It's 2030 A.D. 15 of the smartest people give us their most out-there predictions

Contact with nonhuman life?

The single most transformative, world-changing, universe-rearranging development by 2030 or anytime thereafter is as obvious as it is unlikely. Just spend a few minutes looking at these photos of the Andromeda Galaxy taken from the NASA/ESA Hubble space telescope to understand why. The sheer size of our nearest galactic neighbor and the existence of billions or trillions of stars with solar systems and planets putatively capable of sustaining life is impossible to fathom. The very possibilities of that discovery, however, are diminished by the remote probabilities of contact, given these vast distances and the challenges of space and time. But if we could make contact—whatever the risks and dangers (think of any number of good and bad sci-fi movies that depict threatening aliens who come visiting)—the transformation would be profound across every conceivable field of the human enterprise, religion, philosophy, science and technology, biology, physics, cosmology and evolution. And it would leave us with perhaps the greatest realization of all—that we are not alone—and a potentially profound implication—a reappraisal of what it really means to be human.... Technology is advancing faster than people think and making amazing things possible. Within two decades, we will have almost unlimited energy, food and clean water; advances in medicine will allow us to live longer and healthier lives; robots will drive our cars, manufacture our goods and do our chores. It will also become possible to solve critical problems that have long plagued humanity such as hunger, disease, poverty and lack of education. Think of systems to clean water; sensors to transform agriculture; digital tutors that run on cheap smartphones to educate children; medical tests on inexpensive sensor-based devices. The challenge is to focus our technology innovators on the needs of the many rather than the elite few so that we can better all of humanity.


33 Dramatic Predictions

1. By 2030 over 80% of all doctor visits will have been replaced by automated exams. Details here.
2. By 2030 over 90% of all restaurants will use some form of a 3D food printer in their meal preparations. Details here.
3. By 2030 over 10% of all global financial transactions will be conducted through Bitcoin or Bitcoin-like crypto currencies.
4. By 2030 we will seen a growing number of highways designated as driverless-vehicle only. Details here.
5. By 2030, a Chinese company will become the first to enter the space tourism industry by establishing regular flights to their space hotel.
6. By 2030, the world’s largest Internet company will be in the education business, and it will be a company we have not heard of yet.
7. By 2030 over 20% of all new construction will be “printed” buildings. Details here.
8. By 2030 over 2 billion jobs will have disappeared, freeing up talent for many new fledgling industries. Details here.
9. By 2030 a new protest group will have emerged that holds anti-cloning rallies, demonstrating against the creation of “soul-less humans.”
10. By 2030 we will see the first city to harvest 100% of its water supply from the atmosphere. Details here.
11. By 2030 world religions will make a resurgence, with communities of faith growing by nearly 50% over what they are today.
12. By 2030 over 50% of all traditional colleges will collapse, paving the way for an entire new education industry to emerge. Details here.
13. By 2030 we will see a surge of Micro Colleges spring to life, each requiring less than 6 months of training and apprenticeship to switch professions. Details here.
14. By 2030 scientists will have perfected an active cross-species communication system, enabling some species to talk to each other as well as humans.
15. By 2030 we will see the first hurricane stopped by human intervention.
16. By 2030 we will see wireless power used to light up invisible light bulbs in the middle of a room.
17. By 2030 we will see the first demonstration of a technology to control gravity, reducing the pull of gravity on an object by as much as 50%.
18. By 2030 democracy will be viewed as inferior form of government.
19. By 2030 traditional police forces will be largely automated out of existence with less than 50% of current staffing levels on active duty.
20. By 2030 over 90% of all libraries will offer premium services as part of their business model. Details here.
21. By 2030 forest fires will have been reduced to less than 5% of the number today with the use of infrared drone monitoring systems. Details here.
22. By 2030 over 30% of all cities in the U.S. will operate their electric utilities as micro grids.
23. By 2030 we will have seen a number of global elections with the intent of creating a new global mandate, forcing world leaders to take notice. Details here.
24. By 2030 traditional pharmaceuticals will be replaced by hyper-individualized medicines that are manufactured at the time they are ordered. Details here.
25. By 2030 we will have seen the revival of the first mated pair of an extinct species. Details here.
26. By 2030 swarms of micro flying drones – swarmbots – will be demonstrated to assemble themselves as a type of personal clothing, serving as a reconfigurable fashion statement. Details here.
27. By 2030 marijuana will be legalized in all 50 states in the U.S. and half of all foreign countries. Details here.
28. By 2030 cable television will no longer exist.
29. By 2030 a small number of companies will begin calculating their labor costs with something called “synaptical currency.” Details here.
30. By 2030 it will be common to use next generation search engines to search the physical world. Details here.
31. By 2030 basic computer programming will be considered a core skill required in over 20% of all jobs. Details here.
32. By 2030 we will have seen multiple attempts to send a probe to the center of the earth. Details here.
33. By 2030 a form of tube transportation, inspired by Hyperloop and ET3, will be well on its way to becoming the world’s largest infrastructure project. Details here.

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