Tijd-capsule voorspelling uit 1987 over 2012

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A Message to Those Alive in 2012

Greetings! In writing these guesses about the technology that you will be using, I am assuming that there have been no gross discontinuities in human life from such catastrophes as nuclear war or an airborne mutation of the AIDS virus. From the standpoint of 1987, one type of technology that holds great promise for the next generation is nanotechnology, which involves the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules instead of the large solid objects that 1987 technology manipulates. With nanotechnology, it becomes possible to create structures in which every atom has a specific place and function. Such structures could for example, contain immense densities of information, rivaling and surpassing that of the human brain. This information would be contained in tiny volumes, as small as individual bacteria, so that the information could be processed much more quickly than by 1987's computers, be they made of carbon or silicon.

The techniques for nanotechnology were already being developed in 1987. Tunneling microscopy and X-ray holography can be used to visualize objects on an atomic scale. Molecular beam lithography and trapping of individual atoms by laser beams or magnetic fields have been used to move and place atoms as the experimenter desires. These techniques will surely be refined to the point where we become capable of doing engineering on the nanoscale as we can now do on the macroscale. It was this mastery of atoms and molecules which led to many of the most prominent features of the world you now inhabit.

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Probate and copyright law will be entirely restructured by 2012 because people will be frozen at death, and there will be electronic means of consulting them. Many attorneys will specialize in advocacy for the dead.

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What will life be like in the year 2012? There will have been no nuclear war, and the threat of such a war will have been removed by the mutual nuclear disarmament of the major powers. SDI, Reagan's ill advised Star Wars program will have come to nothing.

Japan will be the central economic power in the world, owning or controlling a significant part of European and American industries. This "economic dictatorship" will be beneficial to Japan's client states, since Japan benefits by keeping its customers healthy and wealthy. Indeed, a peaceful and prosperous world community will owe its existence to this Pax Japanica.

Many diseases will be curable: diabetes and gout, for example, will be treated by 'genetic engineering' techniques. Multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease will be effectively cured. However, AIDS will not yet have been controlled. It will have become the leading cause of death worldwide with millions of new cases each year.

The American economy will have experienced a gentle yet relentless decline. Our children will not live such comfortable lives as we do. The spread between the rich and the poor will have grown, and crime will have become so prevalent as to threaten the social fabric. The rich and the poor will form 2 armed camps. Most automobiles and heavy machinery will be manufactured in Japanese owned planets located in America. Yet, agriculture and higher education will be our most successful exports. There will be no fast trains connecting American cities, but a network of levitated superconducting trains will be under construction in Western Europe and in Japan.

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Op donderdag 16 augustus 2012 19:26 schreef Taperol het volgende:

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Dat deel is uitgekomen.

Grappig om te lezen is het zeker, even doorbladeren. Ze schatten de toekomst eigenlijk stuk voor stuk te ontwikkeld voor.

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Op donderdag 16 augustus 2012 20:14 schreef LXIV het volgende:
Ik heb ze allemaal gelezen. Deze man zat er wel redelijk dicht op:

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Verder: veel mensen hebben het over kernwapens of zelfs kernoorlog, dat was toen een issue. En niemand noemt informatietechnologie. Dachten ze toen al dat ze dat bereikt hadden? Internet of iets dergelijks wordt ook niet genoemd. Wel veel verwachtingen van de nanotechnologie.

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Op zaterdag 18 augustus 2012 21:23 schreef hellsgate het volgende:
Iemand Back to the Future gezien waarin de oude Marty McFly van 2015 een FAX krijgt met de text : You're fired!

Wie had toen (ergens in de jaren 80) kunnen denken dat de fax in 2015 zo goed als uitgestorven zou zijn?