Future
Sports
Future sports and the technology that comes with it will
be a mind-blowing experience for those who participate
as well as those who watch. Forget Ultimate Fighting or
Lingerie Football, future sports will involve various
levels of professional and recreational athletes.
Space Skydiving |
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Athletes of the future will include robots, cyborgs,
humans who have legally taken performance-enhancing drugs,
humans who have illegally doped, bionically-enhanced humans
(not as much machinery as cyborgs), mutants of various
sorts, "normal" humans and the Special Olympics
will have all but gone away.
The venues of sports will also change in the future.
For instance space sports will come into vogue less than
5 years from now. Float ball, space sky diving from low
earth orbit and space runs (not walks) will be played
and viewed by many. Space laser tag using high-powered
lasers will also be outlawed.
Also, in the future sports of various kinds will be played
on different levels similar to a life-size 3D chessboard.
Wrestling, running, and various ball sports will be played
on multi-levels.
In future sports there will be many ethical challenges
as technology progresses combining man and machine or
genetically-altered man. In fact, future
athletes will be nothing like the athletes of today.
Faster, stronger, quicker thinking and reacting, partly
machine and partly the result of future
medical technology that includes future
gene splicing and other biological alterations the
athlete of tomorrow will be placed in different categories
than today in order that they may be participating on
"an even playing field".
Cyborg Athlete
The problem is that unlike today, tomorrow the playing
field will be changing at a rapid page. Professional athletes
may be tempted to for instance injure themselves on purpose
in order to get an artificial limb or organ that can help
them compete more effectively in a different class.
Just like boxers will go up or down in weight in order
to compete more effectively in different weight classes,
future sports athletes will alter themselves mechanically,
biologically or both to compete in different technological
classes. In fact, boxing itself will have a major dilemma
in regard to cyborg athletes, trying to figure out what
is fair and what is not.
The Robot Wars of today may evolve into cyborg wars in
the future. And Robot Wars could also involve a blend
of machine and animal such as robotic dog fighting (Michael
Vick will probably seed this company with startup money).
Future flying sports will evolve in the next 5 to 10
years as personal aircraft will start going mainstream.
So, in the coming years we'll see more jetpack races and
other small personal aircraft races taking place a few
hundred feet above the ground.
American football in the future will become more violent,
yet more safe and futuristic carbon fiber pads and helmets
based upon nanotechnology will be lighter, stronger, distribute
impact and lessen injuries better than at any time in
history.
Soccer players with bionic legs and baseball pitchers
with bionic arms will be problematic for the leagues in
regard to ethics at first. Later, as more players become
part machine there will be enough to form new leagues
and new classes of athletes. The growing pains will be
difficult for several years as fans will want to see the
"best of the best" compete but will also want
an "even playing field" on which to compete.
For the future recreational athlete, technology will
be a blessing. For instance right now the U. S. Army is
piloting a device, the HULC Exoskeleton that is much less
dramatic than the one in the movie Avatar that will unfold
and can be put upon a soldier's feet and legs to assist
them in running fast in bursts and over longer distances.
This future military technology is happening now.
HULC Robotic Exoskeleton
This same device will allow hikers to climb higher mountains
like Mt. Everest or challenging climbs. Even those who
are partially disabled will be helped in future sports
with this mechanically assisted running device.
Future surfboards will help many more people take up
this sport than at any other time in history. This is
because the combination of gyroscopes, mini-computers
and balance mechanisms will help beginners learn faster,
stay on the boards longer without falling off or tipping
over when surfing.
Rocket-powered jet skis will become a recreational device
in and of themselves. And, they will be used to haul surfers
out to monster waves and even the occasional rogue wave.
There will even be a few "daring idiots" who
will try and success in riding tsunami waves at least
partway into shore as they are being spotted by those
riding high power jet skis and low flying personal aircraft.
Future Jet Ski
These are just a few of my predictions on how future
sports will evolve in the following years. And of course
what I would like to hear especially is how you think
future sports will evolve?
Written by Kevin Lepton
External Links:
Space Diving YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrlIB1rzlZs
Futuristic baseball for the New York Mets:
http://vimeo.com/49253863
http://vimeo.com/44039267
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