The Oscilation Overthruster.
I think genetic engineering is the most high-potential tech right now. They're already using it to cure sickle cell, and my (total non-expert, probably way too hopeful) pipe dream is that we could basically treat it like we can open a terminal on the body some day and change whatever we want.
Edit: I just want to point out that I'm imagining curing cancer, reversing aging, etc. Not like, additional orifices or anything.
A lot of black mirror stuff.
Apologies for the blanket pessimism but the last decades darkened my view.
I'd really like to at least see humanity fully switch to clean energy in my lifetime but I'm losing hope.
I should already be able to take a self-driving flying taxi to work. I should already be able to vacation on the moon. We shouldn't be burning stuff to power all our modern tech.
I grew up on 80s/90s scifi. I hope humanity can get it's shit together and that the current anti-intellectualism phase we're in is just part of a larger cycle.
Exoskeletons like Ripley's in Alien. We've got smaller ones, but I want to pilot a walking fork lift.
Pipe dream - battlemechs aka mechwarrior (not pacific rim). Very impractical but I want one anyway. Yes, I saw the robot fighting league by Megabots. I have their poster.
Sex robots!
Vaccines. Maybe in 100 years we'll even be able to eliminate measles...again.
We currently carry tricorders in our pockets. I can see a medical tricorder being ubiquitous for field medics, ships, and the like within 100 years.
Artificial stem cells seem like the next thing to really revolutionize medicine.
Quantum computers for brute force hacks seems doable in 100.
Eye tracking pointer devices will likely be more convenient than mice within a dozen or two years. This will probably be widely available for people who are paralyzed first.
Diamond processors are always 10 years away, but I think we can do it in 100. This would revolutionize the amount of power we can put through a chip without worrying about cooling.
Quick charge capacitor replacements for standard rechargble batteries
Low yield fusion plants. I'd like to think of them as capable of high yield, but it's much harder than initially thought. Some ideas are quite promising for low yield.
I suspect we will see a human brain to digital interface. I don't think it will be "downloading minds" or anything, but I could see someone finding a way to plug a specialized camera or mic in to have a full functioning robotic replacement part.
I'm pretty sure they already have the beginning pieces to this, but its too specialized and expensive to do anything commercial with it yet.
Computer circuits based on light instead of electricity.
Is it cheating to say AI and humanoid robots?
Anti-aging tech, if so.
fusion maybe, but in scifi, it often requires an alien race making first contact, we wont even get to things like anti-matter tech without that intervention. SG1 is more in our time frame, but with aliens already possessing advanced tech
FTL communication using quantum entangled particles.
Fully autonomous humanoid robots. Unfortunately with out-of-control AGI they will probably kill me.
It would have been cool to have a benign C3-PO or R2D2.
Orbital habitats with rotational gravity.
I would guess that we'll most-likely have AGI in 100 years. That's pretty futuristic and impactful.
