So what is the next major shift in society going to be?

[Ultima]

I guess the last major shift was the industrial age, which has led up to how things are today. What would the next one be?

What kind of a society could nanotechnology impose on the world? Consider this situation:

It's Sunday afternoon and you feel like going for a drive. You go to the giant matter replicator in your garage, where you build a custom Ferrari. The Ferrari is built in a couple minutes by millions of tiny nanites. You start it up and whip it out onto the country roads by your house, since you live in the country miles away from anything and take a skycar to work. (Or hell, you teleport there). Nanites keep the road in perfect condition. You're flying around a bend when you go off the road and hit a tree. The front end of the Ferrari is demolished... but it doesn't matter because nanites rebuild it instantly and you decide to drive home.

So what kind of society would it be where anything can be built for anyone at extremely cheap cost, where manufacturing is replaced by nanotechnology, where anyone can own a ferrari and get into wrecks without having to pay for mechanic and repairs? Imagine how the technology could be abused, too :Q

 

[Utterman]

Society is actually going backwards. We will soon turn back into Apes:Q

 

[shiner]

The next great shift in society will be when everyone finally realzies they should worship me. Don't worry, I will be a strict but fair God and every morning I will ascend to the top of the mountain and throw cigarettes to the devout. Then I'm going back to bed and watching Mallrats and eating Fruity Pebbles.

 

[smp]

Originally posted by: Ultima
I guess the last major shift was the industrial age, which has led up to how things are today. What would the next one be? What kind of a society could nanotechnology impose on the world? Consider this situation: It's Sunday afternoon and you feel like going for a drive. You go to the giant matter replicator in your garage, where you build a custom Ferrari. The Ferrari is built in a couple minutes by millions of tiny nanites. You start it up and whip it out onto the country roads by your house, since you live in the country miles away from anything and take a skycar to work. (Or hell, you teleport there). Nanites keep the road in perfect condition. You're flying around a bend when you go off the road and hit a tree. The front end of the Ferrari is demolished... but it doesn't matter because nanites rebuild it instantly and you decide to drive home. So what kind of society would it be where anything can be built for anyone at extremely cheap cost, where manufacturing is replaced by nanotechnology, where anyone can own a ferrari and get into wrecks without having to pay for mechanic and repairs? Imagine how the technology could be abused, too :Q

OKay okay .. first of all, where would your matter feeds come from to rebuild the ferrari once you've smashed it? I'm guessing here that you've read Neil Stephenson's "the Diamond Age" .. which is IMO a great book.

Secondly, we'll see fascism first.

 

[Hamburgerpimp]

We'll see NWO first.

 

[Orsorum]

I think we'll see a structural collapse of the US gov't first, then a national infrastructure collapse a la the USSR... after that, who knows? Most likely, China will rise to world power in some capacity.

 

[wQuay]

We'll see NWO first.

Perhaps. I think the most important advances will be brought about through computers. But unless a viable system for making money from them is established, we'll just go backwards.