© _Tophee_


What will happen in ten years? How will our world change? The world becomes smaller every day. Thirty years ago we couldn’t really imagine ourselves having access to the globe at large, now we interact with people from multiple cultures on a regular basis. In our schools we encourage our children to walk a mile in someone’s shoes, who may be different from us. But in the future, will we really be able to walk a mile in someone's shoes, virtually?

It’s very hard to know exactly what the future will bring. But here are some of my personal predictions for what we will see in technology during the next decade.

Predictions for up-coming technology by 2020:

Virtual Reality: I think we’re getting very close to virtual reality, in games and in medicine. Why do I think this? The Nintendo Wii. The Nintendo Wii has any number of games now that border on enhanced reality. Games like Wii Fit use your balance to understand your movements. Wii boxing games or Star Wars lightsaber fighting games use the new style controllers to measure your motions and put them on the screen. Sounds like not a far jump to virtual reality games. Medicine has been grazing virtual reality with live-time x-rays and PTSD treatment for years.

Customized Technology: Smartphones, laptops, PDAs all offer a certain amount of individualization but I expect that in the next few years there will be a big push towards heavier customization. Each person has unique needs for their phones and computers and will expect these devices to be personalized.

Handheld computers: Well, not really. I just think phones are coming to evolve into role the laptops currently occupy. We used to say computers will continue to get smaller. My prediction, phones will just get bigger.

Free wifi: Everywhere. I think that every business will begin to offer free wifi in their building. I’d even go so far to say that whole cities will offer free wifi. A number of cities in America (Texas and California specifically) have already experimented with free wifi, and the response has been positive. I expect this trend to continue in much more accessible ways.

What are your predictions for the next decade of technology?