Which engineering breakthroughs will happen before 2050?
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Plus
61
Ṁ14k
2050
96%
Gene Editing Therapies
94%
Human-level AGI
90%
Personalized medicine based on patient's genetic profile
88%
Bioprinting
87%
Synthetic Meat Indistinguishable from Real Meat
81%
Autonomous Flying Cars in Cities
80%
Brain-Computer Interfaces
80%
Advanced Exoskeletons for Everyday Use
77%
Solar panels with 40% efficiency
76%
Quantum Computing Applications
70%
Regenerative Medicine
69%
Therapies to reverse cardiovascular diseases
69%
Lunar Bases
63%
City-scale fully automated underground logistics networks
62%
Self-Healing Materials for Infrastructure
60%
Therapies to reverse neurodegenerative diseases
54%
Commercial asteroid mining
51%
Cancer Vaccine Targeting Multiple Types of Cancer
50%
Space-Based Manufacturing
49%
Universal Flu Vaccine (effictive against all current and future strains)

Resolves YES for any number of technologies that are widespread enough in 2049 but not in 2024.

Resolution criteria:

  • Significant Adoption: The technology must be adopted to a degree that indicates it has moved beyond the experimental or niche phase.

  • Operational Efficiency: The technology should demonstrate reliable and efficient operation in real-world conditions.

  • Regulatory Approval: If applicable, the technology must receive approval from relevant regulatory bodies.

  • Economic Viability: The technology should be commercially viable, with clear economic benefits.

  • Independent Verification: The breakthrough should be independently verified by reputable sources.

If it is unclear whether any given technology meets these requirements before 2050, resolves to some subjective percentage value.

  • Update 2025-07-01 (PST): - True Mind Uploading Definition: Requires a perfect copy of at least some regions of the brain. (AI summary of creator comment)

  • Update 2025-16-01 (PST): - Autonomous Flying Cars: Only air travel capability is required; ground capability is optional. (AI summary of creator comment)

  • Update 2025-18-01 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): - Human mind uploading is the complete replication of a human mind's structure, function, and consciousness into a digital or artificial substrate.

    • It requires a high-resolution scan of the brain's neural architecture and synaptic connections.

    • The uploaded mind must exhibit continuity of identity, memory, and subjective experience.

    • It must be indistinguishable from the original mind in terms of cognitive and emotional responses.

    • The process must be verifiable through independent scientific validation.

    • It should not rely on speculative or unproven assumptions about consciousness.

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bought Ṁ30 YES

For self-healing materials for infrastructure, we already have self-healing concrete?

@eyesprout needs more adoption, and several more materials besides concrete I would say.

bought Ṁ10 YES

"Time travel to the future" Aren't we kind of constantly doing that? What does this mean?

@JuJumper Thanks

@JuJumper can you clarify whether this market requires vehicles that travel significant distances both in the air and on the ground?

That is, how car-like do they have to be? Will a VTOL sky-cab thing qualify?

@DanHomerick I would say a VTOL cab qualifies, and only air travel capability is required, ground being optional.

There's not much incentive to participate in this market since mana will be tied up until 2050.
You should consider compiling convincing evidence at the end of each year (leading up to 2050) and resolving the options that are already a reality.

@EstMtz I intend to resolve items before 2050 if convincing evidence is presented.

@EstMtz the loan system means that's not how it works anymore

@MalachiteEagle could you please elaborate what's that?

@JuJumper in the context of this question I'd just define it as "The joywire is a brain implant that grants a permanent but substantial mood boost"

I bet this one will be claimed to have been achieved a few times by 2050, but it'll be con-men vastly over-hyping a minor accomplishment.

Risky to bet on though, because how do we know if the resolver will swallow the hype? Or conversely, be overly skeptical of a legit breakthrough.

bought Ṁ50 NO

@DanHomerick we can think about more specific resolution criteria. What do you have in mind?

@JuJumper i don't think it's particularly salvageable.

One could pick a sci-fi definition: perfect copy of the brain, such that the upload has all memories of original and thinks just like them. That's not achievable and will resolve NO (possibly with staged demos trying to fake YES, though...)

Or could pick something which doesn't match people's expectations, because the only experience we have with the concept is sci-fi. Further, we'd be picking some fuzzy midpoint on a large spectrum.

On one end is a deep brain "scan" that renders a perfect copy. On the other is essentially interviewing a person, maybe looking through all their digital footprints. When complete, the "upload" is just an LLM that trys to imitate their writing and speech style, and repeat positions that the person has previously claimed.

The shallow end fakery is already getting started, albeit not generally claiming to be an "upload" yet (give them time....).

So, where to pick that is clearly defined, where claims can accurately be tested, which meets people's ideas about the term, and which is not obviously a YES or NO resolution? I don't think there is a good answer.

@DanHomerick I think a perfect copy of at least some regions of brain are required for a true upload.

@JuJumper okay, but "perfect copy" is a sci-fi level understanding of the concept. It's not a rigorously defined term.

If "upload" gets traction in the next 25 years (like AGI is getting traction now), we'll quickly have conmen claiming perfect. Meanwhile, there may be some real significant steps taken towards a sort of digital twin. But what would this market actually resolve on?

Will a scifi understanding paired with a conman's claims make it go YES? Will people delegating decisions to their "upload" go NO, because it's a legit tech and a perfect copy isn't the claim being made?

This doesn't have to be hammered out. Most likely this market will resolve on some future mod's "I know it when I see it" vibe check. Which can be fine, I guess. But to the degree that expectations are laid out in detail now (contemporaneously), the better they'll be able to judge whether the predicted thing actually came about.

@DanHomerick I think this definition matches my expectations, would you like to alter it somehow?
Human mind uploading is the complete replication of a human mind's structure, function, and consciousness into a digital or artificial substrate. It requires a high-resolution scan of the brain's neural architecture and synaptic connections. The uploaded mind must exhibit continuity of identity, memory, and subjective experience. It must be indistinguishable from the original mind in terms of cognitive and emotional responses. The process must be verifiable through independent scientific validation. It should not rely on speculative or unproven assumptions about consciousness.

@JuJumper Aren't we travelling to the future all the time? If you want to speed it up, would cryonics qualify? What about relativistic time dilation?

Those do not count. It has to be time-machine-like and match general criteria for this market. (e.g. relativistic time dilation would count if it allowed to move something to the future usefully instead of it being an engineering problem)

So, it's a box for which someone pays to stay in to fast forward to some time in the future? Does hotel room qualify?

Just in case, I want to clarify that I'm not trolling. I genuinely think that it would be very difficult to define a "forward time machine" that would exclude things like cars, hotel rooms or cryonics tanks.

Inside a "forward time machine" must pass usefully less time than outside as measured by a physical clock, not just subjective perception. It seems to me your examples do not fit this definition.

Thank you for the clarification. So, the only realistic device that we know of that fits this description would be a spaceship that accelerates to relativistic velocity specifically to speed up the time for those inside.

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