It’s nice that the iTricorder will probably be available in a few years, but since I’m not a doctor it does me a fat lot of good. What I really need is a Replicator. Preferably not running Windows. A Replicator in my hands would not be used in an evil way. I would make sure that everybody had enough food. Clothing would be plentiful. Drinks would be large and cold. Christopher Moore books would be available in every bookcase. I think I’d also have the thing replicate every Star Wars toy that I ever had, and probably the few that I didn’t.
A Transporter would be pretty sweet as well. Definitely not running Windows:
Me: One to beam over to Coney Island for a hot dog.
Transporter: A fatal exception 0E has occurred at 0145:GJKP34R8. The current application will be terminated. Press any key to terminate the application. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del again to restart your computer. You will lose any unsaved information in all applications. Press any key to continue.
Would you be considered unsaved information if you were in the process of beaming over? Youch. Wonder how you’d “save” yourself first… clone first maybe?
From what I understand, the transporter destroys the object and then rebuilds it on the other end. I hope that by the time we have transporters we’ll also have a way to back our brains up, some sort of hard drive that we could regularly access…would be very helpful for remembering events, etc.