The Anti-Bucket List...

[GenericBox]

Sten's Infinity, forever ... whatever. has got me thinking about what I will... regret not seeing... the most if it hasn't occured if I have the chance to reflect back on my time on this planet before I die. An anti-bucket list of sorts, not what you would like to do before you die - what you hope you would be alive to do, but probably won't.

I'll start it off and hopefully you get what I mean and have some other anti-bucket list items to contribute.

1/ Humanity's first colony on another planet
While it's a possibility it might happen in my lifetime, I highly doubt it - and I wish I would have been around to see how to the world reacts, its management, and the lessons its brings when we permanently send humans to another planet to establish a new home.

2/ First contact
Apparently its already happened, but I'm talking about undeniable - come down and hover the mothership over New York / London / Sydney - first contact. What will they look like, will it even happen on Earth (will we be the ones meeting them on their planet, or will we meet somewhere in space), how will the world react to recieving the very first signal, and then later perhaps actually meeting them.

3/ English evolved
What will English sound like in 200-300-500 years time? Would I even recognise it or be able to speak it? What happens to the other languages of the world, does English even exist - what about French and Spanish, or even similiar languages like the European dialects like Romanian and Ukranian.

4/ The first "global" Government/World Leader
I have this separate because I don't necessarily think this is a by-product of meeting another race of beings, I think it is a possibility it might just naturally happen as we become more globalised and start venturing further into space. But imagine watching the news the day the "first world parliament" sits, or the first speech by the "Chancellor of Earth" or whatever. Jealous.

5/ Androids
It's probably not too far off, but what happens to our society when we can get humanoid robots to do our dirty work for us, practically as slaves. Would they ever become cheap enough for the mass-population to own a robot? What will be the first crime committed by a robot, how will the legal system adapt?


Anyway, those are some of the things I fantasise about witnessing in my dreams.

What about you?

[GenericBox]

6/ Virtual Reality
I truly hope "true" immersive VR exists before I die, what are some of the ethical, legal, social problems it brings? How will it be managed, how will it be maintained, secured, standardised, governed?

[Threat]

7/ Non-Rolling Cars
Flying cars, or maglev cars or f*%^ing something not the same as the last 100yrs!

[gruber]

blah missed the second post. mouse wheel on the way out

[Iseeyouthere]

8 / Discovering new life elsewhere

While this sorta falls under the catergory of First contact, I believe it more possible to discover new life before intelligent lifeforms. Even this alone will be a big step forward and would encourage us to continue on looking. Life such as plants or animals.

[Worldslaziestbusker]

9: Where's my bloody rocket pack!

[Glob]

10. An answer to the question of how the Big Bang came to be.

[Ces]

Do the greatgrandchildren keep the Gould lithographs and what are they worth?

What do humans evolve in to? What is the most influential evolutionary pressure? If it is adaptation to ice age and famine, don't bother discovering time travel and coming back to tell us, as you won't be my kids - Brisbane winters are too cold and I am always hungry.

Does a time come when everyone has enough to live on? If so, do we preserve the ecosystems as well, or is it all living in a desert and eating yeast?

Who survives the next big extinction event, and if it is not us then does the top of the foodchain develop intelligence as we know it? We are the smartest things to live here so far, it would be cool if some other path could have a turn. Future parrots debating whether they should cull remnant apes who eat their grain.

I would love to have a go at living in the solar system as described by Kim Stanley Robinson. The best and worst of humanity writ large.

[GenericBox]

Hoverboards and all the other toys my great-great-great-grandchildren will be playing with.