The World in 50 Years

Isaac Asimov was a science fiction writer and fifty years ago in the New York Times he predicted what 2014 would look like. At the time he was living with inventions like eight-track tapes as being cutting edge and with no sign of personal computers and the like, so that helps us understand how far seeing he was. How did he do?

1.       Coloured glass that can change colour to suit the mood and rooms that can change colour at the touch of a button.

-          Correct. Not common in homes yet, but the technology exists. Last year Mercedes introduced sun panels that darken in response to the extent of sunlight, already common with sunglasses of course.

2.       Lab grown meat to cope with the food crisis.

-          Correct. Lab grown burgers were produced for the first time last year.

3.       Self-driving cars.

-          Correct. On the way to being reality. Current cars already  have the technology to park, break  if too close to other vehicles and drive at constant speeds. Automatically driven  cars exist and are being developed.

4.       Sight and sound communications. You will see as well as hear  the person you are calling.

-          Correct. Skype.

5.       Documents, photographs and books will be on screens. And people will be able to watch screens in 3D.

-          Correct. Ipads, kindles and tablets. And 3D cinema.

6.       Robots acting like humans will not be common, but they will exist.

-          Spot on. They are expensive but have been invented.

7.       Automeals and automatic coffee will be possible.

-          Correct. The microwave and coffee machines.

8.       Machine tending will be on the school syllabus.

-          Call it computer studies and he’s correct. He thought computer languages would be taught as well, but we’re not there yet.

9.       Large scale Solar Power Stations

-          On the way. Solar power in the home is more and more common.

10.   Unmanned Mars landings and planned human landings.

-          Spot on.

11.   Large underground and underwater housing projects.

-          Oops. Not yet anyway.

12.   Enforced leisure with less jobs and robots and computers doing more.

-          Not yet but the signs are there.

Bear in mind the world as it was in 1964- the first lung transplant was recorded, the Rolling Stones were on their first tour and the Ford Zephyr and Morris Oxford were the cars of choice. Pretty accurate predictions bearing in mind the world he lived in.

Anyone want to have a go at the world in 2064?!