Greatest Undiscovered Invention

[Minjin]

What do you think is the greatest undiscovered (plausible) invention?

I've been thinking about how much easier technology has made our lives. We are able to easily get clean water, food, medical attention, and information. We can complain about work but all in all, our lives are fairly easy. So I've been thinking about what is the largest single hassle that we face in our daily lives and I have come to the conclusion that it is transportation. Getting to and from work and other destinations can be a real PITA. It consumes our time, our resources, and can be very stressful.

So...because of this and the larger ramifications, I think the greatest undiscovered (plausible) invention is some form of teleportation. This is something that would rock the very foundations of our society and would have a profound effect on our day to day lives unlike any other. Think of all the time you would save. How many hours of your life do you spend traveling? Let's assume that teleporters would be cheap eventually and not consume huge resources. This would lower the cost of all products and services. The world wide prosperity would jump by a huge margin over night.

If we assume that teleporation is impossible, then I still think that some huge innovation in transportation would be one of the greatest discoveries of our time.

Discuss.

 

[PricklyPete]

plausible huh.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

I'd say sleeping. If we could condense sleep to 15 minutes and feel refreshed as if we slept 10-12 hours that would be revolutionary.

 

[Barfo]

If it hasn't been discovered yet it is not an invention.

 

[brainhulk]

make this happen in real life.

http://media.photobucket.com/image/integra%20girl/pun1208/Untitled-5.jpg

no more butterfaces. mmm...yes...

 

[Homerboy]

I've always thought teleportation too.
It would change everything forever... both good and bad.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I want my Jetsons flying car. That would help.

 

[RedRooster]

Travel at the speed of light. That's a no brainer.
Its gotta be possible.

 

[BurnItDwn]

The solution with the crystals that makes the cpu cold.

 

[Minjin]

Travel at the speed of light. That's a no brainer.
Its gotta be possible.

I agree that that would definitely impact our species' future. And by that definition it could be the greatest undiscovered invention. However, I don't think it would affect our daily lives and I think that's what I'm leaning towards here. Things that would profoundly change our lives for the better.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

cold fusion. or really, any sort of cheap, clean energy.

 

[Farang]

Teleportation would have massive ramifications. Beyond personal transportation, the transport of cargo. Reduction in pollution and oil usage. Garbage can be teleported to a distant planet. Factory emissions can be teleported from the smokestack to space.

That said, I don't know if its plausible. At least with our current knowledge.

 

[Crusty]

You're going to have autonomous travel and transportation far before there will be teleportation.

 

[Homerboy]

cold fusion. or really, any sort of cheap, clean energy.

Mr. Fusion
/thread

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Cheap, affordable, safe, practically unlimited power supply (cold-fusion or something).

(Solve dependence on fossil fuels, grand inventions of the future not limited by feasibility of providing power to them, transportation systems can be redesigned, etc.)

EDIT: I'm too slow, my post was invented

 

[lsv]

Teleportation would have massive ramifications. Beyond personal transportation, the transport of cargo. Reduction in pollution and oil usage. Garbage can be teleported to a distant planet. Factory emissions can be teleported from the smokestack to space.

That said, I don't know if its plausible. At least with our current knowledge.

It won't be so much teleportation as it will be matter disassembling and re-assembling.

 

[Train]

Let's say teleportation was possible.

I'd imagine it would take an enormous amount of electricity. On top of that if you are teleporting people, you'd have to have an enormous framework of redundencies and failsafes. The maintenance and operation of these things would be incredibly expensive for many years.

Can you imagine the media hysteria the first time some dude got teleported into oblivion on his way to work?

 

[Farang]

Let's say teleportation was possible.

I'd imagine it would take an enormous amount of electricity. On top of that if you are teleporting people, you'd have to have an enormous framework of redundencies and failsafes. The maintenance and operation of these things would be incredibly expensive for many years.

Can you imagine the media hysteria the first time some dude got teleported into oblivion on his way to work?

I think it gets knocked out of the discussion for not being plausible at this point in time.

 

[Minjin]

You're going to have autonomous travel and transportation far before there will be teleportation.

I'm a huge proponent of autonomous vehicles. It is something that we have the technology to do right now but I think society will resist it too much. Every time I drive I see idiots driving and wish that most of them were predicable, nearly faultless, machines. Our current infrastructure could instantly handle more volume at faster speeds with less accidents and depending on the degree of hands off, we could make much better use of our traveling time.

 

[Minjin]

Can you imagine the media hysteria the first time some dude got teleported into oblivion on his way to work?

How many people die every day on the roads, in the air, or on the sea? We've grown to accept those risks and we barely even notice them anymore.

 

[Train]

How many people die every day on the roads, in the air, or on the sea? We've grown to accept those risks and we barely even notice them anymore.

While true, it won't stop the media hysteria the first time it happens. No amount of "you are still way more likely to die in a car" is going to stop it.

 

[dfuze]

I'm a huge proponent of autonomous vehicles. It is something that we have the technology to do right now but I think society will resist it too much. Every time I drive I see idiots driving and wish that most of them were predicable, nearly faultless, machines. Our current infrastructure could instantly handle more volume at faster speeds with less accidents and depending on the degree of hands off, we could make much better use of our traveling time.

A problem with autonomous vehicles is that it had to be programmed by a human, so there will always be a margin of error and a chance for accidents to occur.

 

[Farang]

While true, it won't stop the media hysteria the first time it happens. No amount of "you are still way more likely to die in a car" is going to stop it.

The scariest thing about teleportation is, do you get replaced by a duplicate every time it happens. Does the soul get teleported? I imagine a lot of people wouldn't want to do it.

 

[Farang]

A problem with autonomous vehicles is that it had to be programmed by a human, so there will always be a margin of error and a chance for accidents to occur.

Unless we can get a robot to program it.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

The ability to manipulate our genetics so that everyone has perfect health and beauty, and high intelligence.