FutureWire - futurism and emerging technology

Friday, August 12, 2005

BT's Future Timetable

British Telecom's futurology department has compiled a list of future forecasts for the next 50 years. The team that predicted text messaging and Internet search engines offers their thoughts on technology and economics. The following are just some of the team's predictions:

Near-Term (2006-2020)
  • Electronic medical prescriptions sent directly from physicians to pharmacists via handheld
  • Ultra-thin polymer screens that can stick to the skin to provide "video tattoos"
  • Clothing fabrics that can sense the wearer's heart rate and temperature, and can transmit that information to a room
  • Self-driving cars
  • Regrown teeth through gene therapy
  • "Active make-up" that automatically changes color
  • Devices that control emotions, suppressing anger and depression
Long-Term (2020+)
  • 3D "printers" that can create solid models
  • Moon bases and Mars colonies
  • Energy through nuclear fusion
  • The Singularity arrives, when machines become smarter than humans
  • A massive financial collapse sometime within the next 50 years
Sources: The Mirror, AiKnowledge