What Technology will the 21st century be known for?

[Brent]

What will the 21st century have to show for itself when the 22nd century rolls around?

There are many products of technology that have been revolutionary in the 20th century, cars, computers, the internet, cell phones, but these are all products of the 20th century.

What product is new to the 21st century?

In the past ten years, (2000-2010) there really hasn't been anything (that I can recall) that has been revolutionary like the automobile was during this time in the 1900's. We saw the invention of many things during the 20th century that are of course being evolved upon now, like the cell phone for example, but even that is really a product of the 20th century.

What new and upcoming technology do we have to look forward to that is new to this century, that people in the 2080's and 2090's are going to look back on and say wow, that sure did evolve and revolutionize the 21st century! Just like we look back on the car, or the computer, or the cell phone now.

So far, these first 10 years of the 21st century seem to simply be evolving on 20th century technology.

 

[Geckothan]

Gimmicky crap that builds on 20th century technology.

 

[JiNX-01]

Warp drive.

 

[sojourner]

Warp drive.

 

[FordSVT]

It would be impossible to predict a particular device, but I'm willing to hedge my bets between something in the advanced biotechnology and medical field or "true" artificial intelligence.

The stuff we're going to be able to do in the medical field will probably be amazing. Allowing paraplegics to walk again, regrowing missing limbs and organs and/or fully functional artificial limbs and organs, curing many forms of visual and hearing impairment. The list goes on.

 

[T'Girl]

1) Stem cell therapy.
2) Cell phone "implants."
3) Jammers that will give you personnel privacy in public.

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

When I'm feeling pessimistic, my answer would be "stone knives and bearskins" (after we blow ourselves up).

When I'm feeling optimistic, I'd suggest something like widely available clean energy (maybe fusion gets the kinks worked out) or some evolution of information tech, where computers are able to synthesize answers and generate new research questions based on a thorough access to information and better processing/programming. By the end of the century, I wouldn't be surprised to see massive advances in cloning and medical research that finally do away with a lot of problems. Assuming we don't blow ourselves up.

I'll be happy with cloning when you can get a cavity and the dentist just yawns, scratches your cheek, and orders you a new tooth for implantation next month.

 

[Mr. B]

Certain genes that control aging have already been identified... that could really go places in the next nine decades. I suspect advances in medicine will rank at the top of 21st century advancements. Cancer should be dealt with by 2099. There is a lot of money to be made with such advances.

Major innovations in energy could rank highly as well, but with so much oil yet unused and reserve estimates rising as new means of extraction come about... I'm not sure if there will be sufficient investment in research to make.

 

[Venardhi]

Genetic alteration in a living organism, leading to people upgrading themselves with everything from perfect bodies to biological PDA/Phones, freedom from disease, and best of all, made-to-order pets.

 

[Trekker4747]

Cock, er, Chat Roulette.

 

[FPAlpha]

I doubt that there will be such revolutionary new developments like computers, cars and such in the 21st century but they will be immensely more powerful and better than they are today.

I guess one keyword would be nano.. miniaturize everything until it works unseen but can feel the effect. Nanobots used in medicine to cure ailments and perform surgeries, nanomaterials that have amazing capabilities (selfrepairing car bodies for example.. you ram it into a post and the dent repairs itself without damage to the coating).

One thing though comes to mind writing this.. cyber implants. What sounds like a videogame or a SF book/movie may become real once technology gets to a point where we can safely connect live tissue (the brain/nervous system) to technology and use our bodies to control machinery. I don't know if i want hightech implanted into my brain.

 

[Deks]

Having a type of nano bio tech implants in your body might serve as a measure for continuous monitoring of your health and it's preservation.
Not to mention life-extension, and possibly new ways of acquiring information.

I do think that nano-tech is a solution we should probably aim for.

As for what the 21st c will be known by ... well, I can't really be too sure.
I hope a lot of things, but if the present system of doing things doesn't change, then I doubt there will be a whole lot.

Mr. B said correctly by mentioning the issue of switching to new energy sources and whatnot.

We have the technology to make most of the crucial changes today and improve lives globally, but we are obstructed by money and greedy individuals who care of nothing but money/control/power.

Technology isn't the problem (even today), it's the people.

We can do a heck of a lot in a short time span ... the trouble is the mindset.

 

[What's his face]

• Expansion of the internet until it becomes the primary media in entertainment and information transfer
• Medicine and life-extension
• New and exotic physics and chemistry that will make all sorts of fantastic materials possible.
• The replacement of fossil fuels with its successor
• Smaller and more powerful computers
• TrekBBS

 

[clint g]

While it came out in the 20th century, I think the 21st century will take credit for t3h interwebs

 

[iguana_tonante]

Quantum transbabulators.

 

[Jadzia]

I expect once we advance nanotechnology a little way, we will have the machinery to build microchip-like electronic circuits that are small enough to exhibit deliberate quantum behaviour.

I know there are things already called quantum computers, but that not what I mean.

What I mean is to take the noise/fuzzyness/uncertainty which is seen in the smallest scale electronics and to focus on that, rather than considering it an error term.

What I'd hope to see emerge in that work is some kind of chaotic processor, rather than a logical processor. Something beyond the "digital" that has defined this generation.

I think whatever emerges would be a fundamentally new thing, and worthy of it's own name and its own physics discipline: picoelectronics, since we''re already well down into the nano scale now with conventional microelectronics.

I believe that these kinds of small scale processes play a crucial role in forming the minds of living beings, despite there being plenty who disagree with me. So I'd be optimistic that this discipline would allow us to explore and possibly create life through non-biological means. And that synthetic/silicoid life would hopefully be the 21st century's technological accomplishment.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I think the 21st century will be defined by the communications explosion. What began with the telephone and telegraph really accelerated in the latter half of the 20th century, and in the last 10 years we've reached a level of global communication that would've been inconceivable a century ago. I think that trend will continue. Processors will become smaller and faster, storage will become bigger and cheaper, and the device integration we see today will continue until essentially every electronic device in your life is a small computer, hooked up to your own "personal information network," linking all your contacts, media, documents, banking information, medical history, etc. from everywhere. I don't think it will matter whether all of this is available on the "cloud" or just from a home server--either should be technically feasible. But the basic idea is that every piece of electronics you own can access some subset of the same data. GPS chips will be cheap, too, so you could track the location of any device--no more losing your phone! Just check one of the consoles in your house to find out where it is.

Obviously, there are massive security and privacy implications to this, and so I think those will be the most daunting social issues for technological societies in the 21st century.

In short, I think we'll slowly but surely move into a world where information is seamless and ubiquitous. Your data is always available no matter where you are. You can reach anyone, anywhere, at any time. And it will all be so cheap there will be virtually no price barrier.

 

[C.E. Evans]

My guess:

- Genetic manipulation (via nanotechnology)

- Household & industrial androids (late 21st-Century)

- Neuraltech (late 21st-Century)

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Sexbots

 

[John Picard]

Gene therapy/genetic repair, thereby doing away with a lot of pharmaceuticals.