The General Sci-Fi Thread

[niky]

Give me sexborgs, please. So I can stop feeling guilty about watching porn.

I think robots that look like robots but can interact with humans will be more acceptable. People have a very hard time accepting artificial humans, and xenophobia will be a very real problem once the crude fleshborgs of today start walking around.

 

[W3H5]

Where do mobile phones go from here?

At the end of the last century every company was working towards smaller phones and in recent years phones have been getting bigger to function like computers.

What's next for phone/ hand held communication devices?

 

[Beeblebrox237]

Where do mobile phones go from here?

At the end of the last century every company was working towards smaller phones and in recent years phones have been getting bigger to function like computers.

What's next for phone/ hand held communication devices?

Flexibility, waterproofing, durability, and versatility. Flexibility is further down the road, but very much a real technology. Of course, phone companies will likely find ways to get more money from us, too.

 

[W3H5]

So will phones ever go back to just being phones? Or will they manage to shrink a whole computer into a phone sized device?

Also, what about implants? A small mic & speaker just behind the jaw for receiving hands-free calls?

 

[Beeblebrox237]

So will phones ever go back to just being phones? Or will they manage to shrink a whole computer into a phone sized device?

Also, what about implants? A small mic & speaker just behind the jaw for receiving hands-free calls?

What? You mean phones ca call people? To be honest, I think those days are gone. you can barely buy a non-smartphone that's halfway decent these days. Computer-phones are definitely on the way.

I don't know about implants. It's too call oriented, as today everything seems to be done via e-mail or text.

 

[Pupik]

At the end of the last century every company was working towards smaller phones and in recent years phones have been getting bigger to function like computers.

Simply put, our fingers aren't going to get any smaller, and we want bigger screens. I suppose something like Google Goggles would make things smaller and computing sizes might shrink further. Phones would be relegated to little Bluetooth earpieces, I suppose.

Unless computers go steampunk or steam-powered...

 

[niky]

Smartphones are already at the waterproof/shockproof phase. That's the point I'd told myself would signal my jumping back on the bandwagon.

There are still regular cellphones that do nothing but call and SMS. But think about this... Even $20 phones have SMS. And some even do video. In the future, the baseline for minimum functionality might be 3G, touchscreen and video... Touchscreens are coming down in price to where they're a viable alternative to keypads... And they might even be more durable as long as you don't hit the screen with a sharp, heavy object.

The abuse your capacitive touchscreen can take nowadays is incredible compared to the clunky systems of years ago.

I don't see implants playing a big role. That's just surgically implanted obsolescence. More likely hearing-aid type inserts, or something like Google Glasses. Or even one that projects straight on the retina instead of a wearable screen.

Couple that with gesture control, eye control and voice commands, and that might be the future of personal devices.

 

[BobK]

I don't see implants playing a big role. That's just surgically implanted obsolescence.

That hadn't occurred to me; that's an important point. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

[Thematic]

I finished reading (a fresh translation of the book known in English as) Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem.

It was very well put together, I didn't enjoy the ending as much as most of it but no disappointment. I knew beforehand just that the title (concept) was a story element. Much science with just a sprinkle of fantasy. Actually recommending to anyone who doesn't need their reading to be emotionally flat.