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The Worst Jobs of the Future

100 years from now, what jobs will people be hating?

Posted 1.22.09 at 4:12 pm 5 Comments

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The Worst Job of 2100: Nanobug Fighter

Ryan Heshka

A century from now, today's terrorist enemy has morphed into a global insurgency against all established governments. The terrorists have launched a wave of nanotech biochemical weapons. Like viruses and bacteria, the weapons are invisible to satellites, border-patrol agents and the military. Your job -- and it's a doozy -- is to defend the country against their onslaught.
While nanotech cheerleaders talk of tiny cell-size machines that will someday patrol our bodies on cancer search-and-destroy missions, others (ahem) are thinking about the downside. Imagine a nano-chem weapon that moves invisibly through the nation's military-industrial complex, waging its own microscopic mission of evil. We'll be decimated before we even know what's hit us. "From an ethical point of view, it's hard to imagine scientists in this country working on a weapon like that," says Ned Thomas, an MIT professor and director of its Institute for Soldier Nano-technologies. "But if the bad guys develop it, we're in trouble." That leaves the good guys with the heavy burden of building devices that can sense alien invaders and engage in nano-a-nano combat beneath our skin. If you win, you save the free world; if you lose, we're all toast. No pressure, though.

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5 Comments

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gsoClarke

from Reidsville, NC

01/23/09 at 2:22 pm

Honk if you think there will be a civilization capable of sophisticated technology 100 years from now! I suspect an engineered virus/bacterium will get us all before deadly nano bugs are developed.

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lagj

01/24/09 at 11:30 am

The zero gravity toll on the body does not have to be part of that job description. A crew on its way to mars will very likely be housed in a rotating spacecraft creating artificial Mars level gravity. Depending on the mission design and cost, the crew may return home in zero gravity, but then the hardship would be no worse than what Jim Voss described for his 2001 job (i.e. having to take it easy for a few weeks after you've returned to Earth).

Note that although likely that Mars Gravity (roughly 1/3 of the Earth's) is sufficient to prevent these physiological effects, it has not been conclusively demonstrated yet. Earth orbit experiments with small mammals in artificial gravity, on the ISS or free flying, could help answer that question.

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khrhee91

01/25/09 at 2:17 pm

My thoughts are:

1. Politicians: with the growth of the internet, media etc. ; who knows, maybe we can impeach or fire politicians by having them rated out of 10 on the internet.

2. Environmentalists: By 100 years I don't think it would be the happiest of jobs with figures of impending doom hovering over their heads.

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Briguy2k

01/26/09 at 9:25 am

I think the duration in space problem will be solved by gene therapy. Popsci reported before how we were able to turn off the genes that STOPPED muscle growth resulting in that famous muscular dog photo, I think we could do something similar for astronauts in space. Nothing in the human body happens on accident, theres code in there for everything so bone and muscle loss too can be pre-programmed I think.

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Ruri

01/26/09 at 11:47 pm

The Marstronaut job will not be as bad as stated because the travel time can be cut to just 2 to 5 months using nuclear electric or nuclear thermo drives.
As for muscle and bone atrophy solving that is easy just spin the ship about it's long axis during cruise.
it's very unlikely NASA will attempt a manned mission to mars with out a little help from the atom.

They also missed a another nasty very near future space job.
Private and Government LEO and lunar space vehicles will require cleaning and refurbishing after their mission for reuse.

Now the bad part the vehicle will have trash that has been stored for anything from 3 days to 6 months and up to two weeks of freeze dried if your lucky waste in the WCS holding tanks.
They might find it easier for processing to just store it as a liquid easier to off load but it will smell even with chemicals.