Speculations on the next "Age"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4410773

by katchwreck • 14 years ago

4 5 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Speculatively, what new "Age" will replace the "Space Age", and how long will it take for us to converge on an answer?

I've heard about the "Information Age" of smart devices and products, and the "Biotech Age" which with new "wetware" i.e. biomolecular technology, and the "Nanotech Age" of miniaturized space-age machines. If you subscribe to any of these ideas (or a combination thereof), in your mind has this transition occurred already, or will it happen soon, and if so when? Or, what are some other possibilities?

I'm curious to survey HN readers and see what they think!

1123581321• 14 years ago

In hindsight we have not yet experienced the space age any more than Eric the Red began the Age of Exploration. I believe we will begin to truly explore space over the next hundred years very quickly after some technology is developed, and that will be called the Space Age. The latter half of the 20th century belongs to binary computers.

tectonic• 14 years ago

Material Age?

jfaucett• 14 years ago

I think something like a "biotech" age will probably come next. You can see its dawn now, for instance in the DNA data encoder recently or chips that allow parapalegics to control computers through their brain waves. This is where we begin combining the potential of information technologies with biological for advancement. I could easily imagine nanochips that interact with neurons and your retina to allow you to interface with the internet, chat with collegues oversees, etc. As far as the "Space Age" is concerned a think that was a misnomer, we aren't anywhere near capable of beginning the exploration of the vastness of space, and unless we make some ensteinian breakthroughs in physics we probably won't be able to for several centuries to come.

joelklabo• 14 years ago

Age of Acceleration

aviraldg• 14 years ago

Ubiquitous computing enabled by quantum computing. Ultra low power devices, everywhere.

Speculations on the next "Age"

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