Today is Back to the Future day - the day Marty and Doc arrived in their DeLorean. Some of the predictions made about 2015 when the film was made in 1989 were way out with reality - like the use of the hoverboard, flying cars and the domination of the fax machine. However some have come true like :
- the use of a tablet or ipad
- communication visually using skype
- wall mounted flat TVs
- wire-less games
When I was a schoolboy, many moons ago, I read George Orwell's 1984 as a set book at O-level. In those days I wasn't particularly interested in anything other than passing exams so the ideology of the content rather passed me by. However, over the years I have often referred back to some of Orwell's predictions. Remember, he wrote the book in 1949, 35 years before 1984, and it was a different world to what it has now become in 2015. Among his predictions which proved unerringly accurate were :
- Big Brother is watching you - who would have predicted CCTV in a number of streets and in buildings; electronic monitoring by who knows who ?
- Perpetual war - it certainly seems like that every time you turn on the news there are factions fighting other factions, often in an ungovernable country with no real boundaries.
- Newspeak - we are all aware of the words we use and how they could be misinterpreted. Political correctness is everywhere.
As proven by both Back to the Future and 1984, it is fun looking into the future but difficult to predict. We don't really know what will happen next month, let alone next year or in 30 years time. Everything interacts with everything else and even the biggest and best computer brain in the world, Deep Thought, in The Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy, was only able to come up with 42 as the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
On this, the actual Back to the Future Day, I thought it appropriate to gaze into my crystal ball to predict what the world might be like in 35 years time. This will almost certainly be after I have departed this life which is why I've set this so far in the future that nobody will be able to ridicule my suggestions, certainly not to my face !
My predictions for 2050, deliberately controversial, are :
On this, the actual Back to the Future Day, I thought it appropriate to gaze into my crystal ball to predict what the world might be like in 35 years time. This will almost certainly be after I have departed this life which is why I've set this so far in the future that nobody will be able to ridicule my suggestions, certainly not to my face !
My predictions for 2050, deliberately controversial, are :
- We will have implants at birth to record all our health statistics and enable the body to regenerate itself automatically when it deteriorates.
- England, as the 51st state of America, will be at the forefront of the US defense against the powerful United States of Europe.
- We will have implants to enable us to access information - we won't need to learn anything anymore, it will just be there.
- The super highway will consist of non polluting transport - these vehicles will be so efficient that everyone will have forgotten their ancestors used petrol guzzling cars
- Your house will be fully automatic reacting to the people within it - lighting, heating even meals will be provided without asking.
- We will leave a bar code with our Will which can be accessed after we die - it will tell our life story and be interactive with the user.
- The space probe which made contact with people from other galaxies in 2040 will be on display in the Science Museum.
- Poverty is a thing of the past thanks to the widespread use of genetically modified crops.
- Scotland, which became independent some years ago, will be winners of the World Cup - not sure which one, but certainly one of them.
- Time travel has become possible and Microsoft technology is now available in other galaxies.
- The problems with climate change have been resolved by the ability to control the weather. England has continuous blue skies, sun and temperatures of 72 degrees ....... except when it rains !
What do you think ? Will any become reality ? Please add your own suggestions in the response box. The possibilities are endless but no doubt we can all laugh about them at some point in the future when we are sitting in the sunshine with a pint of ale, or whatever you fancy, remembering the good old days !