People used to know more or less how their children would live. Now things are changing so quickly that we don’t even know what our own lives will be like in a few years. What allows is not science fiction. It’s how experts see the future.
You’re daydreaming behind the wheel of your car, but that’s OK. You have it on automatic pilot, and with its high-tech computers and cameras, your car “knows” how to get you home safely.
What’s for lunch? In the old days, you used to stop off to buy a hamburger or pizza. Now you use your diagnostic machine to find out which food your body needs. You find out you need more vegetables and less fat. Your food-preparation machine makes you a salad.
After lunch, you go down the hall to your home office. Here you have everything you need for doing your work. Thanks to your information screen and your new computer, you almost never go into the office any more. The information screen shows an urgent massage from a co-worker in Brazil. You set the screen to translate Portuguese into English, then you read and reply to the message.