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Is This the Future of Technology?

I

Irishman

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 2, 2006
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The Future Timeline website has a speculative timeline of what is likely to happen in both the near-future and the far-flung future. It takes current technologies and trends and uses that as a foundation, taking into account the coming technology singularlity. It's an engrossing read, please go take a look...

...now that you're back, what do you think? What excites you about the possibilities? What do you think they got way off?

http://futuretimeline.net/
 
An interesting read. But futurism, while a fun exercise, has a long tradition...of being inaccurate. It's problem is that it is viewed from the lens of the present.
 

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I've looked at some years up to 2020, and it looks reasonable. But after that, it's pure speculation, and altough they have most likely tried not to commit the same errors as in the fifties, it's pure speculation.

Terabit internet by 2031? Forget it.
 
I think you're right about those earliest predictions, and I think in many ways, they go wrong by a lack of imagination, not the opposite. Look at the film "Things to Come" and try not to laugh at the vision of far-future skies filled with immense, prop-driven planes. It inspired "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" certainly, but not in a good way. I think that, as the pace of innovation continues to accelerate, the time gap between idea and application must shrink, and the accuracy of predictions must increase.

Here's a BBC article discussing some futurists' take on popular ideas about the 20 top predictions about life in 100 years:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16536598
 
One thing I think they got wrong is the prediction that it will take us a million years to develop space-warp propulsion (via Alcubierre drives). But the interesting part is the realization that we could STILL explore and colonize our nearest stellar neighbours at slower than light speeds (via fusion-powered craft up to 10-20% of C, and antimatter-powered craft up to 99% C).
 
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