Scientific development constantly moves, introducing new gadgets and gizmos at a shocking pace.  But some things just don’t happen fast enough.  Science fiction predicted hundreds of amazing things we’d be doing now from traveling space to flying with jet packs.  Sadly, all we got was the internet and iPods.  These seven dream technologies should be the focus of every scientist or inventor because, well, I said so.

7. Commercial space travel

Science fiction from the past century has promised human settlements of the Moon, Mars, and more beginning ten years ago.  They failed to uphold this promise.  I want to be able to go for a moon walk for about as much as the red-eye to DC.  And if I want to vacation on the barren lands of Mars, I should be able to.  Earth has gotten too boring, we’ve seen it all.  Time for something new.

6. Cheap, reliable energy

Between global warming and gas prices, non-polluting energy would be a welcomed solution.  Whether it’s large scale hydrogen, solar, wind, or nuclear power, we need to band together to save the world and shut up those damn pundits and their gas price graphs.  Super-efficient batteries for our laptops and gaming handhelds would be awesome too.

5. Genetic engineering

This is just getting started, but it ain’t there yet.  I want to be able to fix my foibles, clean out the gunk, and make me more flawless than I already am.  This would get rid of most diseases, help increase quality of life, and maybe help me learn to actually catch a ball.  Genetic engineering could make us smarter, stronger, prettier, and cooler, all without putting in any real effort.  And isn’t that the American Dream.

4. Transporter

Think about all the time it takes you to get places.  That’s like, tons of time you could be sleeping, reading, playing video games, or just doing nothing at home, where it’s safer and more temperature controlled.  With a transporter, you could roll out of bed and just zap to work - no traffic or stress (maybe the transporter could even shower you en route).  This would save time and make use more rested and productive.  And it would just be totally awesome.

3. Robots

Whether they’re our pets or our army, robots are vital to the continuation of the species.  Specifically in limiting procreation.  The world’s getting overcrowded people.  With robot spouses fulfilling our every fantasy and desire you don’t have to worry about those silly babies and can focus on the important things: sex.

2. Virtual reality

If robots are too creepy for you, how about going totally virtual.  It’d be like Second Life, only good and worth using.  Virtual reality, in the Star Trek-holodeck style, would be useful for not only fantasy and play, but for experimentation, exploration, and war (better to fight in a virtual world than the real one).  If you plug in your holodeck to the internet, it really would be a virtual world with no reason to live outside of it.  Amazing.

1. Faster than light travel

For all my dreaming of living in a digital world where I don’t have to deal with real life, fantasy is still fantasy.  In the end reality offers the rare and unexpected and traveling outside of our solar system is one experience I pray can happen in my lifetime (fingers crossed).  Morbid curiosity and the hope of not only finding alien life, but of finding addition planets to ruin (since this one doesn’t have too much longer) is more likely to happen with the help of some powerful propulsion and kick-ass starships.  Space is, after all, the final frontier.