I think it's fun to write down what we expect the world to look like in 5-10 and 10-20 years.
1. True humanoid robots will become common. We are already at the point where these things are crazy good in labs:
In the next 5-10 years, these will be helping in disasters and industrial things. Battery power is the big limit for real world applications and we seem to be getting "good enough." A bit later than that or in rare cases we'll also see humanoid robots interfacing with humans in more public places. They'll be kinda a novelty vs non-humanoid robots but I think they'll still be used.
2. Automation will continue to happen and cause a long term economic boom comparable to the industrial revolution. Almost everything becomes cheaper to produce and industries can expand faster than a traditional work force would enable. I worry society will be slow adapting to this change and it'll cause a lot of people a lot of problems but hopefully that's minimized.
3. AI personal assistants will become standard and awesome. They'll be Siri like programs always watching and listening during our day to day lives. For example when people talk in person about future plans, the AI automatically adds these plans to its calendar. Then if in the future you seem to forget and start to schedule something for the same time, it can speak up and remind you about the scheduling conflict. Siri and Alexa wait for you to interact with them, but these future AI programs will be actively monitoring your life for ways to help you. Might start to appear in phones around 2020 but I think it'll take longer for them to be more accepted and less buggy. Eventually they'll be like non-imaginary imaginary friends.
4. Both a moon and a Mars colony/base will be formed towards the end of the 2020s. In space manufacturing will also become standard in the 2030s for things that benefit from zero g. I'm hopeful that human bases would spread throughout the solar system like an infection, but it's also reasonable to think the Mars colony will be a money drain that stops further expansion.
5. Video games for next gen will have tons of focus put on physics and interactivity between systems. The Last Guardian and Zelda Breadth of the Wild seem to be at the start of this new trend. Assassin's Creed Origins with its fire physics is another example. Currently it's standard for devs to avoid invisible walls in games but I think game devs of the future will avoid "artificial" walls in games: restrictions that exist even though in real life they wouldn't. That's assuming loot boxes don't cause an industry collapse.
6. Jet packs will become useful in real world situations. I don't think there's that large of a market for them, but they're moving out of the sci fi world. Drones will also work to carry humans around as battery tech increases. Also I expect drones to become a standard tool of automation for tasks that don't require heavy lifting. Use them to paint and clean large structures. Have swappable battery packs so they can return to the home station and swap in a new one. Will be cheap and versatile alternatives to humanoid robots. Pick up trash and smaller roadkill along highways when mated with a self driving car for example.
7. Augmented reality glasses will not become popular for day to day use. Even once they're small and sleek, I don't think people will want to wear devices on their heads all day long. Glasses killed off 3D TVs and those weren't half as bad. Instead people will continue to use their phone screens as those get better and better. Will not project screens onto our wrists or into the air like holograms. That tech will not be feasible anytime soon. Instead the big "future tech" that'll slowly become common is smart phone screens that can be illuminated by natural light similar to eBook readers. They'll look way better during full sun and have a "magic" like feeling which could speed up their adoption. Would still function as traditional screens too. Maybe ~10 years from now.
8. Quantum gravity and dark energy will not be solved by 2025. Gravity wave detecting telescopes will be a big thing and a space interferometer will be built in the 2020s. Additionally more non traditional telescopes will be set up in space due to the decreased cost to get there. This will include telescopes with large star shades and using light interference instead of a lense. James Webb Space Telescope will not find any proof of alien life, but will find tons and tons of planets that are just like Earth. Our solar system is far from special.
9. People will still be waiting for VizionEck to release.
I'll continue to come back to this thread and post updates and new things I think I've noticed. Post your own predictions!
1. True humanoid robots will become common. We are already at the point where these things are crazy good in labs:
In the next 5-10 years, these will be helping in disasters and industrial things. Battery power is the big limit for real world applications and we seem to be getting "good enough." A bit later than that or in rare cases we'll also see humanoid robots interfacing with humans in more public places. They'll be kinda a novelty vs non-humanoid robots but I think they'll still be used.
2. Automation will continue to happen and cause a long term economic boom comparable to the industrial revolution. Almost everything becomes cheaper to produce and industries can expand faster than a traditional work force would enable. I worry society will be slow adapting to this change and it'll cause a lot of people a lot of problems but hopefully that's minimized.
3. AI personal assistants will become standard and awesome. They'll be Siri like programs always watching and listening during our day to day lives. For example when people talk in person about future plans, the AI automatically adds these plans to its calendar. Then if in the future you seem to forget and start to schedule something for the same time, it can speak up and remind you about the scheduling conflict. Siri and Alexa wait for you to interact with them, but these future AI programs will be actively monitoring your life for ways to help you. Might start to appear in phones around 2020 but I think it'll take longer for them to be more accepted and less buggy. Eventually they'll be like non-imaginary imaginary friends.
4. Both a moon and a Mars colony/base will be formed towards the end of the 2020s. In space manufacturing will also become standard in the 2030s for things that benefit from zero g. I'm hopeful that human bases would spread throughout the solar system like an infection, but it's also reasonable to think the Mars colony will be a money drain that stops further expansion.
5. Video games for next gen will have tons of focus put on physics and interactivity between systems. The Last Guardian and Zelda Breadth of the Wild seem to be at the start of this new trend. Assassin's Creed Origins with its fire physics is another example. Currently it's standard for devs to avoid invisible walls in games but I think game devs of the future will avoid "artificial" walls in games: restrictions that exist even though in real life they wouldn't. That's assuming loot boxes don't cause an industry collapse.
6. Jet packs will become useful in real world situations. I don't think there's that large of a market for them, but they're moving out of the sci fi world. Drones will also work to carry humans around as battery tech increases. Also I expect drones to become a standard tool of automation for tasks that don't require heavy lifting. Use them to paint and clean large structures. Have swappable battery packs so they can return to the home station and swap in a new one. Will be cheap and versatile alternatives to humanoid robots. Pick up trash and smaller roadkill along highways when mated with a self driving car for example.
7. Augmented reality glasses will not become popular for day to day use. Even once they're small and sleek, I don't think people will want to wear devices on their heads all day long. Glasses killed off 3D TVs and those weren't half as bad. Instead people will continue to use their phone screens as those get better and better. Will not project screens onto our wrists or into the air like holograms. That tech will not be feasible anytime soon. Instead the big "future tech" that'll slowly become common is smart phone screens that can be illuminated by natural light similar to eBook readers. They'll look way better during full sun and have a "magic" like feeling which could speed up their adoption. Would still function as traditional screens too. Maybe ~10 years from now.
8. Quantum gravity and dark energy will not be solved by 2025. Gravity wave detecting telescopes will be a big thing and a space interferometer will be built in the 2020s. Additionally more non traditional telescopes will be set up in space due to the decreased cost to get there. This will include telescopes with large star shades and using light interference instead of a lense. James Webb Space Telescope will not find any proof of alien life, but will find tons and tons of planets that are just like Earth. Our solar system is far from special.
9. People will still be waiting for VizionEck to release.
I'll continue to come back to this thread and post updates and new things I think I've noticed. Post your own predictions!