Gesture systems and even keyboards might become obsolete in the near future. They are already working on neural interface chips that would allow direct communication between the brain and a computer. As for directing robots and such, this technology is currently in labs.

In the university of Reading (in England), they implanted a chip into the arm of a volunteer (IIRC the head of the robotic department) that allowed him to operate a robotic arm. They were also able to use that single to operate a robiotic arm across the Internet on the other side of the world (in America). They further expanded this and had 2 people with these chips in their arm that also allowed feedback. They connected the chips up to each other and they were able to share the sensations in the arms between each other.

This was around 4 or 5 years ago and the technology has been advancing. they now think that it might only be a few years off (around 2010) where they will be able to implant a chip directly into the brain with read/write resolution down to the neuron level (that is they can read a specifc neuron and write to a specific neuron).

At first this technology will be available mainly to people with missing limbs as this will allow then to have a robotic prostheses directly controlled by their brain as if it was a real limb. Eventually as the mechanics of prosthetic limbs increases and the reliability and safety of this procedure improves, we might actually start seeing people adopting this technology as a replacement for normal limbs - cyberpunk here we come...

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Original post by Edtharan This was around 4 or 5 years ago and the technology has been advancing. they now think that it might only be a few years off (around 2010) where they will be able to implant a chip directly into the brain with read/write resolution down to the neuron level (that is they can read a specifc neuron and write to a specific neuron). At first this technology will be available mainly to people with missing limbs...

No First they will develop its capabilities in mind control and keep it for that sole purpose. When Technology like that gets made, regardless of its original purpose, government will step in to take of=ver with its military use. Not trying to sound negetive, but that sounds like where they are really going.

As for hand guestures on computers, we are already making strides in that area. First, the touch pad. It may still be a physical interface, but with a few visual sensors it could easily become touchless.

Second, electronics companies in Japan have developed projected keyboards. These are the size of a pen and project a keyboard onto a flat surface. It then "watches" where your fingers go and input that inot the computer.

So I see hand gestures used in the near future.

Here is a shiny red button with text "Don't press it."
Do you know that some things has enough mind control so they could don't think about pressing it?

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Original post by Iron Chef Carnage Breakdowns have been reviled in many games, because randomness leads to probability, and with one gun failing and another operating normally, players can hear the dice rattling.

Nothing wrong with dices. They could be here, and suspension of disbelief would work without problem.
Actually even hyper realistic games/simulations are using dices. Better roll dice than recalculate that matrix again and again.

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Original post by T1Oracle Maybe, although silent guns are still boring and lasers are silent. The more I think about it the less cool they sound. Meh

Lasers are not silent. There is ionization of air and vaporization of water on the skin.

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The latest I've seen in that technology was a plan for a ship that can divert 100% of the power from its engines to a giant rail gun launching cheap aluminum projectiles in place of expensive missles or shells. It would be nice if they were smaller.

I seen raiguns fire, and also seen pages of people that tried to make them at home. Saying divert that few MJ from its engines is rather overextragation.

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Original post by Raghar Lasers are not silent. There is ionization of air and vaporization of water on the skin.

When is the last time you heard air ionize???

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Original post by Raghar Saying divert that few MJ from its engines is rather overextragation.

Hopefully I have translated this correctly....

Anyway, railguns that are effective require a good deal of power and superconducting materials. The one that I read about was a faily powerful example, and yes it can redirect 100% of the engines power (of course I am not considering thermal losses) to the railgun. This is no exaggeration. Regardless, none of the militarily effective designs out are anywhere close to being man-portable. Future weapons may be better, but that particular post was about what I have read.

So how many MJ it used per shot? PTM boats have different engine power than twin nuclear reactor CGs. On the other hand old ship designs don't have that much electricity power available, thus diverting all electricity generated on ship, not always equal using full power of engines.

For this reason all/majority of SSN in the world are useless. They have nuclear power, however very little of that power is available as an electricity.

BTW Railgun. It has two rails and electricity is used to create force between them. Rails evaporate quickly.

Coilgun. It has multiple coils, electricity is used to create magnetic field that propels slugs/missiles. It could fire many rounds without extraordinary technical maintenance.

As for portability I seen amateur designs that are transportable, and they are hand held. IIRC power switches are restricted equipment with possible nuclear dual usage, and I doubt they'd have possibility of precise manufacturing. Still it worked. Not military rifle grade, and completely useless for criminal activity (because of bulk/power ratio), however it had potential. On the other hand main advantage of coilgun is ability of switching ammo, work better with electronic (the same power source could be used for magnification and CEP), and reduce power of projectile as needed.

Of course If you'd recall transmission to caseless ammo, you'd recall all that terror in military supply departments when they discovered theirs supplies of a standard ammunitions will not work with new and better weapons. Considering ammunition for assault rifles was pretty much standardized it was a lot of bullets (Do anyone know how much thousand tonnes?). For this reason introduction of caseless ammunition was rather slowed. Of course coilgun ammunition has potentially easier handling, and you can store more projectiles in same space.

As for your question about air.
A laser with 1 MW output is something pretty much something else than your average laser pointer.

When did you heard a lightning, last time?

The main thing holding caseless ammo back is the amount of heat produced when you fire a round off. The ejecting of those little bits of brass, while not taking much heat with it, still takes a lot compared to NOT having that heat removed.

Now, if some clever person comes up with a solid state explosive that DOESN'T produce a fair bit of heat when it goes off, but still has the expansion rate and force, then we're doing good.

If you can cut 1/3 or so of the total weight out of your ammo, you can carry more and what not. Also, not having to eject a case means you have much fewer chances to jam the weapon. Include a system for putting two or three clips into the gun (each with a different ammo type) and a method for rapid switching, and you have an amazing little weapon going.

In english, technically lightning IS silent (we call the resulting sound thunder), lol. But yeah, ionization of air is a little noisy.

For computing in the future, I think we will soon move past actual devices for computing (I mean electronic devices). With the advent of cheap nanotech and nanofactories, we will be able to create nanocomputers that will have an incredible computing power/size ratio. Also, we will be able to store information at the atomic (and eventually subatomic) level, so data storage (on our level of size magnitude) will be inconsequential.

Also, as we move into nantcomputing, we will see all technology become more integrated. Thus, I don't see us using human interface devices for much longer. By integrated, I mean that we will be able to keep nanobots inside our bodies that will enhance our biological functions. We will be able to communicate "wirelessly" via the nanobots directly from the electro-checmical signals in our brain to someone else's brain. Many obstacles stand in the way of this, not the least of which is that each human's brain stores and uses information differently (like each person has a different and unknown computer architecture and OS), but we will overcome those. Eventually, I believe that we will shed our biological bodies over time via tech enhancements and run our processes ("consciousness") on more stable and efficient "bodies".

On teleportation, we will definitely achieve this, though with nanofactories it will most likely be more plausible to make a copy by sending over the "blueprints" of an object than to decompose an object, ship the particles, then reassemble them. It is a weird idea that you could (theoretically) make a copy of yourself at a given time and rebuild it next to you. Kind of makes you wonder if that "person" is you, or if you are?

On weapons, I think that in the future, nanoweapons will be the most alarming. Think about it. Nanotech already has produced a "pirhana" type of fluid that breaks down only biological substances (like living things). Imagine a gas bomb of this substance dropped in a group of people. Or swarms of remote or AI controlled nano "bees" that could be targetted onto a group of enemies. I would imagine it kind of difficult to fight back against nano weapons with modern technology, though we will have such amenities by the time these are developed.

Just my two cents. Oh yeah, and I think that with the exponential growth of technology, these advances are within the next century, at least. Check out Ray Kurtzweil on google. He has a few books out about future technologies.
- Enosch

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Original post by Ezbez Quote: Original post by Roboguy Quote: Original post by Ezbez Alternate dimensions that you can travel to is unbelievable to me. You mean alternate universes or traveling along alternate dimensions? Traveling to alternate dimensions. You know, like the cheesy '5th dimension' from old movies which doesn't actually have an extra dimension, just more fog. Well, anything like that. Pocket dimensions. You get the point I hope. If not, it really doesn't matter that much.

I too hate it when a '5th dimension' has just as many axes as our 3d world.

What if he alternate dimensions are done well? What if, in a 3d game, the 4d spatial wierdness looks just like normal space, except for the way that objects travel through it? If the space warp is just quietly non-euclidean, is it still bogus?

Or if, in a 2d game, the space itself is rendered, in 3d and you can see the distortions, see the geometry of space itself. Then, I think, you could legitimatley talk about a "third dimension" Obviously, a 2d computer screen kind of sucks for rendering 4d objects, so that probably would not work well. It is however possible (I've even come across four and five dimensional rubics cubes, on the web)