
Ask HN: One thing you wish would happen in the next 10 years? - juliansamarjiev
Make contact with aliens in a very transparent way, visible to the wide public.
======
night815
Civilized discussion on hard topics -- There seems to be a large amount of
shouting matches going on right now. We need to be able to discuss things in a
calm and respectful manner even when we strongly disagree with the other side.
There are a lot of buzz words that get thrown out that to me have lost meaning
(racist, sexist, etc.). These words do have meaning and there are absolutely
people doing these things that need to stop. However, lets stop name calling
and start sharing our stories with the intend to do just that, share. When the
only goal is to get everyone to believe what you believe, it likely won't be a
productive conversation.

~~~
lhnz
This, but I also think we can't just do this in a pure "freedom of speech"
way. In order to have a space where we can talk about things calmly and
respectfully we will need to shut-out "bad faith" actors, supremacists and
ideologues. Otherwise they will pervert the dialogue in order to win some
political battle and we risk the wrong outcomes.

We have to come at this very directly from the perspective of the outcomes we
wish to achieve and those that we wish to avoid ("consequentialism") rather
than through some mindless repetition of an ideal that we believe to be sacred
("free-speech is _so_ important"). Free-speech might be important but
maintaining peace and achieving good outcomes for all involved should probably
be held in higher regard [0] than some abstract principle, particularly when
that abstract principle is a shibboleth of the people on one side of an issue
but not the other.

[0] I'm talking about people that want to argue about racism and sexism while
incidentally subjecting those they're arguing with to the most extreme and
potentially toxic people in their group in the name of 'free speech'.

~~~
Fifer82
Is that not just saying discount everyone who doesn't agree with what WE want
to talk about, and then lets talk about it?

~~~
lumberjack
No. Not everyone contributes to the discussion. Some people have malicious
intent. Others are just ignorant. You cannot deal in absolutes. I work in the
sciences. If we were to consider every crackpot's solution to the hardest
problems in math/physics, we would waste our lives in folly and never get
anything done.

------
newscracker
Decentralized social media, decentralized chat platforms, decentralized almost
everything that we depend on the Internet for. Users of the platform have more
control over which provider to use, can freely move around and even start
things on their own to connect into well defined interoperable systems and
protocols.

This is more of a pipe dream than a hope, but I would be ecstatic to see such
a world. Like Peter Sunde of Pirate Bay said recently, it looks like we can do
only some damage control now. [1]

[1]: [https://thenextweb.com/eu/2017/06/09/pirate-bay-founder-
weve...](https://thenextweb.com/eu/2017/06/09/pirate-bay-founder-weve-lost-
the-internet-its-all-about-damage-control-now/)

Edit: Added interoperability for the sake of clarity.

~~~
juliansamarjiev
This could be something that blockchain technology might have an impact on.
This article gives examples of how blockchain can be used to decentralize many
aspects of our current dynamics.

\- [https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/23/companies-of-the-
future-n...](https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/23/companies-of-the-future-no-
ceo-no-boss-managed-by-
blockchain/?utm_content=bufferb6e1e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer)

------
patrickk
Renewables to destroy the fossil fuels industry on price. A win for the
environment, and some of the oil states will descend into utter irrelevance.
Cheap, clean energy will be utterly transformative to the planet and will
dramatically raise living standards globally.

~~~
0xf8
Agreed with the notion, but will point out that many of the "oil states" are
not oblivious to the writing on the wall and as a result have begun allocating
significant portions of their "fossil fuel" profits into alternative channels,
in many cases into energy as well. The sheer amount of deployable capital at
their disposal leads me to believe they will not "descend into utter
irrelevance" as you suggest. At the very least they will succeed in
maintaining their relative prosperity, but envision there is a state of the
world in which they successfully transition into being champions of Renewable
energy going forward. It's not very difficult to build an new industrial
energy empire when you have trillions of dollars to spend.

edit:spelling

~~~
dragonwriter
> many of the "oil states" are not oblivious to the writing on the wall and as
> a result have begun allocating significant portions of their "fossil fuel"
> profits into alternative channels, in many cases into energy as well.

And not just recently; it's been that way for _decades_. This (alongside the
fact that certain other oil states had not done so) was a major contributing
factor to the 1990-1991 Gulf War, for instance.

------
allpratik
I'll take a liberty to answer it in two ways, one thing for tech and one thing
for non-tech.

Tech - Fixing Battery/Energy

This is one of the most important breakthrough we absolutely need. Current
situation is like of ancient age, where civilisations used to be near/along
the water sources like rivers, sea, etc. Same thing is happening today due to
our energy dependencies. It limits the geography where a person can dare to
live or explore without worrying or sacrificing the safety of communications.
there are some ways currently, I agree, but we need more widely adopted
solution. Energy consumption should not be co-related to the guilt! :p

There are two things about this: 1) Better energy backup in relatively
portable size 2) Quick recharge ( or maybe disrupt the recharge concept:p ?! )

Non-Tech - Understand humans better, physiologically.

If we achieved this, it will be an amazing achievement for our species.
Currently, healthcare system works on trial and error method. Most drugs don't
really work without any side effects. We haven't understood our own defence
mechanisms completely. Maybe using our own killer T-cells to do a targeted
strike on aliens in our body will be more useful for our species than hunting
aimlessly for aliens in outer space. I don't mean to undermine the importance
of ET search efforts and it's implications, but from value proposition point
of view, I'll favour human health system. Well, I'm deliberately avoiding to
list why health is SO lagging even in 2017, it's better to assume that it's
about time to solve health related problems inclusively rather than just
keeping it exclusive filed for the health professionals and pharmas.

Disclaimer: No offence to anyone! :)

------
Quarrelsome
No more first past the post in the UK and US as it makes politics partisan and
uninteresting hysterical carping from wing to wing. There isn't enough
centerism and pragmatism.

~~~
baron816
This is really the most frustrating thing for me. The outcomes of our
political system at determined so much more by how we elect people than who we
elect. The system is so broken, and people want change, but you're never going
to get real change just by putting different people in charge.

------
contingencies
Information: Decentralized telecommunications. Removal of centralized mobile
carriers in favor of alternate mesh and private (micropayments-based?) local
wireless access rental popularization. The major technical barrier at present
is the user experience around default mesh support on phones (startup anyone?)

Social: Non-government reputation systems worth their salt finally enter
commerce and sociopolitics to automate supply chain management, RFQ processes,
SLAs, incident handling, direct political representation, etc. A revolution in
education, international sociopolitical movements bypassing national political
systems to address global challenges, increased respect for the environment.

Physical: Reformation of global logistics with distributed manufacturing and
laws and the requirement for commercial product part designs to be published
with every sale for independent consumer repairs.

Food: At least one city feeds itself largely from automated rooftop farming.

------
Powerofmene
It is really hard to say just one thing but if I could only name one I would
say find a cure for cancer. That in and of itself would have wide impact on
families who are emotionally and financially devastated as a result; should
help reduce the cost of healthcare overall given that cancer treatment is
exorbitant; and would allow researchers to focus on other illnesses or
worldwide problems.

~~~
marpstar
"Cancer" is such a broad term, with ~200 different "types". I agree that
"cancer" is a huge problem (my brother had childhood leukemia at 9 months
until he was about 6 years old), and its effects on the family cannot be
understated. Unfortunately, we've only begun to scratch the surface towards a
cure for very few of the 200 types of cancer out there.

~~~
jamesrcole
That being the case, we still can't rule out the possibility of general-
purpose treatment methods.

------
acconrad
I'd feel a lot better about moving into the suburbs if autonomous vehicles
(with wifi so I can work in transit) actually became a widespread thing

------
avaer
Getting rid of the commute for work that doesn't require physical human labor.

------
strangetimes
50% of office jobs are performed > 50% of the time from the worker's home (or
remote location of their choice).

~~~
stefantheard
This is a good one, to add to this I would love to see 4 day work weeks become
more popular in the US.

------
champagnepapi
Low cost ($35 or less) 1Gbps internet speeds (up/down) available in the
majority of the US and rest of the world.

~~~
distances
After just updating from sub-10Mbit/s connection to 50Mbit/s, I don't really
see why this would be something for which to waste a free wish. I honestly
can't think what I'd do better with a gigabit connection.

~~~
dtech
And 640k of memory ought to to be enough for anybody

~~~
distances
Not what I was trying to imply, just that the connection speeds and prices
seem to already be increasing at an okay-ish pace.

------
amingilani
Find a cure for death, a cure for aging and bio-replacements become as good as
the original.. or better.

It's what I've been dreaming about ever since CRISPR.

~~~
taf2
Me too I just think with this we also need to be able to travel faster than
light to expand our access to resources

~~~
amingilani
Yes, but that is still a long way off though :( but hey, atleast with a cure
to aging and death, we can afford to wait as long as we want :D

------
two2two
Custodial land assignments. Instead of selling lots, which you'll never fully
own as allodial titles no longer exist, set up a system which qualifies
individuals and families to be awarded land. The idea that we are thrust into
this world which requires us to follow a fairly strict path of hurdles just to
have a home is a sadly maligned truth plaguing our existence.

------
bobochan
_The Winds of Winter_ finally get released (extra points if it is done
concurrently with the second season of _Firefly_ ).

------
pasbesoin
Universal health care. Including dental.

The rest of people's lives, and their quality of life, is based on good
health.

We may not all end up in the same place, nor even wanting the same things. But
good health can help each person achieve their personal maximum.

And, if you don't believe human life is a zero sum game, as I don't, then that
increases humanity's overall wealth -- cultural, not just material.

P.S. There is also the opportunity to leverage much greater advances. Putting
money towards treatment instead of profit-taking including a significant
amount of rent-seeking.

And I, for one, would be much more willing to share my medical data were I
assured it would not be used against me, neither in denying me treatment nor
in denying me work nor other participation in society. The types of research
and advances such data mining might produce, could be both profound and
readily at hand.

------
WWKong
Employment for everyone, not screwing up the planet

~~~
Apreche
No employment for anyone. Machines do all the work, and we all share the
bounty.

~~~
atonse
Not looking forward to this at all. So much conflict is caused by people being
bored and not having any employment prospects. Employment is a bit of a
pacifier for civilization.

There's only so much golf, painting, woodworking, and reading people can do.

------
pdog
The price of a single bitcoin is $1M USD in the year 2027.

This is achievable if Bitcoin grows at an annualized rate of 72% for the next
ten years.

------
taf2
Faster than light travel

Extended human life to treat any illness

------
vxNsr
Discussion where people don't selectivly choose which facts to talk about. I'm
seeing this a lot right now with all the hot topics, both sides will take the
moral high ground and pretend that they have never said or done the same thing
when the shoe was on the other foot, most notably Trump: Obama;
Charlottesville:Dallas.

------
hliyan
Very high density batteries. Fossil fuel's value is as a convenient transport
medium than a source of energy...

------
jbrooksuk
\- Batteries that last longer (in general).

\- 100%, 4G coverage wherever I am in the world.

\- Consistent and reliable internet speeds around the world.

~~~
UnpossibleJim
I know this borders on sacrilege to say on HN, but I enjoy going out and
camping in places where there is no coverage. Being utterly alone sometimes is
nice...... I can see the stars (well, I live in Washington, so I have to
travel a bit to camp where I can see the stars, but... you know). I,
personally, would mourn a little if 4G reached everywhere.

~~~
jbrooksuk
I get that, I too enjoying switching off and doing nothing. It's when you need
it for an emergency... that's when you realise how poor the global coverage
is.

------
olegkikin
Life extension. Everything else can wait.

------
carleeto
Law being described in very precise, verifiable terms, such that "in the
spirit of the law" is an executable test and assumptions made are
automatically verifiable. This means that irrelevant laws can be identified
much faster and law can keep up with technology.

------
higgsfield
AGI -> basic income

------
cjbillington
For income and wealth inequality to start trending back in the desirable
direction once again.

~~~
tedsanders
Both of those are trending in a positive direction right now.

[https://ourworldindata.org/global-economic-
inequality](https://ourworldindata.org/global-economic-inequality)

~~~
cjbillington
Globally, yes. And sure, we should care about the global more more than the
poor of the developed countries. But I don't see any reason to believe so far
that developed countries have solved the problem of rising inequality within
their populations, so I see the rising inequality of developed nations as the
future of all nations once they have all "caught up". So I would rephrase to
say I hope inequality starts decreasing again in developed countries.

------
StavrosK
Minimum guaranteed income everywhere.

Also cryptocurrencies (or at least one) becoming mainstream.

~~~
corporateslave3
Minimum guaranteed income is the beginning of the end. From a humanist
perspective it is great, but that is short sighted. Human beings are goal
driven, strip away the necessity of that basic human drive and who knows what
can happen.

"Idle hands are the devil’s workshop"

~~~
StavrosK
The only thing motivating you is the fact that you'll starve if you don't
work? That's some poor motivation, let me tell you.

~~~
corporateslave3
I am never in fear of starvation. Western civilization was built on the
bedrock of contributing to society through labor. It's how the system works.
That whole system will have to change if that axiom disappears. It is very
naive to think that wont have a massive effect on mate selection, how people
spend their time, morals, etc.

This isnt purely about economics. There are other deeper issues at play when
you say people no longer need to work.

~~~
StavrosK
You're assuming that people won't want to work if they don't have to worry
about starving, which I'm not sure is a valid assumption at all.

~~~
corporateslave3
Sure, everyone will keep being disciplined, waking up early to a work a shitty
office job. They will keep doing data entry for 40k a year and cleaning up
public toilets for 35k a year. They will put up with massive stress and the
risk of being laid off at a large corporation

~~~
StavrosK
Oh, your argument is that people _should_ be under massive stress? Nice.

~~~
corporateslave3
haha yeah, it was funny reading that after I posted it. My point is people,
wont work if they dont have to, working is miserable. But it keeps an order in
society that has been shown to be beneficial (look at the development of
western democracies).

~~~
StavrosK
I think that people will still want to make money, and work shit jobs to buy
iPhones, they just won't be as stressed as they would be if the alternative
was starvation, which is good in my book.

------
lovelearning
No more authoritarian, liberty-limiting governments anywhere in the
world...forever :) I'm aware that the trend seems to be in the opposite
direction, but one can always wish.

~~~
gvoncheap
believe it or not you're on the right path. governments are destroying the
world.

------
yawaramin
Commoditised high-bandwidth quantum-entanglement (i.e. no latency)
communication devices. This will change everything from securities trading to
interplanetary communication.

------
pier25
Cold fusion.

It would change _everything_ more profoundly than steam and oil.

~~~
juliansamarjiev
How do you mean, what aspects/problems will that address?

------
exodust
Making 4 day work weeks the norm. Or 6 hour work days.

------
SJMosley
50% vehicle market is electric only.

~~~
SJMosley
Of course 100% woiuld be better. But it is even more unrealistic

------
wfh
Reliable, widespread, cost effective, nuclear fusion based power generation.

------
Anand_S
VR/AR becoming mainstream and Disrupting many industries.

~~~
juliansamarjiev
Do you foresee any negative consequences as well?

------
kasperset
100 miles per gallon cars.

------
ionised
Decentralised internet.

~~~
juliansamarjiev
Might be very feasible with upcoming blockchain tech.

------
toomuchtodo
Universal basic income.

------
grp
Anarchy for all.

------
slackoverflower
Worldwide 5G

------
owebmaster
US stops meddling with LA affairs

~~~
juliansamarjiev
LA?

~~~
owebmaster
Latin America

