Hypothetical technology is technology that does not exist yet, but that could exist in the future. This article presents examples of technologies that have been hypothesized or proposed, but that have not been developed yet. An example of hypothetical technology is

teleportation Teleportation is the hypothetical transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. It is a common subject in science fiction literature and in other popular culture. Teleportation is oft ...

Artificial general intelligence

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a hypothetical

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

that demonstrates a human-like ability to learn. AGI is a machine which could do all human activities with the efficiency of a machine. It is a primary goal of

research and a common topic among

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

writers and

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

s. Artificial general intelligence is also referred to as ''strong AI'', or se
Advanced Human Intelligence
where he defines strong AI as "machine intelligence with the full range of human intelligence." ''full AI'' or one that has the ability to perform "general intelligent action". AGI is associated with traits such as

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

sentience Sentience is the capacity to experience feelings and sensations. The word was first coined by philosophers in the 1630s for the concept of an ability to feel, derived from Latin '':wikt:sentientem, sentientem'' (a feeling), to distinguish it fro ...

sapience Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, ...

, and

self-awareness In philosophy of self, self-awareness is the experience of one's own personality or individuality. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. While consciousness is being aware of one's environment and body and lifesty ...

, which are observed in living beings.

Mind uploading

Whole brain emulation (WBE) or mind uploading (sometimes called mind copying or mind transfer) is the hypothetical process of copying mental content (including long-term memory and "self") from a particular brain substrate and copying it to a computational or storage device, such as a digital, analog, quantum-based, or software-based

artificial neural network Artificial neural networks (ANNs), usually simply called neural networks (NNs) or neural nets, are computing systems inspired by the biological neural networks that constitute animal brains. An ANN is based on a collection of connected unit ...

. The computational device could then run a

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

model of the brain information processing, such that it responds in essentially the same way as the original brain (i.e., indistinguishable from the brain for all relevant purposes) and experiences having a

conscious Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...

.A framework for approaches to transfer of a mind's substrate
/ref>COALESCING MINDS: BRAIN UPLOADING-RELATED GROUP MIND SCENARIOS
/ref> Mind uploading may potentially be accomplished by at least two methods: Copy-and-Transfer or Gradual Replacement of neurons. In the former method, mind uploading would be achieved by scanning and mapping the salient features of a biological brain, and then by copying, transferring and storing that information state into a computer system or another computational device. The simulated mind could be within a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

simulated world A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the ...

, supported by an anatomic 3D body simulation model. Alternatively, the simulated mind could reside in a computer that's inside (or connected to) a

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and ''-oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20t ...

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

or a biological body.

Space flight

There are many forms of spaceflight that have been proposed that have not, so far, been developed but are thought to be possible. Some, like the

space elevator A space elevator, also referred to as a space bridge, star ladder, and orbital lift, is a proposed type of planet-to-space transportation system, often depicted in science fiction. The main component would be a cable (also called a space tethe ...

are under active development. Others, like Project Orion, a nuclear bomb propulsion system, are entirely paper exercises. As it happens, Orion is thought to be entirely achievable with existing technology (the obstacles to it are environmental and political rather than technological), whereas the space elevator depends on the development of a material for the cable with a very high

specific strength The specific strength is a material's (or muscle's) strength (force per unit area at failure) divided by its density. It is also known as the strength-to-weight ratio or strength/weight ratio or strength-to-mass ratio. In fiber or textile applic ...

Space elevator

A space elevator is a proposed type of space transport system. Its main component is a ribbon-like cable (also called a

tether A tether is a cord, fixture, or flexible attachment that characteristically anchors something movable to something fixed; it also maybe used to connect two movable objects, such as an item being towed by its tow. Applications for tethers includ ...

) starting at or near a planetary surface and extending into space. It is designed to permit vehicle transport along the cable directly into space or orbit without the use of large rockets. An Earth-based space elevator would consist of a cable with one end attached to the surface near the equator and the other end in space beyond

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...

(35,800 km altitude). The competing forces of gravity, which are stronger at the lower end, and the outward/upward centrifugal force, which is stronger at the upper end, would result in the cable staying up under tension, and stationary over a single position on Earth. Once deployed, the tether would be ascended repeatedly by mechanical means to orbit, and descended to return to the surface from orbit.Edwards, Bradley Carl
The NIAC Space Elevator Program
NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts On Earth, with its relatively strong gravity, current technology is not capable of manufacturing tether materials that are sufficiently strong and light enough to build a space elevator. However, recent concepts for a space elevator are notable for their plans to use

carbon nanotube A scanning tunneling microscopy image of a single-walled carbon nanotube Rotating single-walled zigzag carbon nanotube A carbon nanotube (CNT) is a tube made of carbon with diameters typically measured in nanometers. ''Single-wall carbon na ...

boron nitride nanotube Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are a polymorph of boron nitride. They were predicted in 1994 and experimentally discovered in 1995. Structurally they are similar to carbon nanotubes, which are cylinders with sub-micrometer diameters and micromete ...

-based materials as the tensile element in the tether design.

Rotating skyhook

The rotating skyhook, or momentum-exchange tether, is an idea related to the space elevator concept. It is one of the many proposed applications of

space tether Space tethers are long cables which can be used for propulsion, momentum exchange, stabilization and attitude control, or maintaining the relative positions of the components of a large dispersed satellite/spacecraft sensor system. Depending on t ...

s, which include some propulsion systems. The tether is rotated from a heavy orbiting vehicle such that the far end, weighted with a docking station, periodically enters Earth's atmosphere. With the right timing, a fast aircraft can transfer cargo and passengers during the brief time the skyhook is at the bottom of its cycle and stationary relative to Earth's surface.

Light sail

A light sail is a proposed propulsion system that uses the momentum transferred to a sail by light impinging on it. A light sail could use sunlight to achieve

interplanetary travel Interplanetary spaceflight or interplanetary travel is the crewed or uncrewed travel between stars and planets, usually within a single planetary system. In practice, spaceflights of this type are confined to travel between the planets of th ...

without carrying large quantities of onboard fuel. Just as a

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

on Earth can

tack TACK is a group of archaea acronym for Thaumarchaeota (now Nitrososphaerota), Aigarchaeota, Crenarchaeota (now Thermoproteota), and Korarchaeota, the first groups discovered. They are found in different environments ranging from acidophilic th ...

into the wind, the light sail can be tacked against the direction of light for a return journey from the outer planets.Colin R. McInnes, ''Solar Sailing: Technology, Dynamics and Mission Applications'', Springer, 2013 . At the beginning of the 21st century, light sails were still entirely hypothetical. The Japanese IKAROS spacecraft was launched in 2010 as a proof-of-concept mission for the light sail. It successfully completed a fly-by of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

using a light sail as its main means of propulsion.

References

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