What Do You Think Is In Store?

[FPAlpha]

Last week I saw that commercial in which the guy asks his car for a facebook update, and I thought: the 21st century is going to be strange.

I'm only 25, but the way tech is going disinterests me more and more. Why do we want to be THAT connected? Do we really need to be SO stimulated, CONSTANTLY? I'll just go sit under a tree and listen to the breeze, thank you, and maybe in an hour I'll start reading my book. My REAL book, my book with a leather cover and rich, textured pages that bear the smell of history.

I think what you describe there will be one kind of luxury in the future where people will brag about having the time to just disconnect and read a real book.

I know people (mainly heavy business types) who are really excited about the times when they can turn off their phone and set an away notice in their mail account and just not be available to anybody.. a bit scary but that's how it is even today.

I think the next big step technologically and socially would be a man/machine interface.. some kind of direct human brain control over machines via a chip or some other device carried or implanted and that let's you use technology with a simple thought.

Some SF books and shows have already touched on that and i think it would change society the way cellphones have changed it.

 

[sojourner]

^The problem I have with "implanted" technology is the risks of having it done. How many people do you think would be willing to have an operation to implant a "cellphone"? Then on top of that having the device be made obsolete in a week as is common today?

 

[Weyoun Ten]

Last week I saw that commercial in which the guy asks his car for a facebook update, and I thought: the 21st century is going to be strange.

I'm only 25, but the way tech is going disinterests me more and more. Why do we want to be THAT connected? Do we really need to be SO stimulated, CONSTANTLY? I'll just go sit under a tree and listen to the breeze, thank you, and maybe in an hour I'll start reading my book. My REAL book, my book with a leather cover and rich, textured pages that bear the smell of history.

I honestly think that the only reason that they have that application is so that the bank/dealership, if you miss a car payment, can turn your car off and lock it up so you cannot get into it or start it until you wire money to them.

I also do not mind the handle of a book at all. I pretty much lock myself away in my room or loose myself in the woods to read, but when it comes to media like magazines and newspapers that are always being tossed away, used as a camp fire starter? I do find it a little more easier to have a KINDLE or a (whatever the hell you call them but they look like a PADD) in my hands so I do not waste more paper.

 

[FPAlpha]

^The problem I have with "implanted" technology is the risks of having it done. How many people do you think would be willing to have an operation to implant a "cellphone"? Then on top of that having the device be made obsolete in a week as is common today?

Obviously no one would risk an operation just to have a phone in the head.. i imagine this device being far more than that. In effect an entire computer/communication device that lets you access information directly and wirelessly control external devices.

If you have seen Ghost in the Shell (or have played the roleplaying game Shadowrun) you know what i mean.

 

[sojourner]

^The problem I have with "implanted" technology is the risks of having it done. How many people do you think would be willing to have an operation to implant a "cellphone"? Then on top of that having the device be made obsolete in a week as is common today?

Obviously no one would risk an operation just to have a phone in the head.. i imagine this device being far more than that. In effect an entire computer/communication device that lets you access information directly and wirelessly control external devices.

If you have seen Ghost in the Shell (or have played the roleplaying game Shadowrun) you know what i mean.

I have seen/played both. Phones today are computer/communication devices that let you access information directly and wirelessly control external devices. (you have seen the Ford commercials where they are controlling the car by phone? Or the cable TV commercials where you can set your DVR by phone?) I still don't want to have an invasive operation every couple of months to keep up with the latest hardware.

Heck, even if you reduced it to just having the jack embedded and the device external, do you know how often connection standards change? (VGA, DVI, HDMI, etc... USB1, USB2, USB3, etc...)

Just imagine the liability issues with embedded technology. People sue for anything these days. Do you think a company is going to take the risk with something that has to be installed by an operation?

No, the risk would have to come down to the level of say, having your ear pierced before this kind of thing would become wide spread.

 

[FPAlpha]

^The problem I have with "implanted" technology is the risks of having it done. How many people do you think would be willing to have an operation to implant a "cellphone"? Then on top of that having the device be made obsolete in a week as is common today?

Obviously no one would risk an operation just to have a phone in the head.. i imagine this device being far more than that. In effect an entire computer/communication device that lets you access information directly and wirelessly control external devices.

If you have seen Ghost in the Shell (or have played the roleplaying game Shadowrun) you know what i mean.

I have seen/played both. Phones today are computer/communication devices that let you access information directly and wirelessly control external devices. (you have seen the Ford commercials where they are controlling the car by phone? Or the cable TV commercials where you can set your DVR by phone?) I still don't want to have an invasive operation every couple of months to keep up with the latest hardware.

Heck, even if you reduced it to just having the jack embedded and the device external, do you know how often connection standards change? (VGA, DVI, HDMI, etc... USB1, USB2, USB3, etc...)

Just imagine the liability issues with embedded technology. People sue for anything these days. Do you think a company is going to take the risk with something that has to be installed by an operation?

No, the risk would have to come down to the level of say, having your ear pierced before this kind of thing would become wide spread.

It's obviously far into the future.. we'll probably be old men before that becomes widespread usage and we'll be grumbling that back in the day you actually had to use your devices with your hands and use your mouth instead of just staring at a spot while having a conversation inside your head or looking at porn in the midst of a subway ride

But i do think it will come.. the first steps are being taken and the potential is huge. How that will play out in the end no one knows but i think we'll see it.

 

[Weyoun Ten]

The brain is far too delicate to have anything like that happen to it. As it is, we already have implants to reduce the shaking syndrome (Mike J Foxx has it, help me out cos I cannot remember what its called!) to around 85%.

As an example, our joints give off frequencies to our structure, thanks to all those nerves. You can tune into them if you're touching the brain with electrodes, and can hear these frequencies (do not attempt unless you are a licensed neuron surgeon!). For example, if a doctor had this sergical instroment touching a serface of your brain, and a nurse flicked your wrist, you would hear the quick click as it happened.

This alone, proves how delicate a brain is. One miss-wiring and everything can go wrong. It would take years of re-pruning and placidity for a brain to recover from anything drastic happening to it.

So cellphones and internet available to inside the brain? Really? It would take more than a hundred years to even get remotely close to something as simple as a universal translator implant mainly because we know ever so little about the biology of our own brain, let alone other animals brains.

A humans brain is not the most complex, mind you, but we are highly advanced in many things. Who knows, but the possibility of anything that drastic happening is slim to null.

 

[FPAlpha]

Are you so sure?

I've read reports about current research that just seems Science Fiction to most of us yet it is happening. I have friends who have diplomas and are grad students in Biology and some of the things they tell me they are working on is simply amazing.

I'm not saying it will happen in 10-20 years.. maybe 50 years and given the lightning speed our technology advances i don't believe it to be impossible or too risky.

 

[Weyoun Ten]

I am pretty sure, I plan on being a psychologist so when it comes to understanding the neurology, development, and structure of the human brain, I am as obsessed as they come.

I did say I do not doubt it happening, but would we be around as a species to see this technology? Maybe, maybe not. As medical thechnology advances, its only advancing a little bit slower than things like iphones ipads, ipods, ETC. Only in the last ten years have we discovered how a child's brain grows and forms into a fully matured human brain thanks to long MRI studies. Studies of these MRI scans have shown that a human brain is not fully developed until around mid twenties. By that, its mostly the frontal cortex of the brain. Our logic part of the brain that makes choices and weights out the odds.

As An Example: When I was eleven or twelve years old, I would allow myself to float over the deepest, darkest part of the pond, not giving two shits about the rattle snakes and snapping turtles that could clearly out swim me, knowing full well that they could; I decided to ignore the risk without thinking about these factors. Then you have my sister-in-law who is seven years older than myself, amazed that I had no fear of the possible dangers as she stayed in the shallows, watching a huge snapping turtle swim around in the cattails with its young on its back. At that time, my logic (frontal Cortex) was quite under developed than hers. Eight years later, when I do decide to float around in the deepest, darkest part of the pond, my awareness is heightened to anything that is in the water or in the surrounding area. My logic and understanding has improved.

If you were to put my twelve year old brain under an MRI and compare it to my twenty year old brain scan, you would be able to spot the drastic growth.

Thanks to this study, we can see the development. So why would you want to try and mess with it, put a chip in it, when it's already a delicate process of growth, pruning, and plasticity? At the time, screwing with the brain like that by putting unnecessary chips in it is a huge danger to a brain. Directly implanting hardware into the brain is already a risky procedure.

Yeah, I am pretttttyyy sure its not gonna happen within fifty to a hundred years. After all, most of us are more concerned with war, wealth, politics, and religion than with anything else at this time. Not all mind you, but most. So bettering our society and way of life is going to be some years away I bet.

 

[MetalPants]

Wi-fi connected dildos and feedback-activated sheaths for interactive Internet porn.

There's a bundle for the WII game platform that does what you are describing.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Wi-fi connected dildos and feedback-activated sheaths for interactive Internet porn.

There's a bundle for the WII game platform that does what you are describing.

How was it for you?

 

[MetalPants]

I merely heard about it as a radio news blurb.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

However, if they're plugged into the same Wii, why not do it for real? Although, I guess if several people are involved... Hope it's wipe clean.

 

[sojourner]

^Who said they are plugged into the same Wii?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Can you network Wiis? See, being an old fart, I don't own any consoles.

ETA: Ah, you can, well there you go. I thought the Wii was just some sort of cheap, latter-day version of those old Pong machines. No need to be physically present in the same room.

 

[KJbushway]

My family resently got a wii. We were playing golf, my father was able to swing from inside the kitchen, which is behind the console. I would have no doubt that you could use a wii remote in a room away from the console itself.

 

[sojourner]

^Not really what we are talking about.

 

[KJbushway]

oh.

 

[Weyoun Ten]

oO

So this topic went from asking what was in store, to dildos, to image pixels, to human brains, then to Wii's and porn... Did I sum that up alright?

 

[FPAlpha]

oO

So this topic went from asking what was in store, to dildos, to image pixels, to human brains, then to Wii's and porn... Did I sum that up alright?

Pretty standard for this board