Questions tagged [near-future]
For questions concerning the immediate future, where technology is assumed to have advanced slightly while still recognizable to modern humans. Questions utilizing this tag should focus on a particular technology and may be about a technology itself (how would this work) or the impact of a given technology on a particular topic (Society, Warfare, Economics, etc)
495 questions
1
vote
2
answers
169
views
Could sound be used to levitate or destroy objects in combat
I am working on a near future world where mages are really just people with a very good understanding of math and science, which they use to achieve feats that seem impossible to most of the ...
-4
votes
2
answers
120
views
What would be the implications for society if AI completely took over artistic expression? [closed]
This is probably a confusing question but its the premise behind a short story I'm trying to write.
Basically in this world, humanity has developed specialized AI to such an extent that it can produce ...
- 700
6
votes
1
answer
704
views
What would be the optimal amount of pulses per second for pulsed laser rifles?
Setting is near-future and the military starts using pulsed laser rifles and machine guns so they don't need to worry about the logistics of carrying ammunition from one side of the globe to another ...
- 421
2
votes
3
answers
271
views
Would ETC be useful for precision small arms in the near future?
I'm still working on that campaign from my other question about bio weapons and I've started working on coming up with weapons.
Brief summary: Its 2065, the world is in a state of constant proxy wars ...
- 700
6
votes
10
answers
962
views
Ideas for an alternative to nuclear weapons as a deterrent? [duplicate]
I posted a question a couple days ago about the use of bio-weapons as an alternative to nuclear weapons as a deterrent for a D&D campaign I'm working on.
I got some really good answers explaining ...
- 700
5
votes
6
answers
2k
views
The use of Bio-weapons as a deterrent?
I'm working on a heavily customized D&D campaign set in the near future, in this universe nuclear material is heavily regulated to the point that only a couple nations are influential enough to ...
- 700
2
votes
3
answers
412
views
What are the potential advantages/disadvantages of a hyper maneuverable aircraft that operates similar to Armored Core's mechs?
I'm attempting to writing in a near-future war setting where some new weapon designs are being tested, in an attempt to breakthrough the enemies military strategies by "thinking out of the box&...
- 421
0
votes
2
answers
121
views
Future City-Sized Graduate Sorting Process [closed]
My story is set in the future where more pressure is set on learning, and schools grow to the size of cities (and for all intents and purposes they are). Each mega campus has everything a city would ...
-1
votes
3
answers
642
views
How realistic is a communist hardboiled detective? [closed]
Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but it seemed the best option.
I had an idea for a short story about a (neo-noir) hardboiled detective in a near future European communist ...
- 125
1
vote
0
answers
194
views
How would cybernetic implants be integrated into the human body to work in a plausibly or semi plausible way? [closed]
I am interested in writing a sci-fi cyberpunk story set in circa 2030 CE.
Background
In my story, a company specializes in "cybernetic surgery", adding cybernetic implants to humans, like ...
- 31
6
votes
9
answers
2k
views
How do (near future) people travel between floating islands?
In the near future, the surface of the Earth becomes magically unlivable. However, luckily for people, there are now magically floating islands in the skies (typically 5000-8000 feet above the surface)...
- 4,868
2
votes
3
answers
651
views
Could cocoa trees evolve dioecy?
In real life, cocoa trees are famous for being hermaphroditic angiosperms from the Rosid class that are extremely bad at reproducing (they can be considered the giant panda of the plant world!). Also, ...
- 5,372
4
votes
5
answers
555
views
Artificially lighting a large underground city
I'm trying to think of a somewhat plausible way to create artificial "sunlight" in a very large underground city. To summarise some key points:
The cavern containing this city is ...
- 41
-5
votes
2
answers
178
views
A country where citizens are supposed to have a name with three to ten parts [closed]
In my world that is set in a near future, there was an EXTREMELY big country fusion.
Since the country has more than 500 million inhabitants, people are required to have a name with at least three ...
- 5,372
14
votes
22
answers
5k
views
Why would a highly advanced society still engage in extensive agriculture?
What are some plausible reasons why an advanced, futuristic society would still have a sizable agricultural/rural component, and a significant rural population? This hypothetical civilization is ...
- 141
10
votes
9
answers
4k
views
What would a city look like that adapted to sporadic tsunami-like flash floods?
In a near future where super-cell storms drop massive amounts of water (300 l/m²) in the blink of an eye, cities - built upon the cities of old - have adapted to these tsunami-like flash floods. But ...
- 5,592
5
votes
8
answers
4k
views
Landmine detonation by air explosions?
In the story I am creating, there's a near-future Earth, where humanity is recovering from global conflict; only parts of the world have retained the science and technologies that have been widespread ...
- 1,530
1
vote
0
answers
152
views
Why would a republic still have the word Principality or Kingdom or Empire in their official long name? [closed]
I am writing a prospective that is set in a near future.
The United-Kingdom of Great-Britain and Northern-Ireland is now a republic, which means the British royal family has been abolished by a ...
- 5,372
4
votes
4
answers
692
views
Feasibility of the distributed prison [closed]
Sometimes an idea comes to you and resonates for what it represents and how it shapes the story rather than how logical or technologically inevitable it might seem. That's the current status of the ...
- 1,029
9
votes
14
answers
3k
views
Portable Alternatives to Traditional Keyboard/Mouse Input
In a near-future alternate reality where smartphones were never invented, people rely heavily on augmented reality and highly mobile computing. High-tech clothing and accessories are everywhere. Heads-...
- 2,535
20
votes
20
answers
4k
views
How will corporations ensure return on investment for funding slower than light colonization efforts?
Let's say a future world where faster than light communication exists, but not faster than light travel. There is a desire to colonize other worlds outside the solar system, but it's massively ...
- 33.9k
-2
votes
1
answer
365
views
What will the 2050's earth atmosphere will look like? [closed]
I'm currently developing a project where i have to design a pair of shoes that will resist all or most of the weather conditions in 2050. Due to climate change, shoes or materials used will change, i'...
3
votes
1
answer
183
views
Is a monarchic confederation possible?
In my world that is set in a future Earth, there is a transcontinental country corresponding to the respective areas of the Fifth French Republic, the United-Kingdom of Great-Britain and Northern ...
- 5,372
14
votes
13
answers
4k
views
Under what conditions would a society be able to remain undetected in our current world?
So hypothetically, what would be the best "hiding" locations for societies/organizations that seek to avoid contact with the rest of humanity? In other words, where would be the best place (...
- 1,302
4
votes
7
answers
2k
views
How can a secret organisation enforce their plans without blowing their cover?
In my story there's a global organisation called Wormwood Foundation of which its very existence is classified. This organisation is tasked with protecting human civilization (and earth's biosphere) ...
3
votes
1
answer
250
views
What is the timeframe for this abandoned space colony revert to a medieval society?
An outpost on a 2G (gravity) water planet (95% of the world's surface covered by oceans) becomes stranded / abandoned by the Galaxy Government, probably forever. The warp gate in orbit broke, nobody ...
- 14.6k
0
votes
2
answers
165
views
Impacts of matricentric reproductive laws [closed]
My world is a matricentric America that holds men legally responsible for unplanned pregnancies. Roughly, the idea is that if an unplanned pregnancy occurs and the woman does not get an abortion, the ...
- 150
4
votes
4
answers
522
views
Ubiquitous perception filters in 2030s
For my story plot to start it needs to exist a widespread technology that through a software update or patch can be (ab)used to filter out copyrighted material from perception. My idea was a neural ...
3
votes
1
answer
277
views
Is my proposed neural implant feasible?
In my story a computer-brain interface called T-ANGI is as widespread as smartphones are today.
They allow users to "outsource" computation intensive tasks and memory retrieval to data ...
1
vote
3
answers
172
views
Implications Of Peak Humans in Sports [closed]
In a world where genetic mods can substancially alter people's physiology even after they've reached maturity, do you think that sports that are physical conditioning based will die out in favor of ...
- 1,211
2
votes
4
answers
367
views
A.I. can make Video, Photographs, and Audio perfectly out of text prompt. How screwed is our legal system? [closed]
In the near-future (circa 2030), publicly available open-source A.I. can create any Picture, moving picture, or audio track imaginable from a text prompt. It takes a lot of computing resources (but ...
- 14.6k
24
votes
14
answers
5k
views
How can AI know that all humans are dead?
This question is indeed inspired by I Am Mother movie and Horizon series, but scenario I envisioned is different.
Below is the in-world intro, feel free to skip it.
Hello, I'm Refa. Full name: ...
- 33.4k
12
votes
17
answers
4k
views
Non-lethal firearm that could throw an assailant backwards a couple feet
How would a non-lethal, hand-held ‘firearm’ (as in not a melee weapon) produce enough ‘force’ (I’m using this word lightly, not as a physicist) to throw an attacker back a minimum of ten feet, work?
...
- 317
3
votes
4
answers
217
views
communication system
What COMMUNICATION SYSTEM would be most effective for emergency messages underwater and deep inside mountain habitats? How would the sound energy be effected by moving through air, water or solid rock....
user94998
6
votes
1
answer
382
views
How many years until cities become either a flatland or forests? [closed]
To be clear, I'm talking about apocalyptic events that cause devastating long-term effects, such as:
An asteroid impact (lets say about 4.5km wide)
A hyper-eruption from a super volcano (lets say it ...
- 61
1
vote
6
answers
312
views
Post-democratical political system
Question: how will this idea fail?
Preferably in a way that is fundamental, and can't be easily fixed with small changes. And politically based, being unable to respond to problems because of the ...
- 2,433
1
vote
3
answers
330
views
How would a futuristic robot soldier look like? [closed]
I feel that whenever I search for something like “futuristic robot soldier”, the results are always similar and they look like designs and concepts made by ARTISTS, not ENGINEERS. As far as I know, ...
5
votes
3
answers
182
views
How to heal a defective superhuman?
By modifying the human genome an organization in the future created a class of superhumans. Factors that would cause most hereditary diseases have been erased, and the ones in muscle mass, strength, ...
- 49
9
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How big would a city of crops need to be to minimise all agricultural land use?
I made these sketches to envision a world where food is grown in buildings and people can live in forests covered lands instead of the land being used for agriculture. But how big would such a city ...
5
votes
4
answers
456
views
What could make a good equivalent to late 1700s/early 1800s rifles/rifleman for a near future setting?
What could make a good equivalent to late 1700s/early 1800s riflemen in a near future setting? The The important qualities are that they're elite, use long range man portable weapons, & have it ...
- 5,163
-3
votes
1
answer
252
views
What would body armour designed for women look like?
Currently pretty much all body armour is designed for men, then sometimes adapted for women (although very often it isn't). So what would body armour designed for the use of women look like? (...
- 5,163
2
votes
10
answers
2k
views
Barring asteroid impacts, disease, natural disaster, war — Why would the S&P 500 crash to 700 before 2023, and remain under 700 until 2030?
Many famous wealthy investors are predicting a stock market crash.
On 25 March 2021, Ray Dalio: Current bubble 'halfway' to 2000 and 1929
"By our measures, the bubble is not what it was in 2000 ...
user91827
11
votes
7
answers
3k
views
Weighted Clothes In A Low Gravity Environment
Would weighted clothes be enough to simulate Earth-like gravity in a low-gravity environment?
If even by using centrifugal force on a space station would feasibly only produce a gravity that is a ...
- 111
3
votes
7
answers
821
views
How to get bomb-laden drones long distances without gathering suspicion?
(note: this takes place in the same universe as my previous question)
Hello, fellow comrades.
As you know, we have been gaining in strength lately, exploiting instability in Russia (quick author's ...
47
votes
3
answers
9k
views
How much damage to the US would a Yellowstone eruption cause?
I posted this question: How would the United States survive and adapt in the decades following a Yellowstone eruption? What things would need to change as the world recovers? and it was closed due to ...
- 612
3
votes
3
answers
1k
views
How quickly would the earth recover from climate change if humans were to disappear [closed]
To give an example, how long would all humans have to leave the earth for a large part of the biodiversity and the original atmosphere to be restored, the oceans to recover, the fish population to ...
- 39
5
votes
7
answers
953
views
Why would a suit of armour need power to provide protection to its wearer? [closed]
Why would electricity be needed to provide protection to the user of a suit of power armour? I'm not referring to the movement or any other systems in the armour. I mean, if the user gets shot, ...
- 5,163
2
votes
2
answers
135
views
Why would a military use hybrid jet-propeller planes?
Hybrid jet-propeller planes in real lift where a weird thing that existed in the 40s & 50s, no type of them ever saw combat use or even limited production. In modern day not even much research is ...
- 5,163
6
votes
9
answers
825
views
Why would very large trucks regularly be used for logistics?
The very large trucks are mining truck size. They can haul 300 to 100 tonnes of Thing™. They can be outfitted to carry containers.
They have a roughly equivalent curb weight to their payload. They can ...
- 5,163
10
votes
15
answers
3k
views
Arrest global warming trend via any means (E without S or G)
ESG stands for Environmental, social and corporate governance. Simply trying to evaluate what kind of radical "E" solutions are possible if "S" and "G" were removed from ...
- 8,819