What the future holds

We can't fathom what the distant future might bring because change is so rapid and extreme that what we think of today may be reality tomorrow. Consider how much has changed just in our life times. When I was in college 20 years ago we had 9 planets, today we have 8 planets and 5 dwarf planets (Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris). The biological kingdoms have changed significantly. We used to have Plant, Animal and Protist. Now we have 8 kingdoms with subdivisions. It's so complex that I doubt the average 3rd grader could follow it. Look at this "Biological Kingdoms".

There are also lots of inventions that have occurred in recent years. My grandmother would be astounded that most people have a portable telephone that they can carry around in their pockets, use to send written messages and take photographs. She wouldn't be able to conceive of the idea of accessing an internet that did not exist in her day. Are there any door to door encyclopedia salesmen left? No?! The generation that will know encyclopedias as archaic books in libraries has already been born.

So we've established that there has been a lot of change and that it is occuring very fast. What kinds of changes might we anticipate? Perhaps the day is coming when we will have chips installed in our bodies that permit us to make phone calls and access the internet without the requirement of additional equipment. Maybe we will have even more advanced orthotics. In addition to orthotic hands that grasp perhaps we will have bio-mechanical eyes - a la Harry Potter - that see; and replacement ears that resolve otitis as well as providing hearing. The "bio-mechanical eyes" are not that far into the future.

Apparently the ear already exists.

Do you have any ideas of what new innovations the future might bring? Post them here!