stuff.
As for the rest, its impossible to tell what will happen, its just to far away. Just take a look at what computer tech did in 30 years, or even 10. You cant tell what we will have 90 years from now.
Within a couple of years you can already go on a short space flight for a couple of thousand euro's. Things like that should be pretty normal at the end of the century. Personally I love that kind of stuff. Human nature is to explore and there is so much tech and all involved in space exploration. I dont know much about it but I really love it. Its just to bad that there is so little money invested into space exploration. You cant tell me that if we really wanted we couldnt make things like spacewalks alot easier. But ofcourse its all a money issue and as most governments probably dont see space as something to get money from they'd rather wast it on giving the poor people in africa money... Which is a never ending story. And stuff like fighting useless wars. I mean, just think of what the NASA could do if they'd be getting the budgets the USA sets for the hopeless iraq/iran wars. If they'd got that they should have to build that lame appollo like succesor to the spaceshuttle. No, instead they'd be able to build something far more awsome. Something that can fly into space on its own and stuff.
As for the rest, its impossible to tell what will happen, its just to far away. Just take a look at what computer tech did in 30 years, or even 10. You cant tell what we will have 90 years from now.
Don't hold your breath. When people start getting killed in large numbers this sector is going to have a tough time.
My space-travel prediction for the 21st century is that we won't routinely be travelling much further than the Moon, and quite possibly still be stuck in low-Earth orbit. By routine I mean governmental/space agency efforts, not commercial space travel which I think will remain the preserve of those who are rich and/or bored of life.
If we can build an orbital structure that can get us cheaply to the moon, then we can build a launch platform on the moon that can get us anywhere in the solar system relatively cheaply. Space travel, even to the Moon, will never be common as long as we are forced to use rockets for the majority of propulsion.
I think that's basically where I'm coming from. Right now I can't see any serious contenders to replace rockets for meaningful payloads to low-Earth orbit. In reality they're probably hard to replace for the trip from LEO->Moon too but that's a moot point if rockets are a bottleneck in getting stuff off the ground.
Research into a replacement for rockets seems to be advancing on glacial time-scales, maybe due to lack of funds but I suspect because there really aren't that many options. It's too expensive/risky/long-term to be solved by the private sector, and the public-sector agencies can't or won't spend enough money on it in the current political climate.
I've been wondering for some time now if the "Space Pier" concept was viable:
http://autogeny.org/tower/tower.html
The primary benefits over the space elevator are that you don't have to contend with the Coriolis force, and the structure itself is much more strongly within the bounds of the structural integrity of the material. The drawback is that we need a way to build large artificial diamond crystals fast, and that may come from the semiconductor industry (diamond makes an excellent semiconductor).
Sentient AI will probably be the biggest thing we'll see this century. Possibly the biggest change humanity has ever faced.
I'm hoping in the next decade or two we can do away with paper completely . My father recieves a newspaper every day and I can't help but think of the waste . I'm hoping a minority report type lcd screen that each day you can update and read the news .
In schools i'm hoping for something similar or that laptops come down in price enough where they are given out instead of text books and notebooks .
I think that will be the most important change over time .
the other hting is most likely some type of new battery that can store alot of energy in a very little space . that would kick start a new wave of inovation. A battery the size of a flash drive able to power a laptop for 2 hours. Or more . Or a quarter sized battery that can power a cell phone for a 100 hours stand by time and 7 hours talk time.
In schools i'm hoping for something similar or that laptops come down in price enough where they are given out instead of text books and notebooks .
I think that will be the most important change over time .
the other hting is most likely some type of new battery that can store alot of energy in a very little space . that would kick start a new wave of inovation. A battery the size of a flash drive able to power a laptop for 2 hours. Or more . Or a quarter sized battery that can power a cell phone for a 100 hours stand by time and 7 hours talk time.
In addition to better batteries, I'd envisage everything will be wireless - from speakers to computers to TVs to your media to home theatres, and power. Devices will be able to talk to other devices, and cables will be laughed at as "ye olde days".
I can't wait, behind my television is a hideous mess
I can't wait, behind my television is a hideous mess
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