Futurology, derived from Latin Futurum—meaning “future” and Greek Λόγος—meaning “study”- is a science dealing with the probabilities, possibilities and preferable events of the future, as well as the various points of view, or even the myths underneath such probabilities and predictions. Futurology’s basic goal is to provide crucial knowledge of the future relying on different areas such as art, literature, philosophy; it is even considered to be a branch of history. Unfortunately, scientists are often confronted with the lack of understanding and skepticism of society.
According to the famous futurologist Nicholas Negroponte (he established the Media laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of technology), learning foreign languages will be conducted via a special pill taken by the learner. Negroponte believes that in the short term, new information will be delivered to the brain via the digestive tract and respectively through the blood. The function of the human eyes is likely to be overtaken by pills:
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Foreign language acquisition will be completed by taking a pill
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Shakespeare masterpieces will be learnt via a pill
The futurologist predicts the magical properties of pills , and he believes that pills will transport information through human cardiovascular system, having the various ingredients deposited in the right areas of our brain.
Some skeptics find Negroponte’s technological and scientific predictions to be a state of lunacy, however, some of them have become a fact; others are going to come true.
Another famous futurologist is the Russian writer Vladimir Streletsky. His views include feeding with artificial meat, children born in human incubators, underwater human habitat, intelligence- increasing pills. The science fiction novelist managed to compile sources of well-established futurologists and had his future prognosis(even though some of them are part of the past now):
- 2009 - 2021 – economic rise of Russia and Belarus
- 2009 - 2025 - mass implementation of robots-androids in industrial production
- 2010 - scientific evidence about the existence of the soul after death
- 2010 - 2020 - religion decline; untraditional medicine in bloom
- 2011 - discovery of AIDS vaccination
- 2012 – creation of an intelligence-increase pill
- 2013 – the first artificial meat farm will be founded
- 2016 – the earth vehicles will be controlled by implemented computer systems
- 2025 – the onset of the global water crisis. 2/3 of the world population will be short of water. Sea water will be processed into fresh water by giant factories. 120 years of water crisis will be insured with fresh resources.
- 2026 - artificial brain will be created. Robots will become full-fledged members of society. They will be legitimate voters as well.
- 2027 - radio signals will be transmitted to earth by a rational extraterrestrial civilization
- 2029 – the first cyborg will be built
- 2030 - anti-aging technology is predicted to be discovered
- 2035 – the world economy is likely to be destabilized due to the water crisis
- 2038 – underwater farms will produce 20% of the world food
- 2039 - babies will grow in artificial wombs; the first human incubator will be created
- 2060 - a new global religion is about to engulf all of the others
- 2075 – euthanasia will be legitimized world wide
- 2081 – mass construction of temples for people to communicate with Extraterrestrial intelligence
- 2090 - construction of underwater cities
- 2110 - 5% of the world’s population will be transsexual
- 2114 – world-wide communication of humans with aliens
Nanorobots are the basis of Ramyond Kurtzweil’s predictions about the future. Similar to computers, people will be able to replicated their memories; special devices will depict memories like a virtual reality image.
- Nanorobotics will be the essential element in human life, as it will monitor people’s health and improve human psychological and physical status
- Human organs will no longer sustain the human body, instead, cyber devices will be at work
- By 2029 a computer will pass the Turing test. This will be an indication of the existence of artificial intelligence; a computer simulation of the human brain will be involved in this technological process
- In 2045 the Earth will become a giant computer. Kurtzweil named this ” technological singularity”, which tends to be really unpredictable.
What about future employment? In the recent years, the employment market was introduced to various popular and prestigious jobs such as software operators, webmasters, IT specialists, etc. the criminal world was renewed by the emergence of new offenders: hackers
Here are some of the future top jobs:
- Human organs traders – a powerful industry of human cells is about to emerge; genetic engineers, body manufacturers, surgeons and providers of such services will be needed
- Nano- physicians – a new university major will appear, namely nanomedicine, for people will be diagnosed and treated by nanorobots
- Social roboworker- these machines will take good care of the elder, because with new technologies life expectancy will be improved
- Memory stick surgeons – a time will come, when increasing amount of information won’t be adequately processed; this the time of the flash memory card. A necessity of special surgeons will arise. They will be able to increase the abilities of the human brain to store and process excessive information.
- Space architects – by 2030 space tourism will be quite affordable. Space will be equipped with hotels, guest houses, and recreational facilities
- Urban farmers- farm skyscrapers will be constructed. They will house the growth and fertilization of numerous plants. This will lead to food products price decrease; transportation expenses will be a matter of the past
- Time traders – by 2030 people will be trained how to influence the climate, not just globally, but locally as well. There will be companies which will hinder the development of hurricanes and tornadoes; rainfalls will be manufactured
- Water and air traffic police – traffic jams can be reduced by active transportation in the air, on and under water. A necessity of traffic regulators will arise.
- Electronic bodyguards – internet is going to amass personal information. In case you desire this information to be concealed from society, you will have to employ an electronic bodyguard
