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