Nuclear fusion seems increasingly achievable.
They are down to 2 main problems now. The main one is (the cost of) scaling up. Fusion reactors will be more effective then bigger they are. The tiny test ones are already past break even.
The other is wall material. Apparently the radiation has an annoying ability to transmute the elements making up the wall of the reactor. They are working out a material that can maintain its bulk mechanical properties, even with random elements appearing in its internal structure.
The only one I heard news about breaking even was that thing that shot a lot of lasers to a pellet. For a fraction of a second It broke even or produced slightly more than they poured in, but it was much less of what they spent.
There’s been something else new?
fusion maybe, but in scifi, it often requires an alien race making first contact, we wont even get to things like anti-matter tech without that intervention. SG1 is more in our time frame, but with aliens already possessing advanced tech
I think we can make an oven with a tiny fire breathing dinosaur in it.
So the Flintstones was actually about the future?!
The Flintstones and Jetsons happened at the same time on the same planet.
Railguns, there already exist prototypes that destroy themselves. So close!
I thought we already had rail guns on ships?
No. Well kinda.
The Ford class uses what is basically a rail gun to launch planes but big navy decided against continuing development on railguns as a weapon.
Vaccines. Maybe in 100 years we’ll even be able to eliminate measles…again.
I suspect we will see a human brain to digital interface. I don’t think it will be “downloading minds” or anything, but I could see someone finding a way to plug a specialized camera or mic in to have a full functioning robotic replacement part.
I’m pretty sure they already have the beginning pieces to this, but its too specialized and expensive to do anything commercial with it yet.
This is so terrifying to me. I feel like it’ll end up like the Black Mirror episode with the subscription model, getting more and more expensive with fewer features.
Cochlear implants are a form of this, and are already commercial. I remember having a conversation with a guy at a doof about 10 years ago, standing right near a loud sound system, and it took me 20 minutes to realise he had one. He was completely deaf without it on… I can only assume the tech is much better these days.
Similar things exist for vision (though maybe not yet commercial?).
Artificial stem cells seem like the next thing to really revolutionize medicine.
Quantum computers for brute force hacks seems doable in 100.
Eye tracking pointer devices will likely be more convenient than mice within a dozen or two years. This will probably be widely available for people who are paralyzed first.
Diamond processors are always 10 years away, but I think we can do it in 100. This would revolutionize the amount of power we can put through a chip without worrying about cooling.
Quick charge capacitor replacements for standard rechargble batteries
Low yield fusion plants. I’d like to think of them as capable of high yield, but it’s much harder than initially thought. Some ideas are quite promising for low yield.
The eye tracking stuff exists already. There are medical device companies that build and sell these things.
I feel like the bottleneck will be with smooth continuous motions. It’s very easy to move a cursor in that way with a mouse but you can’t do that motion with your eyes unless you are looking at something else that’s moving.
Fair. Check this out. The existing stuff is pretty cool https://youtu.be/CP3t8qMHcsM
living in a self-sustaining ecological-aware community that values freedom and diversity and everyone having their needs met
We currently carry tricorders in our pockets. I can see a medical tricorder being ubiquitous for field medics, ships, and the like within 100 years.
Is it cheating to say AI and humanoid robots?
Anti-aging tech, if so.
Direct brain interfaces for, like, VR. So instead of a screen strapped to your face, your visual cortex is just stimulated so you see the game using your own “hardware.” A literal Matrix type environment for your mind.
This is either gonna be cool and fun, or scary and evil. But it will exist.
I don’t think we’ll be able to upload knowledge any time soon, as we’re a long way from properly mapping how the brain handles this.
But visual inputs for VR/AR is much closer, as there is already some functional implants for something similar: having cameras produce neural stimuli has been a thing for a few decades now, and it’s now at the stage where some blind people have been able to regain a limited form of vision despite not having functioning eyes. The tech is only going to get better, so at some point it can be used to augment normal vision.
Fully autonomous humanoid robots. Unfortunately with out-of-control AGI they will probably kill me.
It would have been cool to have a benign C3-PO or R2D2.
Fast-refresh ePaper. I just want a laptop I can use outside, man!
Look up Daylight DC-1 might be what you are looking for
Oooohhh, thank you
I remember we could use the game boy advance SP outside. Is this screen technology used for PC?
Orbital habitats with rotational gravity.
Underwater cities
With climate change and coastal flooding, it’s coming, just not in the form you’re thinking of.
You’re implying venice ?
Where I grew up, there was a town that had been intentionally flooded to make a reservoir, or so my parents told me; they claimed that when the reservoir was low, you could see the top of the church steeple. At the time, I drove past the area nearly daily and would often survey the waters, but never found anything that was likely to be more than shadows or a trick of the eye. At the time, I had barely learned of climate change and so wasn’t worried about it; I just liked the idea of a structurally intact, intentionally flooded city.
I just looked it up to make sure I was remembering the details correctly. It turns out that either I misremembered or my parents exaggerated. The town apparently existed and was flooded, but at the time of flooding consisted of foundations and one very tall flagpole. Apparently it’s a common pastime of kayakers and the like to look for the top of the flagpole. This is probably what my parents were referring to.
Still pretty cool, though.
