In 1997, I visited Disneyland during its renovations for the current Tomorrowland. The Disney Gallery above New Orleans Square was concurrently featuring an exhibit tracing the history of Tomorrowland through its various incarnations. While walking back to our hotel that night, I conceived a vision for The World of 2030. In retrospect my original predictions were somewhat fanciful; but our current closer proximity to 2030 has motivated me to venture once more into more current predictions for what sort of technological status will be at our disposal by this year to come.
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Cameras and Camcorders
We can expect to see Digital Cameras with a resolution of 100 megapixels by 2020. Before then, all Digital Cameras will have minimum 1080p High Definition movie functions.
Hard Disk Drive Camcorders will be superceded by Flash Camcorders by 2015. All Camcorders will film in 1080p by 2020. By 2030, they will have evolved into even higher resolutions, mirroring the upconversion in television.
Computers
All computers will have built-in wireless internet receivers regardless of design.
By 2020, Hard Disc Drives will have been superceded by Flash Drives. This means everything will run on flash memory rather than our current disc drive-based technology.
As measurements for storage capacities in Megabytes (Millions) dominated the 1990s, and Gigabytes (Billions) dominated the 2000s, the 2010s will be marked by Terabytes (Trillions), and the 2020s by Petabytes (Quadrillions).
More computers will be marketed with touch screens. Voice recognition software will be perfected. Once combined, this will eliminate the need for Keyboards.
The iPad and HP Slate will herald the demise of the laptop.
Cellular Phones
Fewer cell phones will be marketed with number and key pads. Eventually, all phones will have large touch screens similar to the iPhone. By 2030, the phrase "Microcomputer" will have a new meaning when these devices have capabilities indistinguishable from current (Microcomputer) PCs.
By 2030, iThink will be a reality. The iThink will be an iPhone-style phone with functions trained to respond to simple human brainwaves. It will be possible to operate your phone just by thinking!
Music
Flash media storage will replace Compact Discs entirely. However, because Compact Discs are so well established, people will be less ready to give-up their CD Players. By 2030, CDs will be at the same level of use currently seen by Vinyl Records.
Vinyl will have a small scale comeback when Laser-Playing Phonographs are marketed. Unlike traditional needle-tipped Phonographs, this new generation will play Vinyl Records with Lasers, therefore sparing the vinyl from scratching.
Stereo systems will have wireless internet hookups to facilitate downloading music instantly from the internet onto the stereo's personal flash drive, and onto removable flash drives.
Televisions
By 2015, active marketing of DVDs and DVD Players will have ceased. By 2020, the DVD will be at the same state of disuse currently facing the videotape and VCR. Before the decade is out, a new platform will have been introduced, but this will not be a disc-formatted system. The new platform will be Flash Memory-based, distributing films on small drives similar to the current Jet Flash. These drives will have more than a terabyte of memory, which is greater than twenty times the carrying capacity of current Blue-Ray discs.
By 2015, LCD televisions will have been replaced by LED televisions as the product of choice, although they will continue to be sold for some years afterwards as a low-cost substitute.
By 2020, Flat Panel High Definition Displays will be present in all well-visited public areas, including shopping centers, sports arenas, and even rooms in all of the major hotel chains. By 2030, finding a CRT television still in used will be as difficult as it is now to find a black and white television.
The image displays of 2030 will all feature at least 1,000,000:1 contrast rations, and 1000htz refresh rates.
Three-Dimensional Resolution in the 2010s will be at the same status as High Definition was in the 1990s.
Extreme Definition, an experimental format with 16x the resolution of High Definition, will be in the process of replacing High Definition. The Flash-based storage platforms of 2030 will be designed to carry this resolution.
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web will be distributed via tower and satellite, available at all locations worldwide just as radios collect radio waves.
The technology used to transmit computer, radio, and television signals will have mutated to the point where we will no longer differentiate between the three. It will be commonplace to surf the Web on your television, listen to radio on your computer, and watch a music video for a song playing on your radio. Rather than having separate devices for each function, all devices will have universal capabilities.
By 2030, the existence of file-sharing networks such as YouTube will have been decided. If copyright holders have wisdom, YouTube will be a public forum that freely encourages Remixing. If copyright holders attempt to fight creativity via the law, YouTube and other networks like it will have become non-existent.
: Univaded Fox November 04, 2010, 09:28:19 -06:00By 2030, the existence of file-sharing networks such as YouTube will have been decided. If copyright holders have wisdom, YouTube will be a public forum that freely encourages Remixing. If copyright holders attempt to fight creativity via the law, YouTube and other networks like it will have become non-existent.
Damn ACTA *Shakes fist*
i want a portable hologram computer that i can move about all crazy like and it glows bright neon colors.
and i can use to play soundclips and mix into sentences to irritate people with.
: Univaded Fox November 04, 2010, 09:28:19 -06:00
The iPad and HP Slate will herald the demise of the laptop.
ipad is just a bigger itouch for your porn.
FLYING CARS!!!!
: mediar November 05, 2010, 08:16:43 -06:00
FLYING CARS!!!!
They've already created the technology for those.
They just figured it wouldn't be practical nor safe considering the amount of fuel it takes to get that much weight off the ground. :P
: Renwaldo November 05, 2010, 11:20:20 -06:00
: mediar November 05, 2010, 08:16:43 -06:00
FLYING CARS!!!!
They've already created the technology for those.
They just figured it wouldn't be practical nor safe considering the amount of fuel it takes to get that much weight off the ground. :P
.... PRATICAL FLYING CARS!!!!
i want rocket powered rollerblades so i can be awesome while i overthrow corrupt governments.
(http://th04.deviantart.com/fs9/300W/i/2006/149/3/1/Jet_Set_Radio_Future__JSRF___2_by_TechnoKid94.jpg)
: Univaded Fox November 04, 2010, 09:28:19 -06:00
More computers will be marketed with touch screens. Voice recognition software will be perfected. Once combined, this will eliminate the need for Keyboards.
Despite their current popularity, I don't think touchscreens will work out well for desktop systems in the long run, at least not with some fairly significant design changes. Current designs have some significant ergonomic issues (Gorilla Arm (http://ftp.sunet.se/jargon/html/G/gorilla-arm.html)) and are likely to build up a lot of fingerprints.
As for voice recognition, I can think of a few situations where a keyboard would work better, the first being for people who, for whatever reason, cannot speak. Also, a keyboard would be quieter to use if someone is sleeping in the same room.
I imagine I'll always want a keyboard over voice recognition as I type a lot better than I speak, but the developers aren't likely to ask my opinion :)
The technology used to transmit computer, radio, and television signals will have mutated to the point where we will no longer differentiate between the three. It will be commonplace to surf the Web on your television, listen to radio on your computer, and watch a music video for a song playing on your radio. Rather than having separate devices for each function, all devices will have universal capabilities.
Web TV (now MSN TV) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSN_TV) was developed quite some time ago and doesn't seem to be catching on very well.
Beyond that, I think its more likely that people would just consume television and radio programming via their computer, possibly with the use of external screens and speakers.
: mediar November 05, 2010, 08:16:43 -06:00
FLYING CARS!!!!
Considering how I seen some people drive in their land-based cars, the idea of flying cars is frankly scary.
the Tron scanner 8)
By 2025 the world's oil supply will stop to plateau and start to drop. While there still is oil being produced, it is too expensive to afford. Two thirds of the world's power lie dormant, stranding billions without power, running water or heat.
It is impossible to grow food with conventional agriculture. The oil-phosphorous based fertilizers that paved the way to the agricultural revolution now cost as much as a large house for one seasons's worth. Governments scramble to subsidize, but there is not enough for everyone. Soil that has been strip-mined of all nutrients by previously subsidized crops such as corn, canola, and soy, finally has the chance to lay fallow. Parts of the Midwest become a dustbowl.
At this point the internet has an effective lifespan of maybe two years, but eventually flickers and dies due to ill repair on the physical infrastructure. Plane rides cost a year's salary. Naval passage, about half a year's. The world is the largest it's ever been since 1910.
Due to vastly increased response times by police forces, social decay runs rampant, and vigilante movements quickly pop up to combat it. Within a year it's well understood that the majority of the "law" is dealt at the end of a barrel.
Everybody grows food. The soil in your backyard becomes better than the tired and strained soil in the farmer's fields. A town lives solely on the strength and brotherhood of those living within it. In 2028, California secedes from the union, quickly followed by most of New England, Utah, Texas, and Dixie. By 2029, the upholders of the original Constitution are diminished to Maryland, DC, and Delaware.
This state of disarray lasts for fifty years, and the worst of it is over in 15. Dependence on wind and solar power solves some woes, but nowhere near the power output that oil provided. Breakthroughs in electric vehicles allow some infrastructure repair after 20 years and the partial resumption of the supply lines to natural gas and coal power. After 30 years of silence, the first post-oil telecommunications network arises between the campuses of the University of California.
We get truly out of the rough when the resurrected ITER experimental fusion plant creates the first indefinitely sustainable fusion reaction in the year 3020. It powers the majority of Europe without interruption.
That's a very Californian perspective. What state of affairs will we be in around the same time? :P
I assume probably paired up with Washington and Oregon, Idaho might be in there too. Hell it's been seriously discussed before. We're even building high speed rail between Vancouver, Portland and Seattle as we speak. But our population is too small, and the growing season is too short to become powerful when isolated. We do have an abundance of reliable and plentiful hydroelectric power. We'll be California's hat.
I say California would go first and come back first because of the amount of population, trade, reliance on fruit and vegetable crops instead of subsidized crops. It gets a lot of sunlight in the south and a lot of wind in the north for good power. New england doesn't have enough good farmland, and most of the Midwest has too short a growing season, and they've been growing wheat without crop rotation for the last 50 years. The south is excellent for farmland, but they have a talent vacuum. The best gathering of minds being Vanderbilt. Texas big, smart (no, seriously) and good for crops as well, but only half the state is arable, the other half being desert. El Paso will be a ghost town in a decade (along with other aqueduct towns like Vegas, and the majority of Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada). Utah might be powerful, but it's too small, and intellect will flee a theocracy.
Prairies will actually be in good shape, if they can survive every winter. Maritimes...like New England, maybe even paired up together. One thing that will maybe assure some power is the fact that Europe will stop fishing in their waters, ensuring a fairly steady supply of seafood.
Well we already have SSDs (solid state drives) they still got some issues such as size and price (as usual with most new computer storage tech)They are how ever lightning fast as there is no disc seek time!
I cannot see pad-PCs replacing laptops though, laptops will probably evolve to be much thinner, lighter, faster etc. Its a safe bet they will all have touch screens. Pad systems still lack effective typing, you would be stuck getting external keyboards/ mice (easy with bluetooth tech) and bulky stands to make them as "place-able" as laptops. If anything I see Pads being the PDAs of the generation.
Regarding DVD tech i more so see it being a backwards compatible technology like its been with computers, we started with only being able to use CDs with our systems, then DVDs became more main stream and CDs did no die, they instead got carried over, kind of like how you see every computer can read and write to CDs with a decent drive, and DVD players usually come with the kind of integrated programing and hardware that allows them to play video CDs and music ones as well. My guess would be that once the blu-ray phase has come to its peak we are gonna see CD/DVD/BLU drives for computers. Its just that CD based technology has become such a universal medium, if it does go, it will be a LOOOONG time.
But thats all just my opinion :P
I would love to see much greater electric car technology, maybe somthing like a solar paint coating that could be used to coat the roofs of electric cars that way they could charge in the sun easily, or just better solar technology as a general, even the best crystal based solar panels have about 15-20% efficiency and the old fashioned copper-like ones have way less, about 8%. Electric car tech is getting better, but we do need FAR better battery technology, like a light weight alternative with a better life cycle.
Television: Google TV / Roku / appletv ; your television will just stream content from major providers with advertising added in on the fly. The concept of TV channels will cease to exist.
Phones: Android, with hooks into cloud computing infrastructure - Amazon EC2/S3, Google Gears, Windows Azure. Global telcomm conglomerates offering worldwide roaming at reasonable rates. iphones will be in there, somewhere, forgotten.
Computer: Thin terminals hooked up to the same file stores/computing infrastructure your phone uses. Seamless access to any of your files, anywhere, anytime. Computing infrastructure will be rented, rather than owned, same with storage. Buying a thin terminal will guarantee your access to X resources with the purchase price. You think not? I point you to the idea of managed services today - Google Apps for Businesses/Education; Microsoft Office Online; Sabre's solutions for WestJet and other Airlines (look at the terminals in the airports)/ The future? -> Chrome OS.
Storage: Limited amounts of flash in each device, probably no more than is necessary to load up the basic environment to connect to web services. The concept of absolute amounts of storage won't exist to the end user, ever.
Filmmaking will be completely digitized once 8K and 16K cameras replace celluloid. All theaters will convert to digital projection. Even basic consumer editing software will be superior to the most current revision of Final Cut Pro.
I predict:
Less things will change than you think they will.
Politics will still be messed up, but in different ways.
Some changes will occur that no-one now will have thought of.
People will still be making predictions about the future that will prove far from accurate.
Anyone here ever see that movie 'Gattaca'? I predict the technologies of test tube breeding in that film becoming a reality in the far future.
How easy would it be to give pregnant mothers special drugs so their kids will come out with certain eye colours?
Film Editing: 2030AD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULDEDwAJDlE
My 2030 predictions and a couple refutations:
Tablet computers will gradually usurp laptops as a consumer item for the non-tech-savvy, but they will not replace laptops as a whole for professionals.
Gallium or other solar-film technologies will mature, and the oil-energy crisis will be blunted by the availability of cheap solar energy, applicable to any broad rigid surface. Further refinements in the technology may lead to solar nanofiber cloth, paired with nanocouples and induction pads. Your shirt, will be able to generate power for your personal devices and your pants will charge them through a pocket pad. (There are prototypical concepts already underway as of 2011 in this field)
The touchscreen will continue to grow more prevalent as a public access device. Physical displays for restaurants, retailers, transit and other common points of public contact will gradually be replaced. For home use, haptic interfaces will instead begin to grow more prominent for leisure and casual interface purposes.
The break-even point for fusion will be reached, provided funding and efforts remain consistent with their 2011 levels.
In-vitro organ growth for transplantation will be a maturing industry, if the noisy religious groups can be persuaded to sit down and shut up.
Surrey will be a second metropolitan hub in the lower mainland. The cityscape sprawl will extend to Chilliwack unbroken.
Hard storage will divert from trends of scale into trends of speed even further. Capacities will begin to gradually plateau in the terabyte range, while read/write speeds in fractional terabytes per second may be attained through the incorporation of a processing cell lattice within the drive and transfer bus.
Point to point quantum-entanglement communication will have matured fully, enabling real-time interference-hardened communication between Earth and interplanetary or even extra-solar probes. We will see Mars in full natural color without interpolation or analogue distortion for the first time.
Barring legislation to discourage the concentration of wealth, the American middle class will have entirely disappeared. The stratification between classes will be almost unimaginably steep.
There's a lot more that likely can and will change. We likely will not even recognize the sociological landscape of today in two decades; The simultaneous evolution and damage social media causes to human interaction will likely begin to fully mature by that point; The first generation that has never known a world without broadband internet is now growing up in the western world, and by 2020, will be adults themselves, unadapted to a disconnected state. It's going to be very interesting to watch the world between now and then...
: Univaded Fox November 20, 2010, 10:28:51 -07:00
Filmmaking will be completely digitized once 8K and 16K cameras replace celluloid. All theaters will convert to digital projection. Even basic consumer editing software will be superior to the most current revision of Final Cut Pro.
Having worked with film and digital mediums, I can promise you film isn't going anywhere quickly. There are many directors who refuse to work with digital media because they do not react the same to lighting, colour, etc. Some have jumped on the bandwagon for production cost reasons (we're quickly approaching digital film making that, even at professional levels, is cheaper than film) or for the effect, a la StarWars Episode II and III.
However, film is art. It's not just an exercise for the consumer masses. As such, directors will continue to use what they feel is artistically relevant, the same way that people today use film cameras for black and white photography, despite 14 years of digital photography advancements.
... real furries
: Lt ReiStark April 20, 2011, 05:01:28 -06:00
... real furries
This I want to see. Genetically adding things like superior vision, hearing, smell, etc to the human body could be an amazing development. I wouldn't mind a tail, either, to be honest.
Something to keep in mind though: "If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat." I'm pretty sure Mark Twain was right about that.
Personal Rocket or Jet Technology
(such as Jet packs or Rocket boots)
.....or else Genetic Fursonafication
: Mattfolx April 26, 2011, 10:59:08 -06:00
Personal Rocket or Jet Technology
(such as Jet packs or Rocket boots)
Possible today. Main issue is that only nuclear fuels have the necessary energy density to be useful for more than about a twenty second flight, within the limits of what a single human being can carry. Stretching the definition of "personal", there's small ducted jet powered VTOLs that use ordinary jet fuel available now (for a quarter million dollars) that weigh about 700 pounds, and are essentially jet-pack shaped, at the size of a small car. Flight time is still measured in minutes, however. Until someone figures out how to make a fuel with about thirty times the energy density of Jet B or hydrazine's toxicity, which isn't highly radioactive and/or prone to subcritical nuclear reactions, we're kinda SOL on that. Naquadah, maybe?
: Selkit April 27, 2011, 02:29:14 -06:00
Possible today. Main issue is that only nuclear fuels have the necessary energy density to be useful for more than about a twenty second flight, within the limits of what a single human being can carry. Stretching the definition of "personal", there's small ducted jet powered VTOLs that use ordinary jet fuel available now (for a quarter million dollars) that weigh about 700 pounds, and are essentially jet-pack shaped, at the size of a small car. Flight time is still measured in minutes, however. Until someone figures out how to make a fuel with about thirty times the energy density of Jet B or hydrazine's toxicity, which isn't highly radioactive and/or prone to subcritical nuclear reactions, we're kinda SOL on that. Naquadah, maybe?
Huh...would've never thought of that.
DEC 21 2013 I PREDICT A VARRY HOT DAY AND SWIMMING
2 suns at Sunrise in California Nibiru?? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v0VlTSLpkE#ws)
You still don't believe Nibiru is on its Way? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy1xlRcoY6E#ws)
Nibiru 1/2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5O2L4as5UM#ws)
: Lt ReiStark April 20, 2011, 05:01:28 -06:00
... real furries
Haha I remember people going on about this way back in the early 2000's XD Even then there were some who had surgery to try and look more like their fursona. I would love genetically engineered limbs that the body would not reject, like say being able to surgically attach lab-grown ears or tails?
I would love to have Horns bolted to my skull and a decent sized dragony tail, something manageable at least.
The sight of children operating computers will no longer turn heads. This past year alone I have seen babies cradling iPads. Learning how to use a computer will be taught alongside reading and writing. By the fifth grade, every child will know how to operate a laptop and seek out information on the internet. It will not only be easy to teach kids how to use computers but it will also be necessary for their future careers.
: Drake Wingfire December 11, 2011, 11:49:55 -07:00
Haha I remember people going on about this way back in the early 2000's XD Even then there were some who had surgery to try and look more like their fursona. I would love genetically engineered limbs that the body would not reject, like say being able to surgically attach lab-grown ears or tails?
I would love to have Horns bolted to my skull and a decent sized dragony tail, something manageable at least.
You may actually be in luck about the horns part. It wasn't too long ago they figured out how to simulate an interface between bone, skin and an implant not too unlike a deer antler's method of attachment. Their main aim was to make implantable, neuroprosthetic limbs that wouldn't require anti-rejection medication or continual doses of antibiotic. On that note, I predict fully internal neuroprosthetic controls by 2030, given that they're also now working out how to make a glial-mass biochip that won't be rejected. Adam Jensen may yet be possible. Main problem with a directly interfaced neuroprosthetic right now is that they have to use control probes that are stiffer than surrounding brain tissue; Any kinetic shock can dislodge them fairly easily, or worse, cause small localized tears.
Twenty years is a long time for the technology being tested right here and now to leave the prototype stage, though, and in twenty years of mechatronic advancement, the replacement limbs might even end up being better than the originals...
: Univaded Fox November 04, 2010, 09:28:19 -06:00
The iPad and HP Slate will herald the demise of the laptop.
How will I play hardcore FPS Shooters now? lol
In 2030:
People will be disappointed their predictions are nowhere near coming true.
People will continue to make predictions without any understanding of history or the technology related.