2015

[Deepwater6]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/31/world/lister-2015-predictions/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

I can remember thinking in late seventies and early eighties about what the human race would surely achieve by 2015. I was much younger and maybe a little too idealistic back then, but some of our issues and accomplishments just didn't get realized the way I'd hoped for.

 

Among my letdown list is space travel. We seem to have stood still for a few decades on this process. There has been a lot of progress with colliders and telescopes, but I thought for sure by this time human space travel would be much further along.

 

Another disappointment for our civilization is war. I had thought back then especially after the Berlin wall falling era, that by now we would have all but eliminated these senseless and horrendous acts. Of further discouragement is the killing, displacement, and suffering of children in these conflicts.

 

On the upside I think we have done fairly well with technology. Computers and cell phones have come a long way. 

 

This article from CNN makes some predictions for this coming year.

 

I'd like to know if anyone else feels we have fell short of our potential for the year 2015. I'd also be interested to hear anyone's predictions on where our civilization will be in 2025.
 

[Buffy]

"I was told there'd be flying cars. Where are the flying cars?"

 

 

Fusion energy. And my chem major friend in college kept talking about the conspiracy to keep battery technology secret to benefit the oil industry.

 

I fortunately went into computers and we've done pretty well, but AI is not much further along than Eliza.

 

And whoo-boy, the wars on science and Hanukkah have been scary: feels kinda like we're going backwards sometimes.

 

I have more, but it's NYE and me and the bf have to go out and imbibe and eat too much, so I'll save it for later...

 

 

The groundhog is like most other prophets; it delivers its prediction and then disappears, :phones:

Buffy

[Deepwater6]

Thanks for the comment Buffy, you made the right choice in computers that's for sure. Maybe it's for the best there are no flying cars, we haven't conquered road rage on the asphalt yet.
 
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/year-rules-laws-effect-2015/story?id=27932337&page=3

This article tells of some upcoming laws for 2015. Actions like these may be the reason I always think the next decade will brighter than the last for the human race. Maybe I'm inclined to think we will enact our way to a better world.

I still feel the future of our civilization will be closer to a world without war. Hopefully one day even become a member of the Federation of Planets instead of fighting amongst ourselves.

 

Those of you with headaches from the eve, remember the hair of the dog trick.

[pgrmdave]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/31/world/lister-2015-predictions/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

I can remember thinking in late seventies and early eighties about what the human race would surely achieve by 2015. I was much younger and maybe a little too idealistic back then, but some of our issues and accomplishments just didn't get realized the way I'd hoped for.

 

Among my letdown list is space travel. We seem to have stood still for a few decades on this process. There has been a lot of progress with colliders and telescopes, but I thought for sure by this time human space travel would be much further along.

 

Another disappointment for our civilization is war. I had thought back then especially after the Berlin wall falling era, that by now we would have all but eliminated these senseless and horrendous acts. Of further discouragement is the killing, displacement, and suffering of children in these conflicts.

 

On the upside I think we have done fairly well with technology. Computers and cell phones have come a long way. 

 

This article from CNN makes some predictions for this coming year.

 

I'd like to know if anyone else feels we have fell short of our potential for the year 2015. I'd also be interested to hear anyone's predictions on where our civilization will be in 2025.

Keep in mind that war (and violence in general) is *significantly* down from where it was in the 70's, and war is less deadly to both combatants and civilians. And with space travel, while we may not have ventured farther away from earth we have explored so much more of space and improved our technology for doing so. We landed a probe on a comet, which should be seen as nearly the same step as landing a person on the moon.

 

I'm not old enough to have made any predictions, but here's what I think will happen over the next 2-3 decades:

AI will improve vastly - not the sort that can talk to people and pass the Turing test, but things like IBM's Watson being used - as doctors, as computer-driven cars/trains/planes/ships, as logistics controllers and economic policy controllers. While the Fed may try to take actions based on data and predictions, a computer like Watson that had a direct link to every market, knew every bank's inter-bank lending rate, that could collate and understand all the facts would be much better at guiding the policies (to maximize employment and minimize inflation, though I'd like to add a third - to maximize median income).

 

LGBT rights will go from inevitable to assumed (at least legally) in the US, though there will still be problems socially much like racial minorities in the US still experience disproportionate strife.

 

In 2030-2040, video games' graphics will become as realistic as today's movies.

 

Video chat will become common, possibly with holographic technology? That's tougher, because it's hard to predict what the next big disruption will be, like smartphones were (I forget sometimes that the iPhone is only 7 years old, and andriod is only 6 years old - they've changed our daily lives to an astounding degree). Cell phones will bring much of the world the internet and phone technology in a way that wired phones never would, enabling rapid economic growth of those areas.

 

Bionic limbs (and by bionic I mean robotic arms/legs which respond directly to thought and have tactile feedback responses) will become widespread, and there will be big debates and arguments regarding their use in sports, eventually leading to Bionic Leagues.

 

3-D Printing on an industrial scale will revolutionize factories, enabling on-demand, cheap, to-specification production. A new paradigm of factories will emerge, where rather than having one (or a few) large central factories it will be cheaper to rent time from multiple distributed 3-D printing factories located in (or just outside of) cities around the US. This will allow same-day shipping to be economical, as warehousing the goods will no longer be necessary and the production will be close to the majority of customers. 3-D Home printing will be popular, but not revolutionary any more than 3-d paper printers revolutionize books and leaflets.