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View Full Version : What possible future event will you regret not being alive to witness?

bocablkr
05-11-2006, 01:59 PM
I have often wondered what amazing things will happen in the future long after I am dead. I think I would most miss not being there to witness our first contact with an intelligent lifeform from another planet.
Copernicus
05-11-2006, 02:10 PM
the next time the Rangers win the Stanley Cup
tomdemaine
05-11-2006, 02:15 PM
Knowing my luck I'll die three days before they invent the immortality pill. Seriously though if there are any scientists reading if you can get working on the society as described here (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0330493310/qid=1147371272/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-5971066-9773256) I'd be much oblidged.
hmkpoker
05-11-2006, 02:43 PM
The day when man, through his technology, becomes God.
DonnieDarko
05-11-2006, 03:17 PM
the legalisation of cannabis
_TKO_
05-11-2006, 03:35 PM
The end of paper money.
Hopey
05-11-2006, 03:37 PM
[ QUOTE ]
The day when man, through his technology, becomes God.

[/ QUOTE ]

Meh, been there, done that. It's not that exciting, trust me. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

I wish I could live long enough to witness humans visiting other solar systems. However, there's probably no way that will happen in my lifetime -- if it ever happens at all.
miajag
05-11-2006, 03:46 PM
I hope I live long enough to see humans return to the Moon and land on Mars. Given my relative young age and NASA's plans, it seems rather likely that I will see those things, but things could go to hell either on my end or the world's end, and it would be disappointing not to see them.
hmkpoker
05-11-2006, 04:35 PM
[ QUOTE ]
the legalisation of cannabis

[/ QUOTE ]

Talk about aiming low /images/graemlins/tongue.gif
jokerthief
05-11-2006, 05:39 PM
[ QUOTE ]
The day when man, through his technology, becomes God.

[/ QUOTE ]

This will happen before the year 2050.
Full Metal
05-11-2006, 06:04 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The day when man, through his technology, becomes God.

[/ QUOTE ]

This will happen before the year 2050.

[/ QUOTE ]
Haven't we already mapped the genome? Aren't we already capable of playing god?
FlFishOn
05-11-2006, 06:17 PM
It need not be intelligent, simply extraterrestrial. Hope I live long enough.
miketurner
05-11-2006, 06:30 PM
Teleportation would be pretty cool.
HLMencken
05-11-2006, 06:34 PM
The extinction of humankind and the planet recovers and keeps on going.
runner428
05-11-2006, 07:02 PM
[ QUOTE ]
The extinction of humankind and the planet recovers and keeps on going.

[/ QUOTE ]
madnak
05-11-2006, 07:03 PM
Sentient computers. Definitely.
hmkpoker
05-11-2006, 07:42 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Sentient computers. Definitely.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you know they're not already (to some degree) sentient?
madnak
05-11-2006, 07:57 PM
Because I program computers. And I don't think any of the emergence going on right now can qualify as sentience.
BigSoonerFan
05-11-2006, 08:42 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Teleportation would be pretty cool.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just don't let the general riff-raff get ahold of it!

"Hey y'all, watch this!"
BigSoonerFan
05-11-2006, 08:42 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Sentient computers. Definitely.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you know they're not already (to some degree) sentient?

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you know that's not what we are?
BigSoonerFan
05-11-2006, 08:47 PM
[ QUOTE ]
I have often wondered what amazing things will happen in the future long after I am dead. I think I would most miss not being there to witness our first contact with an intelligent lifeform from another planet.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to agree with you, but on a personal note, anything that my daughter's are doing that I may not be alive to see.
pvn
05-11-2006, 09:12 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Because I program computers. And I don't think any of the emergence going on right now can qualify as sentience.

[/ QUOTE ]

They're so smart you can't tell. It's a trap!
chrisnice
05-11-2006, 09:29 PM
[ QUOTE ]
It need not be intelligent, simply extraterrestrial. Hope I live long enough.

[/ QUOTE ]

Run out of living things to hate here on earth?
A_C_Slater
05-12-2006, 12:02 AM
The first journey to Alpha Centauri, it's the nearest solar system (trinary system), 4 light years away, possible Earth-like planets and life.
Acehawk74
05-12-2006, 12:59 AM
[ QUOTE ]
the next time the Rangers win the Stanley Cup

[/ QUOTE ]

NH sir.
vhawk01
05-12-2006, 02:41 AM
Have you read The Singularity is Near, but Ray Kurtzweil?
PoBoy321
05-12-2006, 03:24 AM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Because I program computers. And I don't think any of the emergence going on right now can qualify as sentience.

[/ QUOTE ]

They're so smart you can't tell. It's a trap!

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL, I was planning on posting this exact same response.
bocablkr
05-12-2006, 10:56 AM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I have often wondered what amazing things will happen in the future long after I am dead. I think I would most miss not being there to witness our first contact with an intelligent lifeform from another planet.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to agree with you, but on a personal note, anything that my daughter's are doing that I may not be alive to see.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point...
KeysrSoze
05-12-2006, 07:13 PM
My parents got the moon landing. By the way things are going though I doubt I'll see a Mars landing, which is a shame.

[ QUOTE ]
Knowing my luck I'll die three days before they invent the immortality pill. Seriously though if there are any scientists reading if you can get working on the society as described here (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0330493310/qid=1147371272/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-5971066-9773256) I'd be much oblidged.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd like to live in something like Iain Banks' the Culture series. (http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm)
BigSoonerFan
05-12-2006, 07:38 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I have often wondered what amazing things will happen in the future long after I am dead. I think I would most miss not being there to witness our first contact with an intelligent lifeform from another planet.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to agree with you, but on a personal note, anything that my daughter's are doing that I may not be alive to see.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point...

[/ QUOTE ]

Without my punctuation errors I assume.
BigSoonerFan
05-12-2006, 07:39 PM
[ QUOTE ]
My parents got the moon landing. By the way things are going though I doubt I'll see a Mars landing, which is a shame.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's sad because it probably won't happen for political reasons, not for lack of technology.
Copernicus
05-12-2006, 08:04 PM
Nancy Pelosi saying anything intelligent
madnak
05-13-2006, 12:03 AM
Who cares? If there's no value in going to Mars, why should we go there? How about we fund cancer research or computer technology or something useful instead? Just as long as we're spending hundreds of billions, we might as well get something more from it than bragging rights.
PokerAmateur4
05-13-2006, 12:16 AM
Witnesing cool sounding doomsday things like are described here:
http://www.exitmundi.nl/exitmundi.htm

But then again, who knows, maybe I will be around.
jokerthief
05-13-2006, 12:32 AM
[ QUOTE ]
Have you read The Singularity is Near, but Ray Kurtzweil?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. Great book.
NuklearWinter
05-13-2006, 03:35 AM
As far as stuff in space... ANYTHING. New planet discorveries, aliens, wormhole travel, advanced space travel, etc. whatever it is, it will be cool.

On earth, I hope I live to see the evolution v. creation/ID/faerie tales agrument finally end in favor of evolution (obviously).
ColdCaller
05-13-2006, 04:02 AM
For everyone who is trying to answer this question, please think of what someone from 1920 would do if they saw, oh, I don't know, THE INTERNET in action.

How the [censored] would you predict that to come about?
diebitter
05-13-2006, 04:49 AM
Contact Day
SgtKyle
05-15-2006, 07:25 PM
With the rapid acceleration of technology who knows what is possible. I do not personally look foward to a sentient computer nor do I think it will happen. I have a little background in Philosophy of the Mind but am by no means an expert so my opinion is not based in enougk knowledge to be extremely informed.

I do agree with the OP in that I would like to see contact with another life form outside of our own planet. The universe is so vast and our ability to explore it is almost uncomprehensible when trying to imagine how large it really is.
Peter666
05-15-2006, 10:57 PM
The evolution of women into rational creatures and taste testing Soylent Green.
renodoc
05-16-2006, 01:10 AM
The man=god posts aren't that far off.

Our next step in evolution will come when we "figure out how the brain works" on a level that will allow us to manipulate it chemically, mechanically etc to the point that our species will no longer be H. sapiens sapiens, but something else...

I don't think that will happen in my lifetime, but it will happen soon.

Contact would of course be awesome-- this is the only event I can imagine that would cause us to restart our calenders again from year 1.
bearly
05-16-2006, 10:18 PM
why would anyone want to disrupt the peace that comes from having the room and all the space outside the room empty?.....................b
HLMencken
05-16-2006, 11:43 PM
Second answer: The fall of the American federal government.
Riddick
05-16-2006, 11:48 PM
Nuclear winter.
thedude4life
05-17-2006, 03:21 AM
[ QUOTE ]
The first journey to Alpha Centauri, it's the nearest solar system (trinary system), 4 light years away, possible Earth-like planets and life.

[/ QUOTE ]

from my extremely limited understanding of astrobiology, im pretty sure finding an earth-like planet in a multiple star system is highly unlikely.
CharlieDontSurf
06-01-2006, 05:35 AM
I've always been curious about when and if a massive type virus/plague might be unleashed.

I'd like to be around if they ever pull off building that gigantic telescope that will be like 10-20 as strong as the hubble.

Landing on another planet besides Mars...maybe sending a device into frozen seas over around Urqanus etc.

The day oil is no longer used as a means of energy.
MrMon
06-02-2006, 01:22 AM
[ QUOTE ]
For everyone who is trying to answer this question, please think of what someone from 1920 would do if they saw, oh, I don't know, THE INTERNET in action.

How the [censored] would you predict that to come about?

[/ QUOTE ]

Considering that the idea of computers as we know them today was pretty far-fetched in 1920, it would be difficult indeed. But, the idea of a worldwide communication system was not far-fetched then, and in fact had existed since the 1840s, it was called the telegraph. Someone even wrote a book about it, comparing the two.

The Victorian Internet (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425171698/104-5370526-7690301?v=glance&n=283155)

So clearly, there was no way to envision the Internet as it exists today, but that's not to say you can't broadly come up with some concept of future development without knowing exactly how it would be implemented.
tommpat2000
06-02-2006, 01:37 AM
[ QUOTE ]
the next time the Rangers win the Stanley Cup

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't it a walk on part in the wall? Don't know but thats what I always assumed. I also agree who gives a damn about going to mars untill we find cures for all diseases. If we have all diseases cured, won't we need somewehre to put all these people that all of a sudden aren't dying like they used to.

Anyways I can't believe no one has said time travel, ya thats the answer, time travel.
whiskeytown
06-03-2006, 12:51 AM
when global warming ends up raising the sea levels so much that the original WTC site ends up flooded - that'll be something I wish I could have seen.

RB
moorobot
06-03-2006, 01:09 AM
Whether it will happen or not I don't know, I'm no Nostradamus:

A time when human beings are no longer motivated to produce primarily by some combination of greed and fear.

A time in which people are no longer dispensed with if they can no longer meet market demand. (of course, this promotes 'efficiency' but corrupts humanity).

Where business no longer turns humans into commodities and treats them as such.