Future

[loquere]

Writing a story that jumps to the year 2045. How drastic do I change things? I was not planning on changeing much. I replaced cellphones with earpiece things and home phones are surround sound. I figured flying cars would be too much.

 

[Jake_Knight]

Writing a story that jumps to the year 2045. How drastic do I change things? I was not planning on changeing much. I replaced cellphones with earpiece things and home phones are surround sound. I figured flying cars would be too much.

Depends. You want to feel like a feasable future? Be conservative with technology leaps. It seems we've advanced a lot in random and make-you-lazier technology, but nothing flashy, compared to the sci-fi works from before. It's 2012 and holograms aren't an everyday thing, for example. Flying cars are possible and all that, but are more of a plane/car thing, from what I've seen. If you want flying cars, skip determining the date.

I would recommend checking tech advances and projects, turn those into commonplace or slightly outdated stuff, like, say, google glass and whatnot. Social media has a tendency that hasn't slowed: the idea of "privacy" and "sharing" has changed a LOT. TVs will be TVs in the aspect that it's something for us to be lazy. There might be 3D and interactive videogames, but people usually watch TV to not make any effort..

I don't know if that's helpful enough.

 

[johneb87]

Writing a story that jumps to the year 2045. How drastic do I change things? I was not planning on changeing much. I replaced cellphones with earpiece things and home phones are surround sound. I figured flying cars would be too much.

Just look at the last 20-30 years of computing and how exponentially things have progressed.
http://sphs73reunion.org/images/remember73/technology/cell phone cover.jpg
However, you could add a war or catastrophe in your timeline to set back the progress of technology a bit, if you so desired.

 

[slyc_willie]

2045:

1) Everyone has a digital phone, a simple ear clip that is practically invisible behind the ear. It is activated by voice. No one has a home phone; there's no need.

2) The standard personal computer is about the size of a golf ball. It projects an interactive, 3D holographic field and is also voice activated.

3) All home appliances are voice activated. In addition, the standard new home comes equipped with Roomba-like robotic cleaners that come at night and clean up your house. Those a little more affluent can afford sophisticated robotic assistants that take care of menial tasks like doing the laundry, cooking, and entertaining children. They're about three feet tall and look like little Daleks. But they have telescoping frames and attachments so they can reach anywhere in the house.

4) All vehicles are powered by hydrogen and emit water as a byproduct. They are self-driving but can be turned to manual control with ease.

5) Going to the movies is an interactive experience, with audience members sitting around a massive central 3D holographic projector. Similarly, at home, televisions are also holographic, with no screens, just a little pod that fills the living room with images.

6) Everything is made from recycled materials. This includes your car, your house, your clothes.

7) Ease and speed of transportation means that there are no more preservatives added to food; everyone eats healthier. Hybrid fruits and vegetables are all the rage, such as the plapple (plum/apple), kiwana (kiwi/banana) and the turnato (turnip/potato).

8) Genetic advancements mean parents can literally choose traits for their unborn children, including eye color, hair color, and eradication of certain things such as autism, cerebral palsy, and other genetic disorders.

9) Zeppelins have returned! They now constitute the majority of air travel. They use internal helium balloons and run on massive hydrogen power cells and are actually quite fast.

10) Most major cities have completed beautification projects which have resulted in massive park systems.

11) Every modern building is solar powered; in fact, the windows of skyscrapers double as solar panels.


Just a few ideas of the top of my head . . . .

 

[NekoParks]

Writing a story that jumps to the year 2045. How drastic do I change things? I was not planning on changeing much. I replaced cellphones with earpiece things and home phones are surround sound. I figured flying cars would be too much.

I would visit TED on YouTube for some ideas on the future. When Ridley Scott made Blade Runner, he talked to futurists about the world population growth (statistically more Asians in the population) and types of technology. The biggest leap I see will be that technology will be almost invisible. We have that now with projected keyboards on tables and so on. Nanotechnology will be used for everything from entertainment to medicine. Medicine will need to use genetics more since we have just about tapped out antibiotics. We have more technology and better sources of energy to use, but politicians and corporations are preventing their usage at this time.

I would concentrate on the futuristic story elements needed to further your plot. The other film that I think does a credible job of portraying the future is GATTACA.

There are books like The Next Hundred Years that you can read and you can do some research with websites like Wired Magazine. I still think that TED talks are your best bet for ideas.

Good luck. I would love to read your story when you are finished.

 

[Euphony]

2045:

1) Everyone has a digital phone, a simple ear clip that is practically invisible behind the ear. It is activated by voice. No one has a home phone; there's no need.

2) The standard personal computer is about the size of a golf ball. It projects an interactive, 3D holographic field and is also voice activated.

3) All home appliances are voice activated. In addition, the standard new home comes equipped with Roomba-like robotic cleaners that come at night and clean up your house. Those a little more affluent can afford sophisticated robotic assistants that take care of menial tasks like doing the laundry, cooking, and entertaining children. They're about three feet tall and look like little Daleks. But they have telescoping frames and attachments so they can reach anywhere in the house.

4) All vehicles are powered by hydrogen and emit water as a byproduct. They are self-driving but can be turned to manual control with ease.

5) Going to the movies is an interactive experience, with audience members sitting around a massive central 3D holographic projector. Similarly, at home, televisions are also holographic, with no screens, just a little pod that fills the living room with images.

6) Everything is made from recycled materials. This includes your car, your house, your clothes.

7) Ease and speed of transportation means that there are no more preservatives added to food; everyone eats healthier. Hybrid fruits and vegetables are all the rage, such as the plapple (plum/apple), kiwana (kiwi/banana) and the turnato (turnip/potato).

8) Genetic advancements mean parents can literally choose traits for their unborn children, including eye color, hair color, and eradication of certain things such as autism, cerebral palsy, and other genetic disorders.

9) Zeppelins have returned! They now constitute the majority of air travel. They use internal helium balloons and run on massive hydrogen power cells and are actually quite fast.

10) Most major cities have completed beautification projects which have resulted in massive park systems.

11) Every modern building is solar powered; in fact, the windows of skyscrapers double as solar panels.


Just a few ideas of the top of my head . . . .

As somebody who has future tech articles as part of work and leisure time, id say none of these seemed outlandish. If Im being technical, the traits choosing through gene sequencing isnt likely to me but only because I know the difficulties researchers have had isolating even the simpler traits (hair and eyecolor are far more complex than most give credit)

I think you've struck a good balance by having things be improvements to current tech than designing some wholesale change to everything so it feels "future". If you keep with the same pattern you've seemed to have so far, the only ones who would mind are the real nitpickers.

side note - automated cars have little reason for a manual control and plenty of economic problems because of it (insurers want people out of the equation, whos going to train new drivers when maybe less than 1% of the time they'll be actively steering, I could go on but you see the point.

All Ive read is it will be all autopilot and they will phase out the human element (and *want* to have "control") as soon as they can. Manual driving will be like stunt pilots, done under controlled situations by trained professionals for excitement/entertainment.

And I really liked the "making tech invisible" idea offered. It allows a solid footing for people to understand the tech (I know what a television is) but allows you to advance it at a logical pace (say, handheld home theaters/projectors, on demand anything (movies, games, music, books) instantly, etc.

 

[slyc_willie]

side note - automated cars have little reason for a manual control and plenty of economic problems because of it (insurers want people out of the equation, whos going to train new drivers when maybe less than 1% of the time they'll be actively steering, I could go on but you see the point.

All Ive read is it will be all autopilot and they will phase out the human element (and *want* to have "control") as soon as they can. Manual driving will be like stunt pilots, done under controlled situations by trained professionals for excitement/entertainment.

It's my thinking that phasing out manual control drivers will take longer than thirty years. People -- especially us North American men -- want to feel in control and have the immediate option to do so. Otherwise, personal cars would be phased out in favor of mass public transportation.

And I don't even think that purely automated cars will ever be a reality, if for no other reason than the basic human desire to control what they can. In order to satisfy consumers, that option of control has to remain.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I guess it depends on your plan. Like in the jd rob in death series. Maybe within city limits its more of a utopian setting but outside the city, its like Cherry 2000. They cant afford hydrogen cars, so they retrofit older cars with steam engines, yet there is still technology. Example would be in Real Steel; the kids dad had this old ass COE- yet the dash and associated was high tech. So you have, say a 80s model pickup with a steam engine and a sophisticated heating and fuel system and computer that is maybe not even 30 years old- yet retains all the whatever upkeep and bs its had from like say our time. Houses are buile from shipping containers or whatever they find, while in the city its completly modernized.

 

[steve44uk]

Writing a story that jumps to the year 2045. How drastic do I change things? I was not planning on changeing much. I replaced cellphones with earpiece things and home phones are surround sound. I figured flying cars would be too much.

Neko and others are spot on when they say most of the changes will be invisible. Tech is, increasingly, insidiously pervading all aspects of life, but manufacturers are becoming a lot more savvy about just slipping it in <snerk> to daily life. Nanotech, fer sure.

Some useful authors to read would be Bruce Sterling (an eminent futurist as well as SF author - his novel, Distraction, has some really interesting socio-economic extrapolations) and Kim Stanley Robinson (one of his Orange County Trilogy novels had automatic cars, but I'm buggered if I can remember which one... ).

As with so much in writing, less is more...

ETA: I'm pretty sure it was The Gold Coast...

 

[Euphony]

It's my thinking that phasing out manual control drivers will take longer than thirty years. People -- especially us North American men -- want to feel in control and have the immediate option to do so. Otherwise, personal cars would be phased out in favor of mass public transportation.

And I don't even think that purely automated cars will ever be a reality, if for no other reason than the basic human desire to control what they can. In order to satisfy consumers, that option of control has to remain.

I agree with you on many levels but I ask you...

How many of us fly the planes we ride in?

Yes the draw is strong in our generations but at some point they will phase us out. Theres too much money and safety to be had NOT to.

Ive read all sorts of articles about possible approaches but the most likely is simple:

Insurers

Most states require insured drivers and if people have to pay a massive premium to "manual" you will see a lot of redbloodedness die out. And when the gubment chances over the interstate system to auto-only, you'll get to drive underfunded slow country backroads.

Ill admit in the grand scheme of your story its small potatoes but this is how many noteworthy people see it coming.

Consumer choice will dictate somewhat how things go but I think the bulk of people (which is inclusive of older drivers who WONT otherwise be able to drive and less control freaks) are able to do 150 mph hassle free, they'll give up that ol steering wheel.

Its not in depth but this weeks Economist talks about a lot of this and gives some of the names of those leading the charge (so you could in depth them, if you felt it needed)

Change is coming. Hell Im a control freak and Im sold.

Oh and I disagree that mass transit would take over instead of full auto vehicles.

Think about how people defend their vehicles. It is an extension of their being and personal "space."

An auto car down the road is still your own private cabin unlike an auto bus or auto plane.

The love of the CAR won't die out, but the "love" of driving it daily will when there is a way to have the chore done for you.

And like I said, they'll still be weekenders ripping around "manual tracks" in retro vehicles. Thats when you get your rocks off driving, not puttering along the interstate highway system in traffic all running at difference paces. (slow grandpa, kid ripping by, truckers 10 mph under, etc etc)

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

My crystal ball reveals a nation of fortress enclaves for the elites; a national government exiled in Hawaii with the Marines, Pacific Fleet, and Fort Knox gold; while the rest of us struggle to stay alive in an urban wilderness of feral children, bandits, whores, gladiators, and crime lords.

 

[loquere]

I would visit TED on YouTube for some ideas on the future. When Ridley Scott made Blade Runner, he talked to futurists about the world population growth (statistically more Asians in the population) and types of technology. The biggest leap I see will be that technology will be almost invisible. We have that now with projected keyboards on tables and so on. Nanotechnology will be used for everything from entertainment to medicine. Medicine will need to use genetics more since we have just about tapped out antibiotics. We have more technology and better sources of energy to use, but politicians and corporations are preventing their usage at this time.

I would concentrate on the futuristic story elements needed to further your plot. The other film that I think does a credible job of portraying the future is GATTACA.

There are books like The Next Hundred Years that you can read and you can do some research with websites like Wired Magazine. I still think that TED talks are your best bet for ideas.

Good luck. I would love to read your story when you are finished.

Thanks, I barely focus on the fact that it's the future, though. After your advice there will be a shift in tech edginess. I just aged Mark from my, "The Wrong Thing To Do" series. From 22 to 55. I submitted the previouse big 9 page story with that being the final chapter, "The Wrong Thing To Do." this chapter should offer closure, so this jump into the future shows him with his own family and as a ambitiouse good natured mover of men & women.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Think about the events that will transpire in the next 32 years. Do you foresee low growth or high growth? Continued reliance on dwindling resources or conversion to renewable resources? What are the ramifications of the knowledge gained from the LHC? Your answers to questions like these will determine the pace of technological innovation. What you can safely predict is that more and more devices will be digital. Anything that is or can be digital will become smaller. Video displays will become larger and more lifelike (true 3D). Robotics will take over more and more repetitive tasks. Genetic modification will accelerate. Technology and biology will continue to merge.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

If you want your future to be more gritty, here's a few ideas.


News programs also broadcast pollution levels and color of the sky, telling you what level to put your air-filters on.

Your character has been on a waiting list to be approved to have a child.

Government packages include anti-depressants and suicide pills.

Fertility tests (or birth control) will be mandatory.

The male birth control pill will be available by then.

Wealthier communities are gated, and you leave and go by scanning your DNA, have to keep the poor out!

Porn is on channels 100-200, snuff is on channels 200-250. Porn-snuff is on channels 250-300.

All of the wealthy are addicted to plastic surgery, the weirder, the better.

All citizens have a tracking device implanted in their head, and a bar-code tattooed on their shoulder, for identification.

And so on.

 

[loquere]

If you want your future to be more gritty, here's a few ideas.


News programs also broadcast pollution levels and color of the sky, telling you what level to put your air-filters on.

Your character has been on a waiting list to be approved to have a child.

Government packages include anti-depressants and suicide pills.

Fertility tests (or birth control) will be mandatory.

The male birth control pill will be available by then.

Wealthier communities are gated, and you leave and go by scanning your DNA, have to keep the poor out!

Porn is on channels 100-200, snuff is on channels 200-250. Porn-snuff is on channels 250-300.

All of the wealthy are addicted to plastic surgery, the weirder, the better.

All citizens have a tracking device implanted in their head, and a bar-code tattooed on their shoulder, for identification.

And so on.

The fact that it's the future is very much in the foreground.

 

[PennLady]

Some of this will depend on what you want to happen in your story, and then the technological advances, or lack thereof, can help or hinder your protagonist.

I'd second the "...In Death" series by JD Robb (aka Nora Roberts). I've read a ton of them. They're set in 2058-2060 (so far) and it's a different yet recognizable future, primarily set in New York City. It might give you some ideas of what you'd like or not.

What is your story about? Are we talking a major dystopian thing with collapsed government or environmental catastrophe? Or this world with changes, some minor, some major? That, it seems to me, would be key in terms of what changes you would want to incorporate.

 

[slyc_willie]

The love of the CAR won't die out, but the "love" of driving it daily will when there is a way to have the chore done for you.

For a lot of people, certainly. For the majority, even, especially daily commuters. But I think car enthusiasts will always remain, and they will want to maintain complete (or close enough) control over their driving habits.

It's all speculation, of course, and the OP was looking from a fictional point of view. To that end, if I were writing a story set in the future, I'd want to keep the option of a good old-fashioned car chase open.

 

[loquere]

Some of this will depend on what you want to happen in your story, and then the technological advances, or lack thereof, can help or hinder your protagonist.

I'd second the "...In Death" series by JD Robb (aka Nora Roberts). I've read a ton of them. They're set in 2058-2060 (so far) and it's a different yet recognizable future, primarily set in New York City. It might give you some ideas of what you'd like or not.

What is your story about? Are we talking a major dystopian thing with collapsed government or environmental catastrophe? Or this world with changes, some minor, some major? That, it seems to me, would be key in terms of what changes you would want to incorporate.

It's a story thats exists in the future it's not a futuristic story. The only reason I could'nt set it in the 2012/2013 period is that I've aged my chracter from a four part series, that exists in the present, I jumped to him older with a family. I made him 55, he's a billionaire and Governer of New York. I'm tweaking things to make it tech relatable. The story is mostly if I do it right a mix between politics and romance.

 

[PayDay]

**ahem...

Pardon me...

but...

We are already living in the future?
Which is just a refined version of the past?

Therefore past is present and the future is now?

+my2cents: I say society is in relapse. think Less is more.

 

[i_would]

Funny to see this thead, a few days after I finally got aroudn to watch Soylent Green. That's a 1973 movie set in 2022. But the technology of the future they portray is more 1970s than 2010s - let alone 2020s. No flat screen TV (just the old-fashioned, not even square, small tubes). No self-driving cars, let alone flying cars. No Internet, no voice activated household equipment.

Predicting the future is hard, predicting the technology we pull off is even harder. Part of that is that in the 1970s they could not imagine anything like Facebook. E-mail was limited to certain research facilities, the movie makers may have never even heard of it.

How many people will live in this world? Soylent Green portrayed a New York with 40 mln people - back than the populations were growing fast, nowadays western populations are stabilising if not already declining (most grow on immigration alone).

And on self-driving cars: to me the most likely scenario (at leat the first stage) would be a mix. Self driving on motorways (that's the easiest part: one way traffic, no intersections, restricted access, etc), manual everywhere else.