The Future

[Little Asterisk 1]

A little note before you start reading:
I decided to kind of "chapterize" (yes, that is my word for adding chapters to a post) this post, so you can easily see what I'm yabbing on about here.
Also, all of the pictures I've found don't have much to do with the text right next to them, but rather connect to the entire vision of the future.

After searching for this term on the forums, I haven't had much of luck finding the exact topic that interests me. And I don't want to talk only about cars (flying, or not), but about the entire lifestyle that we'll develop by then. It was a big change for the people during the industrial revolution, but how will we react?

After all, will the world (as we know it, at least) end in 2012? I like to think not, but no one really knows.

But let's not think about the possible bad sides of our future lives; why not concentrate on the good stuff that might happen? Everyone, including big companies like Microsoft (In this short video, you can see all about it), are thinking about what might happen in the years to come. They're often even made fun of (A parody on the same video from above) because, let's face it; some of these do make unrealistic and absurd points of what might happen.

Traffic
That means we obviously must think what can be improved and built upon. For instance, traffic signalization. I know what you're all thinking; I've gone mad. Really, traffic signalization?! But yes, if you look at it. As the world population becomes bigger, we are all in hurry sometimes to get to another place, and we can't afford to waste any more time. And better control over traffic is a must.

Why doesn't every parking lot have a signal in front of it so we can instantly know if it's full? That's one that we could try to achieve. Also, while thinking about traffic, we should really do something about cars in terms of pollution. Sure, everyone tries to push this "electric car thing", but the guys who sell oil aren't really going to surrender just that easy. So we should all try to do something in order to help the Earth.

In my opinion, "flying cars" aren't going to and shouldn't exist until we solve this rudimentary problem.

Design (or, how is everything going to look like)
You might think it's absurd I am talking about design in a topic that should concentrate on the future, but that's not actually the case here. Have you not noticed how much design and beauty affect us every day? Why do you think (well, at least some people I know) some buy Apple iPhones and MacBooks?
Sure, they're great and all but let's face it; many other products out there do the same even better, but don't look as good (http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/) and that's why people buy the other choice.

But I'm diverting from the topic...

There is this scary (at least to me) vision of a future hotel running around the interwebs nowadays, about which you can read more on "Avoid contact with eyes" blog (http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/). I don't know what do you think about that, but I am terrified that we might be living in these plain white rooms ("Like Steve Jobs got a colonoscopy" ) for more than a week or so.

As the guy from the blog stated, "I'd be checking the bed for aliens constantly". As a hotel concept, however, it's a pretty cool idea. If it gained some color and "home-sweet-home feel" to it, I'd sure as hell like to live there.

Robots?

Don't laugh at me for saying that, but I think robots will be a regular visitor in our houses very soon. Well, not the kind of robots you'd expect (walking and talking and all), but small things that'll make our lives easier. For instance, a cleaner that exists even today.

I think these types of robots will be improved upon and that they'll do very much good to our own well-being.

But I also, at the same time, hate the idea of building ethics and stuff into them. What if they realise they're... *Different*. Not only will we have depressed robots, but they'll also want to get paid and such, and they maybe start a war against humans once they realise we're treating them like crap.

Did you know a military robot has recently killed eleven (I believe) people, when he got out of control during a simple test in a military base? I'm scared of what might happen if there was no one to stop him (well - it's technically *it*).

Day-to-day living
Finally, how is all of that going to affect our "normal" day-to-day lives? Will we become lazier and fatter than ever, because we won't have to move almost at all? Even now, we see what obesity does to people, but what's going to happen then; if we will have even less physical tasks to accomplish?
 

And; what if we invent a drug to extend life, a "life elixir", as many have called it during the years? What, we are going to live 500 and more years, and the Earth will become overcrowded?

Will we then continue on to the Moon and other planets of our solar system (well, the Moon is not actually a planet)? We have been known to adjust many places to our liking (just remember the air condition ), so are we going to do the same with the Moon? When will we make contact with possible other species?

I know I am not providing any answers here, but that's because I've got almost no idea of what might happen. After all, what if the world as we know it DOES end in 2012? Why, we don't have that much time to accomplish all of our ideas about "future living".

And I apologise for the bit longer posting, but I've been feeling especially creative after reading some articles on what people imagine the future life will look like.
 

• 
  
• A couple of useful links (some are from the article):
  

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/- Avoid contact with eyes, where the article about the "hotel of the future" is.
http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/- An interesting blog, follows some trends and isn't 100% related to the future, but still has some interesting points.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/111042/article.html- PC World spend a night in "the hotel of the future"
http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/- Wikipedia article on the future
So, what do you think? Am I an idiot or not? Are my points valid? Is the article too long? And don't say yes to numbers one, two, and four.

P.S. (Not related to this text): How can you simulate the effect of "float: left" or "float: right" on these forums? In other words, I want for the text to "sit" right next to images. Is that possible to do?

Edited November 27, 2016 by OpaQue (see edit history)

[DodgyPhil 1]

And; what if we invent a drug to extend life, a "life elixir", as many have called it during the years? What, we are going to live 500 and more years, and the Earth will become overcrowded?

I know it's a risky point to raise, but there is a reason for it: I feel we are allowing too many people to live. I don't want to get too downbeat, and I promise my other points will be far more entertaining but...Every year the west pumps millions of pounds worth of aid into Africa, and each year the populations of Third World countries grow and the extent of problems like famine and war become worse. Of course African women are going to try and birth as many children as possible when the rates of infant mortality are as much as 80% in some areas. These African families also need to birth strong children who'll be able to look after them in the future as most African governments do little to disperse aid or set up any form of public well fare system.
And yet we in the west are convinced the main problems in the Third World are things like famine and disease. Most of these problems arise from over population and the fact that the governments simply don't care.
In the future I would like to see less emphasis placed on 'Preserving lives' and more on improving them. It's not worth saving thousands of starving Ethiopians if we're only extending their unimaginable suffering for about 5 years. The situation in Africa will go two ways- either more reasonable leaders will be elected (which unfortunately failed to happen in Zimbabwe) and Western aid will be dispersed more intelligently, or we'll continue to ignore the roots of the problem just so a few aging rock stars can get their rocks off to the thought "I'm saving lives". Thanks Bob Geldof, statistically your aid has killed more people than its saved.

but I am terrified that we might be living in these plain white rooms

I'm a huge fan of Swedish design. Some people call it sterile, but it's never ugly. It's weird, in the 60s all these manic Architects created horrific buildings like this. Most of the modern tower blocks being built in London actually look quite good. Minimal is probably the cheapest way to make a good looking building, so I hope there's more to come!

But I also, at the same time, hate the idea of building ethics and stuff into them. What if they realise they're... *Different*. Not only will we have depressed robots, but they'll also want to get paid and such, and they maybe start a war against humans once they realise we're treating them like crap.

Ha, nice idea. There are quite a few conspiracy theorists and loons who keep going on about how Robots are going to destroy us because we're "inferior". I'd seriously like to hear Apple's defence case for creating any kind of household appliance with the ability to kill people! At the moment it would take about a square mile of Supercomputers to store all the possible functions of the human brain, so it's a long way off until we can build it into robots.

[Little Asterisk 1]

I know it's a risky point to raise, but there is a reason for it: I feel we are allowing too many people to live. I don't want to get too downbeat, and I promise my other points will be far more entertaining but...

Every year the west pumps millions of pounds worth of aid into Africa, and each year the populations of Third World countries grow and the extent of problems like famine and war become worse. Of course African women are going to try and birth as many children as possible when the rates of infant mortality are as much as 80% in some areas. These African families also need to birth strong children who'll be able to look after them in the future as most African governments do little to disperse aid or set up any form of public well fare system.

And yet we in the west are convinced the main problems in the Third World are things like famine and disease. Most of these problems arise from over population and the fact that the governments simply don't care.

In the future I would like to see less emphasis placed on 'Preserving lives' and more on improving them. It's not worth saving thousands of starving Ethiopians if we're only extending their unimaginable suffering for about 5 years. The situation in Africa will go two ways- either more reasonable leaders will be elected (which unfortunately failed to happen in Zimbabwe) and Western aid will be dispersed more intelligently, or we'll continue to ignore the roots of the problem just so a few aging rock stars can get their rocks off to the thought "I'm saving lives". Thanks Bob Geldof, statistically your aid has killed more people than its saved.

 

You are totally right. That's why I question the practical use of a sort of a "life elixir".

Soon enough, Bono Vox and U2 will be holding concerts to save countries in big debt; just think about it:

 

"Help the Greeks! It's not their fault! Help, we need... um, 288 302 000 US dollars more!"

 

I'm a huge fan of Swedish design. Some people call it sterile, but it's never ugly. It's weird, in the 60s all these manic Architects created horrific buildings like this. Most of the modern tower blocks being built in London actually look quite good. Minimal is probably the cheapest way to make a good looking building, so I hope there's more to come!

 

As I said (well, as I read on the blog): Like our old pal Steve Jobs there got a colonoscopy.

Minimal is nice, but I personally agree with the Avoid contact with eyes blog, where the guy says he would be checking under his bed for aliens all the time.

However, as a short-time hotel vacation it's perfect.

 

Ha, nice idea. There are quite a few conspiracy theorists and loons who keep going on about how Robots are going to destroy us because we're "inferior". I'd seriously like to hear Apple's defence case for creating any kind of household appliance with the ability to kill people!

At the moment it would take about a square mile of Supercomputers to store all the possible functions of the human brain, so it's a long way off until we can build it into robots.

 

Yeah, this is really a topic to debate about. I'm kind of on the line, since I tend to always leave some room for various theories to be true.

 

Then again, when we start producing robots like these chances are both of us will probably be long dead.

 

P.S. A robot getting close to the final "ultimate" goal might be IBM's computer, which will (or already did, I don't know) compete in the TV show jeopardy (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/).

Edited July 19, 2010 by Little Asterisk (see edit history)

[zanzibarjones 1]

I think we have reached a point of saturation when it comes to ideas, design and innovation. I don't believe that the future can change much physically other than the world becoming more populated. The reason for this is the internet. We have reached a point of solidarity in knowledge, maybe not in culture and lifestyle, but in sharing information, it's happened.The future for us will only change drastically if and when we as a race decide to either progress as a race of humans instead of a race of individuals.Our only plausible future sanctification is progressing into space and colonizing other planets. Reliving Earth of is drain on natural resources and over population.Robots- I love the idea of artificial intelligence and help meets (so to speak), but we are a long way from making such a self reliant machine. We don't even understand our own brains.Design- Designs will change, just as they have for centuries. none will ever be adopted 100%, because we all have our own tastes.Traffic- There will always be traffic, whether on the ground or int he air, because again, we are individuals. Automated transportation is the only way to alleviate traffic problems.Just my opinions.

[Little Asterisk 1]

I think we have reached a point of saturation when it comes to ideas, design and innovation. I don't believe that the future can change much physically other than the world becoming more populated. The reason for this is the internet. We have reached a point of solidarity in knowledge, maybe not in culture and lifestyle, but in sharing information, it's happened.

There's always something we'll be inventing and - although these inventions might not seem very important at the first look -
I believe they'll mean a lot to the mankind. Like robots, perhaps.

The future for us will only change drastically if and when we as a race decide to either progress as a race of humans instead of a race of individuals.
Our only plausible future sanctification is progressing into space and colonizing other planets. Reliving Earth of is drain on natural resources and over population.

Maybe we'll start cloning natural resources, but I definitely expect for us to start thinking about making the Moon or Mars liveable on. OR, we'll just clone the Earth.

Robots- I love the idea of artificial intelligence and help meets (so to speak), but we are a long way from making such a self reliant machine. We don't even understand our own brains.

So, as I once heard "We shouldn't be doing Artificial intelligence until we do something about natural stupidity." (free interpretation of the quote, I don't remember it 100%)

Traffic- There will always be traffic, whether on the ground or int he air, because again, we are individuals. Automated transportation is the only way to alleviate traffic problems.

Like Futurama automated, eh?

[zanzibarjones 1]

Hahahaha, travelling around like Futurama would be cooooool.Clone the earth huh? Terraforming another planet, kind of like the Genesis project from StarTrek II.That would be cool and all, but I like the idea better from Total Recall, that there is somethign already in place on Mars, we just have to turn it on.