Ally’s Magic Eight Ball

Tam wrote,

But Sage, if smoking is illegal then wouldn’t pot be illegal unless you ate it? Hmmm.

I would say don’t hold your breath that in 6 years gay marriage will be legal in the US unfortunately. Everything will be done on your mobile phone. Having just been at a large mobile trade show in Europe the technology is amazing and the applications being developed. Even in Europe they are so far ahead of us in using their phones. You’re at the bar and realize your meter is going to run out. So you log-in on your phone and plug the meter. Oh, you’re friend needs to borrow $20. Just get on your phone and transfer the money to his bank account while ordering another round. Using it for work, entertainment, keeping track of your kids, errands, etc. I think the same big phone companies will be around, RIM (Blackberry), Nokia Siemens, Sony Erickson, Motorola, they are all still going to be going head-to-head in 6 years.

There will be more renewable energy but unfortunately the current global meltdown means less money spent on research which means it won’t come as quickly as we hope.

Music? No clue. TV? I sincerely hope LESS reality TV. I agree, newspapers and paper books becoming less popular and ebooks more common. Reading on your phone? Hard on the eyes but done already. Internet will continue to be important social tool.

When I think back 6 years, not much has changed except phones and ipods keep getting smaller and smaller and cheaper and cheaper and more powerful. Although there’s a limit, unless we’re talking brain chips. :-) Good luck. If you get it right you’ll have some government trying to snap you up in a few years to make predictions.

Link | March 17th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

madam_minnie wrote,

I think we’ll be in the brink of the new technologies in biofuels finally taking shape. Where mainstream cars like the Hybrids of today will run on methane by 2015. I can definitely see car companies like Honda moving in this direction faster than others.

In technology, I see Apple taking over much of the cell market where iPhones surpass the Blackberrys of today and become the ’standard’ device. Computers will be smaller and be more readily available to college students. I see netbooks being a standard school supply for high school and college students. Sync technology will be greater improved as well. I can see Microsoft’s Surface being incorporated in the more affluent colleges. The iPod/iPhone will still be the number one MP3 player. Kindles will be everywhere and will likely replace the college textbook market. No more bulky college books to carry and I can see it integrating social networking like Facebook and Twitter into the Kindle interface.

In Government, we might have Obama for Prez for a second term. If we do, I can see changes not just in the economy (rebounding probably around 2012) and gay marriage as well as adoption by gay couples being accepted in more states and even legalized in the majority of the country. I see the war in the Middle East continuing, but our involvement diminishing.

In the medical field, I can see the possibility of advancements and possible cures for some cancers, alzheimer’s, autism, diabetes, heart disease, the ability to use organ cloning for transplant patients and an end to juvenile diabetes.

But, this could all be wishful thinking on behalf of my overactive imagination. :)

Link | March 17th, 2009 at 8:34 pm

Gnome wrote,

I’ll agree about gay marriage but I think that gay adoption may take longer in a lot of areas. Things will be getting smaller, more efficient and microtechnology will be in everything as the economy takes a downturn (probably on its way up by then please). Hybrid cars will be the norm with other methods becoming more mainstream as they become more economical. The fashionable will be eco-friendly with smaller mansions and their vast properties will be food forests (hey, I can dream can’t I?).

All together I think that life will be a little harder but I don’t think that we’ll see another Depression. Just the manufacturers stretching everything as far as it will go and wasting as little as possible. Recycling may be a necessity to get all the components they need – especially for oil products like plastics.

I definitely see a decrease in paper textbooks – most come with a disc even now so it won’t be far away before laptops are a basic requirement for students. But those laptops will be able to multitask and have huge memories. Maybe more people will home school their children in protest against school violence – easier as they will pobably be working from home themselves to save on gas.

Wars will start to become unprofitable but won’t have stopped yet. Maybe an increase in protests about the cost in lives and money. Vietnam all over again.

That’s my take – we’ve been down and now we’re on our way up.

Link | March 17th, 2009 at 11:29 pm

mistry89 wrote,

I’m not saying I will want all of these but:

IT-wise, they’ve been talking about “wearable” tech for some time now, so I assume wifi-equiv connecting you to the interwebz via your bra or jeans (what if they are both playing music and it clashes? *g*). More personally “selected” forms of entertainment – a sort of “All the news, info and fun YOU want to see”.
Computer-access in vehicles – phone/email/messaging/www. Diesel/petrol-only vehicles banned or taxed heavily. More road tolls – to “encourage” use of (non-existent) public transport.
More alternate-energy appliances and vehicles. Different BigName banks and companies. Celebrities already remarried after next divorce. More apparent freedoms which actually encroach on our so-called “Rights” (a bit like the way a wish is less likely to come true if you tell someone, I think that articulating rights tends to actually limit freedom as it imposes a limit – even if it is intended to do the opposite). Would expect to see more people trying to fly under the radar – a little like the communes and retreats of the ’60’s, where collectivism hides/masks the individual), as I see/hear more “normal” people becoming less keen on speaking out or having their names in the public arena – more communal and gated communities (difference is income, I suppose!). Alongside this, more “ordinary” people prepared to flout rules and break what they deem as “petty” laws (actually, I’m already a little shocked at how many people I think of as being conventional interpret some laws).

Holographic/screenless images and integrated appliances (tv/dvd/web/muic/phone).
Major breakthrough in cancer/dna/wellness research and at least one outbreak of a new or “extinct” disease. A couple of major volcanic eruptions in the Pacific Rim (seems to be some action down this way with the increase in size of an underwater volcano of the coast of NZ) and at least one major eruption/earthquake in the Old World. Sadly, more tsunami/cyclone damage in low-lying countries. More small terrorist group actions (and more small active groups). More international law suits – particularly against copyright and patent abuse. Increase in racial/religious tension world-wide. Increased vocalisation of the needs of small groups (single white left-handed women who read m/m and are of a certain age from small countries very far away will have their day!).
Steady decline in population growth in most First/Second/Third (the last of which includes NZ) world countries and increases in all others – and huge increase in immigration (both legal and illegal) from high pop growth countries with totalitarian/fundamentalist/exclusionist regimes. Ageing and increasingly medicated populations in F/S/T world countries and increased government control and legislation on food/drugs (“Fat Tax, Additive Tax, legal action against companies with “addictive substances” like high-fat/high-sugar content. Price of chocolate up up up (apparently, the cocoa-producing areas of the world are limited, so as more and more people acquire the taste, demand will outsrip supply) and the number of “fake” chocolates and chocolate-substitutes will increase (these will no doubt turn out to have deleterious health effects). A simultaneous tightening and relaxing of laws surrounding “recreational drugs” – so some countries will de-criminalise pot or relax laws on party pills at the same time other countries ban smoking everywhere and limit use of alcohol or caffeine. Governments all seeming to become more extreme – either in softening or tightening of application of legislation. UN seen as being more and more toothless as countries do not need to belong/participate in order to exist on international front (money speaks). Increase in criminal gangs operating outside country/area of origin – hooking into terrorist activity for financial gain rather that idealism. Personal safety coming to be seen as major concern of ordinary citizen.

More reality tv – direct from contestant/actor homes – 24-7 and unedited (Bleah!). An increase in interest in “archaic” forms of entertainment as a academic pursuit. Britney Spears as a degree.

Peter Jackson releases the 24-hour version of LOTR (with blooper discs) in conjunction with the extended version of The Hobbit by del Torro … ok, that’s just my personal dream!

Sorry, I’ll stop!

Link | March 19th, 2009 at 2:37 pm