In fifty years what will exist then that doesn’t exist now, and what will it do?

Human’s that are slaves to robots and computers. Will our kids choose the red pill or the blue pill?

@Cruiser Uhh some of us are already there unfortunately. I still strongly value my outside time, but almost all of my school work requires a computer.

@dxs My answer was a bit premature as I have been tethered to my laptop sunrise to sunset for years now

^^ Ah, premature articulation, I’ve heard of that.

Dream recorders. Selling great dreams will radically change fortunes.

Fully automated transit. No one will have personal cars or need them. No traffic lights, no traffic jams, no accidents, no delays.

Some sort of virtual sex. Maybe it will be some sort of brain thing that makes you experience it like it is really happening. I guess it could make you experience almost anything. A vacation, massage, there might be no limits.

Hand held micro nuclear magnetic resonance imaging scanners that a healthcare professional can hold against a patient’s vein and determine blood chemistry and cell count analysis. Yes that is right, painfully drawing blood with needles and tubes will be a thing of the past. Too bad I won’t be around to see it.

Antibiotics will be non-existent and ineffective. Death will be even more common than it was before antibiotics were invented. Hospitals will be places to go to to die since they will be heavily infected with the deadly pathogens and the like.

I’m interested to see where entertainment media goes.

Network TV is on its way out. Cable is on life support. Record labels are going broke. But people still want to have good stuff to watch and great bands to listen to. There’s a demand for entertainment, but the traditional compensation schemes aren’t working anymore.

Will we see a return to analog-style recording techniques? Or continue on the merch train to hell ($40 for a t-shirt? You must be joking)? will local music and community theater make a major comeback? How will entertainers continue to make a living in an age where people don’t want to pay for digital media?

I expect major breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. People will be growing/3d printing replacement organs in vats, and people dying on the organ waiting list will be a thing of the past.

Hopefully we’ll FINALLY get our flying cars.

@Dutchess_III They’d better fly themselves, because I don’t want some sixteen-year-old texting-while-piloting her way through my roof.

@JLeslie Some sort of virtual sex. Maybe it will be some sort of brain thing that makes you experience it like it is really happening.
I can see that, if there were a suit or sleeve one could get in that had simulators throughout for temperature, pressure, etc. with virtual reality goggles of there were not some type of port wired directly to your brain for the visuals. That would be scary though.

@gorillapaws I expect major breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. People will be growing/3d printing replacement organs in vats, and people dying on the organ waiting list will be a thing of the past.
You don’t think they will be using genetic manipulation to clone those parts in sheep, pigs, or some other suitable host animal?

@Hypocrisy_Central That’s certainly a possibility. I have no idea which method would produce better results. In theory, if you could grow/3D print a replacement organ in a vat, it would be an identicle, rejection-proof method, although there may be major problems with this approach, that growing organs in a host animal would solve.

^ If the organ was a clone of their “good” organ if it were to be successfully hosted in a host animal, why would the patient’s body reject it since it would be an exact copy as well?

Because science isn’t magic, and shit happens?

@Hypocrisy_Central If your brain thinks your body is being touched you may not even need any direct stimulation on your body.

^^^That’s what some guys hope for when they’re hitting on a woman!

I don’t know what, but the kids will have it, and people will be saying condescending shit like, back in my day, we had SMARTPHONES.

I suggest the book Our Final Invention, Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era, by James Barrat.

In fifty years?

I expect 3D printers will be far more versatile, perhaps in virtually every home like microwaves are today. Able to print clothing, food (they can already print chocolate, pizza, pasta…), toys etc…

They say the three biggest technlogies transforming society are GNR, genetics, nanotechnology and robotics.

So look for anything in those arenas to come to pass.

We have a plasma fusion drive due to be tested in orbit next year that could get astronauts to Mars in under 40 days. Imagine colonies on the Moon and Mars, mining the asteroid belt…

Its possible. Whether it happens or not is hard to say.

(Sorry, not plasma fusion, its a magnetic based plasma drive). Several companies are in development of the technology…

http://phys.org/news174031552.html