North York Central Library Blog

Twenty five years ago, OMNI asked 14 minds to predict how the future would change by 2007. These were some of the predictions:

• Bill Gates predicted modern LCD TVs, voice command recognition Siri, YouTube, Wikipedia and payment without a card.
• Timothy Leary predicted every child would have access to his/her own computer and computer science would be studied in schools.
• David Byrne predicted that video would have a big impact on the arts, but that books would still be here.
• Richard Selzer predicted there would be cures for all human diseases.
• Robert Heilbroner predicted the Pacific Rim nations of China, Korea, Japan and India would overtake America in terms of the economy.
• Andrew Greeley believed there would be a decrease in the power of the Pope.

 Today 100 of the world's most influential minds consider the 'one' thing that will change life as we know it. While some are optimists and look to the future as a time of great discoveries and unheard of solutions to the Earth's problems, for others the future is not as rosy. However both camps agree that the world will see dramatic changes by the end of this century.

Here are some of their predictions:

• Computers will make it possible to learn from home, making universities obsolete.
• People won't be taught to read and write. Instead it will be more common to dictate our thoughts. Similarly, we'll replace reading with viewing videos for our information needs.
• The Earth's population will plummet as more and more countries fail to have enough children to sustain their own populations.
• Animals will no longer be raised for food. Scientists will use stem cells to create cuts of meat without the cost of breeding animals.
• Instead of real pets, we'll have robotic pets that won't need to be fed or walked but will interact with us like the real thing. This, coupled with the fact they can be turned off when we go on vacation, may make them a big seller.
• Human to human relationships will end. Why suffer the hardships of conventional love? Why fight and struggle to come to terms with a mate when you can simply marry your robotic companion and live happily ever after? With Japanese scientists making robots more human-like every day, this one might not be in the too distant future.
• Old age will be a thing of the past. The magic number in longevity science is 150. But if scientists can find ways to replicate organs and cells and transplant them without issue, if they can prevent diseases like Alzheimers and cancer and keep us biologically – if not chronologically – young, we might live way past the 150 mark.
• Current coastal cities and nations will disappear. With climate change causing ice to melt in places like the Arctic, Greenland and Antarctica, this will raise sea levels by meters which would cause economic and enviromental devastation globally.
• A major technological or atmospheric disaster will destroy life as we know it.

Now it's your turn…

In 1987, more than half the OMNI readers agreed with the predictions. What do you think? Do you agree with the predictions above? Will we have a bright future, dim future or no future?