20 Predictions For The Next 25 Years

20 predictions for the next 25 years
From the web to wildlife, the economy to nanotechnology, politics to sport, the Observer's team of experts prophesy how the world will change for good or bad in the next quarter of a century

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Customers crowd into a department store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. China will continue to rise in the coming decades. Photograph: Chinafotopress/Getty Images
1 Geopolitics: 'Rivals will take greater risks against the US' No balance of power lasts forever. Just a century ago, London was the centre of the world. Britain bestrode the world like a colossus and only those with strong nerves (or weak judgment) dared challenge the Pax Britannica. That, of course, is all history, but the Pax Americana that has taken shape since 1989 is just as vulnerable to historical change. In the 1910s, the rising power and wealth of Germany and America splintered the Pax Britannica; in the 2010s, east Asia will do the same to the Pax Americana. The 21st century will see technological change on an astonishing scale. It may even transform what it means to be human. But in the short term the next 20 years the world will still be dominated by the doings of nation-states and the central issue will be the rise of the east. By 2030, the world will be more complicated, divided between a broad American sphere of influence in Europe, the Middle East and south Asia, and a Chinese sphere in east Asia and Africa. Even within its own sphere, the US will face new challenges from former peripheries. The large, educated
populations of Poland, Turkey, Brazil and their neighbours will come into their own and Russia will continue its revival. Nevertheless, America will probably remain the world's major power. The critics who wrote off the US during the depression of the 1930s and the stagflation of the 1970s lived to see it bounce back to defeat the Nazis in the 1940s and the Soviets in the 1980s. America's financial problems will surely deepen through the 2010s, but the 2020s could bring another Roosevelt or Reagan. A hundred years ago, as Britain's dominance eroded, rivals, particularly Germany, were emboldened to take ever-greater risks. The same will happen as American power erodes in the 2010s-20s. In 1999, for instance, Russia would never have dared attack a neighbour such as Georgia but in 2009 it took just such a chance. The danger of such an adventure sparking a great power war in the 2010s is probably low; in the 2020s, it will be much greater. The most serious threats will arise in the vortex of instability that stretches from Africa to central Asia. Most of the world's poorest people live here; climate change is wreaking its worst damage here; nuclear weapons are proliferating fastest here; and even in 2030, the great powers will still seek much of their energy here. Here, the risk of Sino-American conflict will be greatest and here the balance of power will be decided. Ian Morris, professor of history at Stanford University and the author of Why the West Rules For Now (Profile Books) 2 The UK economy: 'The popular revolt against bankers will become impossible to resist'
A view across the City at dusk. Photograph: James Brittain
It will be a second financial crisis in the 2010s probably sooner than later that will prove to be the remaking of Britain. Confronted by a second trillion-pound bank bailout in less than 10 years, it will be impossible for the City and wider banking system to resist reform. The popular revolt against bankers, their current business model in which neglect of the real economy is embedded and the scale of their bonuses all to be underwritten by bailouts from taxpayers will become irresistible. The consequent rebalancing of the British economy, already underway, will intensify. Britain, in thrall to finance since 1945, will break free spearheading a second Industrial Revolution.
In 2035, there is thus a good prospect that Britain will be the most populous (our birth rate will be one the highest in Europe), dynamic and richest European country, the key state in a reconfigured EU. Our leading universities will become powerhouses of innovation, world centres in exploiting the approaching avalanche of scientific and technological breakthroughs. A reformed financial system will allow British entrepreneurs to get the committed financial backing they need, becoming the capitalist leaders in Europe. And, after a century of trying, Britain will at last build itself a system for developing apprentices and technicians that is no longer the Cinderella of the education system. It will not be plain sailing. Massive political turbulence in China and its conflict with the US will define part of the next 25 years and there will be a period when the world trading and financial system retreats from openness. How far beggar-my-neighbour competitive devaluations and protection will develop is hard to predict, but protectionist trends are there for all to see. Commodity prices will go much higher and there will be shortages of key minerals, energy, water and some basic foodstuffs. The paradox is that this will be good news for Britain. It will force the state to re-engage with the economy and to build a matrix of institutions that will support innovation and investment, rather as it did between 1931 and 1950. New Labour began this process tremulously in its last year in office; the coalition government is following through. These will be lean years for the traditional Conservative right, but whether it will be a liberal One Nation Tory party, ongoing coalition governments or the Labour party that will be the political beneficiary is not yet sure. The key point is that those 20 years in the middle of the 20th century witnessed great industrial creativity and an unsung economic renaissance until the country fell progressively under the stultifying grip of the City of London. My guess is that the same, against a similarly turbulent global background, is about to happen again. My caveat is if the City remains strong, in which case economic decline and social division will escalate. Will Hutton, executive vice-chair of the Work Foundation and an Observer columnist 3 Global development: 'A vaccine will rid the world of Aids' Within 25 years, the world will achieve many major successes in tackling the diseases of the poor. Certainly, we will be polio-free and probably will have been for more than a decade. The fight to eradicate polio represents one of the greatest achievements in global health to date. It has mobilised millions of volunteers, staged mass immunisation campaigns and helped to strengthen the health systems of low-income countries. Today, we have eliminated 99% of the polio in the world and eradication is well within reach. Vaccines that prevent diseases such as measles and rotavirus, currently available in rich countries, will also become affordable and readily available in developing countries. Since it was founded 10 years ago, the Gavi Alliance, a global partnership that funds expanded immunisation in poor countries, has helped prevent more than 5 million deaths. It is easy to imagine that in 25 years this work will have been expanded to save millions more lives by making life-saving vaccines available all over the world. I also expect to see major strides in new areas. A rapid point-of-care diagnostic test coupled with a faster-acting treatment regimen will so fundamentally change the way we treat tuberculosis that we can begin planning an elimination campaign. We will eradicate malaria, I believe, to the point where there are no human cases reported globally in 2035. We will also have effective means for preventing Aids infection, including a vaccine. With the encouraging results of the RV144 Aids vaccine trial in Thailand, we now know that an Aids vaccine
is possible. We must build on these and promising results on other means of preventing HIV infection to help rid the world of the threat of Aids. Tachi Yamada, president of the global health programme at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 4 Energy: 'Returning to a world that relies on muscle power is not an option' Providing sufficient food, water and energy to allow everyone to lead decent lives is an enormous challenge. Energy is a means, not an end, but a necessary means. With 6.7 billion people on the planet, more than 50% living in large conurbations, and these numbers expected to rise to more than 9 billion and 80% later in the century, returning to a world that relies on human and animal muscle power is not an option. The challenge is to provide sufficient energy while reducing reliance on fossil fuels, which today supply 80% of our energy (in decreasing order of importance, the rest comes from burning biomass and waste, hydro, nuclear and, finally, other renewables, which together contribute less than 1%). Reducing use of fossil fuels is necessary both to avoid serious climate change and in anticipation of a time when scarcity makes them prohibitively expensive. It will be extremely difficult. An International Energy Agency scenario that assumes the implementation of all agreed national policies and announced commitments to save energy and reduce the use of fossil fuels projects a 35% increase in energy consumption in the next 25 years, with fossil fuels up 24%. This is almost entirely due to consumption in developing countries where living standards are, happily, rising and the population is increasing rapidly. This scenario, which assumes major increases in nuclear, hydro and wind power, evidently does not go far enough and will break down if, as many expect, oil production (which is assumed to increase 15%) peaks in much less than 25 years. We need to go much further in reducing demand, through better design and changes in lifestyles, increasing efficiency and improving and deploying all viable alternative energy sources. It won't be cheap. And in the post-fossil-fuel era it won't be sufficient without major contributions from solar energy (necessitating cost reductions and improved energy storage and transmission) and/or nuclear fission (meaning fast breeder and/or thorium reactors when uranium eventually becomes scarce) and/or fusion (which is enormously attractive in principle but won't become a reliable source of energy until at least the middle of the century). Disappointingly, with the present rate of investment in developing and deploying new energy sources, the world will still be powered mainly by fossil fuels in 25 years and will not be prepared to do without them. Chris Llewellyn Smith is a former director general of Cern and chair of Iter, the world fusion project, he works on energy issues at Oxford University
5 Advertising: 'All sorts of things will just be sold in plain packages'
Advertising in Tokyo. Photograph: Mike Long / Alamy/Alamy
If I'd been writing this five years ago, it would have been all about technology: the internet, the fragmentation of media, mobile phones, social tools allowing consumers to regain power at the expense of corporations, all that sort of stuff. And all these things are important and will change how advertising works. But it's becoming clear that what'll really change advertising will be how we relate to it and what we're prepared to let it do. After all, when you look at advertising from the past the basic techniques haven't changed; what seems startlingly alien are the attitudes it was acceptable to portray and the products you were allowed to advertise. In 25 years, I bet there'll be many products we'll be allowed to buy but not see advertised the things the government will decide we shouldn't be consuming because of their impact on healthcare costs or the environment but that they can't muster the political will to ban outright. So, we'll end up with all sorts of products in plain packaging with the product name in a generic typeface as the government is currently discussing for cigarettes. But it won't stop there. We'll also be nudged into renegotiating the relationship between society and advertising, because over the next few years we're going to be interrupted by advertising like never before. Video screens are getting so cheap and disposable that they'll be plastered everywhere we go. And they'll have enough intelligence and connectivity that they'll see our faces, do a quick search on Facebook to find out who we are and direct a message at us based on our purchasing history. At least, that'll be the idea. It probably won't work very well and when it does work it'll probably drive us mad. Marketing geniuses are working on this stuff right now, but not all of them recognise that being allowed to do this kind of thing depends on societal consent push the intrusion too far and people will push back. Society once did a deal accepting advertising because it seemed occasionally useful and interesting and because it paid for lots of journalism and entertainment. It's not necessarily going to pay for those things for much longer so we might start questioning whether we want to live in a Blade Runner world brought to us by Cillit Bang. Russell Davies, head of planning at the advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather and a columnist for the magazines Campaign and Wired
6 Neuroscience: 'We'll be able to plug information streams directly into the cortex' By 2030, we are likely to have developed no-frills brain-machine interfaces, allowing the paralysed to dance in their thought-controlled exoskeleton suits. I sincerely hope we will not still be interfacing with computers via keyboards, one forlorn letter at a time. I'd like to imagine we'll have robots to do our bidding. But I predicted that 20 years ago, when I was a sanguine boy leaving Star Wars, and the smartest robot we have now is the Roomba vacuum cleaner. So I won't be surprised if I'm wrong in another 25 years. Artificial intelligence has proved itself an unexpectedly difficult problem. Maybe we will understand what's happening when we immerse our heads into the colourful night blender of dreams. We will have cracked the secret of human memory by realising that it was never about storing things, but about the relationships between things. Will we have reached the singularity the point at which computers surpass human intelligence and perhaps give us our comeuppance? We'll probably be able to plug information streams directly into the cortex for those who want it badly enough to risk the surgery. There will be smart drugs to enhance learning and memory and a flourishing black market among ambitious students to obtain them. Having lain to rest the nature-nurture dichotomy at that point, we will have a molecular understanding of the way in which cultural narratives work their way into brain tissue and of individual susceptibility to those stories. Then there's the mystery of consciousness. Will we finally have a framework that allows us to translate the mechanical pieces and parts into private, subjective experience? As it stands now, we don't even know what such a framework could look like ("carry the two here and that equals the experience of tasting cinnamon"). That line of research will lead us to confront the question of whether we can reproduce consciousness by replicating the exact structure of the brain say, with zeros and ones, or beer cans and tennis balls. If this theory of materialism turns out to be correct, then we will be well on our way to downloading our brains into computers, allowing us to live forever in The Matrix. But if materialism is incorrect, that would be equally interesting: perhaps brains are more like radios that receive an as-yet-undiscovered force. The one thing we can be sure of is this: no matter how wacky the predictions we make today, they will look tame in the strange light of the future. David Eagleman, neuroscientist and writer 7 Physics: 'Within a decade, we'll know what dark matter is' The next 25 years will see fundamental advances in our understanding of the underlying structure of matter and of the universe. At the moment, we have successful descriptions of both, but we have open questions. For example, why do particles of matter have mass and what is the dark matter that provides most of the matter in the universe? I am optimistic that the answer to the mass question will be found within a few years, whether or not it is the mythical Higgs boson, and believe that the answer to the dark matter question will be found within a decade. Key roles in answering these questions will be made by experiments at Cern's Large Hadron Collider, which started operations in earnest last year and is expected to run for most of the next 20
years; others will be played by astrophysical searches for dark matter and cosmological observations such as those from the European Space Agency's Planck satellite. Many theoretical proposals for answering these questions invoke new principles in physics, such as the existence of additional dimensions of space or a "supersymmetry" between the constituents of matter and the forces between them, and we will discover whether these ideas are useful for physics. Both these ideas play roles in string theory, the best guess we have for a complete theory of all the fundamental forces including gravity. Will string theory be pinned down within 20 years? My crystal ball is cloudy on this point, but I am sure that we physicists will have an exciting time trying to find out. John Ellis, theoretical physicist at Cern and King's College London 8 Food: 'Russia will become a global food superpower'
A woman works on the production line of a poultry processing factory in Stary Oskol, central Russia. Photograph: Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images
When experts talk about the coming food security crisis, the date they fixate upon is 2030. By then, our numbers will be nudging 9 billion and we will need to be producing 50% more food than we are now. By the middle of that decade, therefore, we will either all be starving, and fighting wars over resources, or our global food supply will have changed radically. The bitter reality is that it will probably be a mixture of both. Developed countries such as the UK are likely, for the most part, to have attempted to pull up the drawbridge, increasing national production and reducing our reliance on imports. In response to increasing prices, some of us may well have reduced our consumption of meat, the raising of which is a notoriously inefficient use of grain. This will probably create a food underclass, surviving on a carb- and fat-heavy diet, while those with money scarf the protein. The developing world, meanwhile, will work to bridge the food gap by embracing the promise of biotechnology which the middle classes in the developed world will have assumed that they had the luxury to reject.
In truth, any of the imported grain that we do consume will come from genetically modified crops. As climate change lays waste to the productive fields of southern Europe and north Africa, more waterefficient strains of corn, wheat and barley will be pressed into service; likewise, to the north, Russia will become a global food superpower as the same climate change opens up the once frozen and massive Siberian prairie to food production. The consensus now is that the planet does have the wherewithal to feed that huge number of people. It's just that some people in the west may find the methods used to do so unappetising. Jay Rayner, TV presenter and the Observer's food critic 9 Nanotechnology: 'Privacy will be a quaint obsession' Twenty years ago, Don Eigler, a scientist working for IBM in California, wrote out the logo of his employer in letters made of individual atoms. This feat was a graphic symbol of the potential of the new field of nanotechnology, which promises to rebuild matter atom by atom, molecule by molecule, and to give us unprecedented power over the material world. Some, like the futurist Ray Kurzweil, predict that nanotechnology will lead to a revolution, allowing us to make any kind of product for virtually nothing; to have computers so powerful that they will surpass human intelligence; and to lead to a new kind of medicine on a sub-cellular level that will allow us to abolish ageing and death. I don't think that Kurzweil's "technological singularity" a dream of scientific transcendence that echoes older visions of religious apocalypse will happen. Some stubborn physics stands between us and "the rapture of the nerds". But nanotechnology will lead to some genuinely transformative applications. New ways of making solar cells very cheaply on a very large scale offer us the best hope we have for providing low-carbon energy on a big enough scale to satisfy the needs of a growing world population aspiring to the prosperity we're used to in the developed world. We'll learn more about intervening in our biology at the sub-cellular level and this nano-medicine will give us new hope of overcoming really difficult and intractable diseases, such as Alzheimer's, that will increasingly afflict our population as it ages. The information technology that drives your mobile phone or laptop is already operating at the nanoscale. Another 25 years of development will lead us to a new world of cheap and ubiquitous computing, in which privacy will be a quaint obsession of our grandparents. Nanotechnology is a different type of science, respecting none of the conventional boundaries between disciplines and unashamedly focused on applications rather than fundamental understanding. Given the huge resources being directed towards nanotechnology in China and its neighbours, this may also be the first major technology of the modern era that is predominantly developed outside the US and Europe. Richard Jones, pro-vice-chancellor for research and innovation at the University of Sheffield 10 Gaming: 'We'll play games to solve problems' In the last decade, in the US and Europe but particularly in south-east Asia, we have witnessed a flight into virtual worlds, with people playing games such as Second Life. But over the course of the next 25 years, that flight will be successfully reversed, not because we're going to spend less time playing games, but because games and virtual worlds are going to become more closely connected to reality.
There will be games where the action is influenced by what happens in reality; and there will be games that use sensors so that we can play them out in the real world a game in which your avatar is your dog, which wears a game collar that measures how fast it's running and whether or not it's wagging its tail, for example, where you play with your dog to advance the narrative, as opposed to playing with a virtual character. I can imagine more physical activity games, too, and these might be used to harness energy peripherals like a dance pad that actually captures energy from your dancing on top of it. Then there will be problem-solving games: there are already a lot of games in which scientists try to teach gamers real science how to build proteins to cure cancer, for example. One surprising trend in gaming is that gamers today prefer, on average, three to one to play co-operative games rather than competitive games. Now, this is really interesting; if you think about the history of games, there really weren't co-operative games until this latest generation of video games. In every game you can think of card games, chess, sport everybody plays to win. But now we'll see increasing collaboration, people playing games together to solve problems while they're enjoying themselves. There are also studies on how games work on our minds and our cognitive capabilities, and a lot of science suggests you can use games to treat depression, anxiety and attention-deficit disorder. Making games that are both fun and serve a social purpose isn't easy a lot of innovation will be required but gaming will become increasingly integrated into society. Jane McGonigal, director of games research & development at the Institute for the Future in California and author of Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How They Can Help Us Change the World (Penguin) 11 Web/internet: 'Quantum computing is the future' The open web created by idealist geeks, hippies and academics, who believed in the free and generative flow of knowledge, is being overrun by a web that is safer, more controlled and commercial, created by problem-solving pragmatists. Henry Ford worked out how to make money by making products people wanted to own and buy for themselves. Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs are working out how to make money from allowing people to share, on their terms. Facebook and Apple are spawning cloud capitalism, in which consumers allow companies to manage information, media, ideas, money, software, tools and preferences on their behalf, holding everything in vast, floating clouds of shared data. We will be invited to trade invasions into our privacy companies knowing ever more about our lives for a more personalised service. We will be able to share, but on their terms. Julian Assange and the movement that has been ignited by WikiLeaks is the most radical version of the alternative: a free, egalitarian, open and public web. The fate of this movement will be a sign of things to come. If it can command broad support, then the open web has a chance to remain a mainstream force. If, however, it becomes little more than a guerrilla campaign, then the open web could be pushed to the margins, along with national public radio. By 2035, the web, as a single space largely made up of webpages accessed on computers, will be long gone. As the web goes mobile, those who pay more will get faster access. We will be sharing videos, simulations, experiences and environments, on a multiplicity of devices to which we'll pay as much attention as a light switch. Yet, many of the big changes of the next 25 years will come from unknowns working in their bedrooms and garages. And by 2035 we will be talking about the coming of quantum computing,
which will take us beyond the world of binary, digital computing, on and off, black and white, 0s and 1s. The small town of Waterloo, Ontario, which is home to the Perimeter Institute, funded by the founder of BlackBerry, currently houses the largest collection of theoretical physicists in the world. The bedrooms of Waterloo are where the next web may well be made. Charles Leadbeater, author and social entrepreneur 12 Fashion: 'Technology creates smarter clothes'
A model on the catwalk during the Gareth Pugh show at London Fashion Week in 2008. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
Fashion is such an important part of the way in which we communicate our identity to others, and for a very long time it's meant dress: the textile garments on our body. But in the coming decades, I think there'll be much more emphasis on other manifestations of fashion and different ways of communicating with each other, different ways of creating a sense of belonging and of making us feel great about ourselves. We're already designing our identities online manipulating imagery to tell a story about ourselves. Instead of meeting in the street or in a bar and having a conversation and looking at what each other is wearing, we're communicating in some depth through these new channels. With clothing, I think it's possible that we'll see a polarisation between items that are very practical and those that are very much about display and maybe these are not things that you own but that you borrow or share. Technology is already being used to create clothing that fits better and is smarter; it is able to transmit a degree of information back to you. This is partly driven by customer demand and the desire to know where clothing comes from so we'll see tags on garments that tell you where every part of it was made, and some of this, I suspect, will be legislation-driven, too, for similar reasons, particularly as resources become scarcer and it becomes increasingly important to recognise water and carbon footprints. However, it's not simply an issue of functionality. Fashion's gone through a big cycle in the last 25 years from being something that was treasured and cherished to being something that felt disposable, because of a drop in prices. In fact, we've completely changed our relationship towards
clothes and there's a real feeling among designers who I work with that they're trying to work back into their designs an element of emotional content. I think there's definitely a place for technology in creating a dialogue with you through your clothes. Dilys Williams, designer and the director for sustainable fashion at the London College of Fashion 13 Nature: 'We'll redefine the wild' We all want to live in a world where species such as tigers, the great whales, orchids and coral reefs can persist and thrive and I am sure that the commitment that people have to maintaining the spectacle and diversity of life will continue. Over the past 50 years or so, there has been growing support for nature conservation. When we understand the causes of species losses, good conservation actions can and do reverse the trends. But it is going to become much harder. The human population has roughly doubled since the 1960s and will increase by another third by 2030. Demands for food, water and energy will increase, inevitably in competition with other species. People already use up to 40% of the world's primary production (energy) and this must increase, with important consequences for nature. In the UK, some familiar species will become scarcer as our rare habitats (mires, bogs and moorlands) are lost. We will be seeing the effects from gradual warming that will allow more continental species to live here, and in our towns and cities we'll probably have more species that have become adapted to living alongside people. We can conserve species when we really try, so I'm confident that the charismatic mega fauna and flora will mostly still persist in 2035, but they will be increasingly restricted to highly managed and protected areas. The survivors will be those that cope well with people and those we care about enough to save. Increasingly, we won't be living as a part of nature but alongside it, and we'll have redefined what we mean by the wild and wilderness. Crucially, we are still rapidly losing overall biodiversity, including soil micro-organisms, plankton in the oceans, pollinators and the remaining tropical and temperate forests. These underpin productive soils, clean water, climate regulation and disease-resistance. We take these vital services from biodiversity and ecosystems for granted, treat them recklessly and don't include them in any kind of national accounting. Georgina Mace, professor of conservation science and director of the Natural Environment Research Council's Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College London 14 Architecture: What constitutes a 'city' will change In 2035, most of humanity will live in favelas. This will not be entirely wonderful, as many people will live in very poor housing, but it will have its good side. It will mean that cities will consist of series of small units organised, at best, by the people who know what is best for themselves and, at worst, by local crime bosses. Cities will be too big and complex for any single power to understand and manage them. They already are, in fact. The word "city" will lose some of its meaning: it will make less and less sense to describe agglomerations of tens of millions of people as if they were one place, with one identity. If current dreams of urban agriculture come true, the distinction between town and country will blur. Attempts at control won't be abandoned, however, meaning that strange bubbles of luxury will appear, like shopping malls and office parks. To be optimistic, the human genius for inventing social structures will mean that new forms of settlement we can't quite imagine will begin to emerge.
All this assumes that environmental catastrophe doesn't drive us into caves. Nor does it describe what will happen in Britain, with a roughly stable population and a planning policy dedicated to preserving the status quo as much as possible. Britain in 25 years' time may look much as it does now, which is not hugely different from 25 years ago. Rowan Moore, Observer architecture correspondent 15 Sport: 'Broadcasts will use holograms' Globalisation in sport will continue: it's a trend we've seen by the choice of Rio for the 2016 Olympics and Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. This will mean changes to traditional sporting calendars in recognition of the demands of climate and time zones across the planet. Sport will have to respond to new technologies, the speed at which we process information and apparent reductions in attention span. Shorter formats, such as Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens, could aid the development of traditional sports in new territories. The demands of TV will grow, as will technology's role in umpiring and consuming sport. Electronics companies are already planning broadcasts using live holograms. I don't think we'll see an acceptance of performance-enhancing drugs: the trend has been towards zero tolerance and long may it remain so. Mike Lee, chairman of Vero Communications and ex-director of communications for London's 2012 Olympic bid 16 Transport: 'There will be more automated cars' It's not difficult to predict how our transport infrastructure will look in 25 years' time it can take decades to construct a high-speed rail line or a motorway, so we know now what's in store. But there will be radical changes in how we think about transport. The technology of information and communication networks is changing rapidly and internet and mobile developments are helping make our journeys more seamless. Queues at St Pancras station or Heathrow airport when the infrastructure can't cope for whatever reason should become a thing of the past, but these challenges, while they might appear trivial, are significant because it's not easy to organise largescale information systems. The instinct to travel is innate within us, but we will have to do it in a more carbon-efficient way. It's hard to be precise, but I think we'll be cycling and walking more; in crowded urban areas we may see travelators which we see in airports already and more scooters. There will be more automated cars, like the ones Google has recently been testing. These driverless cars will be safer, but when accidents do happen, they may be on the scale of airline disasters. Personal jetpacks will, I think, remain a niche choice. Frank Kelly, professor of the mathematics of systems at Cambridge University, and former chief scientific adviser to the DfT
17 Health: 'We'll feel less healthy'
An overweight woman in Maryland, USA. Photograph: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images
Health systems are generally quite conservative. That's why the more radical forecasts of the recent past haven't quite materialised. Contrary to past predictions, we don't carry smart cards packed with health data; most treatments aren't genetically tailored; and health tourism to Bangalore remains low. But for all that, health is set to undergo a slow but steady revolution. Life expectancy is rising about three months each year, but we'll feel less healthy, partly because we'll be more aware of the many things that are, or could be, going wrong, and partly because more of us will be living with a long-term condition. We'll spend more on health but also want stronger action to influence health. The US Congressional Budget Office forecasts that US health spending will rise from 17% of the economy today to 25% in 2025 and 49% in 2082. Their forecasts may be designed to shock but they contain an important grain of truth. Spending on health and jobs in health is bound to grow. Some of that spending will go on the problems of prosperity obesity, alcohol consumption and injuries from extreme sports. Currently fashionable ideas of "nudge" will have turned out to be far too weak to change behaviours. Instead, we'll be more in the realms of "shove" and "push", with cities trying to reshape whole environments to encourage people to walk and cycle. By 2030, mental health may at last be treated on a par with physical health. Medicine may have found smart drugs for some conditions but the biggest impact may be achieved from lower-tech actions, such as meditation in schools or brain gyms for pensioners. Healthcare will look more like education. Your GP will prescribe you a short course on managing your diabetes or heart condition, and when you get home there'll be an e-tutor to help you and a vast array of information about your condition. Almost every serious observer of health systems believes that the great general hospitals are already anachronistic, but because hospitals are where so much of the power lies, and so much of the public attachment, it would be a brave forecaster who suggested their imminent demise. Geoff Mulgan, chief executive of the Young Foundation
18 Religion: 'Secularists will flatter to deceive' Over the next two and a half decades, it is quite possible that those Brits who follow a religion will continue both to fall in number and also become more orthodox or fundamentalist. Similarly, organised religions will increasingly work together to counter what they see as greater threats to their interests creeping agnosticism and secularity. Another 10 years of failure by the Anglican church to face down the African-led traditionalists over women bishops and gay clerics could open the question of disestablishment of the Church of England. The country's politicians, including an increasingly gay-friendly Tory party, may find it difficult to see how state institutions can continue to be associated with an image of sexism and homophobia. I predict an increase in debate around the tension between a secular agenda which says it is merely seeking to remove religious privilege, end discrimination and separate church and state, and organised orthodox religion which counterclaims that this would amount to driving religious voices from the public square. Despite two of the three party leaders being professed atheists, the secular tendency in this country still flatters to deceive. There is, at present, no organised, non-religious, rationalist movement. In contrast, the forces of organised religion are better resourced, more organised and more politically influential than ever before. Dr Evan Harris, author of a secularist manifesto 19 Theatre: 'Cuts could force a new political fringe' The theatre will weather the recent cuts. Some companies will close and the repertoire of others will be safe and cautious; the art form will emerge robust in a decade or so. The cuts may force more young people outside the existing structures back to an unsubsidised fringe and this may breed different types of work that will challenge the subsidised sector. Student marches will become more frequent and this mobilisation may breed a more politicised generation of theatre artists. We will see old forms from the 1960s re-emerge (like agit prop) and new forms will be generated to communicate ideology and politics. More women will emerge as directors, writers and producers. This change is already visible at the flagship subsidised house, the National Theatre, where the repertoire for bigger theatres like the Lyttelton already includes directors like Marianne Elliott and Josie Rourke, and soon the Cottesloe will start to embrace the younger generation Polly Findlay and Lyndsey Turner. Katie Mitchell, theatre director 20 Storytelling: 'Eventually there'll be a Twitter classic' Are you reading fewer books? I am and reading books is sort of my job. It's just that with the multifarious delights of the internet, spending 20 hours in the company of one writer and one story needs motivation. It's worth doing, of course; like exercise, its benefits are many and its pleasures great. And yet everyone I know is doing it less. And I can't see that that trend will reverse. That's the bad news. Twenty-five years from now, we'll be reading fewer books for pleasure. But authors shouldn't fret too much; e-readers will make it easier to impulse-buy books at 4am even if we never read past the first 100 pages. And stories aren't becoming less popular they're everywhere, from adverts to webcomics to fictional tweets we're only beginning to explore the exciting possibilities of web-native literature, stories that really exploit the fractal, hypertextual way we use the internet.
My guess is that, in 2035, stories will be ubiquitous. There'll be a tube-based soap opera to tune your iPod to during your commute, a tale (incorporating on-sale brands) to enjoy via augmented reality in the supermarket. Your employer will bribe you with stories to focus on your job. Most won't be great, but then most of everything isn't great and eventually there'll be a Twitterbased classic. Naomi Alderman, novelist and games writer
JamesPlaskett 2 January 2011 12:46AM Everyone will be in love. There will be no poverty, no anger, and the sun will shine twice as brightly and rain will not be permitted until after sunset. Lamposts will be painted in sweet colours and emit joyous music as you pass by, and... er... Oh no. That will be the Lib Dem Manifesto. Recommend (289) Responses (0) Report Share
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rustypooh 2 January 2011 12:47AM Save us. Already. Recommend (25) Responses (0) Report Share
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nlygo 2 January 2011 1:31AM i will (almost certainly) die Recommend (74) Responses (0) Report Share
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icurahuman2 2 January 2011 1:34AM All of these predictions are optimistic in the extreme. Human industry and technological progress relies on energy and resources, all of which are running out faster than they can be replaced. 4 Energy: 'Returning to a world that relies on muscle power is not an option'
....The challenge is to provide sufficient energy while reducing reliance on fossil fuels, which today supply 80% of our energy (in decreasing order of importance, the rest comes from burning biomass and waste, hydro, nuclear and, finally, other renewables, which together contribute less than 1%)..... ...An International Energy Agency scenario that assumes the implementation of all agreed national policies and announced commitments to save energy and reduce the use of fossil fuels projects a 35% increase in energy consumption in the next 25 years, with fossil fuels up 24%. ... ....This scenario, which assumes major increases in nuclear, hydro and wind power, evidently does not go far enough and will break down if, as many expect, oil production (which is assumed to increase 15%) peaks in much less than 25 years..... The essence of the erroneous message in the blockquoted section above negates all the other "future scenarios"; without constantly expanding oil supply there are no technological or medical wonders in store, or, any valid reason to accept the debt and credit cycle of finance as expansion becomes contradictory and contraction becomes the norm. AND, the International Energy Agency finally conceded recently that conventional oil supply peaked in... 2006!!! If you want to consider how much supply is already constrained ask yourself why oil is now trading in the mid U.S.$90 a barrel range while western industry is running on idle!?!? If you think alternative energy supply will save the day consider how long it takes to build a nuclear power plant (ten years), how many of the world's three billion internal combustion engines can be retrofitted, in time, and what would happen to the ever-shrinking supply of oil if western nations, particularly America, suddenly regained a vibrant industrial economy. Some will say wind and solar will save the day. Fat chance. China now has 97% of all the world's rare earths required for the wind generators they are furiously building and they've whacked restrictions of the export of them. Solar is restricted in so many ways that it's a red herring as well; each solar cell uses an incredible amount of energy and fresh water in its construction and rolling it out on a massive scale, in time, is an impossible dream. 2011 will see another oil supply and price rise that'll collapse the financial markets that lubricate all economies, again, and the reduced demand from the collapse will bring oil down, again, maybe. What you will also see is a lot of nations with declining oil assets seeing the writing on the wall, they'll start to restrict exports for the sake of their own populations, watch oil-turf-wars erupt everywhere. Iran, for instance, is one of the few places where oil isn't being exploited enough ( as far as international oil-cartel opinion goes), and Israel is more afraid of Iran as a nation with oil than a nation with nuclear weapons, watch either a concerted effort to engage Iran for oil concessions, or, an atttack for control of the oil-assets. Either way, Iran is in the line of fire. Making happy predictions about the world 25 years out is counter-productive, these will be just more failed dreams to ponder when it all comes crashing down.
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dubling 2 January 2011 1:35AM In the year 2525 I,m wondering if man is still alive etc....... Recommend (90) Responses (0) Report Share
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Knapster
2 January 2011 1:39AM In 2030 we'll still use QWERTY keyboards and umbrellas but Gillette will try and flog me a 22 micro-bladed razor. Oddly there will be no progress in architecture as developers adopt ever more bizarre 'heritage' features, so much so that mock iron-age roundhouses will become the property of choice. Text messages will cost less per byte than sending data to the hubble space telescope - hasn't happened yet, so they're bound to do it within 20 years.
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LynnD 2 January 2011 1:45AM The failure to include specifically the projected impact of climate change makes all the rest of it pie-in-the-sky. Recommend (205) Responses (0) Report Share
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dirkbruere 2 January 2011 1:58AM Will we have reached the singularity the point at which computers surpass human intelligence and perhaps give us our comeuppance? We'll probably be able to plug information streams directly into the cortex for those who want it badly enough to risk the surgery. There will be smart drugs to enhance learning and memory and a flourishing black market among ambitious students to obtain them. If/when that happens all the other stuff becomes almost irrelevant because Homo Sapiens will cease to be the determining intelligence on Earth. Machine intelligence and PostHumanity will rapidly supercede it. The increase in intelligence and computing power will spiral to colossal levels.
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Cragglerock 2 January 2011 1:58AM Britain, in thrall to finance since 1945, will break free spearheading a second Industrial Revolution. I do hope you're right. The picture you paint of Britain in the future is one I like very much, and I really hope that is becomes reality. I plan on leaving the UK at some point in the next five or six years, but who knows, one day I might return for good with a new sense of optimism. I can't wait.
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AnthonyPapagallo 2 January 2011 2:01AM This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by ourcommunity standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.
DerekSmalls 2 January 2011 2:17AM American will became more Hispanic due to the demographic population change, this will increase ties with the rest of the American continent forming a regional political and trading pact that will resemble the EU. China will see Russia as a threat due to increased reliance on its natural resources but due to the proliferation of nuclear weapons on both sides an enforced standoff will ensue with the effecting the region as both sides try to play neighbouring countries of each other. Due to improved health policies the population Africa will grow beyond control and even with the minimal effects of climate change over this short period of time, famines occur due to the lack of sufficient food production, along with a migration North to Europe. Israel will win the world cup in Qatar. Britain will became a Republic, however the X Factor poll to find a president is one by Simon Cowell who soon enforces a dictatorship and then takes control of Europe via a rigged European song contest. I reckon I will be spot on with at least one of my predictions, sadly it will probably be the last one.
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Bayley1 2 January 2011 2:22AM This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by ourcommunity standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.
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dirkbruere 2 January 2011 2:38AM @AnthonyPapagallo Let me guess - you are not British and you do not live here. I make that assumption because you seem to think that Muslims here speak mostly Arabic. They do not. The vast
majority come from the Indian subcontinent eg Pakistan, Bangladesh. Also, the Muslim birthrate is NOT 4x that of the indigenous population, it is considerably less.
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dirkbruere 2 January 2011 2:55AM @Bayley1 Sadly the average British man will be a Asian Muslim Yes, the birthrate (and maturing) of Asians is so astronomically high that within one generation 2.4m Muslims will become 30m. Because its a well known fact (known by US right wingnuts) that every Muslim woman has at least 30 kids.
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Expialadocious 2 January 2011 3:16AM This article really captured my imagination! Bravo! Recommend (31) Responses (0) Report Share
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alice9 2 January 2011 3:21AM Energy downturn will deplete all these dreams. As icurahuman2 says we are not taking this into account and most of these scenarios are all wishful thinking. The main problem on this planet is that humans are breeding ourselves to destruction and we are limited to finite resources which, as humans, we have not managed well. The other problem is the wealthy Westerners have been living the high life on the backs of the other starving and resource poor nations. Makes you feel good doesn't it? I have a better plan; stop breeding, stop fighting, share wealth evenly between everyone on the planet and learn to live in an energy poor culture, oh and be happy and constructive. Any takers? Actually, had we done this, say 200 years ago, we wouldn't have the problems we have now. Humans are like a plague. I will miss all the wonderful things we have made though; music, art, dance, architecture, medicine, transport et al. Best wishes to you all and keep aware and keep your friends. Recommend (112) Responses (0) Report Share
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peaceinmylifetime
2 January 2011 3:27AM Apart from the possibility of more (and bigger) wars in the future, I would file the rest of this particular blog under F for Fantasy. We reached a peak in scientific progress some years ago, and all we're now doing is firefighting. It's 2011 and we still don't have a deep and full understanding of basic human organs. Take another example, the liver: we know that healthy livers can re-generate but we still have no alternatives to liver transplants. We still haven't worked out properly exactly what it takes to prevent or cure (the non-alcoholic type) liver disease. We have known of the existence of cancer for over one hundred years (maybe more) yet we have no definitive treatment plans or cures for different types of cancer. And we're going to cure AIDs how, exactly? The pharmaceutical industry, with the full involvement of the medical profession, is more interested in controlling your illness than in curing it, and nothing is going to change that in the foreseeable future. It's the only way they know how to bleed us dry (literally and financially). And we're taking about a physical human-machine interface to upload/download info between human brain and computer. Who is going to benefit from this? The Amazonian tribes still walking around naked or in loincloths? The African herdsman? We're doing our hardest and best to actually kill off the poor buggers.
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Expialadocious 2 January 2011 3:27AM Sex. One area that you haven't really explored is sex. More liberal attitudes towards promiscuity will have a huge impact on society and family life. Internet dating etc. will grow exponentially. There will be mobile apps (which already exist, but are being expanded) that will use GIS technology to locate potential partners, increasing the rate and ease of encounters.
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amrit 2 January 2011 3:54AM "er... Oh no. That will be the Lib Dem Manifesto. " But Dem Liberals donot stick to their promises in the manifesto? So whole thing is pie in sky
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johnmperry 2 January 2011 4:01AM I have lived in China for most of the last six years. I couldn't recognise the booming economy when I arrived, and I still can't. I think it is all hype, just smoke and mirrors, sustained by a Monty Python type of mass hypnosis. Long ago I recognised the word 'expert' to mean someone who doesn't really know what he is talking about. There will be serious problems in China, because of food shortages, since bthey have already moved from nett food exporter to nett food importer. The government will fall, because even now most of the poulation hates it, and it is sustained only by their paying more and more for police to keep it in power. Recommend (130) Responses (0) Report Share
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andyeverywhere 2 January 2011 4:14AM What a load of tosh and no mention of 99942 Apophis even.
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JohnCan45 2 January 2011 5:02AM The population of Canada will surpass the UK's. Recommend (10) Responses (0) Report Share
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pidgin 2 January 2011 5:23AM WE'RE ALL DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!! Recommend (63) Responses (0) Report Share
Craig84 2 January 2011 5:51AM Whatever Will Hutton (wrote number 2) is on to give that optimistic viewpoint about the future of the UK, I want some.
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mgpdleft 2 January 2011 6:01AM We need to go much further in reducing demand, through better design and changes in lifestyles, increasing efficiency and improving and deploying all viable alternative energy sources. It won't be cheap. We will see a gradual shift in power from companies/profiteers (and governments) to community-based energy and technology on the internet model. Just as nobody owns the internet nobody owns the planet's energy sources. Through information/resources sharing, communities can make their own solar panels etc. and eventually operate their own high-technology low-cost manufacturing. Petrol prices, fuel bills and all other scams by profiteers will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
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aidanwaffle 2 January 2011 6:09AM The nation state, corporate power and celebrity culture will, er, lose their hold, well, maybe they will, possibly not. Recommend (11) Responses (0) Report Share
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cBelli 2 January 2011 6:36AM Read "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy if you want a view of the future once oil runs out. Recommend (40) Responses (0) Report Share
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dirkbruere 2 January 2011 6:37AM @pidgin WE'RE ALL DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!! But not until around Xmas 2012 - so we can all relax for now.
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biba4more 2 January 2011 6:44AM Wharaloda crap. Why have these individuals with their tiny POV making these sorts of "predictions"?
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dirkbruere 2 January 2011 7:16AM @alice9 With a bit of luck almost everyone will die horribly and the remaining survivors will hunt rats by candlelight for their local feudal overlord. Because that's pretty much the most realistic alternative to a hitech future. Recommend (23) Responses (0) Report Share
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Chemster 2 January 2011 7:24AM No talk of a plague? We are due a decent plague, overdue perhaps? Recommend (55) Responses (0) Report Share
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Scipio1 2 January 2011 7:26AM Pollyanna calling: ''In 2035, there is thus a good prospect that Britain will be the most populous (our birth rate will be one the highest in Europe), dynamic and richest European country, the key state in a reconfigured EU. Our leading universities will become powerhouses of innovation, world centres in exploiting the approaching avalanche of scientific and technological breakthroughs. A reformed financial system will allow British entrepreneurs to get the committed financial backing they need, becoming the capitalist leaders in Europe. And, after a century of trying, Britain will at last build itself a system for developing apprentices and technicians that is no longer the Cinderella of the education system.'' And we'll all go to live in a gingerbread cottage in the enchanted wood and live happilly ever after. Jesus H Christ who writes this stuff! The scenario is about as plausible as a chocolate teapot. Watch out for the flying pigs.
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dirkbruere 2 January 2011 7:34AM Worst case scenario: http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/th/print/293/ Recommend (4) Responses (0) Report Share
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jwiseman29 2 January 2011 7:46AM Daily Telegraph columnists will still be forecasting the imminent collapse of the Euro and the European Union. Recommend (151) Responses (0) Report Share
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d3rangedfairy 2 January 2011 8:01AM In the next few decades antibiotic resistance will become a major problem. Medical procedures currently taken for granted, like giving birth, will become significantly more complicated and dangerous. Recommend (45) Responses (0) Report Share
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PontySurrey 2 January 2011 8:04AM Will we have discovered life on other planets? We are not alone............ Recommend (11) Responses (0) Report Share
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alecw
2 January 2011 8:33AM Global economic collapse, revolution, food shortage, starvation, pestilence, mob rule.
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Mataeology 2 January 2011 8:38AM The 1976 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show will be streamed as a hologram after the President's Christmas speech. Recommend (22) Responses (0) Report Share
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ClareLondon 2 January 2011 8:41AM Expialadocious 2 January 2011 3:27AM Sex. One area that you haven't really explored is sex. More liberal attitudes towards promiscuity will have a huge impact on society and family life. Internet dating etc. will grow exponentially. There will be mobile apps (which already exist, but are being expanded) that will use GIS technology to locate potential partners, increasing the rate and ease of encounters. Jeez. Calm down, won't you? It's just SEX. Stop panting over us all. We're all trying to THINK here.
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newprojects 2 January 2011 8:42AM "er... Oh no. That will be the Lib Dem Manifesto. surely the Lib Dem's won't exist. Recommend (22) Responses (0) Report Share
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twitty 2 January 2011 8:47AM I like the line in one of TS Eliot's plays (is it The Family Reunion?) in which a character exclaims: "O God, man! The things that are going to happen have already happened." These predictions often imply that radical change is coming on very fast. It's a science fiction nightmare. The radical change (for me) over the past twenty-five years has been the home computer revolution associated now with the all-pervasive (endlessly fascinating) internet. Major communications foreseeably in the laborious massive collisions of impacting societies & cultures. The underlying deep change may require generations. Our Western "modern world" is perishing even as our technology spreads. To pit "religion" against "secularism" is a mistake -- very popular in the Guardian. Writing as a former Lutheran pastor/Unitarian minister I sense the true encounter as between a Christian West assimilating Eastern contrasts which can no longer be belittled or dismissed. Or converted. Politically, I wonder if in twenty-five years' time historians will look back on Barak Obama with a giftedness comparable to Woodrow Wilson's as one who presided over America's descent into the Second Great Depression without a ripple of awareness or a wrinkle in his complacency.
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epinoa 2 January 2011 8:58AM As energy costs increase and the cost of photovoltaics falls the government will provide grants for people to PV their homes. With a substantial proportion of the country unemployed it will put less strain on the welfare bill. Recommend (5) Responses (0) Report Share
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HolyInsurgent 2 January 2011 9:09AM David Eagleman: By 2030, we are likely to have developed no-frills brain-machine interfaces, allowing the paralysed to dance in their thought-controlled exoskeleton suits. I sincerely hope we will not still be interfacing with computers via keyboards, one forlorn letter at a time. Probably the Next Big Thing will be in Virtual Reality. I foresee a VRNet, a 3D version of the Internet, only it will be populated by ourselves. Think of "The Matrix". And voice interface with computers will be common by then, though keyboards in some form will probably never be abandoned. I'd like to imagine we'll have robots to do our bidding. Highly likely that there will be intelligent androids, but "to do our bidding" is imperialist/aristocratic, implying they are slaves or serfs. If the androids are self-aware, they will be given the same rights and responsibilities as human beings.
Maybe we will understand what's happening when we immerse our heads into the colourful night blender of dreams. We will have cracked the secret of human memory by realising that it was never about storing things, but about the relationships between things. Well now, you're talking about other dimensions of consciousness here. This area of research holds great potential, and expertise must be interdisciplinary for it to work. Having lain to rest the nature-nurture dichotomy at that point, we will have a molecular understanding of the way in which cultural narratives work their way into brain tissue and of individual susceptibility to those stories. Not rocket science there. It's called going to Chapel/Synagogue/Mosque as a child. What's interesting is why some people believe it all their lives and others don't. Then there's the mystery of consciousness. Will we finally have a framework that allows us to translate the mechanical pieces and parts into private, subjective experience? As it stands now, we don't even know what such a framework could look like.... This will be done by experimenting on our own consciousness, either individually or experimentally in a formal Institute/Think Tank. That line of research will lead us to confront the question of whether we can reproduce consciousness by replicating the exact structure of the brain say, with zeros and ones, or beer cans and tennis balls. If this theory of materialism turns out to be correct, then we will be well on our way to downloading our brains into computers, allowing us to live forever in The Matrix. The Matrix or Mind Transfer Androids is very possible. There will have to be an indefinite number of breakthroughs first, like quantum computing. Milestones in CPU processing speed must come first. But if materialism is incorrect, that would be equally interesting: perhaps brains are more like radios that receive an as-yet-undiscovered force. These forces (ie. consciousness waves) are vibrational frequencies like radio waves, X-rays, gamma rays, or microwaves which our current technology cannot measure. It doesn't mean it will never happen. Direct experimentation on consciousness may be the only practical detection and verification process. Richard Jones: We'll learn more about intervening in our biology at the sub-cellular level and this nano-medicine will give us new hope of overcoming really difficult and intractable diseases, such as Alzheimer's, that will increasingly afflict our population as it ages. Yes, nanotechnology will be a great accomplice in molecular/gene/stem cell therapy, but more effective in the long run will be investigation into how thought processes affect cellular structure, thought processes activating (ie. mutating) benign viruses to "disease" viruses. Quaintly called the "mind/body connection," the cause of disease will be found to be psychological as opposed to a random viral "attack," the latter being the last, not the first, stage in the cause of disease. I would love to discuss these issues more with Mr. Eagleman, Mr. Jones or others, perhaps even in this thread. If you have a Myspace account, you can contact me through that. See link in my Guardian account. The Holy Insurgent of Uncertainty
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Topdoginuk 2 January 2011 9:12AM There are some deluded predictions on here! In the next 25 years the scourge of Capitalism will have spread via human selfishness and greed. People in misery and poverty will rise dramatically but, the stats will continue to be manipulated and false count will continue to be aired via controlled media, esp in the corrupt UK government via their BBC. Global population will continue to grow exponentially and resources will become scares and more expensive.
Fuel and sources will get hoarded by countries and corporate scum. More 'private' unaccountable 'Armies' will develop. A nuclear device will probably get used and the innocent public will take the brunt. The rich fraudulent scum in Britain will continue their arrogant collusive money taking and backed by the scum in Government. A gradual public backlash will turn violent and give the government the excuse they look for to use live ammo against protester and, ban marches and protests. Some viral experimentation or biological mutation will produce a 'disease' like never seen before. The rich scum of the world will continue their evil deeds.
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MrsHappy 2 January 2011 9:13AM My prediction is that in twenty five years time due to the rampant social engineering of the Labour party there will be no more English people in England. Brown hated the English so much that he set a demographic time bomb off. Recommend (73) Responses (0) Report Share
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giveusaclue 2 January 2011 9:13AM Expialadocious 2 January 2011 3:27AM Sex. One area that you haven't really explored is sex. More liberal attitudes towards promiscuity will have a huge impact on society and family life. Think you will find that has already happened.
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thelonggrass 2 January 2011 9:18AM The biggest issue facing Western societies is the aging population - this is driving most of the increases in Government spending, both through health and old people support. It will drive a wedge between the haves - the old and the havenots - the younger generations. How declining birth rates and reduced employment fund the old, and how we deal with the ethics of aging is the most major problem of the next 25 years. Technologically we connect everywhere, anywhere through multiple devices. Our 'data' becomes separate from the devices. We will take more control of 'our data' including records like health, finance, so it becomes 'ours' not theirs.
Financially we're due to go through one, possibly two major financial crises. As a result China will own a great deal more Western companies. The EU will be much more federal in nature as a result. Corruption and the black economy will become much larger, leading to greater powers of investigation and control by the police. More radicalised groups will emerge in response. There will be wars and deal making. China to invade North Korea supported by the US, and possibly take Taiwan as a result. Russia to get involved in Belorussian and Ukraine affairs probably over non-payment of gas bills. The US will declare Spanish an official language (at least in some states) and the first Hispano-American president to emerge.
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Topdoginuk 2 January 2011 9:20AM This site may seem alarming but, there is much truth to be gleaned that you would be denied by the corrupt self protectionist scum in governments. When the oil runs out, how will YOU be affected?: http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
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MyLittleBlackDress 2 January 2011 9:22AM Humankind will discover that trousers are hideously uncomfortable and a crime against style and they will only be worn by horse riders, Arctic explorers and window cleaners. I hope.
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Tropics face fish famine due to climate change, report warns 8 Oct 2009 Fish populations in the tropics could fall by as much as 40% over the next 45 years due to climate change, jeopardising food sources in the developing world, study warns
2 Jun 2010 UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet 22 Mar 2005 Damning verdict on GM crop 4 Dec 2006 Search for crops that can survive global warming 24 Nov 2009 The Office of Fair Trading will not challenge Google's dominance
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Several reasons contribute to why you tend to have an imperfect physique and among these are: excess fats around certain parts of the body, your individual genetic setup and your varying physical activities. Nonetheless, all there imperfections are not left without any remedy for there are simple interventions that you can do to shape up that imperfect physique. Here are 3 steps to have toned, smaller and firmer thighs. 1. The Squats - The squats are one by simply standing with your feet and legs in parallel shoulder width apart. Then cross your arms in front of your chest and inhale. Then lower your bottom as though you are about to sit making sure that your knees and your toes are in line. Keep your back straight, your head up and then as you stand, exhale and then straighten your legs.
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2. The Hip Abduction - To execute the hip abduction, just lie on the right side of your body with your head resting on your right arm laid flat on the floor. Straighten your right leg and then bend slowly your left leg as you put in front of your right leg your left foot. Then hold your left ankle as you raise your right leg off from the floor. 3. The Hip Flexing - The hip flexing routine can be modified by holding weights with your hand. Simply step your right foot forward with your right knee bent and then lower down yourself to the floor until your left knee touches the ground. With your left thigh in line with your back, gently push back your right leg and return to start position. There are still many more exercises that that quiet easy and yet very effective in giving your thighs great tone and definition in just 10 minutes of daily exercise.
WELL, YOU HAVE TO DO ONE OR THE OTHER, UNLESS YOU WANT TO HAVE TO DO THE FISH FACE ALL THE TIME IT'S ALL ABOUT CONTOURING YOUR FACE WITH MAKEUP AND HIGHLIGHTING THE AREAS YOU WANT TO STAND OUT (USE BRONZER UNDER YOUR CHEEKBONES AND HIGHLIGHT ON TOP OF YOUR CHEEKBONES TO MAKE THEM POP. IT WILL MAKE YOUR FACE LOOK SLIMMER)
It's impossible to lose weight in just one specific area of the body, even if you do have one of those springy exercise things. When you lose weight, you lose it all over your body, not just in your butt or your chest, or even your thighs. The best plan of attack for shaping up your thighs is through a balanced combination of exercise and healthy eating.
Although you can't lose weight in just your thighs, you can incorporate exercises into your workout that will specifically target your thighs and help to tone them. Try simple exercises like lunges (both forward and side lunges), squats, and leg lifts.
Gyms and sports clubs have resistance machines that can help you tone up specific areas, like your upper and inner thighs. If you're not sure about proper technique for these exercises, check online or with a trainer to make sure that you are doing them correctly.
If you're feeling especially energetic, try an exciting activity like bike riding or inline skating that not only works the legs, but also gives a great cardio workout as well.
Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD Date reviewed: March 2011 Although we can't reply personally, you may see your question posted to this page in the future. If you're looking for medical advice, a diagnosis, or treatment, consult your doctor or other qualified medical professional. If this is an emergency, contact emergency services in your area.
The backs of my legs will not lose the "cottage cheese" look to them! I exercise every day for at least 30 minutes. What else can I do to make my legs look normal and toned? - Joanna* It sounds like you have cellulite that dimpling of the skin commonly seen on the thighs, hips, and buttocks. Although excess fat makes cellulite more noticeable, even thin people can have cellulite.
Cellulite is more common in girls and women, and tends to run in families, so it might not be in your control to completely eliminate it.
There are no miracle cures, but to reduce the appearance of the cottage cheese look, you want to tone your legs and lose excess body fat if you are overweight. You can start by boosting your workouts from 30 minutes to 60 minutes every day. In addition to cardio, try to incorporate strength training into your routine 3 days a week. Strength training can focus on the areas you really want to
tone, like your legs. Doing simple and effective exercises like hamstring extensions, lunges, squats, and leg raises can help tone muscles while burning calories.
If you are overweight, don't forget that working out alone isn't the key to losing excess fat you will also need to watch what you eat.
Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD Date reviewed: October 2011 What is the best way to lose weight and flatten my stomach? - Sarah* Unfortunately, it's impossible to pick and choose where on your body you are going to lose weight. When you lose weight, you lose it all over your body, not in one particular spot.
To achieve a flatter stomach, be sure to eat a healthy diet, watch portion sizes, and exercise regularly. In addition to cardio activities like running or biking, core exercises like crunches and push-ups, which don't require a gym, can help you tone up your stomach and upper body.
Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD Date reviewed: May 2010 Although we can't reply personally, you may see your question posted to this page in the future. If you're looking for medical advice, a diagnosis, or treatment, consult your doctor or other qualified medical professional. If this is an emergency, contact emergency services in your area.
For Teens
1. Get the vampire color. Get the pale skin by firstly putting quite a lot of high sunblock all over face, then put concealer over the place you need, and add baby powder or any white face powder to your face. Blend this in so it doesn't look too white - you only want the paleskin that vampires have. Ads by Google Study in USA or in Asia American University in Asia Apply @ Webster University Thailand www.webster.ac.th
2. 2
Have the vampire features. Use bronzer or any dark shaded powder to sculpt your face. Suck your cheekbones in and apply the shade in the hollow of your cheek. Blend well. This will create a gaunt vampire look, as most vampires have defined features.
3. 3
Wear vampire makeup. Put top eyeliner very close to the top lash line. For the lips, use a pinky or rosy red lip stain. Or get a redish lipstick and dab on the lips .This is a beautiful contrast to the pale skin.
4. 4
Dress like a vampire. Wear either a dark grey skirt just above the knee, or a pleated black skirt just below. Remember mini clothes are not the vampire style. Wear a white shirt and tie and do not wear a sweater. You could also wear a polo shirt, but wear your sweater and pull up your polo shirt collar. Accessorize with a gothic cross.
5. 5
Wear vampire shoes. Buy a pair of Tuk or Emily the strange school style shoes.
6. 6
Act like your inner vampire. Sometimes it helps to have headphones in which are playing dark music e.g bauhaus, the cure, black tape for a blue girl, etc. If you have sustained silent reading, read something like Dracula or Edgar Allen Poe. You should act beautiful; when in school, act like everyone is looking at you, and soon they will.

20 Predictions For The Next 25 Years

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20 predictions for the next 25 years

Email The Observer, Sunday 2 January 2011 Jump to comments ()

A view across the City at dusk. Photograph: James Brittain

5 Advertising: 'All sorts of things will just be sold in plain packages'

Advertising in Tokyo. Photograph: Mike Long / Alamy/Alamy

17 Health: 'We'll feel less healthy'

An overweight woman in Maryland, USA. Photograph: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images

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