I think we’re past due for a major technological breakthrough in energy storage that 1) increases energy density, 2) decreases max charge/discharge time, and 3) is more sustainable than, say Lithium.
With how much R&D seems to be pouring into this right now, I have at least hope.
I remember hearing about the development of solid-state batteries a few years ago and I have been anxiously awaiting any news regarding the concept since.
Proper “AI”. No more coding, you just tell the machine what to do and it will do it. I don’t think in the physical world but computers and every profession that is not physical will be much rarer. Either pivot to AI Management or be the arms that the AI “guides” through a task.
Although, now that I think of it, 10 years might not be enough for such a change.
We already have that, there are already people whose sole job is telling the machine what to do in specific enough terms that the machine doesn’t make mistakes. It’s called programmers. People who think LLMs can replace programmers don’t understand what a programmer does. An AGI will surely make programmers obsolete, but it would also make any other job obsolete and I don’t think we’re 10 years away from one.
I’m not talking about an “AI” replacing programmers on coding. I mean making programming and coding obsolete. A new paradigm on how software is made. It won’t be coded. There won’t be different software for different tasks, just one software running everywhere and everything.
But yeah, like I said, 10 years is maybe too little for that.
What you’re describing is called the Singularity, and it’s an AGI, we’re not even close to anything remotely similar to that. I’m not even sure we’ll get there in my lifetime.
Glad you could take a break from posting anti-Dem stuff to fantasize about what cool gadgets you could buy in 10 yrs with your 6fig salary. Clearly you have a lot personally invested in the election and aren’t just positions and sacrificing more vulnerable populations with your adolescent “don’t vote” rhetoric lol
I asked something similar on Reddit and got a lot of good responses. Here’s the question if you’re interested:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/a19q02/its_almost_2020_what_futurist_thing_did_you/
Actual autonomous vehicles. It certainly won’t be Tesla, and it won’t have a steering wheel.
I think road signs will have embedded codes for self driving cars. Whether it’s a local broadcast signal, a QR code, or just extra blocky letters for the computer to read easier, road signage and signals will be directed to the computer in the car, not to inform the human in the car.
Maybe, but cars are already pretty good about reading signs.
It’s the lack of signs that’s the problem. Self-driving cars are pretty good on a well marked and signed road: if that’s all it took, we’re there. It’s the ubiquity of exceptions and edge cases that’s the problem.
My car recently did a one month trial of self-driving and it was a lot of fun. Also eye-opening. It did work really well on well-marked roads. However it also made me notice just how poorly marked most are. For example, it was great about staying centered between lane lines. However most local roads don’t paint the edge lines, or even the center line is worn off on many roads. Then the car is confused. I can’t even imagine what the car would do if everything were covered with snow, which does happen a lot around here
Maybe much farther out in the future when autonomous vehicles are the default. That’s a lot of signage to rejigger for very little gain, while mapping and CV already handle that small part of driving quite well.
Hmm. Maybe the kind of signage I’m thinking of would only be useful for construction zones and emergency vehicles.
One of the most amazing things about this would be to remove signs altogether. Just embed the sensor in the pavement and give the space the signs took up back to people, nature, or literally anything else.
Huge overhead highway gantries and traffic lights would be wonderful to remove, too. City sidewalks are narrow enough as is and they would be way better without 20+ft tall metal poles jutting out of the ground. Hopefully we can put trees in their place, but maybe I’m dreaming.
I’ve thought about this idea for a long time.
Having sensors in the road (along the side and middle line) and receivers on cars would do a lot of good.
The sensors could tell the car how close it is to the side/middle. They could tell the car how close other cars are around them. They could tell the car the condition of the road surface (ex wet or icy). They could be programmed to the speed limit of the road and keep the cars moving at that speed. Probably many others uses.
The downside is building a sensor that can withstand weather, traffic, crumbling infrastructure. Also they would have to have a way to stay powered up for years. And if you made them re-programmable there is another level of security that needs to be added to them. And then there is the cost to retro-fit all the roads with these sensors and building a common receiver that could be installed on new cars.
I don’t think my idea is practical at all but it’s a cool idea
Ooo like higher powered rfid tags! The info could even then be relayed to the driver via the on screen display since theyre now all required.
Something that has Ai that shouldn’t have Ai
How about a smart toaster? It knows what kind of bread you feed it, toasts it just right and understands your feedback. This way, it will update a neural network that covers all types of bread it has ever seen and how you like them toasted.
Red dwarf did it first
See also the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Nutri-Matic Drinks Dispenser, designed to work out precisely what drink someone wants through careful analysis of their taste bud patterns and neurological signals before invariably producing a liquid which is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
And once the toast is ready, the machine pukes it out for you to enjoy. It’s sort of like the way birds feeding their young. The toaster should also make a relevant sound when that happens to max out everyone’s unsettle-o-meter. If you like, you can even record your own authentic sound on the next Saturday morning.
