Opinion by Dick Pelletier
As the future advances, humans will continue to radically change
themselves. Today, it’s mostly external – glasses, hearing aids,
cell phones, “smart” cars, and a growing global brain (the
Internet). 
However, during the “golden age of biotech,” 2010-2020, we will
understand much more of the inside of our bodies as we go about
looking for solutions to cancer, heart disease, brain disorders,
and other illnesses.
This search will eventually enable us to not only solve most of
our medical problems, but we will develop enhancements along the
way that improve our lives.
Then as we enter the “golden age of molecular nanotech,”
2020-2035, we will resolve all of our medical problems (including
aging). Enhancements will take center stage during this time and
the drive will not slow down until our bodies become mostly
non-biological.
However some people believe that biotech advances must come at a
price – the loss of authentic happiness or the loss of what makes
life meaningful, such as when we struggle, suffer frailty,
finitude, and eventually die.
(cont.)
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By Dick Pelletier
We often think nostalgically of our past as the “good old days,” but projected scientific and technological breakthroughs suggest the greatest and most exciting times are actually yet to come. Today, breakthroughs rush at us with amazing speeds and the golden ages of biotech, 2010-2020, and nanotech, 2020-2035, promise huge advances in health, entertainment and wealth.
Revolutionary biologist Leroy Hood predicts that in the next decade, we will understand individual genetic predispositions for most sicknesses, and develop powerful tools for preventing them. “We’ll move from a mode of medicine that’s largely reactive to one that’s predictive and preventive,” he says.
Experts believe that by 2025, nanobots swarming through our bodies will stave off most sicknesses and zap viruses before we even start to sniffle. By 2030, all diseases, including aging, will be manageable. And as we gain greater health and energy, we will become more actively involved with entertainment technologies.
Microsoft’s Bill Gates says TVs and computers are finally converging into a single media. By 2015, nearly every movie, TV drama and sit-com ever produced will be available from the Internet to your home, and voice-activation will make selecting programs as simple as talking to your screen.
Games will become more entertaining too with expected speeds of over 10,000 GHz. But no matter how far technology advances, certain aspects of gaming will remain constant. Marksmanship, speed thrills, and strategies will improve, but plots and characters of today’s role players, along with elements that charm the heart will remain pretty much the same as today.
Unlike today’s games that stimulate only sight, hearing, and touch, 2015 games will add taste and smell, creating more realism. As TVs continue to advance, flat screens will morph into holographic displays with characters seeming to hop into the room.
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