The next "big thing that's going to change the world" but doesn't

[TylerM4]

I enjoy watching new technology developments and trends. Specifically, I like the process of seeing if it actually lives up to the hype. So much technology reporting in the media is obviously done by journalists who's idea of technology reporting is more like bandwagon jumping vs a logical analysis of how it'll be adopted and the impact it'll have on the general populous.

Here's a few recent examples of technologies that haven't "changed the world" like all the hype said they would:
1) Blockchain. In 2020 it was all the rage and was going to completely change computing and society. Nowadays most people need a reminder about what it is.
2) That latest WIFI standard. 5G or 6G now that the hype has fallen away from 5G. Super high speed low range wireless communication. Yes it's faster. Yes developers take advantage of the higher speed to send more data. But it's more akin to a constant improvement cycle. It's like when the newest iPhone is released. It's more of the same, not a big change like the initial iPhone was. No self driving cars all communicating with each other or any of the other "dream big" scenarios that were touted have ever come to fruition.

Curious if anyone else can share examples of "the next big thing" that turned out to be nothing special?

[77TA]

mRNA injections.

[Urban Cowboy]

Flying cars.

[Bsuds]

Finding Intelligent life.

[Catsumi]

Finding Intelligent life.

They missed your house, right?

[Bsuds]

Finding Intelligent life.

They missed your house, right?

Never even slowed down...nothing to see here!

[Catsumi]

They missed your house, right?

Never even slowed down...nothing to see here!

And the search continues

[TylerM4]

mRNA injections.

Curious as to this one. How have they been touted as changing the world? I was under impression it's more a case of "Does the same as a regular vaccine but there's some benefits".

[TylerM4]

Flying cars.

Good one. I look at this as more of a prediction for the future that hasn't come vs an actual new technology that hasn't lived up to the hype.

[TylerM4]

Finding Intelligent life.

It would change the world if we did find it. Not really a new technology tho ;)

[77TA]

mRNA injections.

Curious as to this one. How have they been touted as changing the world? I was under impression it's more a case of "Does the same as a regular vaccine but there's some benefits".

mRNA technology promises to revolutionize future vaccines and treatments for cancer, infectious diseases

https://www.aamc.org/news/mrna-technolo ... s-diseases

Plenty of media hype like this as the mRNA injection miracle was coming out and hey,maybe they will be "revolutionary" at some point but I'm not seeing it.

[TylerM4]

Plenty of media hype like this as the mRNA injection miracle was coming out and hey,maybe they will be "revolutionary" at some point but I'm not seeing it.

Thanks for sharing. Yeah I tend to agree with your assessment. Seems like there are benefits from other/older ways to create vaccines. More of an evolution of medical technology that's new, but works very similarly as the old technology.

Mention of cancer vaccines is certainly interesting and would change the world. But right now my interpretation is that "mRNA might allow us to create a cancer vaccine" vs "mRNA will allow us to create a cancer vaccine"

[spooker]

Plenty of media hype like this as the mRNA injection miracle was coming out and hey,maybe they will be "revolutionary" at some point but I'm not seeing it.

Thanks for sharing. Yeah I tend to agree with your assessment. Seems like there are benefits from other/older ways to create vaccines. More of an evolution of medical technology that's new, but works very similarly as the old technology.

Mention of cancer vaccines is certainly interesting and would change the world. But right now my interpretation is that "mRNA might allow us to create a cancer vaccine" vs "mRNA will allow us to create a cancer vaccine"

Even though cancer is still a killer it doesn't have the push the pandemic had to get things moving quickly.

This article is from Dec 2022:

The experimental vaccine, made by Moderna and MSD, is designed to prime the immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells.

Doctors hope work such as this could lead to revolutionary new ways to fight skin, bowel and other types of cancer.

Moderna and MSD called it "a new paradigm" moment.

Other pharmaceutical companies are looking to run similar studies.

But this is the first phase-IIb randomised clinical trial to test the investigational mRNA vaccine in patients.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-63959843

It's important to get an answer but since we have this economic system that we do it's up to the market to decide what priority it gets, but that's a topic for another thread.

...

As for the lacklustre adoption of WiFi6 or 5G, it's like how adding more lanes to a highway doesn't really change anything because the purpose is still the same. We get higher bitrate streams to make the video on our phones look more detailed but it's still the same mind-numbing content that we had before.

Remember the Segway? The people moved that everyone got excited about and then it whiffed it?

Electric vehicles that drive themselves?

Reusable rockets? to the moon?

We can't even make home automation easy to use and worthwhile.

Sorry, being a geek for this many decades my adrenal gland has been exhausted by the hype fizzling out.

[Bsuds]

Finding Intelligent life.

It would change the world if we did find it. Not really a new technology tho ;)

The title of the thread is "The next big thing that's going to change the world"

Technology was not mentioned but certainly would probably be top of the list.

Fusion power would by my top pick.

[TylerM4]

The title of the thread is "The next big thing that's going to change the world"

Technology was not mentioned but certainly would probably be top of the list.

Fusion power would by my top pick.

Good point. My intent was to focus on technology but didn't do a good job of articulating that.

Fusion power absolutely would change the world, if they can find a way to make it work/practical. They appear to be making strides in that direction, but it's taken decades to get this far and still has a long way to go.