Will any future invention amaze you?

B

Bevo5

1,000+ Posts
I was thinking about this the other night. If you took someone from 200 years ago and dropped them in times square, they would flip their ****. If you showed them TV, Space Shuttles, modern science, etc...it would baffle their mind. Just so much has happened in a relatively short period of time.

Now..with that being said...I don't know if I would be utterly blown away by anything if I jumped a few hundred years into the future...or even further. Fact is, I feel like we can all pretty much imagine some pretty awesome ****: teleportation (however that's spelled), space flight, alien species, medical breakthroughs.

In other words, I would no doubt be seriously impressed by the **** that had been invented/discovered, but it wouldn't blow my mind to see some of that ****. Fact is, with computers and all the sci-fi channel, we all accept that (almost) anything is possible. And we spend a lot of time imagining some pretty amazing ****...

I'm just guessing you take an average joe from 1708 and drop him into a modern day scene, and he's going to freak out a little bit when a stereo pops on..or a car drives by..or a jet flies overhead.

So -- is there anything you think would blow you away? Send you into utter confusion?
 
Sure, genetic cure for cancer, more spare body parts to replace worn organs and limbs, clean energy, solving global warming, there are innumerable problems that might be solved by science and technology.
Often it is something small but a great idea-like the weedeater, and you go "why didn't I think of that one?"
Dilithium crystals and warp drive would be big.
 
I would be utterly impressed with deep space travel, given the size of the universe and the task's speed requirements (lightspeed and beyond, at a minimum). I see your point, but I think you mean "unimaginable" instead of "amazing".
tongue.gif
 
I dont think it would take much. When you think about it, desktop PCs really began to takeoff less than 20 years ago. The internet was really only tapped into, on a broad basis, less than 15 years ago. Heck it wasnt that long ago, maybe mid- to late 90s when cell phones became more common place.

I dont think it will take really big things to blow us away. Plenty of opportunities for small things to really change how we live, work and play.
 
yeah..unimaginable is a better way of looking at it. All of the things mentioned above are well within the realm of comprehension for us. It was sure be amazing to see some of the stuff listed, but i would be greeted with "holy **** that's amazing" instead of "demons have possessed that horseless carriage>"
 
By definition, it's the stuff that you're not expecting that will amaze you. Given the rate of increase in technological gains, there's going to be plenty of amazement in the next 200 years, to be sure.

In the last 100 years technology increased more than in the previous 1000, maybe 10000 years.
 
We have no idea what there is awaiting us. The stuff we can imagine may happen but it is the unimaginable that will amaze you.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
--Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
 
I would be amazed by any technology that allowed us or something that could communicate with us to travel anywhere close to the speed of light (as in a fraction that makes sense).
 
How about a television that you can reach in and grab a bite of the food on the Food Network. Maybe you could reach in and grab a little Rachael, Giada or Padma too !
 
I think we will be surprised by the low tech or mundane advances more than the stuff we've been desensitized by on the SciFi Channel.

Battery power, power transmission advances, truly effective solar and wind power, cars that drive themselves, cheap and easy tunneling, underwater exploration/advances/discovery, robots that repave the roads at 55 MPH, twinkies with a REALLY long shelf life.
 
Enjoy:
The Link

(Glossary of Science Fiction Ideas and Inventions)

Hope somebody invents a solar collecting film that would rest atop highway pavement before the environmentalists start campaigning against highway transportation.
 
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