Can you see into the future? Your 2010 predicitions (1 Viewer)

[Garrett Lundy]

What wonders and horrors stalk the world of tomorrow? Consult your inner Nostradamus and blow some minds at the AHL. (note: Prophecy is magic so you don't need to show your work).

Disney/Honda build android: Mega corporations combine to build free-roaming animatronic human capable of conversing in several languages, opening doors, and carrying heavy loads up stairs. Android will crash into a tree when scientists attempt to teach it to drive a car.

Harley-Davidson markets new motorcycle that can run on biodiesel (And yes, its really loud).

US Marines send 2500 suits of strength augmenting "powered armor" (the augmented strength is required to move the 300lbs of kevlar reinforced titanium and ceramic body armor). Armor proves to be very effective but soldiers succumb to heat-stroke quickly despite liquid-cooling systems.

Virgin Galactic takes 13 groups of wealthy tourists into space and returns them safely. Richard Branson sells company and begins work on engineering a resort to be built on ocean floor.

Gene-therapy designed to reverse male pattern baldness starts human trials

Scientists enable person to grow third set of teeth.

New bio-engineered orange tree produces delicious fruit year-round in Canada

DeBeers uncovers a 7000 carat mushroom-shaped diamond in Africa. 1300lb diamond is kept at company headquarters until its theft in 2057, it is never recovered.

 

[Bob McLaughlin]

Everyone who has seen Avatar will simultaneously go into convulsions and drop dead at midnight on 01/01/10.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

SETI confirms extra-terrestrial radio frequency signal from crab nebula.

"Please stop contacting us, This is an unlisted planet. We're eating dinner."

 

[ChristopherG]

for some reason, as I read this thread, I hear La Bamba singing "In the year three thousand...."

 

[BrianW]

We will decide that it is easier and cheaper just to feed all the polar bears than it is to mitigate global warming, but the polar bears will still go extinct as government committees endlessly debate who should spearhead the effort.

Scientists will come up with more mind-bogglingly cool things we could do with graphene, buckyballs, and nanotubes, if only we could somehow figure out how to do this one additional, crucial, impossible thing.

With no evidence whatsoever, someone will predict that an asteroid will strike the Earth in December of 2012. Citing a massive NASA cover-up, he will gain a huge following despite the fact that any amateur astronomer in the world could expose such a cover-up simply by looking through a telescope.

Sunspot activity will increase throughout the year and be seen by many as evidence of impending global doom, despite the fact that such an increase is predicted by well-known solar cycles.

There will continue to be an increase in the number of people who don't know the difference between force, energy, power, and work, who will claim to be on the verge of a breakthrough in the construction of a free energy device powered only by magnets.

The signal-to-noise ratio on the Internet will actually rise slightly (and temporarily) in 2010 when Twitter suffers a server crash.

People who invested in renewable energy stock in summer 2008 will lose patience and sell out in 2010, losing a bundle. People who invested in renewable energy stock this winter will sell out in the summer of 2010 and make a bundle.

Someone will sneak an incendiary device onto an airplane by concealing it in his nose, subsequently resulting in compulsory nasal cavity searches for all air travelers.

The Large Hadron Collider will fail to find the Higg's Boson in 2010, but it will offer up tantalizing support for Super-Symmetry by exposing the neutralino particle. Practical applications of the finding will be mind-blowing, provided that we first figure out how to still be around in 780 trillion years to witness the heat death of the Universe.

By the end of 2010, the EESTOR ultra capacitor will still be a bunch of hooey.

The "Self-Entitlement-Inflation-Index" will jump into double-digit territory.

A celebrity will unwittingly expose his/her extramarital affair by posting a detailed message about it on the Twitter account belonging to the Jumbotron in New York's Time's Square. This celebrity's colossal stupidity won't be topped for nearly a year.

Despite the standing laws of cause and effect, American car companies will explore the concept of "Retro-Obsolescence" to force consumers to reconsider keeping their vehicles longer than ten years.

NASA cutbacks will result in a launch delay of the James Webb Space Telescope, resulting in an even longer period of loss of visible-light and ultraviolet-light observation capability between the time the Hubble dies, and the time the James Webb becomes operational. Nobody will care.

Microsoft will discover the secret to maximizing ad revenue for search engines: turning up everything in the world except the very thing the user is actually searching for.

 

[DaveF]

I'll start with the safe predictions

Apple releases new iPhone.

Nuclear Fusion Reactors said to be commercially feasible by 2030 (it's always 20 years away...)

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Originally Posted by DaveF


Nuclear Fusion Reactors said to be commercially feasible by 2030 (it's always 20 years away...)

Edit: The NIF Fusion reactor is slated to run its first test in early 2010. If it doesn't work... well then its another in a long history of non-working fission reactors. If it does work.. it may create a black hole and destroy the earth in 1/10,000th of a second. Strange days.

Always assume that when something is "unveiled" and works, that just means the governments have secretly been using the technology for 20 years already.

That means the first batch of genetically engineered people are now roughly 17 years old and will soon be breaking every Olympic record and staffing huge reserves of "elite special troops" to be deployed whenever the illuminati feel like it.

New prediction: The skeleton of Hitler will finally be found underneath a parking-lot in Berlin. Which if you enjoy conspiracy theories consider: The soviet government found the remains of Hitler & entourage and autopsied them (This is how we know he poisoned himself before a guard shot him in the head just to be sure), then secretly hid the body so that it could remain a museum piece of the Soviet Union instead of an endless international drama about who gets the bones. Sadly during the Berlin reconstruction the exact whereabouts of the hiding place were lost and construction companies simply built over them, unaware that there were buried remains.

Once exhumed a beerhall will be built on the site. The establishment will be called "The 1000 year hangover" ("Die trausen jahr kater")

FACT: The soviet SMERSH (basically the soviet CIA) force charged with destroying the skeletal remains of Hitler in 1947 retained a skull fragment as proof of his death (Officially the bones were cremated and thrown in a river). In 2009 DNA testing concluded the skull fragment wasn't Hitler's, but belong to a woman 40 years younger than he. Could be longtime BFF Eva Braun, or could be part of Hitler's cleaning crew. The world may never know.

 

[DaveF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garrett Lundy

Edit: The NIF Fusion reactor is slated to run its first test in early 2010. If it doesn't work... well then its another in a long history of non-working fission reactors. If it does work.. it may create a black hole and destroy the earth in 1/10,000th of a second. Strange days.

I'm unaware of the black-hole issue: I thought that was a super-collider thing.

The long-running joke is that practical fusion is only 20 years away. Alas, it's been 20 years away for about 20 years. Another other interesting thing is that significant funding for fusion research is not actually about energy production but military interest. Or so I'm told by friends that have worked at a fusion research facility.


Prediction #3: Hollywood will continue to moan and complete and target legislation to overcome their piracy problem, even as they continue to make money hand over fist, breaking 2009 records.

 

[BrianW]

Originally Posted by Garrett Lundy

it may create a black hole and destroy the earth in 1/10,000th of a second.

Only a stellar-mass black hole could swallow the Earth so quickly. And even then, the Earth would be essentially (and dramatically) destroyed long before the 1/10,000-of-a-second final dip below the event horizon. No locally-created, sub-atomic-mass black hole could do such a thing, even if it were to remain forever stable. If such a thing were to remain stable, it could be years before it swallows even its first proton. Even a black hole with the mass of ten fleets of battleships, disregarding the tiny area its event horizon would have, would take at least as long to swallow the Earth as it would take to fall through a tunnel dug to the Earth's center. If you consider the size of the event horizon, then it would take far longer, since you're essentially squeezing all the Earth's mass through a hole averaging half the size of a ping-pong ball.

---

There are apps for cell phones (iPhone and Android) that override their settings and ring loudly when you text a particular message to the phone. This is to locate the phone, even if you had it set to "silent" when you lost it. I predict that so-called friends will use this app to embarrass people in theaters, plays, and operas, annoying the heck out of the rest of us, and focusing the world's anger on the cell phone owners even when they diligently silenced their phones before the movies/plays/operas began.

Of course, by predicting this in a public forum, I'm essentially guaranteeing that it will happen.

 

[mattCR]

Well, putting aside the black hole bit..

I'll go from my "reasonable" to "unreasonable" to "insane but possible" there are some "negative" predictions here, so please keep in mind these aren't things I -want- to happen, just things I legitimately think -might- happen.

Reasonable:

Apple Introduces iSlate.. and struggles with it. Unlike the success of the iPhone, Apple finds that Amazon's Kindle and other products already have a strong enough infrastructure to make it a rough road to hoe. While not an outright failure ala say, Newton, the iSlate is plagued with functionality and available content issues.

Microsoft finds their phone OS sucks, and while having long considered buying RIM (blackberry) the cost is simply too high.. Microsoft makes it's pitch and buys Palm before the end of the year.

Ford Motor Company announces they will be one of the first for large field trials of Hydrogen based vehicles in California, and uses federal research funds to offset infrastructure cost. While mostly PR, Ford finds itself in a position to do what GM / Chrysler simply can't, and tries to get the technological advantage as long as it has a more assured finance base.

Sun Microsystems stops being Sun Microsystems. It kills the workstation infrastructure and becomes a Java exclusive vendor, cutting costs and inventory. (as well as workforce)

Eventually, unfortunately, someone succeeds, and a second terrorist attack occurs within the US. Small or major, who knows.. but every year, the odds get more likely someone slips through the cracks.

Senator Robert Byrd, (WV) passes away.

At least one US House of Representative members may be indicted for some sort of criminal activity and removed from office.

Fairly Unreasonable

NASA announces the Russians are right, and the threat of an asteroid hit are more likely then they have announced. They ask for federal funding to join the Russians in their effort to blast an asteroid.

Scientists announce that, in the end, we completely misunderstood global warming "our bad"

The Washington Wizards, already embroiled in scandal from having players draw guns on each other in the lockerroom, is rocked by years end with a scandal that vendors in the stands are involved in a gambling racket, when a beer vendor is caught on film shaking down a fan on film.

The US Government announces that in order to help save money, we are finally, officially, giving up on the Penny (1 cent coin). "You can't even buy gum with it anymore" announces Obama from the Rose Garden.

The Hubble Telescope gives us a unique view of the outer solar system, and Pluto is officially re-classified as a planet.

TV Manufacturers announce that they are preparing for the next step in digital media, with "4k", the already ratified Academy Projection Standard as an effort to make it's way to home. Monitors with the new resolution (4096x2214) become the home-theater-on-endless budget item of the year. The first titles shipping in the new format are IMAX.. and Porn.

James Cameron's "Avatar" shocks all comers and, returns to Box Office #1 for Valentine's weekend, wiping box office records. James Cameron wins technical awards, announces "Screw you who thought I wasn't, SCOREBOARD, King of the World!" at the Academy Awards. While some are offended, actors debate how they can get in on the money train.

Diaper manufacturers announce that in an effort to become more environmentally friendly, they will begin offering washable overnights with only an "insertable" module for... purpose.

Tiger Woods returns to golf for the Master's, and announces "like you wouldn't if you had a billion in the bank? Wake up, I'm not Wilt Chamberlain" .. and proceeds to win by 3 strokes, as other players wives use the evil eye as their SO's are paired with him ...data:image/png;base64,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%3D

 

[BrianW]

Matt, I like your last one.

Regarding the Microsoft phone prediction, MS already bought Danger, the service behind the T-Mobile Sidekick thin-client architecture in an effort to leverage its presence in Smart Phone Land. It didn't go well. They may have to buy Palm, like you said, just to mitigate the horrible damage done with Danger.

I think your Apple iSlate prediction is spot-on, too. The Apple e-reader will offer fewer useful features than Kindle or Nook, despite being hyped as the best thing since cuneiform. I'll add that it will be paper thin, though.

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by mattCR /forum/thread/296432/can-you-see-into-the-future-your-2010-predicitions#post_3644450

There's a thread on this topic, if you want to avoid cluttering up this one with "iTablet" arguments

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/296029/pop-mechanic-s-look-at-the-tablet-as-the-future-of-magazines/

More Predictions:

I buy my first iPhone.

Palm once and for all goes out of business, bringing its legacy to an ignomious end.

 

[BrianW]

Thanks for the link, Dave.

I predict that Android apps will outnumber iPhone apps by the end of the year.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

Originally Posted by BrianW

I thought Apple's tablet was going to be a computer (like a big ipod touch) rather than an ebook reader. It would be pointless to do it any other way, given how many apps they have already.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

If the large format iBook eventually offers color it could kill the college textbook market in a year.

Grey's Anatomy (college bookstore): $199
Grey's Anatomy (Apple iBook download): $19

 

[Matt^Brown]

Predictions

The economy will still be in recover but "buy gold" commercials will still be all over the radio forecasting the doom of our market.

Health Care for everyone will still be being debated in the Senate

President will make a speech saying we are leaving Iraq in 11months

The price of gas will hit $3 a gallon where I live. $3.50 in Cali.

Blue ray will still be a niche market with digital downloads taking over the market.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Originally Posted by Matt^Brown


The price of gas will hit $3 a gallon where I live. $3.50 in Cali.

Isn't that like saying water will still be wet? (gas is currently $2.87 in my small town).