Communications:
Software will be sold on a subscription basis. You’ll download the application and install it once, but you’ll need to keep up on the monthly payments to keep using it.
It is unlikely that computers will be replaced by hand-held units. The smaller screen size and awkward interface would be too problematic. Palm pilots will continue to merge with cell phones, though, until they’re the same thing.
Hard discs and compact discs should soon be replaced by memory cards.
Appointment-based television viewing will disappear. On-demand services will take over. Advertisers will have to get out of television and into places where it’s not just a guy with a remote control… like the movie theater.
Transportation:
Because of energy limitations, we’ll see an apparent regression here. Bicycles, rickshaws, and possibly even horses will be used to get around cities. The majority of families will no longer own a car. Transportation will become so expensive that telecommuting will be the norm, and going to an office will be considered an extravagance.
Incidentally, I was skeptical about virtual sex, but the high cost of transport could very well fuel a boom in downloadable orgasms.
Space travel will not have made any real steps forward. The most a manned flight will do, 50 years from now, is go around the world at high altitudes. Same as now. It’ll be cheaper, but still inaccessible to John Q Public.
Medical:
Heart disease, cancer, and the like will generally be nuisance chronic conditions.
But a disease like SARS will become a five-year event. Fifteen-year events will send some parts of the world back into the dark ages and cause political turmoil all over the world. Thirty-year events… don’t wanna think about it. But disease will soon replace terrorism as the major threat to national security, as terrorism has replaced nuclear war. OTOH, disease could very well cause terrorism and small scale nuclear attacks…
Political and Economic:
The republican party will split due to an eventual conflict of interest between fiscal and social conservatism.
Marijuana will be legalized - and not just for medical purposes, because the courts will not be able to spend a lot of time making that distinction.
Alcohol will be completely banned in several American states.
China will get Taiwan and let go of Tibet. One thing that won’t change - the average American won’t care.
America will decline from its economic leadership of the world. For a while, there will be no clear successor. America won’t decline gracefully, so I’m afraid this is gonna be a mess.
Meat will become a very scarce and expensive product. So get that fat and cholesterol while it’s still available, cause it’s going soon…