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SF Author Robert J. Sawyer Looks at 2014
Alex writes "Canadian science fiction author Robert J Sawyer takes a positive look at a typical day in 2014 for Backbone Magazine, looking at where both scientific and sociological advances of the next decade will take us. Sawyer is a multi-Aurora, Hugo, and Nebula award winner, and was one of the first major authors to use a website to promote his work. Readers might associate some of these innovations and ideas from his fiction."
He still hasn't received his pre-orderd copy of DNF! :)
And judging by the design of it, he hasn't updated it since then.
You know what?
Stop whatever you're doing and get working on my flying car. Now. I'm not kidding.
No sexbots? No flying cars? What horrible vision of the future is this!?
Canadian science fiction author Robert J Sawyer takes a positive look at a typical day in 2014
For those who didn't RTFA, Sawyer predicts global hegemony under ruthless Canadian authority.
Residents of the former United States are chained to benches while being forced to eat poutine and watch curling competitions.
3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
You stop by Super EB games to finally pick up the just released Duke Nukem Forever!
Sawyer predicts global hegemony under ruthless Canadian authority.
That's right! And here in Canada, "ruthless" means we won't even say "please!"
Accountability on the heads of the powerful.
Power in the hands of the accountable.
(if you haven't read the article, this won't make much sense or be too funny. If you have read the article it will make more sense, but still won't be that funny.)
Our mornings will still begin with waking up. But instead of the old-fashioned alarm clock buzzer it starts with the electrowhips of the alien overseers.
Today, your coffee can be brewed while you sleep; in 2014 coffee will only be a distant memory, as you quickly down some brackish water with your daily gruel allotment. No newspaper, but you can learn the latest gossip, such as who didn't survive the night, in hushed tones with your barrackmates.
Of course, you aren't the only one who has to get up. Your spouse and kids will have to labor in the mines as well.
So it's a one hour forced march to the work camps, where you're given your pick and sent underground. No need to quiz your children on facts as you march along; education is pointless when your day revolves around brutal forced labor, interrupted in the end only by a merciful death.
Throughout the day, your wristband--a combination manacle, stungun, and one-way communications device--will be your lifeline to your alien overlords, who will periodically issue orders through it and shock you when you don't obey fast enough.
Why Microsoft?
Maybe this is your first time reading Slashdot.... heh
their websites have enough bandwidth to stay up.
The author doesn't mention the veracity of income that supports this lifestyle. Otherwise it sounds great, for a lazyass. I'm sorry, I mean a technically proficient knowledge worker.
And /. members stuck in the mid 1990's will still be crying "why can't I just have a phone that just makes calls?"
Is this a typical day in 2014? What a disaster!
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>>Your spouse and kids will be taken care of, too -- with smart toilets analyzing their urine...
Here's my prediction...
A chap had a very painful elbow. He went to see his own doctor, who told him to rest it: no treatment was required, it was just tennis elbow.
Rather dissatisfied, he decided to go to a new computer-based medical service that had just opened up. He went inside the building and found the terminal, but there were no people in sight. The instructions told him to slide his credit card through the slot, and that $150 would be debited. When he had done this, he was asked screen after screen of questions about himself, until eventually a specimen bottle appeared. The instructions on the screen said, "Produce urine specimen and pour into slot on left," so he did. A few seconds later, the screen read:
Diagnosis: Tennis elbow
Treatment: Rest
Well, he wasn't happy. $150 wasted just to be told the same thing again. He thinks, "I'm going to confuse the hell out of that smug machine." He went home, took a bottle and put a scooped-up turd from his dog, some of his daughter's and wife's urine, some crankcase oil from his car and some of his own semen into the bottle and mixed it thoroughly. Then he went back to the computer.
He waved his card through the slot, answered the questions again and poured his mixture through the slot when asked. There was a very long pause.
About half an hour later, the screen read:
Diagnosis:
1. Your dog has rabies
2. Your daughter is on heroin
3. Your wife is pregnant, and your not the father
4. Your car is going to throw a rod
5. If you don't stop wanking, your tennis elbow will never get better.
Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated up.
A Smart Washcloth looks at 2015: "NO, dear GOD NO, what the FUCK did I do to deserve this miserable existence? PLEASE, for the love of the BIG COTTON BALL IN THE SKY, please KILL ME NOW!"
the quick demise of the Atkins diet
Actually, based on the amount of fat those people eat and the lack of fiber, combined with the way Dr. Atkins died, I think it's safer to say we'll see the demise of Atkins dieters...
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Meanwhile, your kids will be off in their rooms, enjoying fully immersive virtual reality experiences -- who'd have thought homework could be such fun? Eventually, though, it'll be time for them to get ready for bed. Smart washcloths will make sure they clean everywhere, including behind their ears.
"Hey Mom, I'll be in my room uhh... doing my homework"
"Again? Please use your smart washcloth when you're finished this time. I don't want to have to clean up tomorrow when I'm uhh.. doing your laundry."
My kitchen of tomorrow better have me a high-carb (and high fat) bacon eggs and toast going in the morning or i'm RMA'ing the damn thing
=D
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
That's as far as I needed to read. Apparently in 2014 people will still mis-state common axioms (Moore's law), mis-quote famous sayings (come up and see me sometime, play it again Sam, etc), mis-pronounce common words (nuclear), and generally mis-use language (irregardless).
Of course, all this misses the point. What we really want to know is, in 2014, does Han shoot first?
After you wake up, you'll spend an hour checking out slashdot on your e-ink paper, you hacked your coffee-machine to boost the caffine to just under the lethal dose. You're alreadly late because you checked the "don't wake me if im having a dream" box on your alarm settings. Your getting ready for work and the toilet tells you that your young daughter has been busy with half the football team, her tooth brush confirms... off to work and to drop the kids off, the journey is silent, no-one says a word. There are some police cars outside the school - its been raided again by the MIA (Media Industry Ass. they are now global) good thing you taught your kids how to hide stuff properly. At work your boss is pissed off, apparently the new product infringes 165 patents but we're only budgeted to infringe 80. You need to find some loop-holes and get rid of 85 patented concepts by tuesday. After lunch theres a quick security search, apparently someone was spotted in the building wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign! The security search was sponsored by Pepsi and the vending machine had a one hour discount. On the way home you some girls getting a ticket for skirt-length violation (the cop has his ruler out) and you just hope your girl isnt getting into trouble. You get home and check slashdot, the news and your mail.
Oh and make sure you dont get mugged in 2014, they cut your hand off for the finger prints.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
His site seems to have gone down inexplicably.
... this guy is not Authur C Clarke.
/You will then watch the best pornography and get famous people to say naughty things to you using realistic speech synthesis.
o.O Alright who dunnit? Who clicked the link? You know who you are.
Oh its back.
"As a science-fiction writer, my job is predicting the future."
No your job is writting science fiction. Future predictors have the job of predicting the future.
"Moore's law tells us that computing power doubles every 18 months. If that holds up -- and i believe it will,"
*switches into listen to old man rumbling on about moores 'law'* Moores law tells us that Moore though, hang on, about a year and a half ago I bought this computer that was half as good, and I remember when I was a lad...
"Can anyone guess how that much computing muscle, widely available and inexpensively priced, will affect our day-to-day lives?"
Yes, the average survival rate of Window 2014 will be about 20 minutes/128. Or it'll die just before you remove it from the polystyrene.
"tomorrow's robokitchen will have an entire hot (but low carb!) breakfast waiting for you."
s/robokitchen/wife... loser scifi writer.
wife n. pl. wives (wvz)
A woman joined to a man in marriage; a female spouse.
"but you might still have to physically go to your office. Along the way you'll take your kids to school."
How does he know I'll have kids in 2014, and if I do, they can take to robo-school-bus.
"Naturally, your electric car will drive itself"
Yeah, not running windows 2014 I hope.
s/"you will use the rest of your commute time productively, catching up on full-motion-video e-mail and reading reports (or having them read to you by totally realistic voice synthesizers)"
The idea about the wall being a vast flatscreen, THAT is cool, except more cool for things like Doom 6. Unless the co-worker is hot.
"Recording your entire life will take a lot of storage, but the cost of data storage will be essentially zero by 2014, so that's no problem."
Aaaah I see GMails grand plan now.
"No standing in line, though, to check out: you'll just waltz out the front door, as the Radio Frequency ID chips in the products you've bought allow their costs to be tallied and your account automatically debited."
And if you haven't got an account chip? wooohoo utopian or orwellien?
"You might make dinner yourself, if you enjoy cooking. But if not, your automated kitchen will again take care of everything"
s/robokitchen/wife... loser scifi writer.
wife n. pl. wives (wvz)
A woman joined to a man in marriage; a female spouse.
He is slow on the uptake right?
"And you'll have a humanoid robot, too"
Aaaah for people without wives.
"your kids will be off in their rooms, enjoying fully immersive virtual reality experiences"
They are called drugs. And what happened to the jetsons utopian family life with that hot one with white hair? She was nice.
"So, have I got it right? Only time will tell. But, as I said at the outset, if I'm wrong, feel free to look me up in 2014 and let me know."
No, and you will be dead by then I hope. Sod off.
Sorry, had to, just had to.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
But that might be too ambitious a prediction.
I'm going to go slashdot my toilet now.
...allow me to have any of those fancy gadgets.
Well...maybe the alarm clock with an employees discount.
My keyboads not woking popely.
If you have a computer that can read lips, you won't be able to hide the fact that you are going to shut it down and it will kill your entire crew before you get to jupiter.
Technoli
Actually this guy is a /. reader and the alarm clock idea is the new in Soviet Russia joke. In 2014, you tell the alarm when to wake up!
UV-filter contacts already exist and are a good idea. However, people will always wear shades (sunglasses) for two reasons: 1) they make you look cool and 2) they let you look at girl's legs on the street without them noticing.
http://www.bernsonline.com/
Your spouse might telecommute -- perhaps half of all white-collar workers will do so in 2014 -- but you might still have to physically go to your office. Along the way you'll take your kids to school.
I doubt this very much. Prediction: We will have an AI breakthrough within a few years. In ten years, you and your spouse will be replaced by a machine and will join millions of others on the unemployment line. Unless, of course, the Big Brother government du jour steps in and bars intelligent machines from the work place. Lots of luck to them, because other nations will not follow suit. Interesting times ahead.
my personal favorite is the contact lens display... a great theory, but isn't it obvious that the power cable for those might be an eye irritant?
Just as irrigation is the lifeblood of the Southwest, lifeblood is the soup of cannibals. -- Jack Handy
Think back to 10 years ago.. that's right 1994. AOL was still popular, the world wide web & ecommerce began to explode, the imminent release Windows 95 was all over the news, a 15" computer LCD screen cost more than $3000, Clinton was a first-term president, Monicagate & 9/11 haven't happened. No integrated home living systems, electric cars, fusion power, artificial intelligence, voice recognition, or anything else that was promised to me in 'Beyond 2000' has happened.
g 2004/tc20040813_1107_tc120.htm
The resulting litigation destabilizes the Linux migration. The open source community heeds the call to arms and rallies behind Torvalds and leads the development of a UNIX-, patent-, and copyright-free kernel. The new OS fills the void and all the people in the land are happy. Except when Microsoft lays off 25,000 programmers to refocus on office productivity and software development products.
How about learning from the past? My predictions for the next 10 years (I'm just a tech (MIT) student, not some fancy dancy science fiction writer):
++ Linux and Windows do not exist. As its desktop share plummets because of both increasing institutional adoption of Linux and persistent security issues (Longhorn looked like swiss cheese), Microsoft calls in its cards with its copyright and patent portfolio that Linux "infringes" upon. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/au
++ Oil and Gas shortage because of continuing\spreading unrest in the middle east pummels global economy. Rather than investigating alternatives or renewables, vested interests ensure that countries revert to dirty methods like coal and new processes to extract vast tar oil reserves.
++ Integrated wireless-PDA, streaming audio-video iPod, VoIP cell phone are commonplace using HyperHiWiMaxExtreme4 Platinum Edition redux alpha.
++ Duke Nukem Forever and Team Fortress 2 are expected to go gold "sometime in fall." Quake 4 supports 6400x3600 resolution for the new 40" OLED Mac display.
++ James Webb Space Telescope 0w|\|3z Hubble. In conjunction with Terrestrial Planet Finder, scientists begin to resolve images of extrasolar planets.
++ Scaled Composites begins to offer weightless 30-minute, sub-orbital trips for $25,000.
++ ebooks still not popular. Something to do with people who stare at a computer screens all day don't like to relax by staring at computer screens.
++ George Lucas cashes in chips and has Wachowski brothers write Star Wars VII, VIII, and IX. Together, they cost $1 billion to produce.
++ Body odor remains an issue for programmers. Dweebs still have trouble with women.
In 14 years, i will have to worry if my daughter is Saying "Bring it on !!!" to half of the football team. The AI will NEVER find me in a restful sleep to wake me up at Rest. I will still use the Alarm clock.
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
Maximum Leader Ashcroft announced that today's terrorism alert level is reddish-orange. Travel across state lines is prohibited.
Two tourists were accidently shot dead today near the White House when they pointed a camera at the limo of the Secretary for State Security.
The disposable bodysuits required for air travel will be available in new colors this fall. Toothpaste has been removed from the permitted carry-on items list due to a potential terrorist threat.
Gasoline isn't rationed, but it costs $21/gallon. It's tax deductable as a business expense.
The E-mail "security fee" is being raised from $0.50 to $0.75 per message, to cover the increased costs of reading and censorship by Homeland Security. Spam is down to 0.001% of all E-mail.
Homeland Security announced today that 96.3% of road intersections in the US were equipped with surveillance cameras, and that 100% coverage would be achieved within two years.
Information about behavior patterns as obtained from cell phone locators and surveillance cameras will now be made available to college admissions officers, employers, insurance companies, and military recruiters.
Cleanup of the wreckage of Seoul, after the nuclear war between North and South Korea, has been halted again due to higher than expected radioactivity.
Yesterday, Israel sent robot bulldozers into the Jenin refugee camp to crush the homes of "terrorist sympathizers".
China announced that their moon base personnel would have to serve longer tours due to budget cuts.
Stuff like robotic kitchens and alarm clocks that don't wake you up until, uh, you wake up...
I'm assuming I can download different personality "skins" into my robots? This week I think I'll have the current reigning Iron Chef fixing my dinner while Bill Gates vacuums the living room!
So I go to the toilet and it critiques my, uh, output... Next thing I know it's gotten together with the "smart" refrigerator and kitchen robots to plan an "intervention".
The "Emeril" bot corners me in the bedroom with a big box of "Tasty Bran Bites" and tells me "Resistance is futile. BAM!"
Any 2014 alarm clock that woke me up four hours early for work would quickly feel the wrath of my 2014 Death Ray.