List of emerging technologies
en.wikipedia.org
List of emerging technologies
1–10 of 44 posts
Re: List of emerging technologies
#2The whole head transplant[1] has got to be the most disturbing thing on that list.
Re: List of emerging technologies
#3The whole head transplant[1] has got to be the most disturbing thing on that list. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_transplant
I don't know; "Potentially marginalized technologies: Consensus reality" is pretty special....
Re: List of emerging technologies
#4A much better article than I would expect, really.
Coolest technology I had never heard of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-reconfiguring_modular_robo...
Re: List of emerging technologies
#5This should be a great source of inspiration for any budding scifi author.
Re: List of emerging technologies
#6I thought memristers were further along. Aren't they going to be shipping this year?
Re: List of emerging technologies
#7Why is "reducing air pollution" a potential application of driverless cars? The other benefits allow people to driver faster and safer on the same amount of roads, but I don't see how that would encourage less driving that would lead to less air pollution.
Faster driving = less gas mileage, and if driverless cars dramatically lowers the opportunity cost of driving people may be encouraged to put even more miles on their car. Wouldn't that all increase air pollution? Don't get me wrong, I think the other benefits are enormous, but am I missing something obvious?
Edit: Thanks for the great answers below.
Re: List of emerging technologies
#8Why is "reducing air pollution" a potential application of driverless cars? The other benefits allow people to driver faster and safer on the same amount of roads, but I don't see how that would encourage less driving that would lead to less air pollution. Faster driving = less gas mileage, and if driverless cars dramatically lowers the opportunity cost of driving people may be encouraged to put even more miles on th…
Self-driving cars could form convoys to utilize slipstream. You could reduce the safety distance, because the reaction time compared to a human driver is massively reduced. Additionally, the driving style of the average driver leaves a lot of room for improvement.
Re: List of emerging technologies
#9Why is "reducing air pollution" a potential application of driverless cars? The other benefits allow people to driver faster and safer on the same amount of roads, but I don't see how that would encourage less driving that would lead to less air pollution. Faster driving = less gas mileage, and if driverless cars dramatically lowers the opportunity cost of driving people may be encouraged to put even more miles on th…
Its quite true that driverless cars per se would have just the effects you mention. But if driverless cars mean that suddenly nobody owns a car and just rents a car from the automated taxi fleet when they need a ride we'd probably see most of them be lightweight single occupancy vehicles, meaning less pollution overall.
Re: List of emerging technologies
#10The whole head transplant[1] has got to be the most disturbing thing on that list. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_transplant
Disturbing, yes. But keep in mind that there are warehouses out there with people's heads cryogenically frozen. So there's a line of people queuing up, waiting for it to happen. :)