BT futurologist engineer, Ian Pearson, and research director, Peter Cochrane, have compiled a 'technology calendar' reporting on what will happen in the next 25 years in scores of different technologies. It is based on information culled from a worldwide survey of scientific journals and predicts domestic robots, artificial eyes, 3D television, synthetic body parts and 350mph levitated trains.
Firefighting rescues will be carried out by robots, DIY diagnostic kits will be helping people stay healthy, and tactile sensors and robotic equipment will be used by doctors to carry our operations on patients thousands of miles away.
They forecast that in 25 years the average desktop PC, or its equivalent, will be a million times more powerful.
Speech dialling will be in general use by 2011, and fire detection will be by odour or by vibration. Electronic newspapers to homes will be in common use by 2012, and tactile sensors comparable to human sensation will be ready in 2015.
At about the same time 3D television - without the need for special glasses - will be available, as will portable translation devices for simple conversations.
By 2025, an artificial brain with 10,000 cells will be at the development stage, as will artificial eyes and other synthetic body parts, including ears, legs, lungs and kidneys.
The storage of living bodies by hibernation will have reached development stage and electronic referenda will be in widespread use for national decision making.
The very last prediction is that a direct computer-brain link will finally have been established and be in development by the year 2025.
This would be the first big step towards mind-reading technology. Work is already underway in Japan where computers pick up changes in thought patterns by measuring changes in the electromagnetic field.
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