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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: FlamingCobra on November 09, 2011, 01:49:38 pm

Title: What will the next age be?
Post by: FlamingCobra on November 09, 2011, 01:49:38 pm

Sometimes the current age is called the "space age." But I hardly think that name is accurate, since we do not have a significant presence (a foothold) in space.

Some predict the next age will be the "fusion age." Some of you may ask what actually marks the beginning of the next age. Although there is no clearcut answer, I would say that a technological milestone that brings sweeping changes to society would mark the beginning of the next age.

While the next age could be the real space age, maybe it would be better to give it a different name, like the "cosmic age."

Another possibility is a new era where there is neither nuclear fusion nor a human foothold in space, but instead a world gone green; a complete switchover from fossil fuels. Possibly even a world where rural areas have contracted and most people live in cities and use public transportation. Maybe even widespread maglev use and a migration away from traditional railways/subways.

I just wanted to know what you guys think.  :)
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: StarSlayer on November 09, 2011, 01:53:23 pm
The End Times :P
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: MP-Ryan on November 09, 2011, 01:56:17 pm
Ask a historian in a few thousand years.

The scheme you listed is biased towards an interpretation of history relying on the contemporary as a fixed point; the period we can the Stone age lasted several thousands years.  The industrial age is a period of just over 100 years.  Big scale difference.  Frankly, I suspect historians in the future may quit using the subjective classification scheme altogether, or the period following the middle ages into our future (so the Enlightenment onward) will all get lumped together.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Mefustae on November 09, 2011, 02:04:30 pm
The End Times :P

Not for a while. Technically we're due to his the Dark Age of Technology next.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: FlamingCobra on November 09, 2011, 02:10:19 pm
Ask a historian in a few thousand years.

The scheme you listed is biased towards an interpretation of history relying on the contemporary as a fixed point; the period we can the Stone age lasted several thousands years.  The industrial age is a period of just over 100 years.  Big scale difference.  Frankly, I suspect historians in the future may quit using the subjective classification scheme altogether, or the period following the middle ages into our future (so the Enlightenment onward) will all get lumped together.

Well the stone age is divided into 3 sub-ages:

The Paleolithic
The Mesolithic, and
The Neolithic

I just put them all together for the sake of argument.

So I guess a better way to put the question is:
"What is the next big leap?"
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Nuke on November 09, 2011, 02:23:35 pm
after ww2 it was the nuclear age and that lasted clean throughout the cold war and probably ended with he fall of soviet russia. the space age really didnt last that long, i would even argue that it hasnt really started yet. but it happened almost parallel to the nuclear age, it probibly started a little later and ended a little later. the information age kinda started in the late 70s well into both the nuclear and space ages and lasts till now.the fact that we've had so many ages occurring concurrently seems to indicate we dont know what age were in right now. and that is for someone several hundred years from now to decide.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: redsniper on November 09, 2011, 02:54:24 pm
Transhuman Age
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Kszyhu on November 09, 2011, 03:33:57 pm
The Last Age. Humankind will exhaust all usable resources on Earth, and without sufficiently advanced space presence it won't be able to sustain it's continued existence.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: The E on November 09, 2011, 04:00:15 pm
Stupid topic is stupid. We cannot predict what the next step will be, thus trying to come up with a simple moniker for that step is futile.

Although I am kinda hoping for a Singularity, as long as we can avoid the panopticon kind.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: bigchunk1 on November 09, 2011, 04:31:41 pm
This is not a stupid topic! Don't you find enlightenment from educated predictions? Is it not a noble scientific passtime to guess at what cannot be proven?

Here's some of my guesses:

Space Age(you forgot this one!): In the search for new ways to acquire resources and take advantage of satellite technology private markets begin to capitalize on space. The idea of a space elevator does not sound so bad if you have governments waiting in line for multi million dollar rides. Nations revisit the idea of the 'Star Wars' missile defense system as a measure against smaller nations finally being able to construct nuclear ICBMs. 'Rods from god' satellites can hit a target within minutes and with no risk to the attacking nation. The field of war expands, as it did in world war 1: land, sea, air and... space?

Information Age continues: Computing power becomes faster and more portable, making populations able to organize revolutions with a few simple touches on a keypad. Knowledge as property of the elite fades as academic content becomes freely available to anyone who wants to study it.

Robotic Age:  Attack Drones, automation of factories, Potential effects on the job market and the gdp as a whole. One man can do what used to take 50. What will this mean for the disparity of wealth? 

Biological Age: Sweeping advancements in medicine and the understanding of the human genome. Life expectancy goes up, nutrition and exercise are redefined, sickness becomes easier to cure, and the question of genetic engineering of animals and plant life is brought back into the political arena by sheer practicality. Imagine an edible staple food plant that can grow in unfarmable conditions (desert? Tundra?), feeding millions who have nowhere else to go.

The Fusion Age: The sun's secret for creating energy has been unlocked and is practiced on earth. Fusion Power plants are the first to appear, followed by a massive push for more electric cars and high speed rail. Electric bills sharply fall and nations struggle to restructure their economies around this new form of power.

The Banker's Reign: Those bastards tricked us with an overcomplicated system of money and they end up taking over our economy. They plant computer chips in our mind and make us all into slaves, building pyramids in their image. Resources deplete themselves and whole populations stave due to mismanagement. This is the second dark age, but we shall overcome...

Look, most of what I say could turn out to be untrue, but I think it's natural to predict where technology will go.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Dark Hunter on November 09, 2011, 05:20:21 pm

Look, most of what I say could turn out to be untrue, but I think it's natural to predict where technology will go.

And it will provide barrels of laughs for people 100 years from now. (http://www.yorktownhistory.org/homepages/1900_predictions.htm)  :p

EDIT:
Found the more complete, original article. (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sGYULzoQCgA/RiR7L_dyCLI/AAAAAAAAAdU/2COTRQtZAk8/s1600-h/Ladies+Home+Journal+Dec+1900+paleofuture+paleo-future.jpg)
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: redsniper on November 09, 2011, 05:54:35 pm


Look, most of what I say could turn out to be untrue, but I think it's natural to predict where technology will go.

And it will provide barrels of laughs for people 100 years from now. (http://www.yorktownhistory.org/homepages/1900_predictions.htm)  :p

That list... is actually pretty good. They had no concept of the airplane and were way too optimistic about hydroelectric power though. :p
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Mongoose on November 09, 2011, 05:58:00 pm
Yeah, a great deal of that list is eerily prescient.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: sigtau on November 09, 2011, 06:14:16 pm
I dunno about you guys, but I don't have a pneumatic tube delivering food and supplies to me daily.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Aardwolf on November 09, 2011, 06:21:36 pm
That list... just... wow.

Especially things like

Quote
Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance. If there be a battle in China a hundred years hence snapshots of its most striking events will be published in the newspapers an hour later. Even to-day photographs are being telegraphed over short distances.  Photographs will reproduce all of Nature’s colors.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Dragon on November 09, 2011, 06:43:22 pm
Indeed, with the exception of air tubes for goods delivery, mobile forts and streetcars going extinct, it's pretty much spot-on.
In fact, the major thing they didn't thought about was the possibility of heavier than air flying machines, which is understandable.
Even animal extermination would've been plausible if humanity didn't caught on the fact this was insane and didn't went out of it's way to preserve plants and animals.
They also missed on how important oil would be. If it wasn't oil-based fuels, the prediction about coal would've been fairly plausible, and the world would have to be powered by water (this was before Einstein, so there was no way of predicting nuclear power).
In short, this list is a rather good prediction for it's time. If something on it isn't true, then it could usually be traced to a single invention that changed the world completely. If it wasn't for Einstein and Wright Brothers (both completely unknown at the time of writing this list), it would've been even more accurate.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Mefustae on November 10, 2011, 12:27:32 am
Quote from: The 19th Century
Fleets of air-ships, hiding themselves with dense, smoky mists, thrown off by themselves as they move, will float over cities, fortifications, camps or fleets. They will surprise foes below by hurling upon them deadly thunderbolts. These aerial war-ships will necessitate bomb-proof forts, protected by great steel plates over their tops as well as at their sides.

To war!

(http://www.isotx.com/uploads/Ome_Vince/Rahmos9-1200x745.jpg)

And to be honest, the "rolling forts" idea isn't too far off from the heavy tanks built right up to the beginning of the Cold War. Mobile, cannon armed, heavily armoured, and capable of moving as fast as trains in great cavalry charges. The principles are all there.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Nuke on November 10, 2011, 12:41:02 am
scatter technique. if you make enough informed predictions about the future, some of them will be right.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Mongoose on November 10, 2011, 12:44:18 am
Man I want those things to exist.  So bad.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: karajorma on November 10, 2011, 02:21:55 am
scatter technique. if you make enough informed predictions about the future, some of them will be right.

Yeah but they got more right than wrong. Some were spot on even. Others were very close to the overall end effect if not the method by which it would be achieved. For instance they never realised that music would be recorded rather than telephoned in live but they were close enough in terms of the effect.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Scourge of Ages on November 10, 2011, 02:27:23 am
I will postulate that, given the current rate of progress, the next age will be called...

The Machine Age!

Because of nanotech and stuff, and Deus Ex looking pretty darn plausible.
*postulation for entertainment purposes only and does not reflect the opinions of management. All rights reserved, void in Domincan Republic
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: ssmit132 on November 10, 2011, 02:50:04 am
There won't be any more ages because Scourge of Ages right there will get rid of them all. :p
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Nuke on November 10, 2011, 03:16:22 am
the next age will have no name because none will remain to name it.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: JCDNWarrior on November 10, 2011, 08:06:31 am
Some technology is planned way in advance. Some things we see in movies 20-30 years ago are now really developed, for instance. Some things described in books 50 years ago are now reality. As such that list is not that strange to have right - it's like a far-future television guide with a dose of optimism and current state-of-mind. ;)

As for Age, I'm not sure. Could be a few things, we're nearing a crossroads period of time though where depending what happens we'll know what comes out strongest, be it a new dark age, the real Space Age, a new Feudal Age or whatevermaybe, we'll see later on.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Herra Tohtori on November 10, 2011, 01:40:53 pm
Quote
What will the next age be?


AGE
OF
AQUARIUS
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: redsniper on November 10, 2011, 01:57:17 pm
Well.... that settles that. We're done here, on to the next thread!
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Rodo on November 10, 2011, 02:06:05 pm
future age.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Nuke on November 10, 2011, 04:34:54 pm
scatter technique. if you make enough informed predictions about the future, some of them will be right.

Yeah but they got more right than wrong. Some were spot on even. Others were very close to the overall end effect if not the method by which it would be achieved. For instance they never realised that music would be recorded rather than telephoned in live but they were close enough in terms of the effect.

there are some good predictions in there but there are a lot of bogus ones. if you consider each prediction as a set of predictions in which some are right and some are wrong. for example

Quote
There will probably be from 350,000,000 to 500,000,000 people in America and its possessions by the lapse of another century. Nicaragua will ask for admission to our Union after the completion of the great canal. Mexico will be next. Europe, seeking more territory to the south of us, will cause many of the South and Central American republics to be voted into the Union by their own people.”

if you read the first sentence this prediction is close to being correct (you could nitpick that its off by 50 million though). this by itself is one prediction. but there are 3 more predictions that follow that are totally bogus. so this prediction is only 25% correct. most people glancing over the list will only read the first part and assume the prediction is 100% correct and be somewhat amazed. so if you break down the list into individual predictions (instead of the numbered list created by the writer for readability), you will find that there are more wrong predictions than correct ones.

its fun to watch classic scifi and see how many things they predicted that came to pass, star trek predicted cell phones. of course at the time portable handheld radios were already being used by the military (ive seen a lot of nam documentaries), so their flip communicators were a forward projection of existing technology. i see a lot of forward projection of the technology that was being developed around 1900. for example the prediction on the development of hydroelectric power. they had dynamos and water wheels back then, so it was only a forgone conclusion that you could harness the movements of water to generate power, and a mere 30 years later, you have hoover dam. small scale powerplants were likely already in use for electronics research being done at the time. this is forethought, not prescience.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: 666maslo666 on November 10, 2011, 04:51:17 pm
We are now living in Petroleum Age, which began in 1859 by drilling of the first oil well. Next age will be called Nuclear Age, and will begin sometime in this century when cheap oil runs out. It will last a few hundred years. After that, who knows, maybe Transhuman age?
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Goober5000 on November 11, 2011, 12:04:37 am
Man I want those things to exist.  So bad.
Have you watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow?
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Mefustae on November 11, 2011, 01:04:44 am
Have you watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow?

That movie was boss. The only thing more awesome than a flying aircraft carrier, is a flying aircraft carrier captained by a British Angelina Jolie.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Mongoose on November 11, 2011, 02:09:25 am
Man I want those things to exist.  So bad.
Have you watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow?
Yep, and the anime series Last Exile to boot.  That sort of stuff comes up a lot.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Nuke on November 11, 2011, 06:47:54 am
its not like the us military hasn't done a ****ton of experiments on aircraft nuclear reactors. of course to manage an airborne carrier youd need a craft about 4 times bigger than a c5 galaxy. and a means for aircraft recovery. the problem really wouldnt be in the size of the aircraft but rather figuring out how to land plane that is experiencing a ****ton of wake turbulence. perhaps some kind of annular bay that can ensure a tunnel of smooth airflow behind an aircraft that planes could make a safe approach through. i figure once in the bay wind deflectors could be jacked up so that the planes may be moved to a hanger deck. launching would just involve locking the landing gear in a restraint of sorts, dropping the deflectors, then the pilots will set their engines and control surfaces for release. would be a tricky operation but im sure its doable.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: NGTM-1R on November 11, 2011, 07:13:27 am
its not like the us military hasn't done a ****ton of experiments on aircraft nuclear reactors. of course to manage an airborne carrier youd need a craft about 4 times bigger than a c5 galaxy. and a means for aircraft recovery. the problem really wouldnt be in the size of the aircraft but rather figuring out how to land plane that is experiencing a ****ton of wake turbulence. perhaps some kind of annular bay that can ensure a tunnel of smooth airflow behind an aircraft that planes could make a safe approach through. i figure once in the bay wind deflectors could be jacked up so that the planes may be moved to a hanger deck. launching would just involve locking the landing gear in a restraint of sorts, dropping the deflectors, then the pilots will set their engines and control surfaces for release. would be a tricky operation but im sure its doable.

FICON and some WW2 Russian conveyer projects have proved it can be done with existing aircraft at smaller sizes, but really with inflight refueling there's no reason to do it.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Bobboau on November 11, 2011, 07:25:06 am
Now -> Dark Age of Technology -> Age of Strife -> Age of the Imperium

on this topic, I like these commercials
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZb0avfQme8

The funny thing is the main thing they got wrong was the company that brought it to us.

and actually a lot of those things look kind of dated now.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Mikes on November 13, 2011, 12:23:54 pm
Prediction #19:  Grand Opera will be telephoned to private homes, and will sound as harmonious as though enjoyed from a theatre box. Automatic instruments reproducing original airs exactly will bring the best music to the families of the untalented. Great musicians gathered in one enclosure in New York will, by manipulating electric keys, produce at the same time music from instruments arranged in theatres or halls in San Francisco or New Orleans, for instance.

Hey... not too far off! Except most crappy MP3 players and IPods hardly sound "as harmonious" as the real thing haha!
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Nuke on November 13, 2011, 07:24:54 pm
its not like the us military hasn't done a ****ton of experiments on aircraft nuclear reactors. of course to manage an airborne carrier youd need a craft about 4 times bigger than a c5 galaxy. and a means for aircraft recovery. the problem really wouldnt be in the size of the aircraft but rather figuring out how to land plane that is experiencing a ****ton of wake turbulence. perhaps some kind of annular bay that can ensure a tunnel of smooth airflow behind an aircraft that planes could make a safe approach through. i figure once in the bay wind deflectors could be jacked up so that the planes may be moved to a hanger deck. launching would just involve locking the landing gear in a restraint of sorts, dropping the deflectors, then the pilots will set their engines and control surfaces for release. would be a tricky operation but im sure its doable.

FICON and some WW2 Russian conveyer projects have proved it can be done with existing aircraft at smaller sizes, but really with inflight refueling there's no reason to do it.

you can do it on a small scale but thats not really the idea. it currently takes several days to move an aircraft carrier into a strategic position. a supersonic airborne carrier could be on site in hours instead of days, running on nuclear power it can stay airborne for months or years, and would only need to land for maintenance. for it to be effective it would need to be large enough to carry multiple fighter wings and support craft, fuel, munitions, provisions, etc. it would need to have most of its systems serviceable in flight, with redundant systems that can take over if a system needs to be serviced inflight. it would need to carry effective anti-missile systems, and potentially have stealth features. it would be the ultimate war machine. dont you want it to be our war machine?
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Mars on November 13, 2011, 10:51:19 pm
All yours for the low low price of 5 Nimitz.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: newman on November 14, 2011, 05:37:43 am
Well the stone age is divided into 3 sub-ages:

The Paleolithic
The Mesolithic, and
The Neolithic

I just put them all together for the sake of argument.

Well, yes, but I believe you missed MP-Ryan's point here. The Paleolithic is further divided into 3 main subgroups, each of which has it's own subgroups. The Paleolithic lasted for over two and a half million years. The big historical time periods after it were each a lot shorter - probably not an exact exponential curve, but I'd have to look into it. At any rate, MP-Ryan's point here was that the modern ages last exceedingly short compared to the old ages. Whether or not the Paleolithic was subdivided into subgroups has really no bearing on his argument.
In general, humanity's historical ages are marked by technological progress, which doesn't advance in a straight curve. You get a long period of the same ol' same ol', followed by some technological breakthrough that allows a "boom" of sorts, and many of that period's advancements merely tag along on this basic new technology that was discovered. The difference to the old ages is, it no longer takes millenia between two distinct "periods". I would call some period a distinct historical age based on whether or not the lifestyles of people are vastly different to previous eras due to technology available. Based on this, I would call this age the age of communication; our internet, email, cell phone enabled every day routine made the modern way of life completely different to what it was just 30-40 years ago; a far cry from millions of year's worth of roughly similar lifestyles.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Nuke on November 14, 2011, 08:27:03 am
All yours for the low low price of 5 Nimitz.

granted its probably cheaper and just as good to have an aircraft carrier or two in every ocean than to own a couple stratocarriers.
Title: Re: What will the next age be?
Post by: Mikes on November 14, 2011, 12:03:39 pm
This is da future, it's da trueth! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXRjmyJFzrU