"Welcome to the future" - speculation wiki!

[Darren Dirt]

http://future.wikia.com/

Welcome to the future
In a sense, that's where we will spend the rest of our lives, so we might as well get familiar with it. This wiki intends to help us understand the future.

Its first goal is to provide an overview of various approaches to studying the future, describe prediction methodologies, and provide general information about futurology, futurism and similar subjects.

Its second goal is to teach future history. In other words, to allow us to grasp what will and has happened in the 21st century and beyond. Just as reading a history textbook helps one to learn about the past, this wiki will serve to teach it's participants about the present and future. For this, this wiki will involve creating rational scenarios, timelines, overviews of future progress in specific areas of the future - such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, life extension, cryonics, uploading, mental enhancements etc. Backed by rational analysis this wiki will attempt to make various predictions about the future.



Explore the future

• Artifical Life - artificial intelligence, virtual girlfriend, robotics
• Biotech - neuroscience, genetic engineering, reproduction, cloning, artificial organs, genetically modified foods
• Cyberworld - computing, computronium, computer interfaces, digital memory, information technologies, speech recognition, virtual reality, computer games, augmented reality, environment monitoring, communications, Internet, search engines, digital libraries
• Transhuman - cyborg, Transhuman body, brain-computer interface
• Tech/Engineering - MegaScale Engineering, custom manufacturing, nanotechnology
• Energy - energy, solar power, nuclear power
• Social - marriage obsolescence, maternalistic world and later transformed into genderless world, matriarchial marriage, criminalization of television
• Global Scenarios - Geopolitical future scenarios
• Space - Lunar tourism, Human on mars, Relativistic speeds, Colonization of Mars, Colonization of Venus, floating space colonies
• Miscellaneous - complexity challenge

(found this linked from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not#Wikipedia_is_not_a_crystal_ball )

[Mr. Analog]

The future will be the same as now, just with bigger TVs...

[Darren Dirt]

The future will be the same as now, just with bigger TVs...

Sometimes it can be "centering" to remind ourselves that our current present = someone's "50 years hence" future. Gives you a bit of perspective when you have a look at "what life will be like in the future" articles and video clips.


Robert A Heinlein wrote this article "Where To?", back in 1952, and it's fun to think about how much of it has essentially come to pass (in concept/culture, if not in specific execution of the idea)
https://archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1952-02/Galaxy_1952_02#page/n13/mode/2up
via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein_bibliography#Nonfiction


EDIT, actually come to think of it THIS THREAD was started in 2006... and even that is coming up to A DECADE AGO.

The future will be the same as now, just with bigger TVs...

How big was your TV in 2006 Mr. Analog? How big is it now? Prediction fulfilled!

http://future.wikia.com/

Explore the future

• Artifical Life - artificial intelligence, virtual girlfriend, robotics
• Biotech - neuroscience, genetic engineering, reproduction, cloning, artificial organs, genetically modified foods
• Cyberworld - computing, computronium, computer interfaces, digital memory, information technologies, speech recognition, virtual reality, computer games, augmented reality, environment monitoring, communications, Internet, search engines, digital libraries
• Transhuman - cyborg, Transhuman body, brain-computer interface

A few of the topics above are getting increasing mainstream press coverage, especially as large-budget Hollywood film treatments put the ideas out there for the non-techies, depicting a possible "just around the corner" culture as affected by certain technologies... (e.g. the lighthearted "Her", or the more ominously-toned Johnny Depp flick...)



see also a couple of other RW threads:

Starfire -- "The Office Of The Future" (1994 video)

Incredibly accurate vision of the future from 1967 (dead link now, but video is on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmvBvmG-q0I )

or just watch a bunch @ YT: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Office+Of+The+Future

[Mr. Analog]

Man, it's getting close to the RW 10th anniversary... that in and of itself is scary