What developments will we see in 2018?

[ChrisIB]

I would guess microscopic life may be found but we might have to wait a while after the James Webb telescope is launched in October for evidence of industrialization in the atmospheres of exoplanets.

China will be back on the moon with a vehicle on the dark side, it will also have a probe to Mars. Tesla have stated they will also slingshot two tourists round the moon.

Two asteroids will be visited, one by Nasa the other by Japans space agency, with both eventually returning samples.

We should also get to see a mamoth roaming our world again, magical!

 

[nivek]

I would guess microscopic life may be found but we might have to wait a while after the James Webb telescope is launched in October for evidence of industrialization in the atmospheres of exoplanets.

China will be back on the moon with a vehicle on the dark side, it will also have a probe to Mars. Tesla have stated they will also slingshot two tourists round the moon.

Two asteroids will be visited, one by Nasa the other by Japans space agency, with both eventually returning samples.

I agree we have some exciting years coming up in space exploration, technological advances is also beginning to streamline exploration of our system...I think we will reach a point in the coming years where we are sending stuff out beyond earth on a regular basis...

I also think we will see very significant advances that will step us closer to having a true AI, but its also kind of worrisome too, could be that pandora box idiom in the making...

We should also get to see a mamoth roaming our world again, magical!

I don't know about this one, I think if it happens in our lifetimes it will be a few more years yet but who knows, there could be some secret lab working on projects such as cloning and DNA work, we might hear it on the news tomorrow a baby mammoth was cloned!...

 

[ChrisIB]

Agree, AI will be the game changer. Perhaps it will be more incremental than the much spoken of singularity.
We have long had targeted advertising, now crime reduction due to facial recognition.
I think a major shift will be the reduction of corruption by machine learning.
Many large countries have been held back by corruption and when freed will be transformed.
The clampdown on corruption in China is perhaps no coincidence.

Democracy will change, although it has always been subject to influence by powerful groups and lobbies, now governments can identify trends on social media and then manipulate counter trends.

The excellent series, Cyberwar, had an illuminating episode on surveillance in Pakistan. Due to near non existent privacy laws, it has seen near total camera surveillance and control of communications.

There have been advisories to not use Kaspersky but it may be naive to think that Avast (Czech), Avira (German), NOD32 (Slovakia) and Norton and McAfee (US) do not relay information back to their home governments.

And that's just to start, when we have helper robots they will be extremely intelligent, I can't imagine the ramifications of every person having expert personal guidance on every topic and action.

 

[August]

Having helper robots will be like having slaves , will that be a good thing ?

 

[nivek]

Having helper robots will be like having slaves , will that be a good thing ?

I have no problem using robots in such a way some people might see it as slavery...They are not alive and do not have feelings, they are designed for our use in such ways...You might say the smartphones, tablets, helper software aren't also slaves to us...

I have an AI in my own network at home, it's called an AI but it's not really although intelligent through its programming, some day it will be outdated and I'll put something better in it's place...

 

[nivek]

I think we will also see a rise in alternative energies more with certain breakthroughs which will be convincing of the power and reliability to pursue more development and growth in that sector...

 

[August]

I have no problem using robots in such a way some people might see it as slavery...They are not alive and do not have feelings, they are designed for our use in such ways...You might say the smartphones, tablets, helper software aren't also slaves to us...

I have an AI in my own network at home, it's called an AI but it's not really although intelligent through its programming, some day it will be outdated and I'll put something better in it's place...

I have an AI on my HP PC called Cortana I won't talk to it. Neither will a lot of other computer users, it intimidates them . I think if these AIs become sentient and achieve Singularity we have all had it.

 

[Kchoo]

I welcome AI, and being able to talk to machines, if they can behave...

I welcome R2-D2 style units, and C3-PO style units, and oh man... little BB-8's... these are not too impractical now...
Our Phones already anoy us as C3-PO annoyed with announcements etc, Lexa or Echo, or whatever, all have some cool and fun features now... they are fun...

My biggest concern with all this tech is a loss of privacy... Robot vacuumes map homes and share that data with furniture stores etc, so they can optimize a notice of a piece of furniture that would fit in your home...
That has potential to be used in other ways... maybe not good ways...

 

[Kchoo]

I have an AI on my HP PC called Cortana I won't talk to it. Neither will a lot of other computer users, it intimidates them . I think if these AIs become sentient and achieve Singularity we have all had it.

She looks kinda spooky... ghostly...

 

[August]

She looks kinda spooky... ghostly...

Well she is not talking to me that's not going to happen its asks me everyday if it can do something for me but I am quite capable of handling things myself. If I do get stuck I ask real people. They had one of these things on the Government Heath site here and people complained about it so much they removed it. Its not something people will approve of . We even have the AI experts warning us of pushing ahead to fast with this stuff.

 

[August]

She looks kinda spooky... ghostly...

A new lifeform.