The future of technology is all hype. Science and technology are grinding to a halt

[V-2]

What would anyone who knows about the Kármán line know about technology anyways?

I'm a bio-chem grad student.

That's got fuck all to do with the Kármán Line, but space science and exploration have been a personal interest and passion since I was a toddler. Unfortunately, astrophysics and the like isn't remotely as fun to study or do for a living as people would think. The math(s) skills are above average, but that's a bridge too far and its outrageously intensive.

 

[Bald1]

I'm a bio-chem grad student.

That's got fuck all to do with the Kármán Line, but space science and exploration have been a personal interest and passion since I was a toddler. Unfortunately, astrophysics and the like isn't remotely as fun to study or do for a living as people would think. The math(s) skills are above average, but that's a bridge too far and its outrageously intensive.

Hah. Between your username and location I thought you'd have your head in the clouds, so to speak. I'm a blue collar guy so most everything in this thread is way outside of my wheelhouse, but my insatiable curiosity has me remembering random things. Like Kármán.

 

[Ruprecht]

Oh, I don't know.
Moore's law may no longer hold true, but things aren't slowing down.
I remember a book I had as a kid called the Usborne book of the future, and in retrospect it was a mixed bag of things which now seem common place, the highly improbable and 70s artwork.

Spoiler

 

[Lord Commander Palis]

Anyone else feel this way? Think of all the greatest inventions in the world. Any of them in the past 2 decades?

Some inventions may have been improved in the past 2 decades, but very few are actually new concepts. We haven't really invented much new technology or had many scientific breakthroughs, but rather just iterated on existing concepts and made them better (which is great for our daily lives, but not for having flying cars by 2062). Think of all the shows/movies that predicted what we would have by the early 2000's and how far off they were.

The most impressive technological breakthroughs that have come from the past two decades has exclusively been hardware continuously getting smaller and faster and even that is going to quickly hit a limit, you can only make transistors so small (silicon's atomic size is 0.2 nm and we are already at 5 nm). So there's a definable limit to how good hardware can get.

Smartphones? Essentially just a small computer. Doesn't take a genius to say that someone might want to make a computer that would fit in their pocket, really it was only hardware improvements that made it possible, but again that is reaching it's limits.

You might say AI. The majority of AI concepts are from the 70's or older. AI is still very unsophisticated and only applicable to defined tasks. Just because it can simulate some human behaviour (speech being the main one), doesn't mean we are anywhere near any kind of singularity. Anyone who hypes up the singularity is spreading misinformation. I have both studied and worked in AI and I can tell you it will probably not happen, ever.

The only thing with real potential (but a lot of drawbacks as well) is quantum computing, but that isn't a new concept this side of the millenium.

We are running out of ways to leverage science to create new technologies. I believe in 60 years we will not experience anywhere near the same technological shock and awe that our grandparents experienced. It is especially disheartening considering the ability to communicate and share knowledge on the Internet has greatly improved, yet I have not seen the expected returns.

Lold good when I saw @luckyshot aka cuckyshot liked this terrible post.

What ridiculousness.

 

[VivaRevolution]

The premise of this thread appears to be that hypothetical ideas that are becoming reality doesn't count as new technology.

 

[V-2]

Hah. Between your username and location I thought you'd have your head in the clouds, so to speak. I'm a blue collar guy so most everything in this thread is way outside of my wheelhouse, but my insatiable curiosity has me remembering random things. Like Kármán.

An even bigger hint would be the custom title AT/GC with each letter being short hand representative for the nitrogenous bases composing the nucleotides that are the backbone of DNA. The Kármán Line bit is more in reference to my user handle which was the first man-made object to cross the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space. And of course, the man himself was the first director of the Caltech-managed JPL NASA field center that has gone on to utterly dominate robotic and interplanetary space exploration.

I don't hold any kind of elitist attitude about it, my family comes from blue collar and I'm US Midwest (Dakota) farm boy stock. I don't forget where I come from and love my people, wouldn't ever look down on them although I wish more laymen in general would take greater interest into the natural sciences and their technological applications. That kind of knowledge is empowering and consequential on so many levels.

 

[12ga.]

So so wrong. AI will be like humans in 10 years and they will be able to re grow limbs in 20.

I;m old and seen luddite predictions many times over 4 decades all proved wrong

 

[PoundForPound]

As a full time PhD student in biomedical
Engineering and partime nerd I can safely say that you are ignorant and need to educate yourself in many fields beyond what you see on YouTube.

Try google scholar for topics such as:

Genetic engineering
Nervous system interfacing
Wearable biosensors
Medical Device engineering
Material science
Neuroscience
Drug delivery
Electro ceuticals
Machine learning
Robotics

You will see that we are far from slowing down given the fact that we are far from reaching the end of these fields.

 

[HunterAcosta]

Fuck that. I wanna be beamed places instantaneously. Shit, that tech is as old as me. Where's this trickle-down shit when you need it?

I’d be worried about my atoms mixing with fly atoms and I’d end up like Jeff Goldblum im The Fly.

 

[no fat chicks]

your wrong ts the future is even more futuristic than many scientists have predicted

 

[computer fogie]

Sometimes things just don't advance as fast as predicted. When I was a kid (1960's), they were saying that in 2018 we would have underwater cities, flying cars, and people living on the moon.

 

[Crash Lance]

I disagree completely.

In only the past 5-10 years, I have personally seen many advances in science, technology, medicine, and many other areas.

 

[Bloodworth]

America was in a rapid time of invention up until around the year 2,000

Then instead of striving for the best. We became a country of the minimum is enough and feel the need to cater to every simpleton.

It's a sad time,

 

[luckyshot]

Lold good when I saw @luckyshot aka cuckyshot liked this terrible post.

What ridiculousness.

I like posts that offer a fresh perspective and make me think— not necessarily ones that I agree with.

The OP made me think (something no post of yours has ever made anyone do).

 

[genecop]

Probably a fair amount of exaggeration regarding the pace of progress, but make no mistake...change is coming, and it’s gonna be strange around here..

 

[JonnyRingo84]

Anyone else feel this way? Think of all the greatest inventions in the world. Any of them in the past 2 decades?

Some inventions may have been improved in the past 2 decades, but very few are actually new concepts. We haven't really invented much new technology or had many scientific breakthroughs, but rather just iterated on existing concepts and made them better (which is great for our daily lives, but not for having flying cars by 2062). Think of all the shows/movies that predicted what we would have by the early 2000's and how far off they were.

The most impressive technological breakthroughs that have come from the past two decades has exclusively been hardware continuously getting smaller and faster and even that is going to quickly hit a limit, you can only make transistors so small (silicon's atomic size is 0.2 nm and we are already at 5 nm). So there's a definable limit to how good hardware can get.

Smartphones? Essentially just a small computer. Doesn't take a genius to say that someone might want to make a computer that would fit in their pocket, really it was only hardware improvements that made it possible, but again that is reaching it's limits.

You might say AI. The majority of AI concepts are from the 70's or older. AI is still very unsophisticated and only applicable to defined tasks. Just because it can simulate some human behaviour (speech being the main one), doesn't mean we are anywhere near any kind of singularity. Anyone who hypes up the singularity is spreading misinformation. I have both studied and worked in AI and I can tell you it will probably not happen, ever.

The only thing with real potential (but a lot of drawbacks as well) is quantum computing, but that isn't a new concept this side of the millenium.

We are running out of ways to leverage science to create new technologies. I believe in 60 years we will not experience anywhere near the same technological shock and awe that our grandparents experienced. It is especially disheartening considering the ability to communicate and share knowledge on the Internet has greatly improved, yet I have not seen the expected returns.

mnahhh.

3d printing? CRISPR? that shit is straight from the movies. and are you really basing your claims in large part, on how hollywood "predicted" this time period would be?

 

[VivaRevolution]

Sometimes things just don't advance as fast as predicted. When I was a kid (1960's), they were saying that in 2018 we would have underwater cities, flying cars, and people living on the moon.

In fairness we probably could build those things, unfortunately all available funds seem to be going to laser guided missiles, stealth jets, and missile shields.

 

[Gunny]

Anyone else feel this way? Think of all the greatest inventions in the world. Any of them in the past 2 decades?

Some inventions may have been improved in the past 2 decades, but very few are actually new concepts. We haven't really invented much new technology or had many scientific breakthroughs, but rather just iterated on existing concepts and made them better (which is great for our daily lives, but not for having flying cars by 2062). Think of all the shows/movies that predicted what we would have by the early 2000's and how far off they were.

The most impressive technological breakthroughs that have come from the past two decades has exclusively been hardware continuously getting smaller and faster and even that is going to quickly hit a limit, you can only make transistors so small (silicon's atomic size is 0.2 nm and we are already at 5 nm). So there's a definable limit to how good hardware can get.

Smartphones? Essentially just a small computer. Doesn't take a genius to say that someone might want to make a computer that would fit in their pocket, really it was only hardware improvements that made it possible, but again that is reaching it's limits.

You might say AI. The majority of AI concepts are from the 70's or older. AI is still very unsophisticated and only applicable to defined tasks. Just because it can simulate some human behaviour (speech being the main one), doesn't mean we are anywhere near any kind of singularity. Anyone who hypes up the singularity is spreading misinformation. I have both studied and worked in AI and I can tell you it will probably not happen, ever.

The only thing with real potential (but a lot of drawbacks as well) is quantum computing, but that isn't a new concept this side of the millenium.

We are running out of ways to leverage science to create new technologies. I believe in 60 years we will not experience anywhere near the same technological shock and awe that our grandparents experienced. It is especially disheartening considering the ability to communicate and share knowledge on the Internet has greatly improved, yet I have not seen the expected returns.

I think you maybe right but don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing. For the past two decades tech has progressed at a rate that’s too fast for society to adapt. Has resulted in a lot of economic displacement and other complications. It would be bad if our social structures were given a chance to catch up.

 

[Trotsky]

When I saw the thread title, I was really expecting a source, study, or something other than observational humor

 

[Trotsky]

Cool, I'm only a few years older and thought we'd have flying cars by now.

Remember watching reruns of the original star trek series? Knobs, buttons and levers controling the ship. Communicators were magic! Then TNG came out and... touchscreens! Now that stuff is so oldschool. Ask your parents to compare the old country as it was when they were growing up and what they would have thought of instant, planet wide communication where a person speaking a foreign language is instantly translated into your earbuds. Pure fucking magic my man!


Edit for the non geeks amongst us - I was referencing the universal translator with the earbud bit.

As a bald man, you probably share my complete confusion as to how a cure for baldness has not been discovered yet.

Medicine had grown tremendously in the past 50 years.