I can see it now, the funeral industry looks very promising if computer automation programmed by humans is to facilitate our daily lives. Imagine the at-risk satellite system delivering the communications....... exposed to all that space junk will quickly make a mess on the ground.   
Imagine a future world, your automated house wakes you gently from your sleep in time for your flight, the lights are adjusted slowly so as not to upset a sleepy human, you don't have time to communicate with your family, computer automation algorithms have deemed this interaction irrelevant, (you have become irrelevant in your own world....) data crunching has seen to it that human activity must be performed at the discretion of the network, performed in the most efficient timeframe according to the artificial intelligence) (Imagine being moved on to the next process wether you are ready or not) half dressed, half fed, half cleaned,  close enough delivery / transportation systems.  Your automated kitchen has prepared breakfast while your automated climate control gently adjusts the temperature differential between cosy bed and rude shock home environment. Your body has become weak and your mind is dull from having things done by automation. You step into your automated shower where robotic scrubbers make you fresh for the day, then into your automated dressing room where are clothed just like CJ in GTA, breakfast is ready to inject (its the most efficient way according to robotic experts) you ask House Siri to confirm your bookings and travel plans, Siri has your automated driverless vehicle waiting at the curb, climate control already set for your comfort, you enter the vehicle which has no need for windows, the natural world is deemed irrelevant, (you make other stops along the route to pickup passengers, the network decides the passenger list, as deemed most efficient, you are no longer able to decide who you should share your personal transport.... the network calculates / decides what is most efficient) more time to naval gaze into your iPhone50, to catchup on moronic Mobile communication and still have time to close that deal, securing you spendable credits in a cashless economy). Besides it helps not to see the road carnage from all the other autonomous driverless vehicles doing crazy things around you, (though there may not always be carnage, there
will be network inefficiencies and outages, people will be captive to the transport system-wide lockouts, until robots can repair or reboot)  You are then transported like an irrelevant parcel to the airport, scanned, packaged and processed by robots, there is no need for onboard staff or seating as you will be stacked like freight and placed in temporary stasis. The Pilotless plane taxis out as dictated by the network which has command of all pilotless aircraft activity worldwide run by a supercomputer buried deep in a mountainside communicating via satellite network high above. So now you are captive and airborne, in a pilotless automated tube high above, automated systems are seemingly operating according to the computer control systems and human made software, and we all know software code is perfect don't we......... what could possibly go wrong.......
Things are going according to plan until the natural order kicks you back to reality, there's an emergency on your flight (or should I say conveyance) (perhaps you won't be awoken during such catastrophic situations.... better not to know I guess), (they could even have an automated instant notification sent unceremoniously to your loved ones, depending on the outcome) you find yourself packed like cargo in a pressurised tube hurtling toward the ground, controlled by automated systems which have failed, (there are no human staff or pilot onboard, they have become superfluous) the R/C backup crew at the control center has just clocked on late into a regular shift, where they do on occasion, intervene maybe once a month to make sure manual systems still work, unfortunately they are not so highly trained or equipped for immediate control of an aircraft doomed to impact within mere moments.  He/she has just arrived back from a more social gathering and has had a few drinks, he/she is doing their best to get up to speed under stress with the ensuing emergency, but must be excused because regulatory requirements / company policy, preclude intoxication while on the job.  There is no possibility to intervene in the actual aircraft, because backup human control systems have been removed to save on cost and weight. (Deemed irrelevant because the human boffins.... system designers, believe their systems are now infallible.)

Please sign the waiver before continuing......... into this future!

I think I know now where real growth industries will become massively lucrative. I fully intend to go into the funeral business, you guys are nuts if you think I won't make more money than King Solomon as a result of autonomus pilotless aircraft, flown by pimply face teenagers fresh out of McDonalds / Burger King training college because they are cheap labour, tech savvy, drone and RC flyers, who will work for whatever dingdong government allows this to actually happen.

Morbid viewpoint, but there are 2 certainties in life "Death and Taxes" both are profitable, humans make it just too darned easy to collect.

I will not set foot in a pilotless aircraft or driverless car. But there again I am in the negative demographic. My future clients will be wealthy technologists or younger types blindly trusting every new stupid idea.

I will live in a bunker surrounded by old tech and freedom to ply my new trade.

See? Even in your fantasy, you died because the humans screwed up! 

You probably wouldn't actually need to travel for that matter, not really economical to transport just a thought or an an idea, in such a heavy meat package... 

But if you insist, just go to Tools/Preferences and fix all those bits you don't like...

 

Scaremongering about a ghastly future awaiting us, contrasted with fondness for some "good old times"-to-be, is a very common attitude (as shown by some posts up here).

Fortunately, those people are always proven wrong. And after all, there's nothing preventing them to live away from the "devilish" comforts of modern life. Until they need some state-of-the-art medical treatment that did not even exist 10 or 15 years ago, that is.

In that case oddly, modernity seems to always be a good thing.

8 hours ago, Jethro said:

.....robotic scrubbers....

Now that's one aspect of future technology which sounds fun! (stop smirking at the back!)  

Jethro, can I drive the hearse? 

9 hours ago, Jethro said:

I will not set foot in a pilotless aircraft or driverless car. But there again I am in the negative demographic. My future clients will be wealthy technologists or younger types blindly trusting every new stupid idea.

I will live in a bunker surrounded by old tech and freedom to ply my new trade.

Sure, until you get old enough, and start to appreciate those benefits. 

I'm in my mid 60's. I enjoy driving, and I think I'm still a safe driver. But I can see a horizon approaching in 10-15 years, where I either won't be able to drive, or shouldn't be able to drive. I have a vivid memory of the time when my sister and I had to take away my Dad's car keys, because he had become a hazard to himself and others, but didn't want to give it up. 

An autonomous car will keep me mobile into (I hope) my 80's. Well past the point where I wouldn't be able to drive, and far more convenient than calling a taxi or the local senior citizen bus to go anywhere. My demographic is probably the first one to take advantage of this as a way to retain personal transport into old age. I hope... if it arrives soon enough.

Air transport is a different case though, and I'm sure it will take longer to develop. 

12 hours ago, HighBypass said:

Now that's one aspect of future technology which sounds fun! (stop smirking at the back!)  

Jethro, can I drive the hearse? 

I'd be happy to accommodate one (or two) of those. However they must be nice looking. I'd accept a bionic model, as long as the body temperature was right....the mind boggles.

The 'software' must also be suitable...

Regards

Bill

I'll just leave this here...

Qantas QF72 A330 - http://www.smh.com.au/good-weekend/the-untold-story-of-qf72-what-happens-when-psycho-automation-leaves-pilots-powerless-20170510-gw26ae.html

We need to make sure this cannot EVER happen again with any AI installed in a pilotless aircraft.

Don't employ this guy as the pilot either... 

 

Hasn't aaanyone seen Terminator, or Robocop? 

 

 

You know it's a bad day when the AI pilot can't even manage the airstairs...