# Future inventions.



## kyektulu

*I dont know if this topic has been done before (most probably) but here we go anyway:

What sci fi invention do you think will definetly be made in the future?

I am hoping that a time travel machine would be invented but I think that one isnt really possible...


*


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## Princess Ivy

ah, entirely different debate there, is time endlessly repeating circle, or more a langoliers interpretation of only the present existing?


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## kyektulu

*Yes I suppose so....

 I concur. 

I hope they invent a holodeck that would be great fun!
*


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## Pyan

Are you asking what _will_ be invented, or what people would most_ like_ to be invented? I suspect they are two very different things.


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## Leto

kyektulu said:
			
		

> *I dont know if this topic has been done before (most probably) but here we go anyway:
> 
> What sci fi invention do you think will definetly be made in the future?
> 
> I am hoping that a time travel machine would be invented but I think that one isnt really possible...
> 
> 
> *



What I think will be made ? 
Pervasive integration of computer world into real life since infancy, maybe through bioengeneering.

What I'd love to be invented ? Teleportation devices.


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## dwndrgn

What I think will be made?  'pick a baby' service - choose eye color, hair color, width of nose, skin color...

What I'd like?  A manual override on mechanical car windows.  They always break and you're stuck with either a permanently open window or a permanently down window.  This way we get the luxury of being lazy in using the windows but also the back up plan in case they break down.


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## Rosemary

What I think will happen is that all the different types of computers will be voice operated only.  So no typing - where's the fun in that!!

What I would like is someone to invent a lightglobe that I buy, which does not 'blow' the following week.  (Yes, I have had an electrician to check the wiring)

PS I have the luxury of manual wind down windows in my car !


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## Disnatured

Rosemary do you put your hands all over the globe before or during the installation process? From memory the oil on your hands can make them blow really quick, though I'm no sparky. 

I think it will be something like a combination of Letos idea and dwndrgn. Parents will choose their babies much like in Gattaca, and through this process some people will be given great aptitude at things like computers or what have you and these will be "run off" like a commodity whenever the government or a major corporation needs people. In essense they will make people specifically to do a job and these will be a lower class of people being bred and owned by a goverment or company and having no real parents. Of course they will also increase the ageing process in these individuals so the customer can have a healthy fully grown human within 12 months or so.


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## Stalker

Soon, very useful devices are to be invented: thoght remote control of TV, adult-in-the-armachair feeding device, back-scratching device, devices substituting humans in all their activities up to the brain substitutes and digestion system substitutes, otherwise, there is gonna be new MDWs after the WW III - such as a modified spiked club with manual targeting... ;-))


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## kyektulu

*dwndrgn I know it is pretty inevitable that it is going to happen but I really dislike the idea of a 'designer' baby, it is sick and immoral, just imagine... there would be very little diversity left in the world.
 Disnatured, lets just say I hope you are wrong! 

I believe in the future there will be some kind of flying/hover car.
Not nessecarily like in The Jetsons. 
Also some kind of alternative fuel source, one that dosnt comsume the earths natural reasources!


*


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## asdar

I think an energy source is coming. Hydrogen, solar, wind, Fusion or some such.

Watch for the space elevator, if you haven't read about it I think it'll start construction in about ten years, but won't be completed for 30-40 years. It'll be a line going to space with a transport that can take things up and down for very little cost per trip.

Here on earth I unfortunately see an increase in spy gear. I can see the development of a nervousness detector where a computer will sense someones biometrics as they approach a gate, such as in boarding a train or plane and single them out as a threat for investigation.


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## AmonRa

dwndrgn said:
			
		

> 'pick a baby' service


 

unfortunatley people with morals wont like it... *think second airrian race*

what would be more acceptable tho would be to find which 'possible baby' might have a genetic disease, and kill it before it comes to existence...


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## terryweide

I think one invention that may come shortly will be a personal computer mounted in the dashboard of your car. Instead of having a car stereo, you'd have a car computer instead. Somewhat like a car stereo, the computer could play potentially thousands of MP3 songs, and if it were voice activated, it could search the Internet for the latest traffic news, general news, topics of interest, etc., all while you were driving down the road. The advantage to a car personal computer compared to a normal stereo/radio, would be that with the "carputer" you could pick your own programming. 

Terry


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## Leto

Not future invention Terry, already installed in some cars in Japan. And soon to be in US and Europe (2006 -2007)


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## kyektulu

*AmonRa I do hope that they can detect diesiese in an embyo and remove it.
 No one deserves to suffer.*


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## terryweide

Okay, then I'll suggest another possible invention. I think that at some point, the wheel will be surpassed as a basic means of transportation because a practical form of antigravity will be developed.


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## They

asdar said:
			
		

> Watch for the space elevator, if you haven't read about it I think it'll start construction in about ten years, but won't be completed for 30-40 years. It'll be a line going to space with a transport that can take things up and down for very little cost per trip.
> 
> The space elevator would have to be made of very hard materials, all of which we do not have the money to buy. So look for the "Elevator" in about 70-100 yrs.


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## They

And antigravity is impossible. Most likely we would use superconducting plates to repel against the Earth's magnetic feild


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## terryweide

Uh, huh. It's also impossible to send a man to the moon.


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## kyektulu

terryweide said:
			
		

> Uh, huh. It's also impossible to send a man to the moon.


*  I have always had doubts about the authenticity of the moon landing myself. 
I would like to believe it is true but even if man does eventually travel space and find an inhabitable planet we would probably just consume its natural reasources and spoil that planet anyway. 
*


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## chrispenycate

To start with (quoth the pedant), let us be very clear what we mean by the word « invention ». The « salon des inventions » is dominated by gadgets, rather than original ideas- automatic swimming pool cleaners, things to detect when you’ve gone to sleep on the motorway (and modify the situation- or were those called  « passengers » ?) The telephone is an invention, the mobile phone an evolution, a hodge-podge of minor developements and improvements, with no clear creation point- even television, that major lifestyle modifier, is a developement rather than a clearcut crutch on the trousers of time. Recreational drugs may be invented, but medical ones are developed. No one considers a philosophy allowing humans to live together in peace and tranquility to be an invention (or, rather, no one would so consider one if it existed) despite it fulfilling all the conditions of the dictionary definition, and something really fundamental is classed as a « discovery »  You are now going to tell me  « You know science fiction when you read it, despite the lack of a clear definition- well, I know what an invention is »(Oh, you were’nt going to say that ? Sorry) Can you even tell me what it definitely isn’t ?(patent offices are having problemswith this every day- and if we require a lawyer to tell us what the world is, it’s time to change planets) 

Let us take as an example something I’m sure will come into being in time, assuming mankind survives and continues along the path of technological developement (neither of which is certain), the synthetic womb. With _in vitro_  fertilisation at one end, and ever more sophisticated incubators at the other, sooner or likely later the intermediate stages will be conquered, a substitute placenta either grown from stem cells or made from a sufficiently anti-allergic plastic (or yet another solution found, techniques of diffusing in oxygen adapted from heart/lung machine technology, diffusing in nourishment from extreme life support material, cloning maternal blood to supply essential antibodies, continuous electronic monitoring to reduce the need for human vigilance- who knows, pre-recorded maternal heartbeat and soothing music to stimulate the developing embrio. To start with, all of this will be purely for medical reasons (like the bottle of brandy in the studio) for mothers who can’t carry their own children, but as the technologies mature and prices fall, it could be that a number of our distaff companions choose not to go through the months of discomfort and inconvenience and take advantage of the technology, perhaps with _in vivo_  fertilisation- a minor change (after all, the final result is babies, no ?) but one which could cause major socialogical change. Still, I’m not sure the thing could be classed as an invention.


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## kyektulu

*What can I say to that?????????? 
*


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## Rosemary

kyektulu said:
			
		

> *What can I say to that??????????
> *


The Chris is pedantic   Unless of course we can invent a different word 

Or should that be an evolution of the word pedantic?


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## chrispenycate

Rosemary said:
			
		

> The Chris is pedantic   Unless of course we can invent a different word
> 
> Or should that be an evolution of the word pedantic?


Oh, to speak italian so I could be "pedantissimo" (carefully avoids charging Leto)

But I have done (and overdone and done to death) one gadget- there's no reason to abandon the thread (chris of death strikes again) I get scared to post because my absolute authority, combined with my ineffable sagesse, bring potentially interesting threads to grinding, juddering halts (avoid mixed metaphors- some of the mental images I get of derailled sewing machines are a bit surrealistic)

Best is, I think, simply to ignore any posts that have my avatar and continue regardless


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## Leto

chrispenycate said:
			
		

> Oh, to speak italian so I could be "pedantissimo" (carefully avoids charging Leto)
> 
> But I have done (and overdone and done to death) one gadget- there's no reason to abandon the thread (chris of death strikes again) I get scared to post because my absolute authority, combined with my ineffable sagesse, bring potentially interesting threads to grinding, juddering halts (avoid mixed metaphors- some of the mental images I get of derailled sewing machines are a bit surrealistic)
> 
> Best is, I think, simply to ignore any posts that have my avatar and continue regardless


Err, dear, you should develop a gadget to avoid mixing languages, unless sagesse (wisdom) has been one more word stolen into english.  And don't worry, Como is close enough to Lugano, I won't charge for use of Italian.


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## chrispenycate

But "sagacity" doesn't have the same rhythm- and while I might avoid mixing vocabulary between languages (my spellchecker waved a white flag some time back, my cunstruction of phrases beyond all mortal hope is, and no computer sufficiently understand idiom to correct that can.
The Tessinois consider that the Swiss have rights on Italian anyway. but what ateared me most was the invention of a word in someone elses language- I do it im mine all the time.


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## Leto

I love word invention, and tend to do lots of them in both my native languages and in English. That's the way a language evolve.


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## chrispenycate

I will not make bad poliglot puns. I will not criticise other members on their grammar, spelling or syntaxe. I will stop pontificating (as much) I will not hijack an inventions thread to discuss the evolution of language and the interreaction between concept, symbol and reality. I will check my spelling before posting. I will live down the fact that, apart from me, my entire family is in education and stop lecturing people.

I will be good.


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## Leto

chrispenycate said:
			
		

> I will not make bad poliglot puns. I will not criticise other members on their grammar, spelling or syntaxe. I will stop pontificating (as much) I will not hijack an inventions thread to discuss the evolution of language and the interreaction between concept, symbol and reality. I will check my spelling before posting. I will live down the fact that, apart from me, my entire family is in education and stop lecturing people.
> 
> I will be good.


Nope, but you can create your own thread about this. In as many languages as you want.


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## chrispenycate

They said:
			
		

> asdar said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Watch for the space elevator, if you haven't read about it I think it'll start construction in about ten years, but won't be completed for 30-40 years. It'll be a line going to space with a transport that can take things up and down for very little cost per trip.
> 
> The space elevator would have to be made of very hard materials, all of which we do not have the money to buy. So look for the "Elevator" in about 70-100 yrs.
> 
> 
> 
> I've stopped being good.
> 
> Building a space elevator from terrestrial materials is an economic no-no. Lifting all those megatonnes out of earth's gravity well through earth's atmosphere is a task that would make anyone flinch- imagine the cost per kilo of shuttle lifting something into orbit (in dollars, energy and air pollution) multiplied by that mass, or imagine how many launches it would take, whether shuttle, laser launch or preferably Orion, at two or three an hour it'll take your thirty years just to get the bits up. No worries, we'll get the bits out there, plenty of unused matter in the solar system, either mine it on the moon and linearly accelerate it into geosynchronous orbit, or, preferably, find a nice asteroid containing the requisite minerals and fly it were you want it (still uses enormous quantities of energy, but no risk of an ecologist complaining that the hydrogen bomb you just set off to nudge its orbit by a few degrees has destroyed the environment for a type of butterfly) Still, bringing something larger than a dinosaur killer gently into orbit could rend some earthbound politicians nervous, and some terrorists excedingly enthusiastic. I find your "ten years to start construction" somewhat over optimistic.
> 
> As regards your materials problem, the argument is that no substance could hold it's own weight over that length- which is sort of equivalent to the argument "no chemical reaction can give enough energy to push it's components above escape velocity" True, and irrelevant- most of the matter in a rocket never gets ou of the lower atmosphere, and we can increase the strength of the bits that need to be strong, while reducing the weight of the bits that need to be light- so while it would be nice to have multi kilometer single crystal diamond ribbons, we can build it using conventional techniques, with a section in compression nearest the surface (a very, very high muntain) welded to the point of a pyramid. the base of which is our asteroid in geostationary orbit, base too to a second pyramid leading out into space so the center of gravity stays geostationary ( suppose you could put the asteroid outside geostationary orbit, and slow it as you build down, though the idea of the lower end of the construction whipping through the stratosphere at hndreds of kilometers an hour is a bit worrying- or for that matter, prefabricate it out by the moon, and nudge it into orbit, knowing that a minor error of "left hand down a bit" could eliminate all multicellular life on earth)
> 
> Then all you need is to work out energy distribution (you're really going to need superconducting wire), design lift cars your happy to stay in for hours and look to the entertainment franchises (glossed over a couple of problems, have I?)
> 
> Now, about this maglev vehicule…
Click to expand...


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## chrispenycate

kyektulu said:
			
		

> *What can I say to that??????????
> *


Actually, what you can say to that is "no, I don't agree with that at all" give reasons for your opinion. at which point we either get a discussion, which is what a forum is all about, an argument (which isn't just saying"no it isn't" to everything I say) or an all out slanging match, which is fun in its own right but excedingly improbable with me. Alternatively, you can agree with my sentiment and continue adding potential inventions to the list- no-one else has to deliver them with the construction details and the technical manual.
It's a pity- I seem to have murdered this thread in its infancy- no one dares to invent anything else in case I come along and tell them how to build it


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## Rosemary

Alternatively, you can agree with my sentiment and continue adding potential inventions to the list- no-one else has to deliver them with the construction details and the technical manual.
It's a pity- I seem to have murdered this thread in its infancy- no one dares to invent anything else in case I come along and tell them how to build it [/QUOTE]

Well, I am sorry but I really don't think your idea of the space elevator is at all feasible.  The inclometer and the armillary spheres preclude all known continium.  Also the magnetic declination would  require an athodyd and a radio interferometer to maintain phase velocity to overide  the four dimensional continium alone.


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## chrispenycate

Rosemary said:
			
		

> Well, I am sorry but I really don't think your idea of the space elevator is at all feasible.  The inclometer and the armillary spheres preclude all known continium.  Also the magnetic declination would  require an athodyd and a radio interferometer to maintain phase velocity to overide  the four dimensional continium alone.


Yes, I know I do (or should that be "I have observed that tendency in myself"? How do you pronounce "inclometer"? Accent on the second sylable sounds good to me- it means a pice of string with a weight on the end to tell you when it's straight- but sounds so much nicer than the plebean "plumb bob" don't you think? Oh, and continuum has two "u"s.
I liked this thread  but seem to have cuddled it to death, as the kids did to the rabbits at a playground I once supervised (a word suggesting seriousness and authority. Actually I was worse than most of the kids)

Perhaps if I hid in the pure science threads for a while the rabbits would come out to nibble?


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## Rosemary

chrispenycate said:
			
		

> Yes, I know I do (or should that be "I have observed that tendency in myself"? How do you pronounce "inclometer"? Accent on the second sylable sounds good to me- it means a pice of string with a weight on the end to tell you when it's straight- but sounds so much nicer than the plebean "plumb bob" don't you think? Oh, and continuum has two "u"s.
> I liked this thread but seem to have cuddled it to death, as the kids did to the rabbits at a playground I once supervised (a word suggesting seriousness and authority. Actually I was worse than most of the kids)
> 
> Perhaps if I hid in the pure science threads for a while the rabbits would come out to nibble?


I do apologise   I was trying to keep your thread going for you but as I know absolutely nothing about scientific inventions it turned out to be a tongue in cheek answer    I do hope you enjoy your stay in the pure science threads - I won't be there (well not very often) which will be nice for you.


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## dreamwalker

Shouldn't we be asking what we would like to have invented? instead of knocking down peoples ideas of what could be...
Although i totally agree with chris there on the space elevator, not in 10 years, nor 10 thousand years... All the matter and energy we'd use building the thing would have happly gone into colonising (note, I did not say the "T" word) Mars and establishing ways of moving civilisation up the Kardashev Scale...

We should be more realistically looking to develop socially, the way the earth is run and managed, how wealth and information is distributed and the the time being, that can only be done with improving trade (no im not one of those fair trade or make poverty history people) but improving trade and commercialisation will lead to a mo unifed word.

Look at singapore and dubai, 2 very wealthy cities in 2 nations with very little in terms of natural resources. but they florish because they harbour and promote trade and development between different other nations. These cities are in there own right inventions that the entire world should look at and build on.


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## kyektulu

*I know that as a writer I would love to have a small machine that can understand the sound of my voice and save what I say to it to its memory. This will enable me to 'write' my story without actually writing it down.
I want this to be invented not only for the idle aspect of it but for 2 reasons 1. I would be able to get my story done much faster (as when I am writing an exciting bit of my book It takes tooo much time to write everything down and I end up loosing my thread.)
2 It would help disabled people a hell of a lot.
I once saw some tv sci fi program that had this little floating egg shaped machine that did this, it was great. If this machine could fly and stay near me without me having to move it that would be fantastic.*


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## edott

I think we will see much more effecient alternative energy vehicles. what i want to see is a space elevator.


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## chrispenycate

kyektulu said:
			
		

> *I know that as a writer I would love to have a small machine that can understand the sound of my voice and save what I say to it to its memory. This will enable me to 'write' my story without actually writing it down.
> I want this to be invented not only for the idle aspect of it but for 2 reasons 1. I would be able to get my story done much faster (as when I am writing an exciting bit of my book It takes tooo much time to write everything down and I end up loosing my thread.)
> 2 It would help disabled people a hell of a lot.
> I once saw some tv sci fi program that had this little floating egg shaped machine that did this, it was great. If this machine could fly and stay near me without me having to move it that would be fantastic.*


That sounds like something that could be built now -not a floating ball, of course, but a brooch or something, a cue word for "start recording", another for "stop" and another for "download" remember, you can never write these words. Standard voice recognition software, only work in a quietish place (or noise cancellation circuitry so you can work in the car or train?) any one of the wireless data communication systems- you could probably put it in a moble phone.


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## Neal Asher

'it would help disabled people a hell of a lot'

I'm sure that if you did a bit of searching you would find it has already been invented and is being improved upon. I do know of a blind guy in Australia who uses the Internet - his computer reading stuff out to him - but that's a substantially easier technology.


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## hermi-nomi

HAs anyone already mentioned that an 'Invisiblity Cloak' (Harry Potter) has been developed? I'm afraid I can't yet give you the link, but the news can be found at future brief dot com (all one word.) As written by Jeffrey R. Harrow
Principal Technologist, The Harrow Group.


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## cornelius

we used to have a company , "lernout and Hauspie", whow orked on voice recognition, voice transmit and everything that could link voice to computer... there had been fraude, the company declared bankrupcy...

( sorry for errors,I don't have such voice thingies yet)


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## SukiTrek

I would expect to see practical fusion reactors plants someday.


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## kyektulu

*A cure for all the terrible illness' in the world would be the best thing ever.*


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## cornelius

I agree

later on maybe things to turn seawater into sweet water
and commercialised alternetive energy sources.
And something for people to stop scr*wing up the planet.


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## kyektulu

cornelius said:
			
		

> I agree
> 
> later on maybe things to turn seawater into sweet water
> and commercialised alternetive energy sources.
> And something for people to stop scr*wing up the planet.




*That would be ideal.
 Alternative energy sources. 
 Also ways to dispose of the waste that we as a race produce without dumping it or burning it.


*


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## cornelius

as necessity is the mother of all invention, these thigs should start to pop up. Maybe it's because money is the father of all invention, and don't forget some of their nasty offsprings


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## kyektulu

*I hope so cornelius.
 The state of mother earth really disstresses me.


Oh yes, I wont go into any details but myself and my partner have come up with an exceptional invention idea. 
 We are getting it patented and have been researching  for the best value materials to make the prototype....

Fingers crossed it will set us up for life....* *Im so excited. *


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## cornelius

you intregue me... Hope you'll start a thread on it when the time comes.
fingers and toes crossed for you, Kye


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## kyektulu

*Of course when we are up and running I will tell the world!

Thank you for your support cornelius your very sweet.
*


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## Sibeling

A thing that controls the weather would be good. You know, something like a satellite that flies in the sky and sends the rainclouds to the deserts instead of hanging around exactly when I want to have a garden party..


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## Omega

Sibeling said:
			
		

> A thing that controls the weather would be good. You know, something like a satellite that flies in the sky and sends the rainclouds to the deserts instead of hanging around exactly when I want to have a garden party..



Thought Sean Connery had already done that?


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## kyektulu

*I disagree Sibeling, I really hope that such a device never gets invented.

As much as I resent the pouring rain when I have just had my hair done at a expensive salon and things It would greatly disrupt the balence of nature.
Just imagine if the weather control devices were in public use everyone would want perfect sunshine and we would go into drought...*


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## Omega

I would love to have a weather control device.


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## chrispenycate

Hmm, weather control. Hard to do it local, though, too much butterfly. Still, macroscopically…
Runs away, enthusiastically ducking hard objects thrown at him.


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## cornelius

Maybe of you'd shift a bit here and there you could control the weather for a -day are two... Who cares for Butterfly -effects, I just want a bit of sun the 6-7-8 of feb. 

I think it'd be better to focus on turning seawater into sweet water, that way you could get a bit of water in the dessert. I think you'd need to get a whole lot of water out of the ocean to cause negative effects... It would also solve the rising level of the see. 

I'm just a kid, I wouldn't know.


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## chrispenycate

cornelius said:
			
		

> Maybe of you'd shift a bit here and there you could control the weather for a -day are two... Who cares for Butterfly -effects, I just want a bit of sun the 6-7-8 of feb.
> 
> I think it'd be better to focus on turning seawater into sweet water, that way you could get a bit of water in the dessert. I think you'd need to get a whole lot of water out of the ocean to cause negative effects... It would also solve the rising level of the see.
> 
> I'm just a kid, I wouldn't know.


>whisper mode "do I correct spelling mistakes? Oh, leave it" close whisper<
The calculations for "day or two" are more complicated than macro mods. Actually, as regards distilling water, weather control could be combined. If we could get less rain falling on the sea, which doesn't need it, and more on deserts and high mountain glaciers, it probably wouldn't stop rising sea levels much (there's an awful lot of ice on the polar caps) but could vastly increase the fertility of the bits left sticking out. Unfortunately this is bound to affect the habitats of some species negatively.
Still, the energy involved in one little anti cyclone is so enormous (not even thinking about hurricanes and such) that if you can't precalculate the position of your butterfly, before it's gained all that momentum, you can forget about convincing it to go elsewhere.
Perhaps I'll go back to my more conventional techniques for Sahara reaforestation. 
Oh, and whatever it might look like from my point of view, from yesterday you're not a kid any more - sorry


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## Sibeling

Actually I didn't mean that common people who know nothing about the rules of nature should have weather controlling devices. I was thinking in the lines of scientific governmental institutions that work together with other countries to make the weather in the world better, make the deserts green and similar things.


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## hermi-nomi

There are many things from Harry Potter's magical world that scientists are working on developing including the Marauders Map, (see Prisioner of Azkaban)  moving photos and an Invisibility Cloak (see Philosophers Stone)

All these are included in a link that I mentioned before but was unable to give you as a direct link ~ and now I can: http://www.futurebrief.com/jeffharrowpotter020.asp
This article describes the progress of developing the above mentioned items and even time travel! 

The Invisibility cloak is a 





> 'working prototype of "Optical Camouflage" from the lab of Susumu Tachi, Professor of Information Physics and Computing of the Graduate School of Info. Science & Technology, University of Tokyo!'


The cloak uses retro-reflective material ... and projectorrs and mirrors to render the wearer invisible!  More links on the subject are given in the above link. How cool would it be to have an Invisility Jacket? Huh, huh? Major cool


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## cornelius

chrispenycate said:
			
		

> >whisper mode "do I correct spelling mistakes? Oh, leave it" close whisper<
> Oh, and whatever it might look like from my point of view, from yesterday you're not a kid any more - sorry


 

 not a kid anymore ????

you may correct my spelling, no problem ( for me, but you'll have a lot of work )


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## kyektulu

*I have seen this camoflage cloak in action on the tv before hermi nomi, they have a car with the same technology 2, its kewel.*


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## Taltos

For those of you who want to change weather a good SF book to start thinking is Ben Bovas "The Weathermakers". I think he has thought a bit about the consequences and the problems.


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## Sibeling

Sounds interesting..


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## kyektulu

*I have heard alot about Ben Bova, I will check out that book thanks Taltos*


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## topspin

we will see the development of nano-technology within the next 25 years.
also, we will get better at predicting upcoming technology too.


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## Julio Clearsky

1. Superconductor
2. Gene tailored medecines
3. Self healing air/space craft parts
4. Plasma weaponry
5. 3D-TV
6. A replacement for the farce that is called Democracy


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## steve12553

In the half-century I've been around I seen a lot of inventions and developements. I now have a cell phone smaller than Captain Kirk's communicator. The computer I typing this on is smaller and possibly more powerful than the computer that Gene Roddenberry envisioned for the Enterprise. Roddenberry's universe unfortunately was driven by noble caused that I spent many years thinking would bring us flying into the 21st century and doing amazing thing. My beliefs have changed over the years as I've noted the greatest most successful inventions and inovations are also the most profitable. We are willing to pay money for cell phones that play music and movies and take pictures and many other neccessities. Money, unfortunately, makes the world go round.  We can only hope that the "money people" will see a profit margin in finding cures for diseases and a cure for stagnation of the human race. When people were exploring unknown territories and new worlds inventions came rapidly. At some point in the last 25 years or so, humanity as a majority decided that it was better to improve this planet than to explore space and seek new ones. Or course we didn't do much good, we just hid from our problem with more stay at home entertainment technology.  I've always believed that if we had made the serious effort to get into space and explore and colonize we would have improved our lot on Earth with more and better jobs and improved useful technology. I would love to see medical improvements, better microsurgery and better non-invasive biomedical sensing. We can only hope.


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## kyektulu

topspin said:
			
		

> we will see the development of nano-technology within the next 25 years.
> also, we will get better at predicting upcoming technology too.



*I am really looking forward to the progression of nano technology, it is such a hope for everyone suffering for currently 'incurable' desieses/conditions.*


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## kyektulu

Julio Clearsky said:
			
		

> A replacement for the farce that is called Democracy




*Sadly I doubt such a thing will happen... there is always hope though...*


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## chrispenycate

Julio Clearsky said:
			
		

> 1. Superconductor


I assume this means "room temperature super conductor"? (cryogenic ones already available) Yes, they'd be extremely handy, but, after a period of rapid development, research seems to be marking time





> 2. Gene tailored medecines


 These exist already, and are being improved all the time (though generally not saleable because products of genetically modified organisms aren't. 


> 3. Self healing air/space craft parts


 They would have to heal remarkably fast to be any use in any situation where they were useful; and I'm not certain I'd want to be in an aeroplane which could apply its own structural modifications faster than a pilot can react to them (of course the control programs would be totally bug free)  


> 4. Plasma weaponry


 Souped up flame throwers with magnetic focussing? What advantage do we gain over present means of killing people? (except in outer space, where you could use your main drive as a weapon; butthat goes for almost any space drive)


> 5. 3D-TV


 Only with fiber optic wiring to individual houses, or a serious reduction in the number of TV channels- true 3D takes up *lots* of bandwidth- even satelite channels would fill up in no time.


> 6. A replacement for the farce that is called Democracy


 Not in 25 years; it's even possible that the philosophy  already exists (though I've not heard of it) but converting this into a practical working social system and imposing it on an apreciable number of nations will take more than a generation. 



> we will see the development of nano-technology within the next 25 years.


Possibly very simple nanotech; certainly not self replicating, and better at cleaning up industrial spill than medical uses.


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## kyektulu

*Once again chris you befuddle me with your expansive knowledge of anything and everything.*


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## PERCON

I want to one day get into the field of nanotechnology, I'm going off to Uni soon, and hopefully after that I can start my working life figuring out cures to diseases. I've been keeping a close eye on the nanotechnological advancements. I like the way the future is shaping up...


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## kyektulu

*I wish you the very best of luck PERCON.

Just remember 2 give me a nudge if your nanotechnology starts curing deisieses**. .


*


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