Our singing shall build in the void's loose field; A world for the Spirit of Wisdom to wield; We will take our plan from the new world of man, And our work shall be called the Promethean.
- P. B. Shelley

Changes in the near future

· By the year 2010, regular offices will be passé. Most of the work will be telework, and those who don’t work from home will go to telework centres in their own locality, reducing work and travel stress.

· Computer controls will be handled by voice commands.

· At the end of 2010, contact lenses will use laser beams to draw pictures straight onto the wearer’s retinas.

· Home décor will include screens hanging on walls. You can program these to display works of art, virtual fish tanks, or windows looking out onto a Bahamas beach.

· Insect-like robots will keep your carpets clean, trim the grass, tidy up, or monitor household security. Robotic pets that look like kittens or teddy bears will be the craze.

· Electronic glasses can be worn for work, or for simulated games. You could participate in the plots of television programmes and interact with other viewers.

· With the increasing reach of cyberspace, friendships may get confusing with computer programmes masquerading as people and vice versa. But this socialising with people in other countries will create a mixed culture. It may lead to more loyalty towards network-based communities than local geographic community.

· The power of the government will decline as the cyber communities grow.

· New surveillance technologies are likely to reduce crime at the price of a loss of privacy.

· Age will be an added asset, since experience will count. We can expect to live longer, but also remain healthier.

· Nanotechnology will allow us to put micro-machines living inside our bodies, reinforcing the body’s own defences and maintenance systems.

· Commuting will be easier with advanced road traffic navigation systems. All we’ll have to do, is tell the computer about our destination and the time when we want to reach there, and it will chart out the best course.
With every car having automatic systems that communicate with those in other cars, it will be possible to more than double the capacity of the roads. Taking the human out of the system will increase safety enormously.

Source: British Telecom's Technology Calendar