What Sci-Fi ideas WILL become fact...someday?

[spacefire]

I thin Virtual Reality,AI and humanoid robots. There has been tremendous progress in these area lately. Anything else? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[docm]

Directed energy weapons are close enough. Same for bionics now that DARPA is openly talking about putting their prosthetic arm w/25 ways of freedom, senses and an improved brain/machine interface into FDA clinical trials. There have also been advances in suspended animation, artificial eyes and more.<br /><br />The list is almost inexhaustible. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Same for bionics<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />Just don't expect a bionic arm to allow you to punch right through a robots head like Detective Spooner does in <i>I, Robot</i> or lift a car like we saw in the <i>Six Million Dollar Man</i>. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[docm]

Nope, at least not immediately though I did read about artificial muscles that someday might fit the bill. <br /><br />http://www.bioeng.auckland.ac.nz/projects/biomimetics/artificial-muscles.php<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Dielectric elastomers are called artificial muscles because they have good all-round characteristics not demonstrated by other linear actuators. They are fast, strong, can achieve large extensions, quiet, and very light. In fact, by weight, they are 40 times more powerful than human muscle.<br /> /><br />Our group has conducted research into making the muscles smart and self-sensing. This means that the muscle can sense its own extension, eliminating the need for external sensors and further reducing the cost and complexity of the systems. Just like human muscles, our artificial muscles can feel where they are with their eyes closed.<br /><br />Artificial muscles can also be run in reverse to generate power. Imagine being able to walk up a hill with a leg-assisting device, helping you overcome your disability, or carry a heavy load. On the way down the hill the device could run in reverse to recharge its batteries, just like an electric car.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[a_lost_packet_]

Thanks for that link docm. I've been looking for info on that, off and on, for awhile. Most "artificial muscle" material that you read about is chemical in nature - It relies on a wet system. I had remembered reading about purely electrical systems but could never find suitable references to get more information.<br /><br />Thanks. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>

 

[oscar1]

"Solyent Green"! I know, because I have read the IPCC reports.

 

[summoner]

Hopefully Bussard's fusion reactor will come to fruition. It could very well one of the biggest events in human history. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:271px;background-color:#FFF;border:1pxsolid#999"><tr><td colspan="2"><div style="height:35px"><img src="http://banners.wunderground.com/weathersticker/htmlSticker1/language/www/US/MT/Three_Forks.gif" alt="" height="35" width="271" style="border:0px" /></div>

 

[willpittenger]

I doubt that would be enough to duplicate what we see from Hollywood. Now if you had the Terminator's skeleton and musculature, you might be able to do those things. As is, your new arm would tear itself away from your body if you tried to lift something heavy. The arm is strong, but the flesh is weak. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[docm]

Not if you're using them as part of a powered exoskeleton or reinforced skinsuit. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jeffhannan]

I have a particular interest in this also <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />I think that by the end of the century, we will have...<br /><br />Virtual reality - for games, socialising, and many other uses<br />Colonies on Mars - with a population of about a million people.<br /><br />Jeff

 

[etavaunt]

Nuclear submarines, aircraft, space ships, Armoured gun platforms, men travelling to the moon, video cameras, television, telephones, skin grafts, mind control, lie detectors, jet packs . . . . <br /><br />Oh, you said WILL become fact. As in, fiction now this second you typed, but fact in the future. <br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />I think definately Aliens being discovered. I don't think FTL rockets.<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[willpittenger]

Hollywood did not bother with that. Watch <i>I, Robot</i> again. Detective Spooner punches robots and crushes them with those punches. His shoulder would have taken a real beating in the process. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

Virtual Reality may be sooner. However, something as good as Star Trek's holodeck might take several more centuries. In the meantime, may I suggest a trip to Talos IV? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[docm]

Spooner's shoulder was prosthetic too, along with most of the left side of his chest. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

Each punch would still hurt. Perhaps he should have told each robot he punched "This will hurt me more than you." <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[docm]

Depends on how the shoulder is anchored and if the arms sensory "nerves" have automatic level limiters to limit pain.<br /><br />BTW: I, Robot the film was based on "Hardwired", a script by Jeff Vintar which in turn is partly based on the 1939 story "I, Robot" by Eando Binder (pen name for Earl and Otto Binder) and partly Asimovs short stories "The Evitable Conflict", "The Naked Sun" and "The Robots of Dawn". <br /><br />The Binder's story has the element of a robot builder dying and the robot being blamed for it. Asimov's stories contributed the element of the robots trying to take over so as to "protect" humanity by way of a misinterpretation of the First Law into the Zeroth Law. <br /><br />The Dr. Susan Calvin character (Bridget Moynahan) is straight out of "The Evitable Conflict". Dr. Lanning and USR CEO Lawrence Robertson are Asimov's too. Robot to human prosthetics are from "Bicentennial Man".<br /><br />Asimov's publishers named his anthology after the Binder's story over his objections. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[kelvinzero]

<li>Immortality<li>Self replicating machines<li>Colonisation of solar system</li></li></li>

 

[bdewoody]

Sadly if there is no way to move FTL then I think we will be forever limited to our solar system and will probably not make contact with ET. We may verify ET's existance by indirect means but with no way to get there what's the point. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em><font size="2">Bob DeWoody</font></em> </div>

 

[junkheap]

Force fields and cloaking devices. These are things that are already being worked on now. <br /><br />I could be wrong, but, I'd say transporter technology is something that would be a long, long way off due to the enormous amount of information that would need to be processed.

 

[willpittenger]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Immortality<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />I'll pass on the immortality part. Kim Stanely Robinson likes it. But I already have immortality waiting after I die. Jesus is all you need to join me. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

Verify? Perhaps. Just don't expect to maintain a conversation with your new friends. A reply would take a minimum of 8 years -- and that is if your friends just happen to live somewhere in the vicinity of Alpha Centari. If they live farther away or don't happen to be listening, expect the reply to take longer -- possibly even millenia. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[bdewoody]

That's kinda what I was saying. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em><font size="2">Bob DeWoody</font></em> </div>

 

[jeffhannan]

Will, are you saying that the Bible is Science Fiction?<br /><br />;-)<br />

 

[hracctsold]

Will,<br /><br />I'm impressed. If this life with all of its sorrows, and troubles, is all that immortality would have to look forward to, I would have to agree with Highlander and other shows and look forward to death. <br /><br />Now, life on the other side of death, that will be an adventure to see. Henry <br /><br /><br />

 

[etavaunt]

I am thinking, once we get a way to either download our selves, or make AI (Why would we make AI that were not human beings?. HOW would we, if we set out to do so?. The creatures of our minds, will BE of us) we will be able to go out to where ever we detect aliens, at the speed of light. And have one come here. Beam out the source code for a "human" representitive and hope they don't dislike Windows too much. <br />"It wasn't electronic warfare, Mr BEM, it is just that Bill Gates hates EVERYONE, even people he never met like you."<br /><br /><br />Emulated on a human server, it will still be an alien software running on human hardware. And so we "Meet" him, the same way you and I have "meet" for these last three years, see?.<br /><br />I agree, that sucks compared to yomping along through Rigel 7s argon atomosphere, burning BEMs a new ringpiece with ones finger lazer, but the universe does sadly seem to have been set up by someone inordinately fond of beetles, NOT Space Marines, he doesn't seem to have planed for us to indulge in Bug Hunts.