Christmas 2030, Wild Toys in a High Tech World

Christmas 2030; wild toys in a high-tech world

By Futuretalk (published in Kingman Daily Miner and Las Vegas Tribune, December, 2004)

Nobody knows for sure what Christmas will be like in 2030, but by projecting present-day knowledge, we can make plausible guesses. We can piece together a probable future and what life might be like living in that future.

The world will undergo many changes by 2030. Biotech and nanotech have eliminated aging, disease, and most health worries; driverless cars scurry people about; and robot servants have become an integral part of life. Christmas still includes sharing with family and friends, gift giving, and fun for children. New gadgets make this wonder-time more enjoyable than ever.

Turkey dinner is still the favorite, but messy food preparation is gone. Nano-replicators provide food, clothing, and appliances at little or no cost. A perfect holiday dinner can be replicated with all the trimmings; including “nano-dust” which tailors each bite of food to match individual taste buds. And of course, most meals are served by the family robot, which can also handle limited conversations.

Christmas decorations come alive on wall-size screens that display winter images with fresh air odors and crystal-clear sounds of White Christmas, Jingle Bells, and Noel, ringing softly throughout the house. Thought commands add holograph images of Santa with elves and reindeers which provide a touch of reality to this festive time.

Mom; dad; 5-year-old daughter; 9-year-old son; aunt and uncle; and two co-workers sit down to eat. And even though they live on a different continent, grandparents appear in holograph form for the traditional holiday toast. After dinner and some much needed rest, guests finally leave and now the moment has come to open presents.

With gleeful eyes, the daughter opens her gift – a Barbie doll 2nd generation robot. Acting very human-like and programmed to require lots of love and attention, Barbie immediately begins to make friends with her new owner.

The son excitingly opens his gift, Micro-Mike, a toy made of cubes which allows a wide range of objects to be fabricated. It is an actual 2nd generation robot that can morph into a live toy soldier or any wild animal. Nanoradyne Corp says this is their most intelligent toy ever, and it includes controls that prevent construction of anything harmful or illegal.

Mom tries out her new interactive dreamer. Using emotion detection and thought recognition, this high-tech gadget identifies dreams and displays them with rich video and audio. It combines virtual reality and lucid dreaming. The “dream knight”, that rescued her on the first night of use, was actually a guy from another country, who is also plugged in and dreaming away.

Dad puts on his new suit made of reactive fabric. This interactive clothing recognizes emotions at parties and uses nano-swarms to stimulate him accordingly. If someone feels sad, he knows it, and if someone is attracted to him, he knows that too. It helps him avoid embarrassment of responding to flirtations that could be harmful.

Will this future happen? Clearly the road to Christmas 2030 winds around unknown turns; but strong commerce and government support drive this optimistic vision forward, which promises an exciting time for all. Go magical future!

More than 150 additional articles by Futuretalk posted at http://www.positivefuturist.com/archive.html

Nice idea, but some of these will still be science fiction even in 2060.

Can you be more specific? Which situations or products do you believe may not be available in 24 years?

I agree that everything in this piece may not be realized by 2030, but with technologies advancing exponentially, most of these 'dreams' could come true.

All of these require advanced molecular manufacturing technology:

• eliminated aging, disease, and most health worries
• nano-replicators
• thought commands
• interactive dreamer
• nano-swarms

These are likely in 25 years:

• driverless cars
• robot servants
• wall-size screens with fresh air odors and crystal-clear sounds
• smart toys
• reactive fabric

I would like to be wrong about this, but I don't think we will be achieving an advanced form of molecular manufacturing within 25 years.

At a recent nanotech conference in Australia, Center for Responsible Nanotechnology’s Mike Treder says, “General-purpose molecular manufacturing appears to be inevitable. It might become a reality by 2010, likely will by 2015, and almost certainly will by 2020. When it arrives, it will come quickly. To be prepared for the coming development of molecular manufacturing technology, we must start planning for it immediately”.

The BT Technology Timeline supports your ideas.

But I prefer the quote: "The incredible promise of nanotechnology has continued to be twenty years away for the past twenty years,” Ted Waitt, Waitt Family Foundation

Research shows that 'Glass Half Full' people live healthier, happier, and longer lives.

Optimisim rules in the Positive Futirists world.

In order for civilization to achieve a 'magical future', more people need to hear about the positive aspects of the future and support the science that can make it become reality.

I bet pessimists are less likely to get hit by a bus.

nom you should be a comedian

I shudder at this nanotech world. Trillions of tiny loose cannons, all sooner or later causing chaos which it will take the world centuries to recover from. Fortunately the reality of these mechanovirus is that they won't be around till the end of the century.

Futuretalk Posted on Dec 17 2006, 04:22 PM a vision of the future which seems to anticipate that there will be few really poor families and that financing for expensive infrastructure will be readily available.

I don't expect to be around in 2030, but I do not believe that the Moslem fundamentalists and the various Moslem sects will have been settled down by then.

In other words, I think that things are still going to be a big mess in 2030.

I also regard it as highly likely that at least some of the predictions in Laurie Robert's book, "The Coming Plague; Newly emerging diseases in a world out of balance" will have appeared to threaten mankind.

CactusCritter. Futurtalk's post tend to be a sugar coated future where there is nothing wrong. He is hugely over optimistic on dates of inventions too which renders most of his posts just vague ideas.

I think by 2030 we will already be feeling great effects of global warming, with far worse storms than we have now, and more of them. Coutries like India rely on melting ice for water, and there will be huge droughts as this dries up. The poor will still be with us, notably basket-case Africa. I think we will have lost more personal freedoms "in the fight against terrorism".

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I hope that my vision of the future becomes reality; I guess others see a future that will not improve much beyond today’s chaotic world.

It is difficult to predict accurately which vision of the future will happen. I am willing to agree that we disagree.

Futuretalk. Had you predicted in 1971 that in 35 years time (now), we would have bases on the Moon and Mars and have sent manned rockets to the outer planets, few would have disagreed with you. Had you predicted flying cars, many would have gone along with you. Had you predicted the internet, people would have wondered what you were jabbering about.

The future is not predictabe. The further you predict, the more errors there will be. The most complex computer is said to be the human brain, which is laughably poor as a thinking and learning machine. Quantum computing is nonsense because they are just too small and will be affected by quantum uncertainty. And that is why your nanobots will fail.

I guess I am posting on the wrong website.