What will they think about us in 2085?

The more depressing the present becomes, the more I like thinking about the future. Here I have collected some speculations about what changes are on the horizon, from the end of monogamy to autonomous vehicles and synthetic wombs.

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#science #sciencenews #tech #technology

[Erin____]

My one hope is that they will look back and say, “Wow, it’s terrible how they were plagued by these horrible diseases. We are so fortunate to have figured out how to prevent, treat, or cure every single one them.”

[elvancor]

When using a touchscreen, I'm not thinking "man, I wish I didn't have to touch anything at all", I'm thinking "give me buttons back. i want to _feel_ what I'm doing." But alas, I'm getting old.

EDIT: Damn, I find myself disliking a number of those prospects.

[andrewj]

I’m still waiting for all sorts things they predicted in the sixties would be with us by the year 2000. Dinner in a pill, flying cars, self-cleaning clothes, moon bases …. What most people didn’t foresee was the internet and a computer on everyone’s desk or in their hand, amongst other things. You can’t predict things arising from things you don’t know you don’t know.

[DarrenGedye]

Thirty-something years ago the lab I worked in was hooked up to the local university using TCP/IP and I imagined a golden age where everyone around the globe could access the information of every university around the world. I never in my worst nightmares imagined the way it is now used to swamp us with misinformation. I have given up trying to predict the future, but I look at the increasing polarisation and intolerance of societies around the world and feel deeply afraid for my children.

[mecha-sheep]

"Our ancestors had giant flying birds made of metal to travel over the seas, they were able to unchain rains of fire upon the earth, they could see what was happening on the other side of the Earth... Truly, they were godlike. And then, that day happened..."

[john_g_harris]

Back in the 1950s I'd occasionally see someone walking down the street having a loud conversation with someone who wasn't there. I wasn't puzzled. There were 5 large mental hospitals within cycling distance. In the 2020s I see lots of people walking down the street having a loud conversation with someone who isn't there. ...

[downeygirl]

I grew up in the 60’s and it’s remarkable how little has *really* changed, i.e. in how we live our daily lives. We lived in single family houses, watched TV and complained about commercials, went to the movies, rode in cars, flew in airplanes, rode bikes, went to school every weekday except in the summer, rode in yellow school busses, mocked the lunch ladies, had parents who worked a job 40 hours/week or kept house, ate out in restaurants and got take out from McDonald’s or Burger King, drank coke or Pepsi, bought food in grocery stores, fueled up cars with pumps at the gas station, had bank accounts, mowed our lawns with gas powered mowers, had washers, dryers, electric or gas stoves, refrigerators and dishwashers, had backyard BBQs with the neighbors, played in sports, watched sports on TV, listened to music, got married in churches, had babies in hospitals, went to college and lived in dorms, protested in the Quad, wore blue jeans and t-shirts

[Babesinthewood]

I really want small business to come back. Knowledgeable proffessionals working in small shops and cafés. Like in children’s stories. :) The sweet shop, the fruit and the vegetable shop, the tailor who makes your clothes after your measurments and taste, the music shop with pianos and other instruments, the small family owned café…. Just so cute.

[gmenezesdea]

When my wife was pregnant she bought a portable ultrasound device and I was surprised, as it had never occurred to me that such a thing could even exist.

[yourguard]

What always will look stupid when looking back, are the predictions for the future they made in the past.

[orxanr]

3:18 "give it a century" proceeds to add extra 900 years

[cheesofile]

The touchscreen one is the most unbelievable imo.
We have such a fine sense of touch that it just makes sense to physically interact with your devices, rather than gesticulating or whatever.

[PlanetDeLaTourette]

Being forced to watch commercials is a human right violation in 2085.

[briannewman]

Based upon previous performances of people predicting the future, these guesses are likely to be completely wrong.

[billbrockman]

I am quite sure people 60 years ago wouldn’t have guessed everybody would walk around oblivious to the surroundings staring at a small rectangle. So, who knows?

[manfredn]

I don't think pregnancy will be replaced by artificial uterus. Growing a human is not only a technical issue, it is also about the fetus having a direct connection to the mother, being carried around, feeling her heart beat, hearing her voice. Also specific substances are shared from mother to child through the placenta. That all is what makes a human, not artificial fluids.

[liralenx]

My hope is that by 2085, we'll have at least the same level of tech that we have now.

[Lawfair]

I have the unusual educational background of physics and history, so one thing I am always interested in is how the past predicts the future. The results are not very good, we tend to suffer from "recentism"; how will what we are doing right now look in a hundred years? The reality is predictions are only ever really good if they are either extremely vague or extremely short term. Most of the important changes ironically are both never predicted, and rarely remembered or understood. Universal literacy and the abolition of slavery on a global scale were both massive realignments of the way things had been done literally (and I mean that as literal and not figuratively) forever beforehand.

[BlackbodyEconomics]

I was literally thinking the same thing about ultrasound scanning. Recently I found myself in the ER - even us healthy, under 50-ers who take care of our bodies tend to end up with a blood clot or two in their legs for no reason; and I thought - wow, a DIY ultrasound scanner should be something everybody should have. They're handy and tell you a lot and they won't cost you $2, 000 at home.
I think you nailed that one.

[seamusoreilly]

“My great-great-great grandmother lived up on the surface and breathed up there. The sun was bright and water fell from the sky. There were lots of colors and pretty things like trees and little animals that sang and floated in the air!”

“Abigail 261, you are such a liar.”