For me it’s quantum computing - especially considering its impact on most current encryption methods
Computing at the edge.
Reduces the need to send everything to the cloud and maintains privacy.
Regrowing / regenerating certain body parts.
This could theoretically be done with stemcell stuff, but it's not there yet. However, when we finally reach the point where we can infinitely regenerate our body cells, we'll become effectively "ammortal"; unable to die due to natural causes (such as illness), but we will still die from other people (for example, a bullet to the head)
Besides that, I think nuclear fusion would be an incredible development if we can finally harness it to power our homes.
Fusion won't be the silver bullet people tout it as for much of the same reasons as fission isn't (mostly politics). No politician wants to spend billions of dollars on something that is going to take a decade to even be functional and another decade to break even. It would get cheaper with scale, but so would fission, we just never let it get there. It also still produces radioactive waste, despite what proponents claim, and it even produces more radioactive waste than a fission reactor by volume. But it isn't as long-lived.
These are the same tired arguments we hear about fission. If your country isn't actively building fission, it's probably not going to build fusion, aside from demonstrations.
more single use plastics and pesticides, personally
whatever linux + rust + unified architecture chips is going to be in 10 years
The steady improvement in computer speed and efficiency (unfortunately brought down by bloated software, but in some areas you feel it in absolute terms), storage and memory size, and EV technology. I hope in 2040 there will be cheap powerful e-scooters and e-motorcycles.
I really hope that storage increases faster than our recording tech, to the point that everyone can easily store the sum total of the internet (videos and all) on a single portable drive.
You underestimate the amount of crap (which is mostly porn, whether you like it or not) on the Internet. And resolutions will increase as cameras get better.
But in some metrics, we have already gotten there. You can download the entirety of Wikipedia and it fits in a few gigs. You could download everything (including the 800+ videos which would span multiple weeks long end to end) I made and have it be less than 1TB.
Also e-scooters are just plain fun. 20mph on an e-scooter feels like 40mph on a motorcycle that feels like 80mph in a car.
Unlocking any energy conversion techniques for gravitons (not virtual gravitons, but those associated with gravitational waves). If we could produce them artificially, it would be a whole new ball game.
I tried the Meta Quest 2 and felt it was pretty awesome but I felt sick within minutes of using it.
So something like that without the sick would be revolutionary.
i'm excited for them to make one that makes us more sick. i think zuck is going to invent a new breed of nausea that they'll name after him.
