Insect burgers and telly beamed into our brains... welcome to 2069!
FOR some it will sound like a dream – for others it will be more of a nightmare.
Either way, experts predict that in 50 years’ time, we will be holidaying in space, eating burgers made of insects and travelling via underwater highways.
A report commissioned by mobile phone makers Samsung has drawn up a picture of how our lives might look by the year 2069.
It tells of tiny computers implanted into our bodies that translate foreign languages in an instant. And microchips under the skin will also be used to keep our health in check. Sensors will tell us exactly what our bodies need at any time – so that we can eat food that has been carefully tailored to our personal nutritional requirements.
This is where the bug burgers come in – researchers claim that insects will become so widespread that they will be one of our main sources of protein and that every kitchen will even be equipped with small insect farms.
One of the authors, Jacqueline de Rojas, said: ‘The next 50 years will bring the largest technological changes and innovations we have ever seen.’
The Future In Focus report predicts we will wind down at the end of the day by watching television programmes beamed directly to our brains, via ‘optoelectronic devices’, or surf the internet simply by ‘plugging ourselves in’ to the web.
Advances will mean that people will be able to replace failing organs at will, with new ones produced by 3D printers and transplanted by robotic surgeons. We will also rely on automated assistants to clean our homes, and act as ‘virtual carers’.
The radical improvements to healthcare and diet mean that people born around 2069 could expect to live forever – even battling dementia by uploading their memories into virtual storage. But competition for space will be fierce given the inevitable population explosion.
In addition to vertical farms, 2069 will see the dawn of the age of the ‘earthscraper’ – structures built many storeys deep into the ground.
The underwater highways will allow us to travel from Dublin to Scandinavia in around an hour.
Or, if we fancy hopping across to New York, we could board a reusable rocket that will travel outside the atmosphere at 20,000 miles an hour – cutting the journey time to 30 minutes.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents to a Samsung survey liked the sound of a selfcleaning home, but only 14% found the idea of eternal life or plugging their brains into the web appealing.