Predictions five years from now

The following are excerpted from
the British Telecom Technology Timeline (information
was compiled by Ian Neild and Ian Pearson from
worldwide sci-tech reports in 2005):

• Highest-earning celebrity is
  synthetic
• Dolls come with a personality
  chip and full sensory input
• 25 percent of TV celebrities are
  synthetic
• Expert systems surpass average
  human learning and logic abilities
• Computer agents start being
  thought of as colleagues instead of tools
• Autonomous AI sales staff units
  become AI stalkers
• First multi-celled organism
  assembled from scratch
• Self-aware machine
  intelligence
• Computer-enhanced
  dreaming
• Thought-recognition used in
  sleep enhancement
• High-speed civil transport
  supersonic jet, 300 passengers, 1,500 mph
• GPS and engine-management
  systems linked to limit speed automatically
• Paper and coins largely replaced
  by electronic cash
• Most tickets electronic
• Personal taxation at point of
  sale
• Automatic dialing from smart
  business cards
• Augmented-reality overlays used
  in stores
• Reverse auctions in personal
  shopping devices (nearby stores bid to provide items
  on shopping list)
• Hotel in orbit
• Scalable AI as major military
  threat
• Positive clean ID required for
  access to many places
• Terrorist use of genetic
  modification to pollute crops and damage
  economy
• Most fighters and bombers flown
  remotely
• Use of network resonance as
  security threat
• Ambient intelligence detection
  of minor crimes & anti-social behavior
• Identity theft forces all
  transactions to use biometrics
• Domestic augmented-reality used
  to give virtual makeovers
• Biometric ID required for every
  phone call
• Use of mutant insects for attack
  purposes
• Robot dance tutors
• Nanowalkers, nanoworms,
  nanofish
• Mechanical intelligence using
  MEMS and NEMS
• Supercomputers with speed
  exceeding 1 ExaFLOPS
• DNA computer
• Use of bacteria for processing
  and storage
• Desktop computer as fast as
  human brain
• Use of polymer gels for
  information processing
• Kitchen rage caused by
  electronic gadgets
• Electronic implant equivalent to
  Botox
• Use of virtual-reality scenes in
  household rooms as decor
• Replacement of people leads to
  anti-technology subculture
• Most electronic toys are
  hybrids, with half on internet
• Anti-noise technology built into
  homes
• Active wallpaper responds to
  inhabitants' moods, etc.
• Neighborhood video-surveillance
  networks
• Washing machine aware of
  contents and selects cycle
• Augmented-reality offices used
  in telework centers
• Palm-top printing puts buttons
  on skin
• Glasses-based computer displays
  dominate in the office
• Electronic responses can be
  automated based on conversational inference
• Windows with coatings to
  re-direct sunlight
• Nanotechnology toys
• Paper money replaced by smart
  media
• Spread of nomadic information
  companies leads to global taxation
• Academic learning is argued to
  be unnecessary in the age of smart machines
• Integrated taxation in all
  transactions
• Return-to-sender viruses,
  corporate counterattacks
• Nano devices roaming within
  blood vessels under own power
• Use of humans' own tissues
  to grow replacement organs
• Direct electronic pleasure
  production
• Context-sensitive
  cyber-drugs
• Electronic stimulation of brain
  sensations as recreational substitute for
  drugs
• Some implants seen as status
  symbols
• Gene-gel stimulation of
  re-growth of natural teeth on demand
• Retina regeneration using fetal
  retinal cell injection
• Emotion logging and
  recording
• Emotionally specific
  drugs
• Micro-fluidic chips used for
  gene sequencing in every GP surgery
• Self-certification for
  prescriptions using electronic diagnostics
• Outpatients at home – remote
  tele-medical consultations
• Genetic links of 90 percent of
  diseases identified
• Individual's genome part of
  their medical record
• Synthetic organs created by
  printing layers of cells
• Synthetic viruses created
• Sensory augmentation using
  sensory implants, nanoparticles, etc.
• Use of stem cells to treat human
  brain after strokes or accidents
• Gene therapy generates new hair
  cells in humans
• Sensory implants allow direct
  sensing of cyberspace entities
• Robotic cleaners in
  hospitals
• Biometrics and medical tests
  linked to benefits and disability allowance