Dean's World

Monday Assertion

Dave Price

As much as our world changed betwen 1987 and today, the changes between now and 2027 will be even greater and more unexpected.

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Monday Assertion

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Ronald Coleman (mail) (www):

Ooh, this is a good one, Dave!

7.9.2007 11:21am

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Kristian H. (mail) (www):

How do you measure 'As much as our world changed betwen 1987 and today'?

7.9.2007 1:50pm

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TallDave (mail) (www):

I'd start with the fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism in Eastern Europe, the rise of the Internet, 9/11, and work from there.

7.9.2007 1:57pm

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Trudy W. Schuett (mail) (www):

Cellphones, debit cards, Starbucks. Whew!

What I'm waiting for is what the babies born in the internet age will think up!

7.9.2007 2:08pm

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LaurenQuipp (mail):

I wonder if will be in WW III with China/Palestine. Or if we'll have another civil war.

7.9.2007 3:07pm

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mythusmage (mail) (www):

By 2027 we will know how wrong our current model of how the brain works is.

7.9.2007 3:07pm

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mythusmage (mail) (www):

Okay, a few more.

Vladivostok in the Russian Far East will be the first American city in the old world.

American special forces scouting out the new American/Chinese border will discover the Almas, descendents of the Neanderthal.

The sasquatch will be discovered when an adolescent male is captured 'shoplifting' fruit from an outdoor market.

Superstring experiments will reveal that superstrings are made up of even smaller 'things'.

Pan troglodytes and P. paniscus will be joined by two new species, P. Schweinfurthii and P. leomorti (the lion killing chimpanzee).

The greater panda will be declared a domesticated animal.

A domesticated sub-species of the plains zebra will be acknowledged by the zoological community. It will take the place of motor vehicles throughout the Tsetse fly zone and lead to greater prosperity in the region.

I've got tons more, but these should do for now. :)

7.9.2007 3:21pm

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TallDave (mail) (www):

It won't be a huge step from these to actual sexbots.

Sex drove the Internet, and is likely to drive robotics as well.

7.9.2007 3:42pm

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Elisha Feger (mail) (www):

DC Comics will provide a new way for unsolicited manuscripts to be entered and considered harnessing the power of the internet. Oh wait.

7.9.2007 4:09pm

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Bryan Costin (mail) (www):

Yes, this is a good one.

A treatment will become available to extend the lifespans of dogs and cats by many decades.

At least one large technology firm (IBM?) will "appoint" an AI to a high-ranking corporate position, largely as a marketing ploy for their own brand of AI products.

India's manned mission to Venus will discover traces of a dead civilization.

The first real-life superheroes and villains will make an appearance, early adopters of experimental genetic and cybernetic enhancements.

Memory backups will become available as a treatment for brain injury.

We will not have flying cars.

7.9.2007 8:07pm

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MaryJ:

Oh my gosh, I will be old by then. No, we will not have flying cars. Can't imagine that. Freeways in the skies with rocket airplanes?

7.9.2007 8:25pm

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Bob Hawkins:

The people who saw the most change in their lives were those born in the 1870s. Consider that Winston Churchill, born in 1874, took part in cavalry charges as a young officer in the British Army, and in deployment of the hydrogen bomb during his second term as Prime Minister.

Us? We're fighting for a distant second place.

7.9.2007 9:54pm

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Gerbera Tetra (mail) (www):

Ooohhh.. good idear!

Sex bots are great idea, as much as we'll pay for amusment, paticularly the naughty kind. Robot sex ahoy!

Did I seem too enthusiastic for a married man?

7.9.2007 10:44pm

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Phil Bowermaster (mail) (www):

If we live to see things like utility fog or true general AI, we'll see more significant changes even than those born in the 1870s did. Churchill would have loved the iPod -- a tiny device capable of holding hours upon hours of music or approximately 80,000 books!

Traces of ancient civilization on Venus? Maybe in orbit. But any remnants of civilization (or even life) on the surface of the planet would have been wiped out long ago by heat sufficient to melt led and a steady downpour of sulfuric acid.

We'll have flying cars as soon as we have effective self-piloted cars.

Y'all feel free to drop by The Speculist any time. We talk about this kind of stuff every day!

7.9.2007 11:11pm

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TallDave (mail) (www):

Bob,

But the next generation saw the sexual revolution, the collapse of Communism, the rise of computers and the Internet...

7.10.2007 1:47pm

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McKiernan:

By 2024 Jenna Bush will have completed her eight years as President and will later go down in history as one of America's greatest Presidents.

Then its Chelsea's turn starting 2024.

7.10.2007 6:38pm

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Ronald Coleman (mail) (www):

Can't agree, Bob. I think those are mostly differences in kind. You are taking for granted universal indoor plumbing; virtually no such thing as hunger in the west; sexual equality; total electronic connectedness for most people, all the time, everywhere; the advances in medicine; space travel and, of course, Paris Hilton.

7.10.2007 7:58pm

Commenting on Dean's World is a privilege, not a right. Dean is your host, you are his guest, and you should behave in that fashion. Dean is not your babysitter, nor is he your punching bag. Please remember this. In general, you are free to disagree with anyone on any subject you wish, but abusive behavior will not be tolerated.

Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.

Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.