<p>I'm writing a short paper for my Science, Tech and Values class. The topic is What will be the most important technology/science discovery of the 21st century. </p>
<p>It is something that hasn't happened yet. </p>
<p>So far I have thought of an alternative fuel but I don't know much. </p>
<p>My prof said there is no right or wrong answer for this.</p>
<p>A new economic theory that doesn’t suck major junk.</p>
<p>Good thought but, I don’t know if I could use that.</p>
<p>well we’ve only completed 8 out of 99 years in this century, so i don’t think we can exactly say the best invention of the whole 21st century lol.</p>
<p>but so far, <a href=“http://www.time.com/time/2006/techguide/bestinventions/inventions/youtube.html[/url]”>http://www.time.com/time/2006/techguide/bestinventions/inventions/youtube.html</a></p>
<p>youtube is a pretty cool invention ^_^</p>
<p>time inventions of the year</p>
<p>2007: iphone
2006: youtube</p>
<p>i think 2004 was spaceshipone and 2005 was something by philips</p>
<p>you could porbably find the rest</p>
<p>It has to be something that HASN’T BEEN INVENTED.</p>
<p>ohhhhhhhhhh i get it!!! lol. nvm then</p>
<p>iphone + <a href=“http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/8b97/[/url]”>http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/8b97/</a></p>
<p>COMBINED</p>
<p>theres nothing you cant do with that</p>
<p>And you want us to help you write your paper? Hmmm. My snarkiness aside, forget the technology, as long as you don’t break too many known laws of physics, thermodynamics, or biology! Think about things that would have a tremendous societal and economic impact that could happen but aren’t out of the basic research stage today. E.g., you’d expect to read about it coming out of MIT, Caltech, or Havard, or a major research facility. NOT reasonable extensions of today’s internet or cell phone/smart phones that will be in next year’s MacWorld.</p>
<p>If you read science fiction (NOT the fantasy pap that seems to have taken over the genre), you’ll notice that the BEST ones use the social impact of the invention rather than the technology to drive the story. Examples: Larry Niven’s treatment of perfecting organ transplant technology (people get robbed of organs, capital crimes expand, execution is followed by harvesting), and his look at what happens if teleportation is made to work (within bounds of Einsteinian physics, so speed of light remains a limit, momentum is conserved). Or his friend’ Jerry Pournelle’s, treatment of implanted communications devices with direct brain connections. If you have time, go find a copy of “The Victorian Internet” (it’s a fast read) that looks at the effects of the telegraph on mid 1800-1900s business and society.</p>
<p>Consider that the major inventions associated with the 20th century came about before (internal combustion engine, automobile, submarine, light bulb, phonograph, germ theory of disease) and all throughout (airplane, radio, TV, nuclear power/weapons, solid state and microelectronics, DNA discovery, Internet, genetic engineering, artificial cloning, containerized shipping) and many depended on each other tow be successful (internet wouldn’t have turned out same was without the microprocessor and integrated circuits). </p>
<p>I could give you my pet list of “unobtanium”, but your paper will read better if you develop the idea yourself. Good luck!</p>
<p>O yea…stem cell research and all of that</p>
<p>cloning is a possiblity…</p>
<p>Automobiles that run on Oxygen gas…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A century has a hundred years.</p>
<p>I don’t believe in inventions. Or the 21st century.</p>
<p>I think [url=<a href=“http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=selfish-gene-eradicates-malaria]this[/url”>A "Selfish" Solution for Eradicating Malaria | Scientific American]this[/url</a>] was a pretty cool invention. We get to cure malaria!</p>
<p>well duh the 100th year is part of the next century, foo</p>
<p>edit: oh wait… i get it… then you add THAT year onto the beginning… i get it!!</p>