What do you want the future to hold? Share your wishes here

[admin]

Gene Rodenberry and the Star Trek gang should get a lot of credit for shaping our present day . In the 1960's when they envisioned hand-held communicators, computers you could talk to, automatic opening doors, and portrayed nobody wearing glasses they had no idea someone would actually go out and create cell phones, voice recognition software like voice dialing, supermarket sliding doors, contact lenses, and corrective eye surgery. I remember a fan newsletter back in the day decrying Star Trek as being totally unrealistic, posing the deadly question, "Why don't any of the crew wear glasses?". Today that seems like an utterly ridiculous question to pose, but it held credibility at the time. Just a few years ago I wished for a cell phone with a video camera, MP3 player, GPS, full keyboard, fast web browsing, and so on -- unthinkable at the time... and now I've got one.

Would cell phones have been created when they were if people hadn't seen the idea on Star Trek?

The things we wish for today, and openly describe those hoped-for technologies for all to see and ponder, could cause those wished-for critters to come into being. They may or may not anyway, but if it helps to describe it first, so that the right someone hears about it and tries to make it, so much the better.

Hence this forum: Tell us what you want the future to hold, and who knows, someone someday might run with it. Okay, that's farfetched, but post your Wishes for the Future just because it's fun to imagine a better world.

This seemed like a perfect dovetail with the overall mission of the NewNewForum.com, so voila, here it is as a forum thereon.

There are no real rules here -- tell us what you think would be cool to have that doesn't exist yet, or isn't available yet in the form or price you want. It could be something that could exist in a few months, years, decades, centuries, or maybe even never, but don't rein in your imagination. Let it run wild. There's no size limit: "World peace", "Teleportation", or "Faster than light warp drive" to medium-sized ideas like "Self-driving cars" down to "I wish google could display results most recently by date" or "I'd like to be able to add bookmark links in the bottom status bar of my Firefox browser."

Feel free to discuss the ideas, elaborate on them, share your thoughts on their possibility or impossibility (bearing in mind that things felt impossible often turn out not to be!), examine side effects -- if someone in the 1800s had wished for "safer lighting in the house" (e.g. an incandescent, electric bulb), could they have imagined electric wall sockets and everything we plug into them? -- so let your mind run wild here.

If nothing else, thinking about the future is fun and entertaining. So: Enjoy!

Dr. Andrew Burt
NewNewForum admin
Science Fiction writer
Dreamer about the future

[MommaMuse]

Well apparently my post didn't go through, so it's not here! LOL

I think it would be awesome as heck to have fully interactive movies. What I mean is to be able to sign up to participate via an Alternate Reality (AR) machine and play as characters in the Movie. Could you imagine being able to jump into the world of Avatar, or Star Wars, or X-Men? There would of course have to be regular actors, and a basic script would be necessary, and it would have to be an all-day sort of event so you could build your character and get to know the world/universe of the movie well enough to participate well.

If you're not a participatory sort, for a lower priced movie ticket, you could go to a theater and watch other people's adventures. Every show would be completely different! The better movies could/would be rebroadcast.

I imagine that the movies would have to be completely CG, but you could participate with people from around the world. Could you imagine being able to plug into a computer and live out any adventure or fan-dream you've ever had??? For the gamers our there, it would sort of be like a "sandbox" format. It's a little bit Matrix, a little bit RPG, a little bit wild!

Wouldn't that be freaking AWESOME!?!?!

[Sallgood]

Sorry, I was blathering like an idiot.

[Jadzia]

Personal shields to keep the rain off. They would shield a person from rain with enough diameter to protect their clothes but would automatically adjust to other people's shields and other objects on a crowded sidewalk so no bumping.

[gramajan]

Airborne transportation that doesn't use a stream of air: hover cars, cargo handlers (like fork lifts), personal package carriers--all able to coast along at least a small distance above the surface, without the noise and turbulence of a driven-air system. I have no idea how they would operate--magnetic levitation? Anti-gravity? The actual propulsion system could be mechanical (like a leash to tow your luggage) or involve air jets of some sort in the hover cars, but the carrier would rest on air like a balloon (or like a boat floating on air instead of water) so moving it wouldn't take much force. I actually used this in a book, so would love to see it become reality.

[LAWhite1975]

I know this sounds a bit silly, but to start, e-book libraries. Maybe not completely free, we writers still want to get paid, so the library would have to liscence the books, maybe something like netflicks or iTunes movie rentals except with books. Also, a food synthesizer, just like in Star Trek, not exactly original, I know, but I hate to cook. Cars that drive themselves wouldn't be half bad either...

[ktistec machine]

I understand the undertaking would be massive and their would be a host of legalities to work out but a truly 100% comprehensive online music library, that contained every known song ever recorded and released. I believe it would be best to set-up this library by country, as that would seem to be the easiest thing to do. This online music library could contain samples, and links to digital music retailers, local record stores, as well download links for the material that is currently out of print.

I think another interesting thing the future could easily have in store would be make your own movie kits, and this would simply contain all the elements one needs to make a movie. I envision a computer program that could create and render CGI for everything, and would contain music and a voice emulation package as well. I would imagine that different genre packages could be sold, i.e. film noir, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, romantic comedy, etc al. All of the various packages of course could be interchangeable. I truly think this is something that could easily be accomplished within the next ten years as all the technology is already there it has just not been put together in this exact manner.

Also in the same vein as making your own movie it would be super keen if as part of a movie's collector package it could contain all the raw elements, and you could piece them all together and make your own version of your favorite film. I envision a package that would contain all the known finished footage for a film, including all alternate takes, deleted scenes, soundtrack options, etc. and simply have a robust program that would allow you to edit it all together and finalize your ultimate version.

I am certain I will think of more things, but entertainment concepts seemed to be on my mind today. Namaste.

[maxbell]

Fusion power, a reaction-less drive, an effective plan for Mars so that the core can either be kick-started or the planet otherwise shielded from radiation so that it might be terraformed.

Then there's all the "world peace" junk; global literacy, family planning, a sustainable global economy and better protection for endangered species.

[Peloquin]

Okay, this is my wish for wishes for the future. It's actually from the last chapter of my story, The Virtual Resort. I hope it inspires, but so far, it's really made some people angry. I believe in it as a possibility for a hopeful future - albeit, a very, very, distant one...........

"Commander Tords finished with a wild story, "Larry, let me tell you what one of the Phaln elders told me once."


"Many theories for transferring a mind's conciousness (memories included) exist. That being said, it will probably happen.

We can do lots of things that prove it will eventually become possible. I won't list them. This is a theory. This isn't an arguement.

Time travel is impossible because we would have to travel faster than light to achieve it. Time "loops". I mention this now, but will save it for later.

Okay, let's say we can transfer a mind to a computer. This wouldn't be like any computer we know now, except at it's most basic fundamental structure - the multitude of switches. Information is stored in switches, in a binary language.

Now, let's get to the point, transferring minds to a computer would take a lot of technology we don't have yet. If it were to happen, we'd have our conciousness in a computer, but it wouldn't be us.

We would die when we die, but a copy of our mind, and it's way of thinking, would live on in a computer. It wouldn't be us, but a copy of our mind preserved - presumably, for eternity.

This "communal" mind would be pretty smart. It would have a slow build-up of more minds added to it. These conciousness's would be able to experience all the thoughts of all who were "inputed" into it.

It would be a miraculous being of one conciousness, eventually. It would be unified by mutual experience eventually, within the minds entered into it.

This great mind would exist, possibly longer than organic life. It would eventually figure some things out.

I believe it would find a way to travel back in time. Why would it do that? Well, that's the only way it can do or experience anything new after it had experienced everything in the entire universe.

This 'eternal' being would go back for, guess who - us! Think about it. It's made of us.

Imagine a series of treks to the past to gather all past living beings, and possibly any other intelligent beings previously transferred into it as 'copies' of their memories.

Time isn't percieved by the dead.

This would bring everyone to the same point in the great-distant future when they were ressurected.

You'd basically have to die to finish all of your potential experiences.

This would be the optimal state for your recovery, as you'd then have the most stories to tell that you could. To this "communal" mind, a story would be tantamount to currency.

Bam! You're there in the future, seen by a great mind that will determine if you'd be allowed 'in'. Of course, you could be in a body, but most likely it would be the energy patterns of your mind that could travel in time, as they are energy.

Energy is already at the speed of light.

There you are, seeing all of your loved ones, and hopefully passing their judgement. Who would want to grant Evil-doers eternity?

Maybe science and religion will meet here.

As organic life, we would probably have to do pretty well to come up with a computer complex enough to become this "super-mind". This computer would probably become something more than technology, it would be alive. It would become a hybrid of organic and inorganic life eventually. Organic technology (not organic conciousness) is higher in technology than inorganic technology right now. Eventually inorganic technology (computers) will become as advanced.

We would have to accomplish a great many things first, namely, survival. We would also have to continue to advance.

We can't do any of that, if we don't come together as societies that don't war. Therefore, we are required to be good to each other if we want to see this 'heaven'. We also have to advance, morally, culturally, and of course, scientifically.

We have to.

Now, think of what happens next. Now that everyone is here now, we will explore each other's minds, and be each other, and get a dance with every partner at the ball.

Once we did that, then we would be experiencing everything as a shared experience. This may take some time to get to, as we would be also exploring all alien species that evolved into sentience.

Quadrillions of years might feel a bit like an eternity, but I assure you it will go fast.

Then what? Well, we might just want to start over, the only way we could truly escape our own memories.

We might even create a universe. Time loops. Perhaps there are other races out there already 'joining' together. Maybe we will 'join'." Tords paused, then said, "Maybe the process has begun?"

I ran this through my head over and over. Was this a definitive answer? I didn't even ask the question. I really didn't want to know how the universe started, or how life was created. I really didn't mind knowing their answer, though. I was happy with the idea of flying cars, which I'm hoping to manufacture."


Rene L. Saucedo

[crit25615]

Hi Rene / Peloquin

(Like the Nightbreed name, by the way - always felt like he could have done so much more with Cabal... anyway -)

Is the brain a computer? Well... I don't think so. I know this is not the 'fashionable' opinion to have right now, but in my opinion the computer is just a calculating tool capable of crudely approximating some of the functions of the brain - the computer (crudely) resembles us - not the other way around.

We can store fingerprints and DNA and bloodtypes, so why can't we store personalities?

Because personalities are in a constant state of flux. I think to truly 'capture' a psyche would require a level of materials analysis we are no where near possessing right now. And you wouldn't have the whole story merely by knowing the relative position of every particle in the brain and nervous system - like when you're tracking a ship you need more than the position, you need the vector. You would need to know how the flow of that consciousness was going - where the chemicals were going next, where they had been, the whole ebb and flow of biochemical valencies in the brain... all of which would be a finite task, yes, but a very, very large one.

The rise of information tech has encouraged us to feel enormously proud and ambitious about computers, but in the end they're just tools. We can no more encapsulate the mind within one than Brunel could have ridden a steam engine to the moon.

Upon the advent of practical quantum computing, I would expect to have to revisit my conclusions.