
Ask HN: What sort of technology do you envision in 2050? - Razengan
Assuming no global catastrophe takes place by then.
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Razengan
# Optimistic:

The primary computing devices are wearables; watches, AR+VR glasses, clothing
with displays embedded throughout temperature-regulating fabric that can
change its look just as we change the face of our smartwatch now.

People still apprehensive of invasive implants but they have begun making
inroads.

Home appliances with no physical controls anymore but a universal software
interface accessed wirelessly via your computing device.

Everything and everyone connected to the Internet, which is more decentralized
and tasks like serving content or AI or search engines are distributed across
the billions of personal devices.

Permanent human presence on the Moon. Manned trips to Mars occurred at least
once.

Smart beds/sleeping pods that perform a full diagnosis and inject necessary
nutrients after putting the occupant into a perfect chemically induced sleep,
making you good to go for several days before needing sleep again.

Number of centenarians increasing throughought the world as technology brings
us closer to medical immortality.

# Conservative/Pessimistic:

The primary method of computing remains entrenched in Windows, macOS, iOS and
Android with a mix of keyboard, pointer and touch input.

The internet is heavily regulated and only accessible through a handful of
megaportals: People can no longer buy universal "internet service" but
individual access to Google, Facebook, or their equivalents, and pay for them
separately.

I'd rather not think much further in that direction, to be honest. :)

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AnimalMuppet
Improvements in AI, but no "general AI" or "human-equivalent AI", and no real
clue on how to get there.

No singularity.

Human-equivalent or better speech recognition.

Display resolutions have stopped increasing, because they're as good as
needed. (For example, audio topped out at 44.1 ksamples/second x 16 bits,
stereo. That was enough for almost everyone, even though a few fanatics say
they can hear the difference. Video will top out at something like 4000 x 6000
pixels, 48 bits/pixel, 60 frames/second.)

Self-driving cars may be so dominant that you will need a special license to
disengage the autopilot.

DRM will be clearly recognized as a failed idea.

Privacy will be in your own home only, and not even there for your online
actions.

Moore's Law will be stone-cold dead.

Solar energy will supply at least half of electrical load, at least in the US
and Europe (maybe a quarter of world load).

In 2050, someone will resurrect this thread so that people can laugh at all
our mistakes.

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dragonbonheur
Every company knows more about you than you will know about yourself. Every
device and online service will have so many security holes that everyone,
every organization, every government will be an open book. Nanodrones will
target and execute people on a daily basis and everyone will own them -
terrorists, freedom fighters, governments, corporation states, corporate
cities, megacorporations. Victims will be selected by geographical area,
ethnicity, skin color, sex and metadata. Corporations will also have their own
military divisions.

