SO, lets get right to it. In the next ~20 or so years, it is

>>7690686
I think you should add a few more things to your list

Genetic engineering
Designer babies
Quantum consciousness
Meme Pop-sci topic #1
Faster than light
Meme Pop-sci topic #2
Meme Pop-sci topic #3
EM drive
Meme Pop-sci topic #4
Riemann hypothesis solved
Meme Pop-sci topic #5
Meme Pop-sci topic #6
Meme Pop-sci topic #7
...
Meme Pop-sci topic #9999999999.999...

>>7690686
you need to prepare your anus and erect your penis.

Automation is going the be next big thing, and will ultimately be seen as a transformative technology more significant than the Internet.

>>7690686
Artificial Surrogacy will be pretty important. I want to say photon computation, but I doubt that'll happen any time soon. I'm pretty sure some nano-structures will be super important with regards to materials.

>>7690999
Any reasons as to why?
Are companies currently developing automation systems?
What would actually make sense to automate?

An extremely fascinating topic.

>>7691164
No traffic lights, less gas, faster travelling, no deaths or crashes, no insurance, everyone saves money, multitask on long trips, the more autos there are, the more safe having them is. Got that last part from hello Internet

Oceanic expeditions and ocean cities that are as "green" as we can imagine

>>7690686
most of the next 20 years will likely go towards miniaturization and mobilization. 20 years ago phones weren't new or special, they were just attached to walls. basically any tech that increases peoples ability to go places and do stuff with the things we already have and like

>>7691014
20 years anon, not 100

>>7691250
Would oceanic expeditions really be a thing soon? I feel like people focus more on space as the final frontier, and generally disregard the depths of oceans for whatever reason.

What things would be automated in the near future? (Minus vehicles)

BOOKS! What books do you read /sci/?

>>7692320
Sex

>>7690686
Definitely machine learning. ANNs. Data transfer speeds, typical shit. And quantum computing as well. Big data.

>>7690686
>AI/Machine Learning
Already happening for various specialized tasks.

>Deep Space Exploration
Already happening. We have cameras all over the solar system now and even beyond

>Machine Automation
Already happening for various decades

You popsci kids just have such a powerful imagination!

Climate change solutions?

>>7690691
>Designer babies
in this ethical society? kek
plus, even though everyone is "unique" all the babies will be programmed to be 6'4, blue eyes, blonde hair, 8 inch penis.
>Genetic engineering
Only if it's possible in adulthood


>>7690686
I don't think space exploration will be for a while. There will be some gobal patent preventing anyone from doing it for 30 years.

>>7693501
OP is referring to more drastic ideas of it. As in manned-exploration or sophisticated house bots becoming the norm(like how everyone has a microwave).

You would of known that if you weren't autistic, so I don't blame you

A decent nuclear power source.

Something that can be mass produced for $100mm/GW. Making nuclear cheaper by an order of magnitude makes everything else unable to compete and you could essentially monopolise the energy industry. Cali, Arizona, Texas, middle east, North Africa and Australia would be investing billions in desalination plants which are now much more profitable. Chinese would probably preorder a TW to replace coal and for desalination. Making energy significantly cheaper will make everything slightly better.

>>7690686
Possibly in a bit more than 20 years, artificial intelligence. Not HAL 9000 or C3PO, but AI doing relatively mundane things inside regular computers. Imagine a video game where an AI is not only controlling the NPCs but actually creating the game world itself on the fly, creating an experience tailored to the player. Or an AI that will understand instructions, such as "do my taxes", just as easily as a human would. Essentially a slave, but one that 1) doesn't mind that it's a slave, and 2) can process information far quicker than a person can.

>>7692273
There are more raw materials in space

Millions of humans will be culled.

>>7690686
what about biotechnology

>>7691164

>why will it be transformative

Virtually every job currently done by humans could conceivably be done by robots within the next hundred years. There is a huge, huge amount of money in replacing humans with robots, and millions of jobs have already been lost to automation. By 2060, I would not be surprised if 70% of currently existing jobs had been fully automated.

This will lead to a restructuring of society on par with the shift from monarchies/aristocracies to democracies/republics in western nations. Arguably a greater shift, in fact. If we're lucky, we'll see a gradual, peaceful move to some form of democratic socialism. I'd we're unlucky, we'll see a massive economic collapse and extreme civil unrest. Probably both, t.b.h

>have companies already started automating things

Yep. Factory workers and phone operators were among the first jobs to be automated (although these jobs still exist in much smaller numbers). Recently, low level service industry jobs have begun to be automated, with "self-checkouts" at fast food places and supermarkets. Again, this is not full automation, as there are still some human workers kept on staff. As the technology matures and becomes more capable, fewer and fewer humans will required. The next big thing to go will be driving jobs, once self-driving cars are perfected.

>what would actually make sense to automate

Any sort of manual labour/service industry job. Most medical professionals, although I imagine some nurses and doctors will be kept around for their positive psychological effects on patients. Any job that requires repetitive tasks to be performed.

>>7690686
Perovskite hot carrier solar cells should enable steady gains in PV panel efficiency. In 5-10 years panel efficiency should be 30% and in 20 it should be 60%, approaching the theoretical maximum of 86%. By comparison, most commercial panels today are ~20% efficient, and superduper-expensive multijunction cells are 46% efficient. Bottom line is that solar power will get absurdly cheap.

I wish I could say that room temperature (and above) superconductors will be discovered, made practical, and be deployed, but progress seems slow in that field.