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The next big thing

Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 10:05 am
by Gorf
I figured that out of all the forums and social media I'm on, this is the best forum to ask my question. (There's a higher concentration of science fiction nerds here than is normal, and by definition they are all decent on here unlike the "other place".)

I've been given a challenge at work: What are the next big technological changes that we'll experience in our own lifetime. It's really to do with jobs and the effect on them, so for example driverless cars are likely to eventually put taxi drivers out of business, but jobs will be created in servicing them. They were an emerging technology 10 years ago, which means they were a seed in someone's head 15 or 20 years ago, and a science fiction staple before that.

VR is another. While it's been around IRL for about 30 years now, it's only just moving out of the games arena and into work, with VR allowing remote work thousands of miles away such as saving someone's life in an operating theatre or ending it from an armed drone.

What are we dreaming about now that 10-20 years from now will become fledgeling tech development we'll be getting excited about, even though right now we can't imagine how it could possibly work?

Re: The next big thing

Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 2:42 pm
by lafzy
Wearable tech, that's likely to be a big thing in the future. Clothes with microchips, phones built in, screen for entertainment built into the sleeves or the hoods, a shirt or a tie that can be programmed to change colour etc. Wasn't there a scene in the 5th element where a receptionist was changing her nail colour electronically or something like that?

Have you ever heard of Cyperpunk? I used to play the old RPG (not computer) game and the trailer for the new Cyberpunk 2077 computer game is worth a watch. Cyberpunk goes deeply into the concept of bio-tech - physical enhancements and augmentation, for example want to see further, swap your real eye out for one with a zoom function!

Re: The next big thing

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 10:25 pm
by Zermus
Quantum computing

Re: The next big thing

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 11:11 pm
by Walter
More than likely it will be either something you haven't yet heard of or something you wouldn't have thought would be in the running.

Re: The next big thing

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 9:09 am
by Gorf
Thank you you everyone for your replies. Some useful stuff there :)