JeffTougas.com

            Thirty years from now, computers will be even more ubiquitous than they are presently.  Your clothes will contain computers that monitor and log your vitals; your contact lenses or glasses will contain computer monitors that allow you wireless access to the internet, which may be controlled via the chip implanted in your brain, or perhaps your baseball cap will contain non-invasive sensors to read your thoughts.

            You will no longer have to drive to work; your car will drive itself.  As a result, traffic will become multiple times more efficient, and automobile accident related deaths will reduce dramatically.  Cars will be able to safely travel over 100 miles per hour, thus longer voyages will become far easier to make.

            We will have neural-computer interfaces available to the rich, and virtual reality will take on a whole new meaning.  Applications ranging from training simulations for the military, to virtual (yet very real) meetings with parties half way around the globe come to mind.  This will be another enormous society-changing breakthrough in computing.  Keyboards and mice will be nearly extinct by this time, as the 2d or 3d displays will be directly touchable at the very least, or will be controllable simply by thinking the commands.

            Huge ethical debates will have climaxed or be near it by this time; truly intelligent computers will be on the verge of birth.  It will be possible to modify your baby before he or she is created to make them as intelligent, good looking, strong, and healthy as possible.  Not to mention the power to choose whether they’re a girl or a boy, what color hair and eyes they have, and other such things. 

            Human augmentation by digital means will be available.  Prosthetic limbs and organs will be highly advanced and able to function nearly at the same level, if not at a higher level, compared to the originals.  We may even have electronic devices that  repair and replace certain parts of your brain as they age and die, extending your life by decades.  Perhaps we will have the ability to “download” a humans consciousness on to a computer, thereby giving them eternal life.

            The possibilities are endlessly terrifying and exciting simultaneously.  We humans are obviously thrill-seekers, as a group, and so our technological advancement will continue at an ever faster pace.  It is difficult to predict exactly what the next five years will bring, let alone the next thirty years.. but one thing is for certain: Thirty years from now, the face of computing will be almost unrecognizable to consumers of the present.