Future Dystopian Tech Wild Speculation

[Onix]

I changed the title of this thread because it's moving in a more fun direction. I figured the title should match.

Let's play a game. Make up a future technology that 1, is scientifically plausible but 2, you've stretched it about as far as you can imagine.

For example
Computers smarter than humans

1. Computers are always getting faster and more efficient. Although by some accounts, the fastest supercomputer has the equivalent intelligence of a slug, with Moore's law, in 18 months, that's as smart as 2 slugs, then 4, then 8, then 16, then 32, then. . . You get the idea. In sixty of those doublings you'd have a population of slugs that would cover the world six feet deep.

So I guess that's smart.

2. To stretch things as far as I can imagine, a computer would not only be smart enough to tell us we're wrong, there'd be no reason for humans to think anymore. It's like, how often do you offload your paperwork on your dog? (My dog ate it?) But we keep dogs around because we like them. I've got a turtle clunking around in a tank 4 feet from me, she's funny, and eats fish.

So our computers would make us nice homes where they could watch us, spay and neuter us to keep the population under control, give us nifty toys to destroy and feed us.

And yell at us when we miss the toilet.

Ok, it's your turn.

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

40 years ago, your video card choice was green phosphor or orange. 30 years it was Ega/VGA (8 color or 16), Then 256 colors, 16 bit, 32 bit, 1024 resolution, 1080p, 4k... Soon monitors will broadcast in colors we can't even see, and night vision in games will be simulated by putting on real IR goggles while the screen shows an actual heat map. People will start needing to get new cybernetic eyes to watch the latest TV and the ultimate DRM/theater experience will be showing the movie in gamma rays so those without proper viewing equipment will be dangerously irradiated.

The Kurig 2.0 K-cup coffee maker has built in DRM, and will only accept certain pods. Soon other appliances will catch and also restrict what the user can have. Stoves will not turn on unless they get a signal from an RF-ID devise built into the handle of the pan. Refrigerators will be a series of tiny boxes like an old auto-mat/post-office so everything can be kept separate and at the right temperature - unless you buy the wrong products, in which case it will intentionally store them incorrectly. You will need to swipe an id card to open the fridge - supposedly to keep minors away from the beer - but then the next update prevents you from letting non-family members from having anything to drink unless you get a vending liscence.

[Onix]

Optical Camera/Projector Implants

Cameras are getting smaller and smaller. They use less power and get greater resolution. They're also making small projectors that fit in a cell phone. In the future these will become small enough to implant into your eyes. You'll be able to record anything that's happening around you and play it back onto your retinas like you were really there.

The movie industry will collapse because one person will go to see the show and then put the stream up on pirate bay. Concerts will no longer be profitable for the same reasons. Venue managers will require all visitors to have an IV drip of water and caffeine so that people will have to frequently run to the bathroom thus spoiling their stream with the full wall commercials.

Venues will also have their own dedicated hackers that will try and introduce commercials into the "eye stream" of anyone with the implants. Everyone will have to press a big "I Agree" button to open the door. It's attached to a giant book holding a contract that allows them (among other things) to hack your vision implants.* The venues will of course be sued for this but they'll win their case because "the economy will collapse otherwise".

*It's a dead tree contract so you can't copy and upload it. Also to ensure no one will read it.