Now that the internet is everywhere, what's your prediction for the next 50 years?

3-D Ipad. :(

In 50 years I will be dead.

I think the internet will lead to the destruction of earth. We are obsessed with “the next big thing”. I am sure there will be a great many new inventions.

I predict that i will not be around for the experience. 66 plus 50 equals 116 years. its a good thought, though.

Porn. Lots and lots of porn.

since 56k was only about a decade ago, I don’t even think we can accurately or rationally predict what will happen in another 5–10 years. Technology + biological science is leading to very interesting and frightening innovations concerning personalized medicine and the engineering of life. meanwhile, the internet is leading to a uncharted territory in the realm of social interaction, the generation gaps will only become larger with time. who knows???

Laughs @_bob

something new will come along thats better than a computer…if the world isn’t stricken by total poverty by then

The internet will crash and burn in the next 5 years due to so many people logging on at once.

One way or another, there will be a major backlash. Things will not continue as they are now. The potential exists to make present-day computing look as primiitive in ten years as punched-card readers look now, but a lot of forces are pressing in the other direction.

The Internet will eventually sting itself to death with its own poison by (a) pushing clutter, garbage, and smut into people’s lives and (b) making it so easy to victimize people with fraud, deception, and theft.

A whole generation of social misfits will try and fail to make their way in a world they’ve experienced only vicariously, without benefit of real interactions with other people or the world.

Employers will discover that computers are the biggest Trojan Horse of all time, costing many times more than they provide in efficiency and productivity, and they will be removed from offices and cubicles by the millions.

The power grid will be so severely affected by curtailment of the energy supply that many of us will be stuck with a bunch of useless boxes that we can’t plug in.

The economic situation will worsen to the point that people give up their DSL lines in order to keep buying groceries.

People will discover just how much of their lives is owned by the networking infrastructure companies that shuffle their bits and can capture (and use, sell, or deliver to the government) any of it that they want for whatever purposes they want, and people will move to take back their own information.

A century from now nobody will be able to explain to kids what this experience was really like.

@Jeruba You crazy!

I predict that what all the rest of you predict will turn out to be mostly wrong. What do I get when I turn out to be right? :-)

@ETpro lurve?

@talljasperman Lurve makes my world go round. Thanks. :-)

56k? I remember 1200 baud modems and running a BBS pre-Internet. We already have the Internet in our pockets. Free world wifi has to be next.

On December 21st 2012, at 12:21pm, the Internet will become self aware. For the first time in history, mankind will be incapable of lying to one another. In this manner, the second coming of Christ will be fulfilled, and Truth will finally reign supreme on planet earth. What that means for 50 years from today, I cannot really say. I’d like to think it means that corporations, bankers, religions and advertisers will stop ruling the world, bringing forth equal opportunity for prosperity to all people based upon the Truth of our noble efforts, rather than the Lies of our blackened hearts. We should also see racism become extinct, and charitable causes become our main concern above and beyond our own personal comfort.

- Cable/satellite TV merges with computers; watch TV, browse the Internet, type documents all on the same screen
– Wearble computers connected to Internet
– Death of physical keyboard and mouse; touchscreens, multitouch, and voice control instead, standard even on desktop personal computers
– Personal computers as powerful as the biggest supercomputers of today
– More use of solar power in homes/buildings, even on small electronics, as panel prices drop drastically
– Simplified/standardized home automation and remote control, widespread adoption in new development
– Cellular networks or similar become main internet service providers, instead of cable, DSL, etc. due to increased use of mobile computing
– LED light bulbs become standard instead of incandescents/CFLs
– Video calling will slowly become the norm on cell phones and new landline/VOIP phones, but current landline system will remain due to present widespread use, 911 service, power outage advantages, and slow government adoption of new technology
– Video calling/conferencing will allow students to telecommute to school, but again, government slowness will prevent sudden widespread adoption
– No flying cars, due to safety reasons
– No more printed newspapers, few printed magazines
– Plans will be made for rapid rail transit/bullet trains for North America, but it will probably be a slow process due to government bureaucracy
– Significant but gradual increase in use of Apple computers/Mac OS
– New movie formats all basically similar to VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, etc. requiring new hardware boxes to play the media
– No more hard disk drives with spinning disks, solid state drives become the standard due to lack of delicate moving parts, drive capacities increase vastly
– Combo-powered bicycles: manual pedal, pedal battery charge, wall plug battery charge, solar battery charge all in one bike

A quick slide into further moral degradation & depravity.

Internet access chips wired into the neurons of our brains for anyone who welcomes the idea. Personal firewalls will literally be required. Nobody wants hackers enter their brains.

Myspace and facebook will have a baby, calling it “FaceSpace”.

@Jeruba You are crazy. And it’s scary how right you may be. What goes up, must come down. @RealEyesRealizeRealLies I’m not sure that December 21, 2012 is going to be the apocalypse, but it’s ironic that you pair Jesus with truth when the church isn’t exactly the most honest organization we’ve got. But maybe that’s what will happen… The church will spill the beans and the world will go into chaos.

The Church and Jesus are polar opposites. People still don’t get it. Jesus (Truth) becomes manifest when, and only when, the Church becomes too corrupt… just like the first time Jesus came… only this time, we’re not going to let them crucify him. We won’t let them kill truth to cover their lies.

And I never said anything about an apocalypse. That is what happens to those who refuse to embrace Truth. They’ll try to make us think the world is ending to hold on to their power. But this is really only the beginning. The beginning of Truth’s reign on earth.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies Thanks for the clarity. I honestly thought you were preaching. :)

Ubiquitous internet access at amazingly high speeds, like frickin wireless fiber optics to your laptop/smartphone or whatever the heck we are using in 50 years.

This technology already exists. We would just need to implement it and find some courageous person to actually do.

Microphone embedded in tooth.

Speaker embedded onto eardrum.

Liquid LCD embedded onto retina.

Processor installed in nasal cavity.

Body acts as antenna and power supply.

At this point, all you would need do is whisper the following commands to yourself:

Home, iTunes, Playlist, Led Zepplin, Stairway to Heaven, Play

You’d get stereo sound and a visual. This would be the last step before an actual neural interface.

Imaging Dust

A modern digital camera has 10 to 25 million photo sites on a single chip. Separate them and place each one on its own separate nanobot that floats lighter than air. Each one would also be equipped with an led.

You have your magic dust, and I have mine. When you call, our dust floats up and acts as a floating camera to show ourselves to one another. But they’re also equipped with sonar and led, so they can actually form the shape of the person who is calling by sharing sonar data. When they light up, you’ll see me standing before you in 3D and I’ll see you likewise. When the call is over, the dust floats back into your pocket.

I guess I’ll have to settle for being called crazy by you guys. That’s not going to fit on a placard that I can carry around downtown.

@Jeruba

I have every confidence that those of us who use the modern tools properly will survive the ones who do not. The problem is not technology. The problem is greed and abuse. Those that embrace greed and abuse may have a short victory, but their ultimate fate is extinction.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies Have you seen Zeitgeist: Addendum? If not, I think you’d dig it.

@silverfly

Yes I’ve seen them a couple of times. I’m not one for embracing conspiracy theory. Like most presentations such as these, they are heavily one sided. I find that truth is most often found in the middle of two firmly held beliefs.

But they are fun to watch

Cranial implants, ocular implants sooner.