| IntroductionWell, its been an exciting century for | | | | NHS (National Health Service) where treatment |
| me starting with the launch of the Russian | | | | was free at the point of need but paid for by |
| satellite, Sputnik in 1957 and ending with the first | | | | everyone. When this was first introduced many |
| space elevator on my 100th birthday in 2057. Its | | | | people tried to live for free but soon got bored of |
| also been a sad and depressing time too with | | | | drinking water, eating the same boring food and |
| various wars and conflicts but it all worked out | | | | being unable to go anywhere or do anything |
| for us all in the end.The really frustrating thing is | | | | interesting. Another side effect was another huge |
| we could have done much of this years ago and | | | | layer of bureaucracy was removed.Another |
| saved our selves so much grief, but we didn't | | | | change was tax. In the old days huge numbers of |
| partly because we didn't know how but mostly | | | | "tax inspectors" were needed to collect a tax |
| because of greed, self-interest and an astonishing | | | | from everyone. These days its automatic, you |
| lack of vision.We have lost many things but gained | | | | get paid, your credit is updated and the state |
| so much more in return. Gone are many of the | | | | gets a small percentage.A major change was the |
| huge corporations, out-manoeuvred by many | | | | accountability of corporations. The laws of the |
| smaller, more nimble companies as predicted by | | | | time assigned the same rights to a corporation as |
| "The Cluetrain Manifesto" and "Dingoes and | | | | to an individual. The problem was that the |
| Lions".EntertainmentLike many industries, the | | | | character of many corporations could be |
| music industry had to die before it could be | | | | described as greedy, paranoid and psychopathic. It |
| re-born. Lets face it, any organisation that sees its | | | | was the early Internet that made exposing these |
| own customers as potential criminals is definitely | | | | much easier and faster. After a few high profile |
| on the way out. In those days, music and movies | | | | "melt downs", many of the more "psychopathic" |
| were distributed on plastic discs (called CDs or | | | | corporations where given the same treatment as |
| DVDs) and billions were spent on preventing | | | | an individual would have got.The way companies |
| people from doing what they did naturally - | | | | are run has changed a lot too. In the bad old |
| sharing.Various methods were tried to prevent | | | | days, companies would grow and grow until they |
| this, DRM (Digital Rights Management) was the | | | | imploded under their own weight. These days |
| most obnoxious partly because it prevented | | | | things are more dynamic, some companies form |
| people from making copies (to use in their other | | | | to produce a one-off product and dissolve soon |
| players) but mostly because it "locked out" | | | | after. Many behave like 'cells', when they reach a |
| competitors.The result was that :-1. Most people | | | | certain size, they divide into separate entities. This |
| ended up with unplayable disks due to | | | | kept them very lean and competitive, and most |
| incompatible DRM systems or companies going | | | | importantly - fun.Things are much simpler these |
| out of business.2. The "pirates" removed any | | | | days too. Walk into shop. Look in special mirror |
| copy prevention and made the music tracks | | | | and see your self in a selection of clothes as if |
| available on the original Internet.3. People found it | | | | you were wearing them. Real-time 3D digitising |
| much easier to download from the "pirates" than | | | | and overlays. No need to be measured, the 3D |
| to buy a "legal" disk and run the risk that it would | | | | digitiser captured all your measurements and feed |
| be unplayable.4. The music industry got more | | | | them to the machine that would make your |
| desperate and aggressive until they were sued | | | | clothes.Law and OrderCrime, though still present, |
| out of existence by their top performers, who | | | | has been much reduced. It all started in 2009 |
| had grown tired of the negative publicity and had | | | | when a woman was burgled but found the burglar |
| found a much better way to distributed and | | | | by searching through real-time satellite images of |
| promote their music - the Internet.There was a | | | | her house via an Internet sat-map service. It was |
| brief flirtation with high capacity disks like "Blue | | | | simple to find an image of her house at the time |
| Ray" and "HD DVD" but the public got so tired of | | | | the burglar entered and follow him back to his flat |
| paying vast sums on new, incompatible formats | | | | half a mile away. She presented the images to |
| that they either stuck with the original DVD (Dual | | | | the local police force who "nicked" him.Another |
| Layer 7.5GB) format or just downloaded | | | | form of crime called "shoplifting" also disappeared |
| everything from the Internet.These days not only | | | | when tiny tracking devices called "RFID" were built |
| is it legal, its encouraged. You can copy any piece | | | | into every sellable item. To purchase all you had |
| of music, video or literature to anyone or any | | | | to do was pick up the item at a shop and walk |
| device. As soon as you have listened or viewed | | | | out. As soon as you walked through the shop |
| 75% of it, the author gets a one-off | | | | door, your credit card was automatically debited |
| micro-payment automatically.In fact many artists | | | | by the cost of the item. Anyone daft enough to |
| gave much of their work away for free knowing | | | | do this with an "empty" credit card was tracked |
| that if it was good enough it would be copied | | | | by the RFID in the item and dealt with.Biometrics |
| millions of times and they would become | | | | also played a part as many things (like cars, |
| household names very quickly. Another advantage | | | | computers) would not work with any unauthorised |
| of giving your work away was that you could | | | | person so stealing them was pointless unless you |
| attach contact and gig details to each track so | | | | could get round the biometric security system |
| every time you had a concert/gig/etc all your | | | | which was expensive.Micro MRI scanners make |
| fans were informed automatically.The movie | | | | police work so easy now. Round up the suspects |
| industry was also on the endangered list but saw | | | | for questioning and the scanner will soon know |
| what was coming just in time. Even so, its still a | | | | who is lying or not based on their brain |
| fraction of its original size. Gone are the great | | | | patterns.SpaceWith an ever expanding population |
| actors and actresses (replaced with virtual | | | | complicated by people living longer the only way |
| actors), gone are the studios (replaced with virtual | | | | was up. It started with things like the International |
| studios) and gone are fixed 'story lines'. In those | | | | Space Station but when space travel got cheaper |
| days a "movie" was just a fixed sequence of | | | | huge multi-purpose space platforms were |
| images played one after the other very fast, you | | | | constructed. These originally housed engineers and |
| couldn't alter the story line, change the characters | | | | scientists but soon grew when more modules |
| or view each scene from different viewpoints like | | | | were added like space telescopes, factories, |
| you can now. The main driver for all of this was | | | | hospitals and even hotels.These days, space travel |
| the game industry, they had been doing this kind | | | | is routine. Many people go into space to visit |
| of thing for years.The way we watched things | | | | friends living on the space platforms or take |
| radically altered when huge, flexible video displays | | | | tours. I went up a couple of years back to watch |
| became cheap enough to be used as wallpaper. | | | | a space probe being assembled and launched to |
| These were bright enough to replace lights too. | | | | study some primitive life on Jupiter's moon, |
| Many people used one wall to watch programs | | | | Europa. I saw two people recover an old |
| and the others to display virtual, swimming fish as | | | | communications satellite. No one uses those any |
| a form of relaxation (Bit like the early | | | | more - the space platforms do that job too. I |
| screen-savers).CommunicationThe original Internet | | | | also had a quick look at the telescope control |
| was classed as "disruptive technology" because it | | | | room and spent the night in the hotel. Its a weird |
| enabled the human race to communicate across | | | | experience when you move from the outer ring |
| the world in so many different ways much to the | | | | were most of the people live and work (normal |
| annoyance of the media who preferred to keep | | | | gravity), past the middle ring where the hospice / |
| information artificially scarce and expensive.Things | | | | hospital / research areas, to the hub were most |
| really got interesting when Internet3 came on-line. | | | | of the equipment is (no gravity).Some people |
| This new network was a mix of the older | | | | choose to spend their last days (and cash) in |
| Internet2 and NASA's revamped deep space | | | | space, the cash helped fund space development |
| network. Not only could you communicate with | | | | along with some medical research. A lot of |
| anyone or thing on planet Earth, you could reach | | | | disabled people also worked in space too, no need |
| people on the many orbiting space platforms, the | | | | for functional legs (or a wheel chair) when you |
| Moon bases, the Mars base and any other planet | | | | worked in zero G.The long awaited "Space |
| in our solar system.EnergyFor quite a long time, | | | | Elevator" is nearly operational now. It took years |
| electricity was generated solely by "Power | | | | to find a material that could be stretched 62,000 |
| Stations" from either Oil, Gas, Coal, Nuclear Fission | | | | miles and withstand continuous lightning strikes. |
| (later by Nuclear Fusion), Solar and Wind/Wave | | | | There are hundreds of companies bidding to build |
| turbines. As you can imagine, these were huge, | | | | the huge platforms that will be anchored at |
| dirty, expensive and inefficient.The power was | | | | strategic locations along its length. At the end |
| distributed along cables strung between huge | | | | they fixed an asteroid. I heard they were going |
| metal towers called "pylons" to all parts of the | | | | to put a centrifugal launch platform there |
| country. It was transmitted at a very high | | | | too.WeatherFor the very first time, the human |
| voltage but stepped down to around 100 ~ 240 | | | | race had some useful control over the weather. |
| volts AC. Most buildings had some kind of "mains" | | | | The space platforms had a continuous read-out of |
| supply connected to several power outlets (or | | | | the global weather condition. This data was feed |
| sockets) that you could connect various | | | | to super computers which in turn controlled huge |
| appliances to.The main problem with this system | | | | space mirrors. If the gulf stream started to slow, |
| was that power-cuts were frequent and when | | | | just reflect some of the Sun's energy to that |
| they happened, entire cities were plunged into | | | | point to help the evaporation process. If there |
| darkness. Another problem was that AC power is | | | | was a hurricane brewing near the American coast, |
| very hard to store in any useful quantity making | | | | the computers would angle the mirrors to gently |
| unexpected surges expensive to deal with.These | | | | heat the surrounding areas and disrupt the |
| days, all buildings are energy self-sufficient and | | | | hurricane creation process. By subtly heating and |
| come complete with solar tiles, mini-wind | | | | cooling certain strategic locations, rain could be |
| generators and storage batteries. Most electronic | | | | encouraged in fall in useful places. Huge areas of |
| equipment runs directly from the batteries which | | | | desert were made habitat able by this |
| are in turn charged from the sun, wind, fuel-cells | | | | method.Reference and Inspiration"The Cluetrain |
| or any other available power | | | | Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual" by |
| source.CommerceThese days, the basic essentials | | | | Locke, Weinberger, Searls & Levine"Dingoes and |
| of life are free like water, certain foods and | | | | Lions" by David Chan. |
| shelter. This was just a another extension UK's | | | | |