Predict the Future!

[Phantasmagoriat]

What do you think will happen over the next ~100 years?

I predict a number of major events will occur in this time, largely attributed to the internet. Humanity has never seen this amount of information exchange before, even if you include the invention of the printing press. That's gotta do something, whether it be through technological advancements or enlightenment (for lack of a better word). I expect to see things pick up as early as 2018 which is the year babies born in 2000 start graduating (babies who have grown up on the 'modern' internet). So I figure, if anything big is going to happen, it's probably going to happen within our lifetime. (crazy thought eh!?)

That is, of course, if the whole thing doesn't crash and burn.

So, what do you think?

[Castor Troy]

Humanity is going to revert to a neo-cro-magnon type stage where they'll start saying "lol" and "wtf" as normal vocabulary.

[EvaFan]

I'd like to predict we make the switch to fucking fuel cell cars already at some point in the near future but no one leading this damn country wants to ween us off of oil. There is so much more efficiency to fuel cells that its a joke not to considering the idea that the nation is going green/renewable energy. Why we don't use fuel cells for other things is beyond me as well. It doesn't have to change fast, just start putting some out there and fueling stations will install pumps for them over time, while the newest generation of the cars prices drop so the less well off can afford them over time. Gas prices will not go down, they can only go up with supply and demand.

My point is Either it happens soon or there is a crisis at some point and we make the switch the hard way (immediantly) with suffering inbetween till it works out.

[godix]

I predict that in 100 years, humans will develop astounding technologies that we can barely imagine now, and the two most common uses for it will be porn followed by the most moronic shit you can imagine. I mean seriously, decades ago there were some semi-close guesses at today's internet. No one, absolutely no one, predicted 4chan or lolcats.

[trythil]

I will press the Submit button.

On a more serious note, I'm going to predict that this thread will be better named "Naïve Rants" if this sort of stuff keeps up:

There is so much more efficiency to fuel cells that its a joke not to considering the idea that the nation is going green/renewable energy. Why we don't use fuel cells for other things is beyond me as well. It doesn't have to change fast, just start putting some out there and fueling stations will install pumps for them over time, while the newest generation of the cars prices drop so the less well off can afford them over time.

Things are changing. Haven't you heard of GM's Sequel, the Honda Clarity FCX, Nissan Leaf, REVAi? (No? Then why are you complaining?) You can lease a Clarity in California today, and you can buy the Leaf and REVAi now. The Sequel is a concept, but it does demonstrate some work from GM in this area. (The Volt doesn't count towards any of this, because it's a hybrid.)

Or is your complaint that things aren't happening fast enough? In that case...

...there may be conspiracy theories, but there are also very real engineering challenges to solve that still need attention, and that stuff takes time and money. Even just talking about hydrogen fuel cells, which have received great attention recently (and is the variant that I've read up on):

Infrastructure is a huge problem. If you just consider filling stations, there's not many places (in the USA, at least) where you can get hydrogen in a form that's suitable for transport. California has just over a couple dozen stations (according to Wikipedia, 26 as of 2007, with ten more planned but a few decommissioned); South Carolina has plans but, as far as I know, no execution. Building that infrastructure up requires a lot of money and a lot of coordination with automobile makers, land owners, etc.

Large-scale hydrogen production is a problem. The most common method for hydrogen production is oxidation of water with methane; look up methane reformers if you want the reactions. That isn't a way going forward if you want to go for the "green" angle: first off, methane is a prominent greenhouse gas; secondly, the reactions that produce hydrogen also produce carbon monoxide, which has to go somewhere. There's many other hydrogen production methods (see Wikipedia if you want a list) but, as far as I can tell, none of those methods have been successfully implemented on a large scale.

Finally, fossil fuels (and internal combustion engines) have undergone a lot more research when it comes to things like performance tuning, i.e. making engines more efficient. It's this reason -- among others -- that you see 500, 600, 700 (or even higher) horsepower gasoline engines showing up in high-end cars. There's progress in this area, but nothing that can be done on the same scale just yet.

[JaddziaDax]

Humanity is going to revert to a neo-cro-magnon type stage where they'll start saying "lol" and "wtf" as normal vocabulary.

Too late, it's already happening O.o

[trythil]

Finally, fossil fuels (and internal combustion engines) have undergone a lot more research when it comes to things like performance tuning, i.e. making engines more efficient. It's this reason -- among others -- that you see 500, 600, 700 (or even higher) horsepower gasoline engines showing up in high-end cars. There's progress in this area, but nothing that can be done on the same scale just yet.

AFAIK, this plus specific energy also ties directly into how many miles per unit fuel you can get out of a power source: it's a reason why battery-powered cars haven't really been able to rival gas-powered cars when it comes to range. And that's more important for economy, environment, etc. than being able to crank out more power.

[EvaFan]

I actually know of the infrastructure problems but I also know that money as been cut out of this research/technology ever since obama came into office which either to me means he doesn't support it or isn't happy with it. Either way I think its something we should be pooling money into at this point. I figure since were throwing money around like crazy lately, atleast put it into a program that could use it instead of take from it.

I realize this takes time and money, but I highly doubt we have the some odd 50+ years we had for the combustion engine in terms of perfecting it along with infrastructure. I guess you are right, my concern is that it will not happen fast enough and the government shows little in caring about that or maybe they don't even consider it a concern yet. Though research and development is on a much grander scale now.

[Castor Troy]

We're going to have political leaders who were born in the Nintendo and Ninja Turtles era like myself and will constantly make unfunny references to them.

[Enigma]

Duke Nukem Forever will finally get released