"What emerging technology do you believe will have the greatest impact on our daily lives in the next 5-10 years?"

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

It seems we are one the cusp with AI having potentially a bigger impact than even the advent of ubiquitous internet connectivity.

 

What else is on the horizon, but not yet in the public mind?

[Spotty]

I don't think there's anything on the horizon that would even come close to AI in terms of future potential and possibilities.

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

5 minutes ago, Spotty said:

I don't think there's anything on the horizon that would even come close to AI in terms of future potential and possibilities.

I agree, though at this point I think AI is still in it's infancy, with projects like ChatGPT being able to simulate intelligence without any underlying understanding taking place

[poochyena]

Electric bicycles.

Portability of a regular bicycle, with the range of 95% of trips people make on a normal day, the minimal effort required to operate like cars, most of the fun of a motorcycle, and much much safer than cars. Oh, and much cheaper and less carbon emissions! With the uprising of electric bikes, there is VERY little reason for most people to own a car as long as governments update roads to accommodate the bikes. They are just simple better than cars in nearly every way and will revolutionize transportation.

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

5 minutes ago, poochyena said:

Electric bicycles.

Portability of a regular bicycle, with the range of 95% of trips people make on a normal day, the minimal effort required to operate like cars, most of the fun of a motorcycle, and much much safer than cars. Oh, and much cheaper and less carbon emissions! With the uprising of electric bikes, there is VERY little reason for most people to own a car as long as governments update roads to accommodate the bikes. They are just simple better than cars in nearly every way and will revolutionize transportation.

I visited the Netherlands last year, and was given access to an electric bike with a two person trailer for my kids. With my eldest on the back seat of the bike and my two little ones in the trailer, we were able to 20-30 km trips daily at absolutely zero cost, with free charging all over the place

[Somerandomtechyboi]

18 minutes ago, poochyena said:

Electric bicycles.

Portability of a regular bicycle, with the range of 95% of trips people make on a normal day, the minimal effort required to operate like cars, most of the fun of a motorcycle, and much much safer than cars. Oh, and much cheaper and less carbon emissions! With the uprising of electric bikes, there is VERY little reason for most people to own a car as long as governments update roads to accommodate the bikes. They are just simple better than cars in nearly every way and will revolutionize transportation.

Also i think in most places no need for liscenses so kids can actually move around without having to depend on parents

 

Im considering building one but im gonna turn 16 in a few months and 17 next year, not to mention im already planning on buying a cheap 1000$ cressida before i turn 16

[poochyena]

10 minutes ago, The 8-Bit Time Traveller said:

I visited the Netherlands last year, and was given access to an electric bike with a two person trailer for my kids. With my eldest on the back seat of the bike and my two little ones in the trailer, we were able to 20-30 km trips daily at absolutely zero cost, with free charging all over the place

I visited Malaysia earlier this month, and while there were few bikes, there were loads of speedy trains. I traveled to multiple cities by train in 1 day while making multiple stops. Bikes for city travel and trains for longer distance travel is unbeatable. Few countries do both though.. with the US doing basically neither. I think electric bikes will be enough to change that though.

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

27 minutes ago, TechlessBro said:

Most is public already

Quantum computing will take another leap.

Protein folding is going well.

Dark and exotic particles.

warping space time.

mRNA treatments will go back to pre Covid research for cancer and other disease eradication where it had been for the last 4-5 years.

 

But mostly no one will notice as focus will shift from mass unemployment. Between AI and electric cars the workforce will be down 40% soon enough.

How can we use the emerging technologies to address the rising unemployment issue?

 

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

Just now, poochyena said:

I visited Malaysia earlier this month, and while there were few bikes, there were loads of speedy trains. I traveled to multiple cities by train in 1 day while making multiple stops. Bikes for city travel and trains for longer distance travel is unbeatable. Few countries do both though.. with the US doing basically neither. I think electric bikes will be enough to change that though.

It's primarily an issue of population density, low population density societies, or societies with vast open spaces between cities present different challenges to public transport.

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

3 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Also i think in most places no need for liscenses so kids can actually move around without having to depend on parents

 

Im considering building one but im gonna turn 16 in a few months and 17 next year, not to mention im already planning on buying a cheap 1000$ cressida before i turn 16

The cost of e-bikes is also very high. I live on a farm, and we are in the process of going renewable, this included the purchase of a small electric vehicle with a 500KG loading capacity. The cost was higher than a decent secondhand car, which is a much more versatile tool

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

Just now, TechlessBro said:

Unknown.

This will be very interesting to see what comes out of it, maybe capitalism will fall. Maybe we get cyberpunk slums, Mad Max or 28 days. But more likely bifurcation of society on a massive scale.

Humanity is pretty stupid overall, not like we plan ahead so roll the dice and see.

My biggest concern for the future is gene-editing, which will widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots to a chasm that cannot be bridged, and the only way I see that ending is with large scale global civil unrest or war

[mariushm]

No on the AI.

Several promising battery technologies out there which will compete with lithium batteries ... will lower demand for fossil fuels even more.

EU already plans to ban sales of gas/diesel cars by 2025 or something like that.

 

 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

6 minutes ago, The 8-Bit Time Traveller said:

The cost of e-bikes is also very high. I live on a farm, and we are in the process of going renewable, this included the purchase of a small electric vehicle with a 500KG loading capacity. The cost was higher than a decent secondhand car, which is a much more versatile tool

Theres also just building your own, cheaper and far more capable than those joke overpriced e bikes that can only do a pitiful 40kmh

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

2 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Theres also just building your own, cheaper and far more capable than those joke overpriced e bikes that can only do a pitiful 40kmh

The piddling speed of e-bikes is one of the draws, it keeps them below the need for regulation. I would love to learn more fabrication techniques to be able to build my own, they are not very complex

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

2 hours ago, TechlessBro said:

Nah it won’t be gene editing.

It always money or knowledge.

there will be no war TikTok proved people are easy to control and manipulate.

Watch https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

Too true, we are very easy to manipulate

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

2 hours ago, mariushm said:

No on the AI.

Several promising battery technologies out there which will compete with lithium batteries ... will lower demand for fossil fuels even more.

EU already plans to ban sales of gas/diesel cars by 2025 or something like that.

 

 

Yeah, one of the main things holding us back at the moment is battery technology, and energy storage in general. Once we cross a certain threshold in cost/capacity, that will be the thing that really makes renewable energy take off

[05032-Mendicant-Bias]

Cryptocurrency!

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

You got me, it was a joke 

 

I bet on fleets of autonomous delivery trucks within ten years, automating the unpopular job of truck driver. Also it'll rid the habit of trucks to surpass each other with a speed difference of 1 Km/h.

  

2 hours ago, TechlessBro said:

Nah it won’t be gene editing.

Not within ten years, but personalized medicine, with AI synthesizing the right drug for you in that moment would be an enormous step forward, rather than doing big studies to assess the effect a drug has on average and hope for the best.

[Stahlmann]

4 hours ago, poochyena said:

Electric bicycles.

Portability of a regular bicycle, with the range of 95% of trips people make on a normal day, the minimal effort required to operate like cars, most of the fun of a motorcycle, and much much safer than cars. Oh, and much cheaper and less carbon emissions! With the uprising of electric bikes, there is VERY little reason for most people to own a car as long as governments update roads to accommodate the bikes. They are just simple better than cars in nearly every way and will revolutionize transportation.

This simply doesn't work for most parts of the world. Sure there are countries like the Netherlands where you can do a lot with a bike. Still, you can't go grocery shopping, you're more dependant on weather etc. Not to mention many people - especially in rural areas - have 10 - 30 km trips to and from work. Sure, you could drive that distance with a bike, but it would take more than twice the time. And saving time is also worth a lot.

 

Pretty much everyone that says public transport and bikes are the way forward live in a city and don't understand that these principles simply don't work anywhere else.

 

I don't see cars going anywhere. And everyone that is already used to the comfort of a car will have a hard time adjusting to a bike, even though it might be cheaper overall. Money isn't everything. People are willing to pay a lot for comfort and convenience.

 

And in what world is riding a bike safer than driving in a car? If anything, it's more dangerous.

Especially when you have to drive on the main road because most places don't have roads exclusive to bycicles.

[maplepants]

Where I live, I think overhead wires on highways for trucks are going to be pretty big. There's a big section of highway near me that's been adding it, and other nearby countries are doing it too.

 

The removal of diesel fumes from the air due to long haul trucking would have an enormous impact on the health of my kids, and everyone else their age or younger.

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

23 minutes ago, maplepants said:

Where I live, I think overhead wires on highways for trucks are going to be pretty big. There's a big section of highway near me that's been adding it, and other nearby countries are doing it too.

 

The removal of diesel fumes from the air due to long haul trucking would have an enormous impact on the health of my kids, and everyone else their age or younger.

That's very cool, I shudder to think about developing economies installing things like this, and the lapsing on maintenance!

[maplepants]

44 minutes ago, The 8-Bit Time Traveller said:

That's very cool, I shudder to think about developing economies installing things like this, and the lapsing on maintenance!

I don't know enough about infrastructure or how poor countries / regions handle it to say too much. But the tech in the wires is basically the same as we've been doing for trains here for a long time. I would imagine that any place with a strong enough electrical grid to support this would also be able to handle the maintenance. 

[poochyena]

7 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

Still, you can't go grocery shopping

huh? why not? I do it just fine. I could have fit more into my basket too, or have also worn a backpack. This is in Huntsville, Alabama, USA

 

7 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

Not to mention many people - especially in rural areas - have 10 - 30 km trips to and from work. Sure, you could drive that distance with a bike, but it would take more than twice the time. And saving time is also worth a lot.

Most people live in cities or towns, so thats irrelevant. Like saying smartphones weren't a revelation since some people in rural areas have no cell service.

7 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

Pretty much everyone that says public transport and bikes are the way forward live in a city and don't understand that these principles simply don't work anywhere else.

No one is saying it will work literally everywhere on earth. I literally don't get this logic. Do you think smartphones are a failure since they don't work everywhere? "not everywhere has electricity or cell service!"

7 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

And in what world is riding a bike safer than driving in a car? If anything, it's more dangerous.

Especially when you have to drive on the main road because most places don't have roads exclusive to bycicles.

Especially when you have to drive on the main road? Tell me, why is that? Is it because of....... cars? if cars are killing people left and right, then it ain't the bikes that are dangerous.

[wasab]

Can't wait for technology that reverse aging. It probably is 200 years or so off. 

[WildDagwood]

Haven't followed up on it yet, but a little while back Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California was able to achieve a fusion reaction that generated more energy than what was required to initiate the reaction.

[tikker]

9 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

This simply doesn't work for most parts of the world. Sure there are countries like the Netherlands where you can do a lot with a bike. Still, you can't go grocery shopping, you're more dependant on weather etc.

I'm saying this as a Duchty, so I'm biased since there is nothing we consider impossible on bikes, but grocery shopping not being possible on a bike is far from true. You have bike bags that sit on either side of the rear luggage rack and which can fit a lot, and backpacks exist. It does depend on infrastructure, however. Here most towns will have some form of shopping centre nearby (read: something like <15-20 minutes biking from home) or you pass near one on the way home from work if you live in bigger towns or cities.

 

In cities it's easy to hop by daily on your way home and if it's a bit further away you can go 2-3 times a week buying more at once or something like that. Like I said, it depends on local infrastructure and it does take some more planning and time if stores are further away, which you will have to weigh personally of course, but supporting a family of 4 worth of groceris that way is perfectly possible I can say from growing up in one.

9 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

Pretty much everyone that says public transport and bikes are the way forward live in a city and don't understand that these principles simply don't work anywhere else.

Public transport won't solve the problem of rural areas or flexibility and peace of mind of just having your own transport, I totally agree with that, but I think saying it won't work anywhere else is too abrupt of a cut. For inter city travel, and even intra city travel really, I think it is viable if investments are made into infrastructure that allows them to better flourish and actually work smoothly. It just shouldn't be seen as a black or white thing and the scale needs to be considered. One can argue that the Netherlands is small scale compared to other places in the world, but that also means it's an example of how such small scale regions can function well on public transport.

9 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

I don't see cars going anywhere. And everyone that is already used to the comfort of a car will have a hard time adjusting to a bike, even though it might be cheaper overall. Money isn't everything. People are willing to pay a lot for comfort and convenience.

You can push them towards alternatives though. More and more cities here are banning trucks, or cars that exceed certain emission levels from their centres for example, and on bigger scales roads are adjusted in certain places to reroute traffic to get motor vehicles out of cities and towns and around them.

9 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

And in what world is riding a bike safer than driving in a car? If anything, it's more dangerous.

Especially when you have to drive on the main road because most places don't have roads exclusive to bycicles.

And there you hit the nail on the head of what the core problem is. This is an infrastructure and mentality problem. The country has to actively invest in infrastructure that allows for it and both cars and bikes need to acknowledge each others existence. If you don't want bicycles on the main road, bike-friendly countries have figued that out ages ago: you make a bike lane that actually provides decent biking space and either physically separate it from the road with some bumps or symbolically by painting a wide coloured strip on the ground indicating that only bikes are allowed there.

 

Regarding safety, car and bike deaths are pretty tied here in the Netherlands at roughly 30% each, and of the bike deaths roughly half involved a car or truck last year. For people <50 the majority of deaths and are with actually with cars or motor bikes and not with bicycles and we've had 207 bike deaths out of 582 lethal traffic accidents in 2021. Traffic accidents are pretty low in general, at around 0.1% of the population.

 

 

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In terms of the general topic: I'd have to be with the more obious of AI feeling like the thing that will have the biggest impact in the near future. It has the potential to change a lot in both our perception of look at many things from mundane tasks to content creation.