Until 2100
Why imagine the future?
Because everything beautiful begins in imagination.
AI & Software
- Glasses or earbuds become the main carrier for AI agents
2030
Media & Commerce
- Video ads use AI to optimize the pixels themselves
- Major sites stay free for humans but charge AI for access
- Mainstream AI personalities emerge; humans crave their attention
Space
- First space data center comes online
Society & System
- AI tax filing becomes essentially free; tax agencies audit every return
- AI replaces a large share of white-collar jobs
Biotech & Health
- Brain-computer interfaces reach consumers
Robotics & Hardware
- Watching live sports in VR/AR enters everyday life
2035
AI & Software
- Every white-collar worker gets a 24/7 AI Chief of Staff
- AI creates a new and better programming language
- Humans can delegate to AI most things they can do themselves
- Voice replaces keyboards as the default human-machine input
Space
- First space-based solar power station beams power to Earth
- Humans stay on the Moon for over 2 weeks
Media & Commerce
- Celebrities widely use digital doubles for endorsement deals
Media & Commerce
- AI celebrities become mainstream commercial endorsers
- Immersive experiences become a fast-moving consumer good
- AI-generated films win mainstream awards
Society & System
- Governments raise AI-related taxes, triggering corporate exodus
2040
AI & Software
- Every app becomes highly customized to its user
- AI becomes the new OS, replacing today’s phone and PC operating systems
- Ordinary people get a 24/7 AI butler
Space
- Radio telescope built on the far side of the Moon
- First plant grown in lunar soil
AI & Software
- First public company with fewer than 50 human employees
- Generative UI replaces preset interfaces
Media & Commerce
- Video and 3D generation will consume massive compute
- AI automatically picks your clothing size
2045
Society & System
- Future battlefields are machine-first; humans move to the rear
- AI widens the wealth gap
- Gasoline cars become a niche hobby
Biotech & Health
- New-virus vaccine development drops to 3 months
- Human metabolism is precisely simulated and used for experiments
Space
- First mammal reproduction in space
- Permanent base built on the Moon
Biotech & Health
- First cross-species communication
- BCI-enhanced humans beat top FPS pros
- Most cancers conquered, but cancer doesn’t disappear
Society & System
- Labor flows into services; today’s social-good work becomes a profession
- The middle class shrinks, polarizing toward the top and bottom
Space
- First human lands on Mars
2050
AI & Software
- First organizations recognize AI consciousness, but mainstream society does not
- Quantum computers in mass commercial use
- Same year, all three Nobel science prizes credit AI as a key contributor
Robotics & Hardware
- The real world gets simulated online
- Smart glasses replace phones
Media & Commerce
- Custom items lose their price premium—clothes, furniture, jewelry all one-of-a-kind
Robotics & Hardware
- Home robots drop below $5,000 and enter households at scale
- AI rents robot bodies on demand
- Over half of the world’s cars can fully self-drive
2055
Biotech & Health
- Human organs no longer scarce
- Gene editing doubles crop yields
- Personalized medicine becomes reality
Society & System
- Mind training becomes as common as going to the gym
- Cities sprawl outward as self-driving makes longer commutes acceptable
Media & Commerce
- Going to the cinema is no longer the mainstream way to watch films
2060
Biotech & Health
- Egg freezing and delayed childbearing become mainstream for women
Society & System
- More people work in experience-based jobs
Society & System
- First UBI implementation in a developed country
- The 5-day workweek is no longer the default
2065
Biotech & Health
- Humans crack the puzzle of dreams and consciousness
- Humans technologically enhance their learning or memory
Space
- Lunar mass driver first delivers materials to Earth
- Permanent base built on Mars
Society & System
- New humanism rises, championing hands-on living over over-automation
- Work becomes a choice, not a necessity
2075
Biotech & Health
- Humans boost cognition through dreaming
- Humans modify their bodies on demand
Space
- First commercial asteroid-mining mission turns a profit
Energy
- Fusion becomes humanity’s primary energy source
2085
Biotech & Health
- Gene-edited babies legalized in multiple countries
Space
- First human baby born in space
Space
- Cosmic age of exploration begins
- Some off-Earth human colonies break away and self-govern
- First human-made object leaves the solar system
2100+
Biotech & Health
- Women can have children regardless of age
- Humans achieve external gestation of babies
- Humans upload or copy consciousness
Society & System
- AI helps humans create a new mainstream language
- AI individuals legally recognized with near-human social status
Hot Takes
As virtual experiences become trivially available, real ones grow scarcer and more precious
Money survives even in a post-scarcity society
The core of future education is helping each person learn how they learn best
AI helps more people become generalists
Advertising persists for the long haul; only its form changes
Games become a more central way of living and learning
Self-driving becomes the default for anything that moves
Self-driving cars, drones, and humanoid robots become the top 3 shipped machine categories
As long as people look for jobs, resumes won’t disappear
Public-space identity recognition via AR glasses remains restricted
Agent Skills become a new paid knowledge category
Mass-market AI gets cheap; the smartest, fastest AI stays expensive
High-quality, human-original data becomes extremely scarce
Compute supply chronically lags demand