The Journey to 2025 - A Decade of Discovery

Rohit Talwar - CEO - Fast Future Research

Our world is being transformed by rapid advances in sciences and technology that are

touching every aspect of our lives. So what changes could these developments bring about

for life as we know it? We only have to look around us to see just how much can change in a

relatively short space of time.

Our lives have been shaped by developments which most of us couldn't have imagined a

decade ago. For example, handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets now allow us

to have live video conversations with our friends, translate instantaneously between multiple

languages, watch full length videos and monitor diverse aspects of our health from blood

pressure to oxygen flow and stress levels. 3D printing is now available in every home and is

being used to create everything from blood cells to entire houses, while new aircraft such as

the A380 can carry over 800 passengers on a single flight.

As we look ahead, the decade could be shaped by advances in nanotechnology, information

technology, vertical farming, artificial intelligence, robotics, 4D printing, super-smart

materials, neuroscience, the biological sciences and genetics. Below we take a brief look at

ten scenarios exploring how some of these developments could come together and impact

different aspects of our world.

1. Human 2.0 - Human augmentation will accelerate in the next decade. By 2025 we will be

witnessing a new breed of human 2.0 and 3.0 who have "hacked" their own bodies.

Mind-enhancing drugs are already a reality and we can now have super-smart prosthetic

limb replacements that have greater functionality than the ones we were born with. Both

fields will continue to progress and we will see genetic treatments to eliminate conditions

such as rage and obesity.

All of these enhancements will be monitored and managed 24/7 by a variety of wearable

technologies and devices implanted into our bodies. These will help us track every vital

sign and link directly to both our own hand held devices and to monitoring services

provided by our healthcare providers. 3D printing already allows us to create

replacement body parts. The evolution to 4D printing will enable the manufacture of body

parts that can self assemble and adapt their shape and properties over time - giving us

limbs that could reinforce themselves as we age.

2. National Sovereignty - The map of the globe will change - driven by economic forces.

Many smaller and poorer countries may find it impossible to cope on their own with the

accelerating pace of change and the cost of keeping up to speed with a globally

connected planet. By 2025, we could see 20-25 country mergers as 'at risk' nations

seek to come together to create the critical economic strength and attract the investment

required to serve their populations and compete in the hyper-connected era.

3. Corporate Giants - 50% of the Fortune 500 index of the largest publicly listed

companies in 2025 will come from firms that were not even born in 2014. We will see an

ever-increasing number of so called 'exponential companies' that achieve rapid rates of

growth by using science and technology to disrupt old industries and create new ones.

For example, the taxi app Uber didn't even exist in 2008 and is now valued at over $40

billion while a number of new technology-based businesses such as AirBnB and

Snapchat are already valued at over $10 Billion. Many more mega-growth players will

emerge in sectors such as driverless cars, 3D and 4D printing, genetics and web-based

applications and services that we can't even imagine today. Some argue that the notion

of public stock markets will have been transformed by more efficient online crowd

funding platforms and the widespread use of digital currencies that effectively create a

single global monetary system.

4. Financial Services - By 2025, the financial services landscape will have been

transformed by digital currencies like Bitcoin, open markets and a wave of new providers

offering crowd based solutions for everything from insurance to equity investment and

commercial financing. These community platforms will let us lend to and invest in each

other - bypassing the existing providers of saving, business investment, loans and

personal insurance.

5. Brain Uploading - By 2025 we will have mapped how the human brain works and

technology companies will be competing to host the 'back up' of our brains online. Three

major projects in Europe, the USA and China are currently involved in major research

activities to understand how the brain stores information and memories. This will

ultimately allow us to create memory back-ups with the information stored remotely via

an online service provider in exactly the same way as many of us already do with the

data on our computers and mobile devices.

6. Immersivity - By 2025 technology advances will give rise to new immersive live and

virtual leisure experiences. For example, we will be able to become participants in live

action adventures games from Roman battles to re-running the Olympic 100 metres final

with robots performing the roles of the other contestants.

7. Mixed Reality Living - The boundaries between virtual and physical worlds will have

disappeared by 2025 as we overlay multiple layers of digital sensory augmentation over

our physical environment. Augmented and virtual reality will have advanced to the point

where we can stimulate all our senses over the internet and via our handheld devices.

So, for example, when booking a hotel, these developments would enable us to feel the

bed linens, taste the food in the restaurant and smell the bath products - all from a

device in the palm of our hands.

8. Robotics - The replacement of humans by robots in manufacturing has been taking

place for two decades - it is now spreading to a wide range of other sectors such elder

care, crop spraying and warehouse management. By 2025 robots will have entered

every aspect of human life and will be commonplace - performing functions as diverse as

nursing, complex surgery, policing and security, through to construction, retail and hotel

service roles. All of the major vehicle manufacturers are working on autonomous or

driverless cars - a form of robot that we will see coming to market in the next few years.

9. Artificial Intelligence - Breakthroughs is Artificial Intelligence (AI) are accelerating - with

the development of computer software that has the capacity to mimic humans' ability to

learn and adapt over time to changing circumstances. AI is already in widespread use in

applications such as satnav systems, aeroplane autopilots, assessing credit and loan

applications in financial services, automated call centres and healthcare diagnoses.

Advances in AI will gather pace in the next decade. For example, by 2025, the interfaces

to all our devices from phones to computers, cars and home appliances will be highly

intelligent and adaptive - learning from our behaviours and choices and anticipating our

needs.

10. Internet of Life - In the next decade upwards of 100 billion objects from smartphones to

street lamps and our cars will be connected together via a vast 'internet of everything'.

This will impact every aspect of our lives - for example it could transform the criminal

justice system. By 2025, evidence in a court case will include data taken from body worn

cameras and microphones and sensors in everyday objects such as clothing, furniture

and even our coffee cups - proving exactly what happened and who was present at the

scene of a crime.

Rohit Talwar

CEO

Fast Future Research

December 21st 2014

rohit@fastfuture.com