Changes to expect by 2020
August 20 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Other Year: General Rating: 3
By Dick Pelletier
As our 21st century unfolds, revolutionary changes will appear at mind-boggling speeds. Most of these changes will be driven by major happenings – increases in computing speed, mapping the human genome, and nanotechnology development. 
By 2020, computer power will have doubled several times, which will help researchers unravel many of our genetic mysteries – and nanotechnology, the science of building things atom by atom, will provide us with a host of new miracles making our lives more pleasurable.
Things that will change by 2020
• Cancer and heart disease deaths are expected to diminish or disappear completely according to the National Institutes of Health.
• Organ transplants won’t be needed. Doctors will grow new organs from a patient’s own tissues.
• Coronary bypass procedures will be passé as doctors use gene therapies to grow new blood vessels to replace those that are blocked.
• False teeth will be replaced by stem cell therapies that grow natural teeth. Clinical trials of this new procedure are underway in Europe now.
• Your signature on a legal document will be considered quaint because of biometric Identification – iris, facial print, and voice-recognition. You become your own secure ID.
• Film scores played by real orchestras will be replaced with computer-synthesized music.
• Nearly all movie stunt doubles will be replaced by computer-animation.
• Getting lost will be nearly impossible with GPS chips in cell-phones and watches – and implanted under the skin on children and older people.
• Analog TVs and radios will give way to digital versions, with far greater channel capacity and improved picture and sound; incorporating 3D and holography in many productions.
• CDs, DVDs, VCRs, and cassette tapes will lose out to DVR/TV combination units with more than 10,000 times the storage capability, and controlled mostly by voice.
• Video stores are gone. The Internet already distributes movies and music faster and cheaper.
• Junk mail will no longer be in your mailbox. Advertisers will use the Internet, and only approach consumers interested in their product.
• Internal combustion motors will increasingly be replaced by hybrid fuel cell/gas motors.
• New driving skills will be needed to master a more automated collision-proof driverless car.
• We will become friends with our personal robot which can think limited thoughts by itself.
Things that won’t change by 2020
Religion will remain popular. People have forever predicted religions to fail, but (unfortunately, at least in this Humanists’ view) they will be wrong. UN statistics suggest that world religions will not disappear by 2020. In fact, one third of the world will still be Christians, followed by Muslims, Humanists/Atheists/Free-thinkers, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, and various folk and tribal religions.
Also, old-fashioned sex will be more enjoyable than ever. Cloning, genetic engineering, and test tube science will be embraced by most people, but the real deal – with its familiar risks and rewards – will still be the dominant reproductive interface in 2020. Comments welcome.
Comment Thread (2 Responses)
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Awesome list Dick, and I think for the most part it’s all pretty plausible.
re: your point on religions – My bet is that many new religions, too, will evolve and that a growing % will be infused with humanist philosophy, which could be a good thing, no?
Posted by: Alvis Brigis August 22, 2008
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Yeah that would be a good thing. I hope you’re right, but I’m not going to hold my breath. When 80 percent of Americans believe in God, we will probably not see many dramatic changes in religion over the next dozen years or so.
Posted by: futuretalk August 22, 2008
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