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Technology - where will it lead us?

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Zaptruder

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Talking in purely speculative terms, with regards to relatively distant technology (20+ years), what do you think technology will be like then? What kind of applications do you imagine there been?

Personally, I like the idea of a matrix world myself, where at somepoint, we're able to so accurately recreate a virtual world such that our sense are unable to distinguish the difference, that we can essentially live in it.

Would that be a good thing? If you could transist between the real world and the matrix freely, and the matrix wasn't a sinister world created by rampant robots, but instead a virtual paradise under the control of humanity... wouldn't that be an entirely radical thing for humanity? Changing the way we think about luxuries, resources, etc...

Hell, we could easily operate and experience things impossible in reality in this world, such as been able to teleport around, or 'fly' without assistance of machines, granting us matrix like super powers and then some.

all these things, if they could be simulated in a virtual world, recreated endlessly without expense, except for powering and maintenance of the machines that allow this stuff...

then what meaning would there be left to human struggle?

Well... I guess at that point, the concept of personal wealth becomes something rather less meaningful... but at the beginning you would still face class and material problems, trying to get everyone hooked onto this matrix network.

But if it matured to the point where there was enough capacity to hook everyone up to this matrix, and all our wants were easily satisfied... then what purpose do we have left? I guess you can't live only in the matrix; you'd need people or robots to maintain the machinery and network... and indeed the people themselves; fed intravenously? We'd still need to dispose of waste... we are still humans afterall.

mmmm....
 
I only know one thing...

simulated virtual sex would be = $$$$$$

porn and sex toys are already worth billions... take it a step further and more billions...
 
tech.png
 
Zaptruder said:
Talking in purely speculative terms, with regards to relatively distant technology (20+ years), what do you think technology will be like then? What kind of applications do you imagine there been?

Personally, I like the idea of a matrix world myself, where at somepoint, we're able to so accurately recreate a virtual world such that our sense are unable to distinguish the difference, that we can essentially live in it.

Would that be a good thing? If you could transist between the real world and the matrix freely, and the matrix wasn't a sinister world created by rampant robots, but instead a virtual paradise under the control of humanity... wouldn't that be an entirely radical thing for humanity? Changing the way we think about luxuries, resources, etc...

Hell, we could easily operate and experience things impossible in reality in this world, such as been able to teleport around, or 'fly' without assistance of machines, granting us matrix like super powers and then some.

all these things, if they could be simulated in a virtual world, recreated endlessly without expense, except for powering and maintenance of the machines that allow this stuff...

then what meaning would there be left to human struggle?

Well... I guess at that point, the concept of personal wealth becomes something rather less meaningful... but at the beginning you would still face class and material problems, trying to get everyone hooked onto this matrix network.

But if it matured to the point where there was enough capacity to hook everyone up to this matrix, and all our wants were easily satisfied... then what purpose do we have left? I guess you can't live only in the matrix; you'd need people or robots to maintain the machinery and network... and indeed the people themselves; fed intravenously? We'd still need to dispose of waste... we are still humans afterall.

mmmm....


fuck all that. I only want ONE thing out of the future, and then i can die happy.

pitbal5.jpg
 
We're at the peak of technological progress right now. Peak oil will cripple modern industrial societies within the next 10 years so enjoy it while it lasts!
 
Eh. The real world will always be better to live in... even if it's more painful.

I mean, I wouldn't mind playing with a virtual reality thing for a while -- but to live one's life in it?
 
I think technology will lead us to some interesting places. The problem with really looking into the future is we always use the present as a frame of reference, and a person from 1905 looking at how we live and work today would probably be very much horrified and find many things that are not only alien but repulsive.

So when futurists try to dream of the future world, they are bounded the their contemporary world as a frame of reference so, they either go the dystopian route and pull every crappy possibility they can find or the future becomes very utopian, with technologies that are acceptable to the current time period. The future will most likely be a mixture of advances we today agree with, and developments we find strange and even very objectionable.

Where technology will lead us in the future will probably be very much where it has led us to far. Assuming there's no nuclear war, I suspect in a hundred years, people will still be asking this same question. There won't be an end-game scenario for quite some time.

I'm more optimistic about the role of technology in the future than most, and I'm probably one of the few people here who firmly believes technology will be the solution to our energy problems.
 
If technology can jack me off and make me spooge my pants without any effort then I will be a happy man... My left arm is getting way to big. Mr. Righty cant keep up.

I will post pictures if needed.
 
About the far off future... it seems that in order to open the gates of heaven we must also open the gates of hell. Is it worth it? To bring forth pleasures and utopic societies the likes of which are beyond those which man can imagine at the cost of also unleashing unspeakable dystopias and unparalled agony, not to mention everything in between.

Power disparities could reach heights far beyond those seen throughout history. We would reach a point where some would simply be beyond any possible opposition, REAL slavery would be brought into this world for the first time(where an individuals thoughts, beliefs, memories, desires can be altered at will by another, and where due to things like simulated-vr-cages any form of resistance is impossible... absolute power of an individual or group over another individual or group). Only thing that could keep such is if vastly increasing intelligence of individuals, coalesces moral/ethical thoughts of all individuals towards something ideal. Seeing even some of the greatest human minds being strongly influenced by things like religion, doesn't give me much hope.

What's this I speak of? To give you an idea, two examples:

A form of utopia...
A society where individuals have become extremely passive, jealous emotions have been eradicated at their root, and everyone's made to love their neighbors(a group of individuals could easily all undergo such mod.s voluntarily and make their colony). Individuals are happy to share their partners with many(heck like religion or political parties they may even seek and get a thrill with such a thing.), bonobo-esque. Automated-systems keep the whole thing going, no human need work, classes have been abolished, there is no disease, no crime, no fighting. Everyone enjoys a paradisical existence, and use of advanced simulations allows for impossible or dangerous things to be experienced without worry.

And a form of dystopia....
A M.J. gone m@d decides it'd be nice to clone a few individuals and have them since birth trapped in a never-never land vr-world or kidnaps and traps a few kids in such.... If any police officer ever found his secret hiding place where he was carrying this out, he could simply change his memories and those of his victims, along with the program leaving no-trace. You could put any other scenario, say one of those obsessive wackos(obsessive boyfriends / girlfriends / pedos) outhere gets a hold of the person they're obsessed with... Able to trap them in a vr-sim world of their making, and able to modify their moods, beliefs, thoughts through advanced manipulations of the brain... put in agelessness and that could go on for a very very sick long time...

edited
 
Hmm.... that's a good read... and it might seem like in order to create enough computing power to generate this matrix, a technological singularity will have to be reached.

I guess in order for humans to not be crushed by the advance of the technology singularity, that they integrate and enchance themselves via the technology, both in genetic engineering and electrobiological computing upgrades/augmentations. Then they can matrix themselves and operate as thinking agents within the matrix...

but what becomes the ultimate goal in a post tech-singularity world? Entropy will ultimately end the universe... so I guess its goal would be to halt that entropy.

The mind boggles! yargh!
 
If history is any indication, porn will pioneer everything so I'll go with fully interactive porn with biofeedback suits.
 
Phoenix said:
If history is any indication, porn will pioneer everything so I'll go with fully interactive porn with biofeedback suits.
Gonna have to feel sorry about whoever has to clean up after said suits and/or sex bots.
 
I don't know if a matrix world is 20 years a way (I'd give it at least another century), but it does bring some interesting things to the table. There's the more obvious recreational applications for such a thing, but I think one of the biggest benefits of it would be in the treatment of terminally ill people. If doctors could slap a patient's consciousness into a matrix world where that person could enjoy themselves instead of suffering in their pain-addled bodies, that would be great. :)

As far as technology in 20 years from now, I expect that alternate fuel vehicles will be the norm (I've been a big proponent for electric cars for ages). I also see Internet access changing more and more by that time seeing as how common wireless technology is getting. Once companies start to really tap into all the dark fibre laying around accessibility is going to be nuts. I'd also very much like to see seemless web translation technology so that I can visit a German, Russian, Chinese web site, or from any other country, and have the content translated perfectly into my native language instantaneously.

I'd really like to add a revitalized space program to the list, but the current political climate towards space exploration has pretty much crushed by hopes that anything mind blowing will happen in that regards during my lifetime. :(
 
BTMash said:
Gonna have to feel sorry about whoever has to clean up after said suits and/or sex bots.

Why would you feel sorry for my sanitary reploid? That is what it is supposed to do when the replecant self cleaner is on the fritz.
 
HomerSimpson-Man said:
Our race is nothing but a bunch of horny freaks, aren't they?

Yes, we've been trying to fake like we are better than animals but we aren't and as long as sex is the primary motivator for humans our technolgy will continue to evolve around this path.
 
Tommie Hu$tle said:
Yes, we've been trying to fake like we are better than animals but we aren't and as long as sex is the primary motivator for humans our technolgy will continue to evolve around this path.

Spaeking of which, that girl in your icon looks hawt.
 
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