Is there an invention from comic books, science fiction, books or films, that you have either really been looking forward to or really dreading?

Yes. Jetpacks. We were promised jetpacks, and I want my jetpack.

I’d personally like one of Dr. McCoy’s medical tricorders.

Flying cars. With Boston drivers behind the wheel, you would have to be stark raving made to step outside a steel fortress.

@Rarebear Exactly! As a child of the very, very :-) late ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s I was promised a jetpack. It is my birthright. And they are finally here. I think if I sell my house and move into a trailer park I can afford the jetpack. I think it would be just awesome. I will need to find out if they have bluetooth capability though. And the tricorder would be pretty cool for a doctor. Also the home replicator. No more grocery shopping. I would like that.

@ETpro Flying cars? Boston drivers? Are you mad, my man?

@lillycoyote I’m saying that’s one Comic Book/SciFi promise I dread.

@lillycoyote Think Jetsons for the flying cars.

@Rarebear Yes, and if I remember correctly George Jetson not only has a flying car but the car folds up into a little suitcase, right? How convenient is that? One compartment for the car and another for the laptop, if we even need laptops by the time flying cars come around.

I’ll take anything from Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan novel. I’d love to see genetically engineered whale-zeppelins floating over London. Marine biology meets (and I believe this a technical term) balls to the wall bad-ass.

I’m looking forward to the ‘Holodeck’ even though I think it will be the end of civilization.

I want two: Instaport (walk through a scanner arch like an airport security gate, and when you come out the other side you’ve arrived at your destination) and, even better, Instabath (I don’t have to explain that one, do I?).

@Jeruba Is the Instabath anything like the Star Trek sonic shower I mentioned in my details? I’m thinking I wouldn’t like it because I like the whole hot shower experience but on the other hand there have been more than a few times when the whole idea of taking a shower just to leave the house, just to do my grocery shopping seems more trouble than it’s worth. Jeez, how much of a slacker am I? It’s saturday; I just need to pick up a couple of things but I really should take a shower, shouldn’t I? Those are the days when I think a Burka might not be an entirely bad idea, as long as it didn’t come with all the oppression and the patriarchal mindset and all the rest of it. I just throw on my Burka; I’m covered from head to toe, no one knows it’s me, it doesn’t matter what my hair looks like, or whether or not I’ve showered or even washed my face or if I have my pajamas or my sweats on underneath. I wouldn’t mind the Burka as an option; I really wouldn’t. But that’s a little off subject from the Instabath, isn’t it?

No, @lillycoyote. It’s exactly like Instaport, except that instead of coming out in San Francisco or Paris or Tokyo, you come out right where you were, but clean.

@Jeruba O.K. Then I think my “House of the Future” will have both an Instabath and a regular shower. I also want the Instaport, but I want the jetpack too. That just sounds like too much fun.

How come I remember the flying car being invented ten years ago?
And how come that jetpack design looks exactly like the other three designs in the past thirty years?

Does that jet-pack come in a soft blue?
When I was little and reading Heinlein’s Space Cadet (I think it was written in the 40s) I thought it was sooooo cool that the guys had “personal phones”. Never thought that would be possible. When I was a little older I first read The Mote In God’s Eye (written in the 60’s) and I really wanted a “personal computer” that was hand-held and could remotely connect to another database.
Still waiting for @Jeruba ‘s Instaport, but I’ve seen The Fly so I have some concern about that one.

Personally, I think the support bras sported by Power Girl are engineering marvels.

Also: if time is linear we would have to live out our lives normally before time travel from the future could change our lives. We could die and then “be brought back to life” through a second time dimension. And this would happen every time this manner of time travel interfered with out lives. If through overuse structure should arise in the second time dimension we’d be aware of all of it…

Matter of fact I think I dread the discovery of any new dimensions after my death. It would mess shit up BAD.

X-ray vision! Now that would give me a boner!

I want a direct neural interface. Imagine being able to use your computer without the cumbersome keyboard, mouse, monitor, or speakers? You think, it acts and displays it right in the optical/auditory centers of your brain… unless it is full VR (or, as Shadowrun puts it, “Simsense) in which case it adds touch, taste, smell, and even emotion.
Imagine being able to drive a car without a wheel or pedals. As it stands, there is always a delay between what you think and what your hands/feet tell the car to do; kiss that delay goodbye. Done right, you won’t even need some of your guages. If the engine is starting to overheat, you will feel a fever. If your gas tank is nearly empty, you will feel hungry. Driving would be more intuitive.

@ucme The TSA just got that, and they can see your boner :P

@mrentropy Why dedicate a whole room when you can create a virtual world inside your head? And if we get nanites down, we can do it through induction without invasive neurosurgery like the datajack from older Shadowrun or William Gibson works.

@jerv Because it’s probably the most well known idea of its type. And I was going to make a few choice remarks about raw materials and being pioneered by the porn industry.

@mrentropy It should go without saying that the most popular simsense chips in Shadowrun are the erotic ones.

@JilltheTooth, before you operate it, just look around carefully first and make sure you’re not in the same room with Vincent Price.

@Jeruba I had a question about the the Insta line of products… is there anything like an Instabrush-n-floss? Preferably with a Listerine rinse at the end? Maybe included in the Instabath and a travel model too? I would really love that; it would make maintaining proper dental hygiene so much easier and more convenient.

@lillycoyote, I’m not too sure what R&D is up to, but that sounds like a logical extension of Instabath. Before that, I’m anticipating Instafeed (you’ve already eaten) and Instajog (you’ve just run a mile). Combo devices are also on the drawing board: arrive in Paris clean.

The essence of the Insta devices is that you pass through them and the required change occurs. So, for example, Instafeed is not a replicator that will put a meal on the table. Rather, it transforms you from being hungry to being full, no eating involved.

Thanks a lot, @Jeruba , appalling visuals abound!