1. Maximum7

    Maximum7 Member

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    My revised world timeline

    Discussion in 'Setting Development' started by Maximum7, May 11, 2017.

    Thanks to an online source, I have been able to change my timeline into something better, albeit it, a more pessimistic outlook on the future.

    Post information age (circa 2020-2030)
    -the immediate future

    Quantum age(circa 2030-2060)
    -Quantum computing takes off

    Interplanetary Age (2060-2100)
    -Humans colonize the Moon and Mars

    Age of wonders (2100+)
    -Slightly optimistic, who knows?


    Could someone help me think of 5 future inventions/techs/discoveries for each era? Thanks
     
  2. Bronson

    Bronson Member

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    It's so hard for me to think of future inventions and tech and take myself seriously. I always look back at old movies about the future and aporeciate what we actually have vs. what was predicted by the story.

    But here goes a couple:

    Immediate future - household robots with personality (this is already happening so it stands to reason in my mind that it'll be a thing). Nanotech (same sentiment). Augmented reality is almost certainly going to be a thing.

    Far future or age of wonder - I think you can, especially if you're calling it an age of wonder, stray beyond our trajectory here and start to play with some high sci-fi themes that are impossible based on our immediate grasp of nature. Teleportation, personality uploads, faster than light travel, etc.

    Just a few things that came to mind.
     
  3. Maximum7

    Maximum7 Member

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    Not bad
     
  4. Stormburn

    Stormburn Contributor Contributor

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    A movie I saw that impressed me with the depiction of technological progress was Adam Shandler's 'Click'. Yea, I know that seems an odd example, but, they worked really hard to show society advancing as part of the story.
     
  5. Ulquiorra9000

    Ulquiorra9000 Member

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    I think Terminators fit in there somewhere ;)

    Honestly, though, I bet that medical advances, such as gene modification and cyborg tech, would allow the upper classes to vastly extend their lifespans, mental capacity, and even physical powers. That opens up all kinds of transhumanism themes, and there could be psychological impacts on the characters who are upgraded this way, such as outliving everyone around them or taking a casual approach to great danger. Bad car accident? Whatever. You can practically get a new heart or rib cage at future Target. Or you're 110 years old? Welcome to middle age!
     
  6. TyrannusRex

    TyrannusRex Active Member

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    One of those needs (probably last or second-to-last) needs a fabricator like in Subnautica.
     
  7. Comatoran

    Comatoran New Member

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    The further into the future you get, the less you should worry about the specifics of technology, and just focus on what if does. For instance, your Martian colonists don't have an automated chef and oven with predictive algorithms; they just have a kitchen that has good food when they want it. Your Age of Wonders police force doesn't have to run a facial recognition program over the security footage, satellite feed, and social media posts; they ask the computer where someone is, and it tells them.

    Some ideas for each era:
    Post-information: People start eradicating diseases by the dozen, and start editing their offspring's genetics.

    Quantum Age: Quantum computers are only good at certain types of math, but one of the things they're good at is breaking modern forms of encryption. As such, people start to get a lot more careful about what they connect to the internet, even after new forms of encryption are developed. By this point in time, most mundane tasks should be automated, and human-driven cars will be illegal.

    Interplanetary Age: Improvements to material science enable the construction of a space elevator, and the worsening droughts and storms of Earth provide the incentive for its construction. This makes getting to space cheap enough to allow a surge of colonization. Biological engineers have to divide their attention between medical research and keeping the food supply safe and stable, potentially with disastrous consequences on both fronts.

    Age of Wonders: I would suggest drawing inspiration from mythology. My reasoning is that, if the idea was appealing enough for stories about it to stay alive for centuries or millennia, it will probably be appealing enough for people in the distant future to still desire it. More recent ideas of what we want might turn out to be just as much of a dead-end as atomic-powered-everything. For instance, Freyr had a ship that could fold up and fit in his pocket, and Freyja had a cloak that let her turn into a falcon. Maybe your civilization has moved beyond the need for bulky, dedicated transports, and instead their clothes and shoes help them to run very fast.
     

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