Events you hope you'll live long enough to see

[RGC]

Given that you probably won't be sucking air in 60-80 years time, what changes or events would you really like to see happen before you pop your clogs? I'm thinking along the lines of plausible developments or breakthroughs, notoriously difficult to predict though the future is. We can all dream longer term about world peace, but sadly I don't think it's something you or I will witness, unless we can master cryogenics.

A few off the top of my head:

- Cures for all known types of cancer. Obvious choice, but had to be in there.

- Evidence of independent life (historic or current) on Mars, or elsewhere in our solar system/galaxy/universe.

- Cloning of complex organs such as lungs, heart, or lower intestines, which can then be transplanted with diminished likelihood of rejection.

- As above, but for consumable animal products.

Hoping this will stimulate some varied responses.

[Ruldra]

The Apocalypse.

[antron]

I think cancer has been cured, really. University of Pennsylvania this year. They reprogrammed the patient's white blood cells to attack lymphoma and re-inserted them. There was an explosion of immune response with high fever, then the systemic disease and bulky tumors disappeared.

[RGC]

Sounds incredible, and amazing if true!

[Moniker]

Affordable civilian space flight. This one's at the very top of my bucket list.

[Jockel]

- As above, but for consumable animal products.

IIRC some scientists were working on cloned bacon. They had trouble with the tissue building muscles or something. But it's a start.

[mesh control]

The Apocalypse.

Fingers crossed for nuclear war. (i'm not joking)

[neorichieb1971]

I just want Earth to be a happier place to live in.

[antron]

Sounds incredible, and amazing if true!

http://health.upenn.edu/news/News_Relea ... 8/t-cells/

they are 4 for 4.

[Aliquantic]

Brain dumping or similar technology to avoid the frailties of our bodies, or the full blown singularity, thank you very much!

[MadScientist]

I think cancer has been cured, really. University of Pennsylvania this year. They reprogrammed the patient's white blood cells to attack lymphoma and re-inserted them. There was an explosion of immune response with high fever, then the systemic disease and bulky tumors disappeared.

It's a promising development, but it's probably not the solution to ALL cancers, just particular types of cancer. Also, T-cell engineering isn't without some serious risks - some people have died as transgenic T-cells may also attack normal cells as well as cancer cells. No doubt it's worth the risk if all other avenues of treatment have been exhausted, but more study needs to be done to make it applicable for broader use.

[guigui]

I hope I'll live long enough to see the end of petroleum.

[antron]

I hope I'll live long enough to see the end of petroleum.

the more alternatives we come up with, the cheaper it will get, the faster it will all get used up. haven't you seen robocop?

[RGC]

I think cancer has been cured, really. University of Pennsylvania this year. They reprogrammed the patient's white blood cells to attack lymphoma and re-inserted them. There was an explosion of immune response with high fever, then the systemic disease and bulky tumors disappeared.

It's a promising development, but it's probably not the solution to ALL cancers, just particular types of cancer. Also, T-cell engineering isn't without some serious risks - some people have died as transgenic T-cells may also attack normal cells as well as cancer cells. No doubt it's worth the risk if all other avenues of treatment have been exhausted, but more study needs to be done to make it applicable for broader use.

The fail rates (according to that article) associated with transplants don't sound too encouraging. I can't imagine being in the shoes of someone faced with that as their best option for treatment. On the face of it, T-cell therapy does seem like a step in the right direction, but no doubt comes with its own set of risks. I don't think we're quite able to say we've demonstrably conquered cancer just yet. But who knows, ten, twenty years? I'd be guessing, as I'm quite ignorant about such things.

Affordable civilian space flight. This one's at the very top of my bucket list.

Even above eating a 1kg slab of home-grown rindless bacon? :p Space flight has its appeal, but it'd be totally wasted on me because I'm such a chicken shit. No way am I gettin' on no space ship!

[antron]

The fail rates (according to that article) associated with transplants don't sound too encouraging. I can't imagine being in the shoes of someone faced with that as their best option for treatment. On the face of it, T-cell therapy does seem like a step in the right direction, but no doubt comes with its own set of risks. I don't think we're quite able to say we've demonstrably conquered cancer just yet. But who knows, ten, twenty years? I'd be guessing, as I'm quite ignorant about such things.

the transplant mentioned there is the standard treatment for this. the T-cell therapy would replace that. you may have meant that, but I just wanted to clarify.

[RGC]

Yeh, I was talking about facing the current standard treatment as the best option.

[Vamos]

The point where humanity stupidly breeds itself into a world of shit and the demise begins .

[Blackbird]

I would love to see the "energy revolution" come to pass. The promise of "unlimited" energy from fusion and future power sources. Ambient power in the air that doesn't need to travel by wire, or power that is stored in advanced batteries that can be recharged from extremely efficient centralized power production. Would be nice not to have these damn wires cluttering the landscape.

Think about how much we could accomplish, and how much better the environment would be, if we didn't have to waste so much much effort on storing and burning fuel.

I would also like to see advancements at preventing and/or reversing age. It is a terrible thing to watch your loved ones slowly suffer and die from enfeeblement and the deterioration of their bodies. I'm not holding my breath on immortality, but even being able to enjoy a high quality of life almost to the end of one's life would be a significant improvement.

[antron]

I would love to see the "energy revolution" come to pass. The promise of "unlimited" energy from fusion and future power sources. Ambient power in the air that doesn't need to travel by wire, or power that is stored in advanced batteries that can be recharged from extremely efficient centralized power production. Would be nice not to have these damn wires cluttering the landscape.

Think about how much we could accomplish, and how much better the environment would be, if we didn't have to waste so much much effort on storing and burning fuel.

I would also like to see advancements at preventing and/or reversing age. It is a terrible thing to watch your loved ones slowly suffer and die from enfeeblement and the deterioration of their bodies. I'm not holding my breath on immortality, but even being able to enjoy a high quality of life almost to the end of one's life would be a significant improvement.

excellent hopes,
Fusion, almost forgot about that. Eeveryone should know about the ITER project that is underway.

Aging. ever since I learned of the Telomer, I've wondered if its loss was the cause of aging and death. It seems crazy that the body actually knows how to preserve it, but doesn't. I guess the species needs the individual to die so that it may evolve. Or maybe aging is just the mutations from imperfect sell division and it is unavoidable

[DJ Incompetent]

-Nickelback dies in a plane crash.
-Cultural movement at street level that popularizes intelligence and people actually desire to accumulate more knowledge.
-The end of the baby boomers.
-A drink is sold in a can that is actually good for you, is available everywhere, and doesn't taste like that V8 shit.
-Cultural movement of gamers taking some online play/database editing time off to collaborate once in awhile to solve some of humanity's significant problems.
-Jay-Z's and Beyonce's child becomes the most talented and successful icon on earth.
-The return of TV series "Daria"
-Americans get the right to secretly record conversations with police.
-People suddenly realize it's stupid to keep sending aid to Africa to reinforce helplessness and launch major education initiatives to have them take care of themselves.
-Stephen Cobert's sarcastic power grabs backfire and ends up going to prison for a short time.
-Flying cars (airports) start developing regulation and the possibility of street-level use.
-Cultural movement toward a cease-fire between consumers over-exploiting merchants and merchants misinforming/backstabbing consumers.
-Hard drive capacities approach the size of all the digital music on earth.
-Somebody actually tries to claim Antarctica and the fiasco gets so stupid that it requires discussion at the UN.
-The end of "I want to see your manager" when a ridiculous customer request is denied.
-American patent law and copyright law gets reformed in a way Disney actually loses and patent trolls cease to exist.
-American health care costs drop by half, like the rest of the developed world.
-An earthquake severs California from the mainland.
-Somebody successfully starts a competing conservative/republican television network.
-A music player with cerebral sensors that can detect my mood/adrenaline and switch to a new song that matches that mood.
-Americans build a goddamn high speed train and make using it sensible.
-The war on drugs goes in some new direction.
-Solar panels become awesome.
-Japan culture shifts away from 'youth' and 'moe' and popularizes beards.
-A new american civil war, or the equivalent of Tea Party vs. 99% vs. 1%'s mercenaries killing each other.
-I make a cult-followed videogame.
-Americans adopt the metric system and soccer becomes popular.
-MLB and NFL stop blackouts across every convenient device and setting up ridiculous paywalls.
-The realization that something pretty cool from my childhood came and actually died in my childhood, never to be brought back by some money-grab scumbags.
-"Quality of life" finally becomes more important than "have more children."


tl;dr I want a pony.

[RGC]

I'm not holding my breath on immortality

I love these words.

Nice to hear there's still some optimism left, and that we're not all misanthropic cynics. I'm not sure why someone would rather the world ended for all humanity than that we we find some peaceful way forward, better attuned to our environment so as to inflict less harm upon it, and each other (that's some tree-hugging hippy shit!). I guess for some the latter is no longer an option. There's simply no way I can relate to wishing radiation death upon innocent families; not even in my lowest of moods. Some obviously know depths I've never fathomed (:oops:).

Brain dumping or similar technology to avoid the frailties of our bodies, or the full blown singularity, thank you very much!

What if a bug gave you an eternal itch on your arse that you couldn't complain about?

[RGC]

-Cultural movement at street level that popularizes intelligence and people actually desire to accumulate more knowledge.

But why ever bother?:

https://www.google.com/search?client=ub ... 8&oe=utf-8

edit:

-Japan culture shifts away from 'youth' and 'moe' and popularizes beards.

Make that a global popularisation of the beard, with fake ones readily available for those who struggle to grow their own.


What about break-throughs in academia? There must be one or two lesser but significant, unsolved equations out there, next to the search for GUT. And what about discoveries in engineering and materials sciences.

[DJ Incompetent]

I know. I'll settle for dragonball z scouters with google search on it.

[Aguraki]

I'd like:
-impossibility to reproduce and everyone become sterile leading to human extinction.(and no clone or any trick possible).
and/or
disparition of consciousness and "human" intelligence.

edit:on a lighter topic I'd like drugs that last X time at will,with no after effect and/or an anti drug that cleans instantly the drug.
no more hangover FTW!

[emphatic]

Grandkids (preferably both they and their parents survive me than me when I die of old age even though I can't live to see it)
Next gen game consoles that you control with your mind
Me or one of my offspring get a well deserved place in history books for something really awesome (yeah, I'm selfish that way)

[Blackbird]

@ DJ-I: I'll see what I can do.

-Nickelback dies in a plane crash.

Does this need to happen? I mean, are they even making music anymore?

-A drink is sold in a can that is actually good for you, is available everywhere, and doesn't taste like that V8 shit.

Green Tea comes in bottles, and isn't that bad for you. That's close? The main problem being there is so much nutritional misinformation and speculation that it's almost impossible to tell what is even good or bad anymore.

-Cultural movement at street level that popularizes intelligence and people actually desire to accumulate more knowledge.

This should be happening pretty soon, actually. The need for heavy, laborious tasks to be done by hand will continue to decrease as technology advances, giving rise to an economy that is largely based on creative development and intellectual properties. In other words - being smart will become even more profitable, and being rich has always been popular.

American patent law and copyright law gets reformed in a way Disney actually loses and patent trolls cease to exist.

Oh, hell yes. I'm adding this to my list. I want to see a complete overhaul of the way patents and intellectual property is handled - the present system is hopelessly abusable and asinine. It's also completely at odds with the way that intellectual property is actually used. Tear it all down and develop a system the eliminates worthless patent trolling as a profitable business model.

-American health care costs drop by half, like the rest of the developed world.

Hah, it'd be nice. No one seems to have any idea about how to actually -do- that, but I think everyone wants more affordable healthcare.

-Japan culture shifts away from 'youth' and 'moe' and popularizes beards.

That would be hilarious, lol.

-Americans adopt the metric system and soccer becomes popular.

I'm down. I honestly don't know why we haven't done this already. The units of the metric system are easier to remember, everything is a multiple of 10! You would think simple convenience would win out.

tl;dr I want a pony.

Got you covered, bro.

Ponies.

[Ruldra]

I'm not sure why someone would rather the world ended for all humanity than that we we find some peaceful way forward

It's not like I hate humanity or something like that. But if the End of the World™ will be as spectacular as they say, then I sure as hell want to be around to see it.

Besides that, I'd like to see a new form of economy capable of propelling humanity forward without endlessly sucking non-renewable resources. Utopian, I know, but I can dream.

[RGC]

Noble, but not in this lifetime.

[ZacharyB]

Autopsychoanalysis becomes popular and people learn to identify and satisfy their discontents without hurting others. Everyone is more considerate for being in a better mood.

[Limbrooke]

I hope to attend the 1000th anniversary of the Weihenstephan Brauerei in 2040. A few years later in 2061 I hope to be alive next time Halley's Comet makes a pass, sadly I missed the last go around.