Thread: Most profitable industry for the 21st century.

What do you think will turn out to be the most profitable industry for the 21st century?

Originally Posted by Ascended

What do you think will turn out to be the most profitable industry for the 21st century?

Are industries fueled by government "stimulus" giveaways included in this consideration? jocular

Perhaps something involving nanotechnology.

War profiteer or munitions manufacturer. You can't stop the long held tradition of people killing other people.

Health--as it is now.

Robotics

It is in its infancy now, but is set to explode some time soon. Robots will be in every aspect of life, from the robot car that drives you somewhere, to robot killers of insect pests, to robots caring for old and decrepit people, to housekeeping robots. All shapes and sizes, and probably outnumbering humans by a good margin before the end of the century. Imagine how much money will be a part of bother their selling price and the wealth their work generates.

Water pumps.

White collar crime.

Water and especially drinkable water has a huge potential, in my opinion. Every living thing requires water for life and many industries require huge amounts of water for irrigation, cooling, processing etc. Many people do not realize how much water is utilized by the petroleum sector as well.

My water pump suggestion was for draining the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Florida and the like.

Question: how many people, in 1976, would have predicted the mobile phone revolution?

Same question, different phrasing: amusing as it may be to contemplate what business will be the big one in this century it is, don't you think it is ultimately pointless?

Originally Posted by John Galt

My water pump suggestion was for draining the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Florida and the like.

Question: how many people, in 1976, would have predicted the mobile phone revolution?

Same question, different phrasing: amusing as it may be to contemplate what business will be the big one in this century it is, don't you think it is ultimately pointless?

Not for those who take the short term view and seek financial gain from same.

Originally Posted by John Galt

Question: how many people, in 1976, would have predicted the mobile phone revolution?

And ironically that was one of the things probably best predicted and depicted in some form from scifi in examples such as the Star Trek communicator.

Energy generation and supply, healthcare, transport such as car or airtravel, oil, computer soft or hardware, food production, sport or entertainment, mining, construction, ....., it seems like the list could go on and on, everyone has their own ideas but nobody can really know how the world will change or what conditions will emerge. This is just one of the problems faced by governments around the world of not really knowing what the best balance for an economy is, or will be. Personally I think the technology sectors will turn out to be pretty near the top of the list for most profitable.

Originally Posted by scheherazade

Water and especially drinkable water has a huge potential, in my opinion. Every living thing requires water for life and many industries require huge amounts of water for irrigation, cooling, processing etc. Many people do not realize how much water is utilized by the petroleum sector as well.

Your opinion is well-founded! Unless population growth declines drastically, and unless longevity ceases to increase, fresh water will most certainly, in my opinion, become the new "oil".

It is estimated that today, one out of every six human beings living depend on the same river, the Ganges, for water. Seems impossible. But what about the future?
jocular

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As gas and oil prices rise out of reach and eventually dry up, average Joe will look for the cheaper alternative to keep the house warm, lights on and keep the car running. So I think there will be far greater demand for renewable energy in the future. Developed worlds will depend on it.

Originally Posted by Ascended

What do you think will turn out to be the most profitable industry for the 21st century?

Taking cash from gullible people!

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

Originally Posted by Ascended

What do you think will turn out to be the most profitable industry for the 21st century?

Taking cash from gullible people!

I wonder if Wonga.com falls into that category, there were some rumours floating around that a £10 loan by the Greeks from Wonga started Europes debt crisis

Originally Posted by skeptic

Robotics

It is in its infancy now, but is set to explode some time soon. Robots will be in every aspect of life, from the robot car that drives you somewhere, to robot killers of insect pests, to robots caring for old and decrepit people, to housekeeping robots. All shapes and sizes, and probably outnumbering humans by a good margin before the end of the century. Imagine how much money will be a part of bother their selling price and the wealth their work generates.

Robots are too expensive to be practical, and I doubt they will ever be anywhere close to computers in popularity. AI will probably be used for computers which tell users certain trends, or something. Robots are already being used in space. Aside from industry/government, robotics won't be big. Maybe people will have their personal HTMs though, to tell them stuffs. Weather stations or governments could create a world wide HTM-weather-prediction network, with stations every 50 miles. They could tell when a hurricane is going to come, long in advance. One use of HTM currently is predicting energy use. AI will be very useful for things like that.
Fast food or factory agriculture. Anything lots of people need will be big.

Originally Posted by NNet

Robots are too expensive to be practical

So were computers not so long back.

Originally Posted by NNet

Robots are too expensive to be practical,

For now.

Check this space in 10 to 20 years, when the cost has plummeted. Remember how much a PC used to cost?

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

Originally Posted by NNet

Robots are too expensive to be practical

So were computers not so long back.

Yup, and European industrialists dismissed the idea of mass producing automobiles because, they reasoned, the masses could not afford chauffeurs.

I guess we hold similar preconceptions about robots, that robots of the future will completely sidestep. What is a robot really? It's an autonomous machine, able to perform a task without a human operator. Then a mousetrap is a simple robot. Seems to me the trend of device interconnectivity is making true robots less likely.

Originally Posted by Pong

What is a robot really? It's an autonomous machine, able to perform a task without a human operator. Then a mousetrap is a simple robot. Seems to me the trend of device interconnectivity is making true robots less likely.

The problem with this line of reasoning is that the trend to robotics is already well established. For example, the Japanese are working on robots that are designed to care for the elderly. Their actions are complex and responsive. Not exactly a mouse trap. We already have robotic lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners. Self drive cars already exist in prototype. The development of robots is already well under way, and the sky is the limit.

I should have been more clear: I meant that "true" autonomous robots are becoming less likely. The Honda robot Asimo for example has its brain in a desktop computer. The trend of wireless connectivity suggests that all robots will be controlled by, like a server in Malaysia, or a cloud paid subscription. The clanking machine itself won't need an autonomous brain.

I understand that, Pong.

However, a degree of autonomy is actually very inexpensive. The chips that control such things as autonomous lawn mowers are not costly. The biggest cost in manufacture (as opposed to development of the technology) of robots is the hardware, like motors, and hydraulic arms, etc. While some external controls will, no doubt, be a feature of many robots, the advantages of having many of the functions programmed onto chips, making those functions autonomous, will be achieved with very little increased cost.

Originally Posted by skeptic

the advantages of having many of the functions programmed onto chips

Sorry, there is no advantage. It just makes the device inflexible.

How's your autonomous lawnmower going to park itself in a garage monitored by your autonomous security system? Better have these interconnected, so security can chase a burglar down the street with the lawnmower, and better yet all the neighbourhood lawnmowers can join the chase!

Pong

A high degree of autonomy does not preclude a degree of interconnection either. I am sure we will see both.

Originally Posted by skeptic

I understand that, Pong.

However, a degree of autonomy is actually very inexpensive. The chips that control such things as autonomous lawn mowers are not costly. The biggest cost in manufacture (as opposed to development of the technology) of robots is the hardware, like motors, and hydraulic arms, etc. While some external controls will, no doubt, be a feature of many robots, the advantages of having many of the functions programmed onto chips, making those functions autonomous, will be achieved with very little increased cost.

Currently, we're simulating actual cortexes (or something similar). 1 millionth the size of a human brain is the limit of our current computer power. To create something like the robots in movies, I think it would be necessary to build actual neurons, possibly biological-artificial. That would be quite expensive.

To NNet

We are not talking about the movies. The vast bulk of robots will never be walking, talking, copies of humans. A typical robot might, for example, be a small machine that trundles up and down the rows of soya beans on a farm, killing weeds and insects, and analysing soil, and possibly carrying a small tank of water plus fertiliser, which it squirts into the area round the plant roots, when deficient.

Such robots do not need human brain equivalent mentation. A simple computer chip will be enough.

Originally Posted by skeptic

To NNet

We are not talking about the movies. The vast bulk of robots will never be walking, talking, copies of humans. A typical robot might, for example, be a small machine that trundles up and down the rows of soya beans on a farm, killing weeds and insects, and analysing soil, and possibly carrying a small tank of water plus fertiliser, which it squirts into the area round the plant roots, when deficient.

Such robots do not need human brain equivalent mentation. A simple computer chip will be enough.

Oh. In that case, the cost of computers is the issue. The farming machine you used as an example will probably be cheap very soon. The main cost would be the non-processor parts. Maybe ROM will become big, because robots wouldn't have to become customizable. If manufacturing technology were good enough, it would be easy for a company to produce ROM by inputing data to a computer, then send the ROM to the company ordering the ROM.

Speaking of robotics, I could use a unit that can do sanitary engineering in the horse corrals, to free up more time for me to ride, lol. It would require an operating range of +30C to -45C. I wouldn't one one to do the feeding and watering though, for those require some attention and monitoring that I would not trust to technology. How much interest and appetite a horse displays is a reliable indicator of health or potential health concerns.

Originally Posted by scheherazade

Speaking of robotics, I could use a unit that can do sanitary engineering in the horse corrals, to free up more time for me to ride, lol. It would require an operating range of +30C to -45C. I wouldn't one one to do the feeding and watering though, for those require some attention and monitoring that I would not trust to technology. How much interest and appetite a horse displays is a reliable indicator of health or potential health concerns.

Hey how about robotic horses that don't require any need for sanitization.

Originally Posted by Ascended

Originally Posted by scheherazade

Speaking of robotics, I could use a unit that can do sanitary engineering in the horse corrals, to free up more time for me to ride, lol. It would require an operating range of +30C to -45C. I wouldn't one one to do the feeding and watering though, for those require some attention and monitoring that I would not trust to technology. How much interest and appetite a horse displays is a reliable indicator of health or potential health concerns.

Hey how about robotic horses that don't require any need for sanitization.

An interesting concept but one that would hold no appeal for me. I want a genuine response from another being with it's own self-will, not programmable machinery. Four hooves and a heartbeat are where it's at.

White collar crime

White-collar crime - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


& Banks

1. Banking will be at the top as most profitable type of business.

2. Healthcare, especially with the baby boomers aging.

Most profitable industry? McDonalds.