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Experts Fear Future Will be Like Sci-Fi Movies
segphault writes "In the year 2020, Luddite terrorists attack technology infrastructure and artificial intelligences dominate earth! Or at least that's what 700 experts predict in the latest poll conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project (pdf). Is the future really going to be like a science fiction movie? Ars Technica provides a humorous overview of the survey results. From the article: 'Are these scenarios really indicative of future trends? Given the prevalence of many of these concepts in science fiction content, it is obvious that the ideas themselves are at least relevant enough to warrant consideration. That said, the nature of the survey and the way that the scenarios are presented makes the entire thing seem less plausible. In looking at classic science fiction films of the past, from Blade Runner to Soylent Green, one realizes that few of them really predict with any accuracy the world we live in today. Culture and technology can change in radically unpredictable ways, and today's experts may lack the foresight to perceive the future with the clarity of Hari Seldon.'"
As far as I'm concerned it won't matter what happens, just as long as I get my soma.
This guy's the limit!
is also a prevalent theme in science fiction, but that doesn't mean we'll be doing it in the foreseeable future.
I'm not going to change your sheets again, Mr. Hastings.
There I was expecting a Jetsons-like future and we seem to be getting a Startrek-like future.
Very disappointing.
(10 points to the first person to name them all)
Summation 2
(perhaps Penn Jilette?) "The future will be a lot like now but with better special effects."
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
...maybe it's a good idea to vote schwarzenegger for president. Just in case.
My city: Barcelona.
Smart man that Joss is.
...war was beginning.
Time Travel "is also a prevalent theme in science fiction, but that doesn't mean we'll be doing it in the foreseeable future"
Well actually it happens all the time, but you don't notice. For instance in the future you invent a time machine and travel into the present. The world splits into two alternative futures and you always end up in the one in which you didn't invent a time machine. In fact you don't even need to invent a time traveling machine, just send messages back using tachions.
For instance 'Trice Upon a Time' by James P. Hogan gives a good illustration of communication with the past. Unfortunaly you won't be able to find this one on Amazon as he experimented with just such a device, the writer accidentally wiped himself from existance.
See also 'Timescape' by Gregory Benford where the exact opposite happens and someone turns up alive although one of the characters remembers her dying. Have you ever been suprised when some celebrity turms up on television movies and you go 'isn't he dead' or remember the plot of a movie that's different than when it turms up on tv. Well someone's just been messing with the spacetime continuum.
was Re:Time Travel
davecb5620@gmail.com
Eloi are tasty.
True. If not for the h, Soylent Green would be just u, man!
And I doubt that's enough for all of us!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Uh huh. In fact, in Rand McNally, they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people!
"We shall party like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean." - HedonismBot