The way i see it, artificial intelligence, automation, an the internet will drive a lot of changes in the coming 50 years<p>Right now almost every existing industry is being reborn  online. Amazon did it with retail. Uber is currently doing it with tranaportation. This interconnectivity is leading to increasing centralization in the quest of efficiency. Trillion dollar corporations might not be far off.<p>The internet coupled with AI and automation. will further transform entire industries. Low hanging fruit include banking, finance, accounting and legal indsutries. Will a bank branch exist in your city 50 years from now? Add robotics to the mix and then we are looking at serious improvements in quality of life. Machines could perform tasks requiring high dexterity and may match or exceed humans in this regard. When self-driving comes, it will transform how cities look and our relationship with transportation. Millions of lives could be saved. This wave of automation will put millions out of work - IIRC the trucking industry is the largest employer in the US. Since the invention of the loom people have predicted that machines would put the population out of work. So far, people have found ways to stay employable in the service of machines (making, operating and repairing them). But we may have peaked in that regard. People will find it increasingly hard to make themselves useful in this new economy. How will society respond? Will we adopt a basic income ? Will we achieve an Athens without the slaves? What will capitalism look like in 50 years?<p>Other stuff i cant even begin to imagine. How will medicine look like in the next 50 years? Our quality of life as measured by life expectancy may improve, but what about  the quality of those final years? Will we still just live long enough to be killed by cancer? What will combat look like? War? The current drone wars seem to hint at the direction we are going.  In the future, advanced nations might fight entire wars in far away lands without a single citzen being physically deployed. Will global deaths from conflict increase or decrease as a result? How will the enemy respond? What will our energy infrastructure look like in 50 years? Will we have free energy? Or at least close to 100% renewable? Or will battery technology or some other issue still stand in our way?