What Will Happen in the 2020s
I predict the 2020&#x27;s will turn out to be the most difficult-to-predict decade yet. The predictions of the OP in my mind fail to account for several yet-to-mature disruptive technologies that will potentially transform our society to the degree the Internet and web have. The only prediction I&#x27;ll make is in the domain where I work:<p>By the end of the decade, most people will be wearing some kind of immersive computing device (glasses, contacts, perhaps neurological etc) all day which allow software to proxy most aspects of their visual and audio perception, perhaps more.<p>Among the many results of this change, the most profound will be the loss of physical co-presence as a factor for interacting with other people. People will routinely &#x27;beam in&#x27; each other (similar to FaceTime conceptually, but with no visual or auditory perceptual deficiency vs being together in person) in varying contexts for varying purposes.<p>The technical miracle aside, this will cause a fundamental shift in the way we think about what it means to &quot;be&quot; with other people -- the dependence upon physical co-locality will be no longer something we place highly in our mental model for spending time with others, other than children.<p>This will affect nearly every industry in terms of economics, some sectors potentially catastrophically like long distance transportation, but the biggest effect will be degree to which we will become able to empathize with others around the world and create novel, deeply impactful forms of interacting with others in a physical and emotional sense.<p>I suspect, perhaps hope, that the dominating result will be that, in combination with new forms of media based upon these new technological marvels, we will be able to greatly reduce or eliminate the tribalist tendencies we have for one another when those &#x27;others&#x27; are out-of-reach for us to talk with, hug, dance with, and learn from.<p>In 2030, you&#x27;ll be able to hug anyone on Earth instantly, and that&#x27;s something to be optimistic about.