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World's First Encyclopedia of Future Inventions
Deb Hellman writes "WIRED Magazine Writers, Cory Doctorow and Wil McCarthy, have joined VC Rick Patch and 2 futurists to judge the Immortalizer Technologies Project - a project designed to uncover a comprehensive list of future inventions. The project is being spearheaded by a futurist think-tank, the DaVinci Institute. The goal of the project is to create a compendium of future inventions, a roadmap of sorts for innovators. They probably won't get it right in the first edition, but I like how Tom Frey is thinking on this one. People can submit their ideas and have a future invention named after themselves. Deadline for submissions is April 30th."
Luckily I've not had to enforce my patent yet, since every invention since 1998 (including patented ones but excluding mine) are ideas blatantly stolen from prehistoric (pre-1996) times.
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"Controlling the Weather - Since the beginning of time, man has been fighting the forces of nature. Clothing protects us from the weather in a small way. Buildings protect us in a much larger way. But wouldn't it be nice to spot a hurricane when it first starts to develop, shoot a special wave into it, and just put it out."
Better invention: How about clothing and buildings that are strong enough to withstand any weather? Why disrupt the natural world when we can adapt to it?
"Instant Sleep - People who need to finish an important project, but are beginning to get exhausted can just walk into the instant sleep chamber. In just a few seconds they can walk back out totally rejuvenated, ready to tackle their rest of their work."
Better invention: lets come up with an economy and lifestyle where we get a nice eight-hour sleep at night. I like sleeping. No more sleep, so that my employer can enjoy my improved productivity? This is progress?
In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane. -Oscar Wilde
This is not for yucks; just a list of way-cool things I've seen in science fiction over the years.
10. The Dream Recorder
9. Impervious material (like Adamantium, General Products Hulls, Mithril)
8. Teleportation booth/transporter
7. Time machine
6. Intelligent, walking robot (I'm thinking more Asimov than Star Wars). Something that can balance, walk and think. Hondo "ASIMO" is a mere toddler.
5. FTL space drive
4. Stasis Field (see Larry Niven....who needa a fridge when you have one of these?)
3. Antigravity
2. Fully creative genetic engineering. Yes, we need Moties and dragons in our world.
1. Brain wave reader machine that makes telepathy a reality.
Is Duke Nukem Forever on the list ?
Be careful what you wish for.
But then again, I could be wrong.
I've read a few references about a fairly new drug that's been given to narcoleptics and been adopted by others that really seems to be a stay-awake drug that has few known side effects. Unlike stimulants that crank you up, this new drug simply keeps you from getting sleepy.
Non-narcoleptic users reported being able to stay awake for 4-5 days straight without any sleep. When they stop taking the drug, they get tired as per normal and sleep a normal 8 hours and wake up rested and "normal."
I think this is pretty revolutionary -- we talk about free time as being important, but what would it be like to get 10 additional hours a day? Feel like watching that 3 hour DVD, but its 11 PM and you know you'll be shot the next day if you do? What if the bigger worry was whether you had enough DVDs to occupy your time between 2 and 6 AM?
They don't know what the long term psychological impact of sleep deprivation like this would be, but there's no apparent physical problems reported by people who have been up 3-5 days. None of the paranoia and other psychotic behavior typically associated with long-term stimulant use and other sleep deprivation.
The amount of extra free time would be truly amazing, even if you only stayed "up" 2-3 nights a week, you could be gaining the equivilent of 50 days free time a year.