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Stuff: Lifestyle Technology
We confess to being hopelessly in love with technology. We want to
upgrade our computer equipment as soon as the 90-day warranty runs out
on the last one, especially if some "wonderful" new wrinkle or
feature has just been announced. So we look forward to some of the
predictions of improvements in our personal lifestyles that are
predicted for the next 25 years as software gets more sophisticated and
processors get smaller, cheaper and faster. We thought you might enjoy
these, too, compliments of the World Future Society, Bethesda, MD.
For your home:
- Intelligent wallpapers using high-tech
fabrics will turn every flat surface into an art gallery one moment, a
TV/computer screen the next.
- Intelligent refrigerators will keep track of
butter, orange juice, and other essentials: the homeowner can print out
the list prior to a grocery shopping trip or transmit it electronically
to a home-delivery service.
For your health:
- "Smart" pacemakers will keep heart
patients energized longer by adjusting to transmissions from the heart;
miniaturization is expected to allow pacemakers to be tucked into the
writs rather than embedded in the chest muscle.
- The dentist’s drill will be replaced by a
combination of laser treatments, new decay-fighting toothpastes, and
chewing gum that cleans teeth.
For your office:
- More advanced forms of data storage
(optical, magnetic memory, etc.) will be standard on most new personal
computers within 7 years (tech stock pickers take note).
- Voice, handwriting, and optical recognition
features will allow ordinary PCs to interact "intelligently"
with humans.
- Broadband networks (ISDN, ATM, fiber optics,
etc.) will connect more than half of all homes and offices in developed
countries within 10 years.
And finally, for you road warriors:
- Automated highway systems will be commonly
(30% or more) used to control speed, steering, braking, etc.
- Aircraft traveling at more than 5 times the
speed of sound will be used for the majority of transoceanic flights.
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