What do you see happening in this century techno-wise

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I know this is not a complete "apple" topic, but you guys are pretty dialed in, intelligent and savvy about what's to come from computers & tech in general...



What I want to know is what you see for the future of all man kind when it comes to technology.



My born again Christian friend, who engages in technology in general (who doesn't, right?) learns in her bible study/church/christian book/movie obsession etc that in the future, all humans will have chips...be able to walk in and out of stores and just be billed for the items we walk out with. Like self-check out. She says that those that get these chips will have the "mark of the beast" DEVIL's #s and when the end of times comes, they will all go to hell if they don't accept Jesus first.



Don't Laugh! I don't believe her & I certainly will NOT put a chip in my body (barely take aspirin when I need it), but I can totally see the future of us all being walking social security numbers...no longer needing a "check out" and the SuperM...just bagging our own items, walking out and getting charged. Our purchasing habits will be fully traced, along with all our personal info/DNA...and of course all the predisposed illness/diseases will all be determined...how will folks find health insurance LOL...even with this new "privacy act" --- as we all know, for the right price, our privacy can and will be exposed.



How do you think technology will be used to pursue immoral ventures?



How do you think we will benefit 10-100 years from now with various advances?



Will we have to pay each email we send? Will it all be regulated by the gov? Will the gov know every web site we visit? Will spam be out of control?



What will computers have the capacity to do for us IN OUR HOME? Will we be able to control our entire household functions from a laptop/desktop--and all at what cost? *I know the infinitely rich already have this set up.



What have you heard? Are you worried/paranoid?



Looking forward to your answers! I canceled my WIRED magazine b/c it was giving me a headache. Maybe I need to resubscribe



Jessica
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    wolfeye155wolfeye155 Posts: 425member
    Quote:

    My born again Christian friend, who engages in technology in general (who doesn't, right?) learns in her bible study/church/christian book/movie obsession etc that in the future, all humans will have chips...be able to walk in and out of stores and just be billed for the items we walk out with. Like self-check out. She says that those that get these chips will have the "mark of the beast" DEVIL's #s and when the end of times comes, they will all go to hell if they don't accept Jesus first.



    Aghh!!! I can't stand these people!



    I'm terribly sorry. It's just really aggrivating when people who have no idea what they're talking about (the future) and then saying all the people in said group are going to hell!! I know many religious fanatics, whether in my own family or friends, and some of the things that come out of their mouths are annoying beyond belief. I also hate it when people try and push their religious beliefs on me and anyone else. They think that THEIR way is the RIGHT way and everyone else is damned. Some people are so extremely biased, arrogant, and ignorant that it just drives me crazy. Anyway I'm done ranting and I'm sorry if I offended anyone.



    P.S. I don't know what's going to happen in the future. I'm not going to think about it because it makes my head hurt.
  • Reply 2 of 34
    chic4macchic4mac Posts: 99member
    wolf, I completely agree. My friend is so brainwashed. I have my own opinions about these types of Christians that subscribe to this kindergarten religion that has all the answers and then DUMP it in everyone's lap...so invasive. My friend was searching HARDCORE and she dove in so fast to this subscription, she wanted to suck me in too. No dice. Long story...but I dislike these people too. I had to learn tolerance...I guess I just feel that the bible, and all it's teaching about how we are too be on this "fallen earth" is INNATE... not something I need to study or brush up on. I am a GOOD PERSON...and that came from not reading a LICK of the bible.



    I am all for someone finding what they were searching for...but to each his own. Nobody likes the pressure, and in fact it only pushed me away from wanting to learn about her faith.



    She promised me that if I attended the Billy Grahm event in San Diego---and didn't accept Jesus...that she would NEVER bring up Jesus to me again. I can't wait. I am going purely for the sociological perspective. Our friendship has history, so I am not about to dump her for her persistant bible thumping...yet
  • Reply 3 of 34
    bigcbigc Posts: 1,224member
    This is Future what.....
  • Reply 4 of 34
    wolfeye155wolfeye155 Posts: 425member
    I guess the Bible does help a lot of people, but I am on the same page as you.



    On the flipside, my dad works for a Catholic school and has been there for 30 years. The group of priests from that area just decided to fire him because they didn't want to continue paying him less than what they promised and what he deserves. It's all politics. And I know for a fact that some of the higher ups in Catholicism are NOT good people at all and DO NOT practice what they preach. My dad got completey screwed by these "religious" people and I just feel sorry that he was used.
  • Reply 5 of 34
    telomartelomar Posts: 1,804member
    If a religious person does something wrong just remember it isn't the fault of the religion but of the person. People unfortunately corrupt easily it's an unfortunate fact of life.



    Now on topic I'd be somewhat surprised if they implanted everybody with microchips but certainly a lot of what your friend suggests is in fact already being trialed or possible.



    Links between the brain or nervous system and a microchip have been achieved and certainly it'll be something for the future but I couldn't see it being compulsory.



    Self checkouts could be done with current technology, although you'd need to pay, but the closest I've seen so far is you scan the items yourself as you get them. At the end you just have it pre tallied and just pay. The idea is to reduce waiting times but I'm not sure how those trials went.



    Strictly speaking if you don't accept Jesus before you die you're going to hell anyway so a microchip isn't going to make a difference. I'd see implanted microchips as just another tool though. It's really no worse than carrying around a hammer in my eyes. I certainly don't know the scriptures well enough to be trusted though. When I get a chance I might ask one of my friends who would have a better idea based on the bible itself.



    Quote:

    Our purchasing habits will be fully traced, along with all our personal info/DNA...and of course all the predisposed illness/diseases will all be determined...how will folks find health insurance LOL...even with this new "privacy act" --- as we all know, for the right price, our privacy can and will be exposed.



    All of that is basically doable right now. Several countries have centralised medical databases now (not accessible to insurance of course). Credit records are very easily accessed at certain levels and getting someone's DNA isn't too hard.



    Several public areas have been trailing technologies for face recognition and biometric scanners are becoming cheap enough I'd really expect they'll become commonplace security features over the next 10 years or so.



    It's just a matter of who has the access currently but if the government or law enforcement has a desire to find someone it really isn't that hard if they live a traditional life.



    Big steps will hopefully be made in the area of power generation but basically as computers increase in power and modeling becomes easier to accomplish far more becomes possible.
  • Reply 6 of 34
    thereubsterthereubster Posts: 402member
    In a vain effort to pull this thread back to topic, I see the computer disappearing altogether as a "stand-alone" box in the home at least, along with the concept of operating system, and monitors. I think we will have flat panel displays anywhere we want with access to any info we require. Email and even typing will vanish as other real-time communication methods appear and get cheaper. I also think the concept of "mediums" eg. TV, radio, DVD, cable, Movies, internet (as a separate thing that you "get on") will all merge together, how I'm not sure, but I do see Apple having a good lead in how this might happen. I think we will always have "boxes", eg a stand-alone computer for pro's to use for a specific purpose, such as digital audio and video, film, etc. As networking bandwidth increases (10 Gbit, 100Gbit, Terabit ethernet...?) the idea of server and client will also disappear, replace by a full "fabric" of processors, kind of like Hypertransport but over any distance. Thats just my guess on the future of PC's. The thing I want to see more that anything else is the end of the internal combustion engine (and the oil industry), THAT technology cant be replaced fast enough for my liking but I digress...
  • Reply 7 of 34
    aquafireaquafire Posts: 2,758member
    Dear Walt Disney for my Tommorow land of promises of things to come I want to have..

    ( A ) A Digital mirror that lies to me and tells me how good lookin I am....

    ( B ) A Car that takes me home safely no matter how pissed I am...

    ( C ) An electric cattleprod to speed up those irritating fat cows who talk instead of serving queing customers....Actually I think something like that exists.

    ( D ) A computer that lets me cheat at chess.

    ( E ) a Starwars film that is set in the future ( a postqueal )

    & not some prequeal crapparoni.....

    ( F ) And Finally,

    A machine that will let me come back into time to visit myself just before I post this really pissweak reply & persuades me to delete it before everyone thinks I'm a total .....Trekkie...Argh Oh MY GOD..too late !!!! I'm in a time loop



  • Reply 8 of 34
    mackiemackie Posts: 13member
    Your Christian friend might not be as insane as you think.... There is some pretty interesting stories out there....



    Wired



    Fox News



    Washington Post



    Bible



    Starting to sound eirely similar don't you think?
  • Reply 9 of 34
    synpsynp Posts: 248member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Thereubster

    Email and even typing will vanish as other real-time communication methods appear and get cheaper.



    The phone is a real-time communication method that's been around and cheap for over 100 years. email is used instead of the phone precisely for the advangates that you get by using a non-realtime communications. You can think longer and organize what your message better than when you're talking. You also conveniently have a record of all mail you sent and received, which is doable on the phone, but inconvenient.



    I don't see the non-realtime communications disappearing. Some may use dictation, or send a recording instead of typing. Heck, in 100 years we may have telepathic dictation. But email is not going away.
  • Reply 10 of 34
    overhopeoverhope Posts: 1,123member
    Predicting the future is a surefire way to make yourself look like an idiot.



    And, for my money, this really should be in GD...
  • Reply 11 of 34
    silvergunsilvergun Posts: 62member
    The future hey...well sony will unveil the playstation 4 behind closed doors and will turn out to be a mother of all graphics workstations and claim it can make people see into the future then release a hideously underpowered console months later with bad anti aliasing problems.

    EA will take over the games industry with shoddy monthly installments of their titles. Tomb raider 14 will come out with a new graphics engine that can finally give lara croft facial expressions resulting in a billion sales in a week of its release.



    All computer companies will merge together calling themselves cyberdyne systems and make a super artificial intelligence risc processor that they decide to put in a evil robot with a bad austrian accent and shit acting abilities.



    A sequel to the last final fantasy will be released which will basically be the same game as the last but with a slightly different title screen.



    Radiant silvergun will sell for £6 billion on ebay and george bush will have himself frozen after death so future technology that enables to make him look intelligent can be surgically injected into his brain.



    People realise that religion is just an ancient evil cult brainwashing them to waste a day in a place of worship when they could be out playing golf and being harassed at home by jehovas witnesses...resulting in a severe backlash..cities tumble, people go on the rampage and the government invent a super crime fighting machine and name him Robocop.
  • Reply 12 of 34
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    In the World of the Future....
    • Flying cars.

    • Squeezable bacon.

    • First cyberchip implant occurs accidentally when a 7-11 store clerk's body piercings reach critical mass, joining together to form an intelligent bio-electronic circuit. She is suddenly able to send an receive e-mail just by thinking about it, and stops saying "like" every other word.

    • Talk radio programs decline in popularity with the rise of "reality" radio.

    • Holographic pop-up adds using amazing in-your-face 3-D technology.

    • Shiny metallic clothing with mysteriously floating rings and hoops around the sleeves and collars.

    • Leading health experts agree that high levels of carbohydrates are bad for you (2008), good for you (2015), bad for you (2021)...

    • A stable, democratic Iraq replaces Japan as the world leader in cute/annoying collectible toy characters with cartoon and video game marketing tie-ins.

    • In a sudden escalation of the status symbol wars, two-lane-wide SUVs are introduced.

    • Delivering on earlier claims of the sensual appeal of the Aqua interface, Apple replaces point-and-click interface with lick-and-suck.

  • Reply 13 of 34
    programmerprogrammer Posts: 3,457member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Overhope

    Predicting the future is a surefire way to make yourself look like an idiot.



    Unless you're good at it.
  • Reply 14 of 34
    billybobskybillybobsky Posts: 1,914member
    um,



    i predict that humans will be bombed or self destruct back to the stone age or whatever age came before that



    thank you

    any other predictions?
  • Reply 15 of 34
    actually the most CORRECT translation (from the Hebrew) of the verse mackie quoted from the bible is as follows: (simplified for your enjoyment)



    "he compels all people, both small and great, both the rich and the poor, both free and slave, to be stamped (or marked in older hebrew) with an inscription on their right hands or on their foreheads"



    It is obvioulsy written to mean a mark/tattoo/branding, not under the skin. and it is ON thier hand or forehead, not IN, there is no way to translate the hebrew words to IN.



    Damn, sorry I didn't want to start/add flame to a whole discussion, just pointing out that you shouldn't believe what you hear or read on the internet LOL (or in old books for that matter)



    Caio!
  • Reply 16 of 34
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    First, if I take one look back to the way things were in 1900, I have no confidence in my ability to predict the future.



    I'll post more on this later, because it's an interesting topic, but it belongs in General Discussion, so I'll move it there.
  • Reply 17 of 34
    thegeldingthegelding Posts: 3,230member
    9 out of 10 doctors will work exclusively in the joint field of penis enlargement/male pattern baldness field....by the year 2097 every male in the world will be this hair covered, huge membered demi-man...as a matter of fact, the penial enlargement wars (as they will be called) will see such huge (pun intended) advances that most men will wear no clothing except platform shoes to keep their units from painfully dragging along the ground....in turn this leads to a massive (more puns) reduction in childbirth due to the fact that: a) many women turn lesbian and b) most men can not sustain an erection long enough to achieve climax as most pass out first from lack of blood to other vital organs (like the brain) when their "johnny long fellow" is engorged...





    not a pretty picture of the future.....





    g
  • Reply 18 of 34
    chic4macchic4mac Posts: 99member
    Such amazing input from you folks. I did read mackie's info, but had already tuned into the WIRED article--subsribed to that for ages.



    And yes, I stand corrected about the HEBREWS, it speaks of branding BUT...it could easily be interpreted otherwise, as the bible often is.



    I am all for flying cars, super computers that work as TVs, Radios, Alarm clocks (they already can do all that if you spend the $)



    Self check outs...but no imbedded microchips are going into me...unless they do it while I am sleeping.





    keep the posts coming.
  • Reply 19 of 34
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    in the future, i think boxes like computers and televisions will not be common anymore. i think holograph projectors will be more common, and they will be available throughout a person's house and all along the streets. you could watch teevee, while simultaneously walking around your living room, and have the image follow your vision. also, scientists will discover a cure for one of the worst virii to hit mank-ind since our conception: urination. no longer will people be forced to piss through all the great commercials, because "sci"entists will fix that problem.



    also, pr0n will be revolutionized atleast 2 more times. interactive pr0n will be discovered so that the youngins can learn all about the itty bits before they graduate to life. due to increased pr0n-itude, men and boys will become happier.



    -



    or, the matrix will take over.
  • Reply 20 of 34
    thegeldingthegelding Posts: 3,230member
    Quote:

    also, pr0n will be revolutionized atleast 2 more times.



    yeah, like the holodecks on star trek...you always see them sailing on ships or horseback riding or acting out a pulp fiction crime story or talking to some great historical figure....but do you know what holodeck technology would be used for 99% of the time?? to do two chicks at once...or to be dominatixed by a naked klingon woman....hell, you ever wonder why there aren't kids all over the ship or why people aren't fighting over the same female officer on the ship?? it's because any yahoo on the ship can dial up britany spears and halle berry along with a swing, a catchers mitt and 18 gallons of butterscotch fudge....and even have wee man from jackass hopping and clapping in the corner singing the ompa lumpa song while throwing mini-marshmallows at everyone's butterscotch sticky butts if that is what keeps the perv happy....what a glorious future....





    g



    (this post lovingly dedicated to the memory of starfleetX, god bless his soul, wherever he may be)
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