Future Forecasting

A timeline of the future in forecasts is a list of credible forecasts of near-future events and developments in all areas of science, technology, society and the environment.

Forecasting informs the planning and policy making processes within all governments and commercial organizations. Forecasts may be either qualitative extrapolations from a current state or quantitative output from models or simulations based on historical data and trends.

Forecasts are published by:

·       research and statistics departments within governments and leading commercial companies in a given field.

·       NGOs, think tanks and international organizations.

·       professional organizations and their associations and governing bodies.

·       academic bodies.

In addition, leading experts in a particular field develop and publish their own individual forecasts, and notable thinkers called futurists formulate independent visions of the future.

Forecasting is obviously not an exact science, and different experts may legitimately forecast different dates for the same event, because they use different models or assumptions. This page is organized by topic, allowing different forecasts of the same event to be compared side by side. Although the forecasts in this article are produced by professionals, no judgment is made as to their accuracy.

As far back as the nineteenth century, scholars and scientists made predictions about the future. Lord Kelvin, "One Heck of a Prognosticator, president of the Royal Society in the 1890s, and disbeliever in virtually every scientific discovery," claimed that “Radio has no future,” “I have not the smallest molecule of faith in aerial navigation other than ballooning,” and “X-rays will prove to be a hoax;” Orville Wright, in 1908 claimed that “No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris;” and Irving Thalberg, MGM movie producer, asserted in 1927 that “Novelty is always welcome, but talking pictures are just a fad.”   Thus, making forecasts of the future has a historic basis in which many of the predictions by even experts have proven inaccurate.

The World Future Society offers 5 forecasts they believe will take place between today and 2025.

Forecast #1:
Electric cars powered by fuel cells earn extra cash for their owners—Your next car may help pay for itself by selling its excess electricity back to the power company

Forecast #2:
Open-source robot blueprints cut the cost of robots by 90%—Robot development may soon dramatically accelerate thanks to new open-source hardware-sharing systems.

Forecast #3:
Smart phones help spur political reform in Africa—Web-accessible mobile devices have proliferated in Africa, where text messaging and social networking are giving low-income residents more opportunities to watch their governments.

Forecast #4:
The world’s oceans may face “mass extinction event.” Reasons: a “deadly triad” of pollution, overfishing, and climate change impacting the world’s ocean habitats.

Forecast #5:
The “cloud” will become more intelligent, not just a place to store data—Cloud intelligence will evolve into becoming an active resource in our daily lives, providing analysis and contextual advice.