helene_t Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 The Edge 2009 panel gave pretty boring answers. The people here can do better. http://www.edge.org/q2009/q09_index.html My take: the World will become extremely transparent. Take the Gaza conflict. Thousands of civilians and fighters on both sides will upload their stories to servers, and filtering and assessment tools can compile a coherent. You don't have to be dependent on biased reports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimG Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 The Edge 2009 panel gave pretty boring answers. The people here can do better. http://www.edge.org/q2009/q09_index.htm My take: the World will become extremely transparent. Take the Gaza conflict. Thousands of civilians and fighters on both sides will upload their stories to servers, and filtering and assessment tools can compile a coherent. You don't have to be dependent on biased reports. I got a 404 error when I tried to follow the link. What makes you think first hand reports won't be biased? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 "Which technology will change everything?, C'mon, we can do better than Edge!" Brain imaging/medical imaging. Look at how the simple microscope changed our world, imagine future improvements. The Singularity. Prediction date 2050. :)2019 prediction, the hardware of the brain is understood.2029 prediction, the software of the brain is understood and an AI is measured to be as intelligent as a human brain.2050 AI has the intelligence level 100 billion times the sum of the human race. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted January 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Sorry, the link is correct now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y66 Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Networking and information sharing are changing everything already. I think this will continue strongly. Networks will become more efficient and the quality of information for decision making will improve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted January 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 "2050 AI has the intelligence level 100 billion times the sum of the human race. " Which Al? Al Gore or Al-U-Card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y66 Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Is the sum of intelligence of the human race a positive number? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimG Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Is the sum of intelligence of the human race a positive number? It's 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winstonm Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 What about a negative effect - perhaps genetic engineering introducing a not simply a rabbit but a killer rabbit to Austalia. Run away!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 2051: AI exterminates humanity on the grounds it is an "infestation not worthy of continuing". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffy Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 2051: AI exterminates humanity on the grounds it is an "infestation not worthy of continuing". and many people will just call it evolution ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y66 Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 nonadaptive evolution perhaps, which is, of course, anti-Darwinian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke warm Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 2051: AI exterminates humanity on the grounds it is an "infestation not worthy of continuing". and many people will just call it evolution <_< :) and be able to prove it and will seek the missing link(s) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerben42 Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 My predictions: Although computers will become much more powerful, major corporations will design software to keep the computers busy enough, thus avoiding any danger of a technology singularity. The rich will gain the opportunity to live practically forever due to genetic treatment, whereas the life expectancy for the bottom 5 billion will go down to a shocking 30 years or so. Slavery will be re-introduced as a way to allow the upper class access to cheap servants. The proponents will claim: "It's the best for all, after all would you rather have the slaves starve to death in their home country?" In the second half of this century, Russia and Canada will be invaded by foreign powers to lay claim on land that has become fertile due to global warming. Right-wing politicians will gain power in many countries as millions of refugees try to overrun the western countries to escape famine. Sorry to give so gloomy predictions. I'd rather be realistic than nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mycroft Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 2051: AI exterminates humanity on the grounds it is an "infestation not worthy of continuing". and many people will just call it evolution :DAny computer calling itself Chthonic gets the plug pulled *immediately*. And then has its ports filled with epoxy, and buried in a concrete block. "It's the only way to be sure." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 "Which technology will change everything?, C'mon, we can do better than Edge! Brain imaging/medical imaging. Look at how the simple microscope changed our world, imagine future improvements." 60 Minutes tv show last night had a feature on using FMRI brain imaging to read peoples minds. Machines that can read your thoughts and emotions. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4697682n Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfay Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 Obviously the next step forward in computing is quantum processing, I think. Once this is achieved the level of advancement of science won't even be comparable to what's going on now. Medical science will benefit particularly just by the number crunching ability for protein structures or single and multi-molecule dynamic simulations... maybe we won't even need actual laboratories anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffy Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 What about a bio-virus that finally gets rid of all of us?, this surelly changes things :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 Obviously the next step forward in computing is quantum processing, I think. Once this is achieved the level of advancement of science won't even be comparable to what's going on now. Medical science will benefit particularly just by the number crunching ability for protein structures or single and multi-molecule dynamic simulations... maybe we won't even need actual laboratories anymore. It is here, we just need to scale it up. :D "Although quantum computing is still in its infancy, experiments have been carried out in which quantum computational operations were executed on a very small number of qubits (quantum binary digits" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 The folks at IBM were slow to grasp the importance of PCs, and, Al Gore notwithstanding, no one really anticipated the internet. I guess Dick Tracy anticipated cell phones fifty years ago with his two-way wrist radio but generally these things arrive unexpected. Still, we can speculate. Privacy will be a major issue for the future. This is related to brain scans, cell phones, gps systems, NSA intelligence gathering and many other things. It is also cultural. Growing up, I had large blocks of time when no one knew where I was or what I was doing. Kids, except maybe the kids in difficult circumstances, do not seem to have this or expect it anymore. As near as I can tell, my daughters and my wife's daughters pretty much know where their kids are every hour of the day. Maybe everyone will come to accept this as normal. But: As technology advances, probing our thoughts, our whereabouts, our actions, our genetic structure, it seems there will a need for technology to to allow us to be left unwatched, unexamined and undisturbed. My nominee is: Stealth technology for everyday life. Quite possibly it will be deemed subversive and made illegal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichMor Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 We have lived in a 'fossil fuel' culture/economy since the Industrial Revolution (whenever that was). If not for oil, would we have ever heard of or care about Kuwait? My best guess for a transformational technology is anything and everything that gets us away from fossil fuel. Maybe there will be some breakthrough in energy cells or safe nuclear power, or bio-fuel, or something. Maybe we will see gradual improvements in many technologies that will make fossil fuel less important. If the CIA wants to scan my brain, they will be disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dicklont Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 The other day I saw some talking head on the tube explaining something remarkable. The size of the human brain is ultimately limited by the size of the birth channel.The increasing use of caesarean allows the evolution to give later generations much larger brains. So perhaps the caesarean is the technique that chances everything.And maybe the brain becomes so potent that bridge will be a childrens game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bid_em_up Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 2051: AI exterminates humanity on the grounds it is an "infestation not worthy of continuing". and many people will just call it evolution B) And others will call it "assimilation". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 The other day I saw some talking head on the tube explaining something remarkable. The size of the human brain is ultimately limited by the size of the birth channel.The increasing use of caesarean allows the evolution to give later generations much larger brains. So perhaps the caesarean is the technique that chances everything.And maybe the brain becomes so potent that bridge will be a childrens game. "And others will call it "assimilation". " Just wait until artificial wombs are common with womb stores on every corner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 The other day I saw some talking head on the tube explaining something remarkable. The size of the human brain is ultimately limited by the size of the birth channel.The increasing use of caesarean allows the evolution to give later generations much larger brains. So perhaps the caesarean is the technique that chances everything.And maybe the brain becomes so potent that bridge will be a childrens game. I'm not so sure about this. The birth canal limits the size of the brain of a newborn. This is the reason why human babies are so helpless compared to most other animals. In effect, we're born premature compared to other mammals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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