Online Activity: Looking into the Future

             What does the future hold? What will the future be like?
             In this project students consider the problems of living in a society
            where the technology is advancing so rapidly they have a difficult time
           keeping up with it. One of the goals of this project is for students to realize
          that the future is coming faster than they think and that human beings
       will have to learn to adapt and will have to be creative in order to
     survive in this fast-changing world.

                 Describe what the world will look like in the year 3002. In your description of the
        future imagine someplace - your home, your neighborhood, your city, - and describe
   everything you see. You want your description to be so vivid that anyone who reads the
description can draw the place you describe exactly as you picture it.

Consider what the world looked like 1000 years ago - how is it changed since then?
Make sure your description includes changes as drastic as the ones that took place
in the last 1000 years.


		Think about the general question, what will the future be like? What is your general prediction on what you see as the 5 greatest progresses in the development of machines and mechanical devices in the next hundred years? Research the predictions made by other predictions to spark your imagination. Do you agree with what the others futurists are predicting? Why or why not?


		Consider the five technological developments that you came up with in Activity 2, for each technological advancement prepare a list of advantages and disadvantages for humans.


		Robots are often predicted to be one of the 5 greatest technological advances in the next 100 years. Will robots replace humans? How will the development of robots that think change your future? Imagine the job you wish to hold when you get older - could a robot be programmed to do that job as well as you?


		We hear a lot about "good" and "bad" futures. What do you think would constitute a "good" or "bad" future? Answer the question in terms of the future of society as well as your personal future.


		Now that you have some predictions for what will happen in the future and its positive and negative impact on society, what will you do to make sure that future is a positive one? What will you do to make sure the "good" future you described in Activity 5 comes to fruition?