The one thing that all of those so-called futurists fail to add to the equation is cost vs. function. Is the new technology going to be affordable enough for the average person to buy and, is it an item we really need. While there will always be those people who must have the latest and greatest piece of techno crap, most of us like to "wait and see". The human mind has no limit to its creativity, it's the wallet that's often stuck in another century. And by the way, they will have to pry my mouse out of my cold dead hand before I give it up.

It's all to take our minds off the fact that the oil is running out, we are using resources we don't have, climate change is upon us and will get worse, the human race is hellbent on self-destruction (and on complete ruination of the planet) and technology is NOT going to save us. OR to provide these interesting future toys that none of us really want anyway. Rome is burning and this is just one of the stupid ways in which we are fiddling.

I, too, like the keyboard. And I also appreciate that "it is three or four or ten times faster to read a narrative than to watch a video." Or listen to an audio, I might add, which is why I prefer to read my books rather than listen to them on tape. But the worst thing about the future, if you ask me, is that ... I won't be around to see it.

Ronni,

I recently saw a movie called "Idiocracy" starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph.

It was no Academy Award contender but it made the same point you are talking about here. The dumbing down of America!

The two people in the film were ordinary low ranking military people who were chosen by their superiors to be frozen and locked in a capsule for one year.

To get an idea of their intelligence, Maya asks Luke if he thinks it's safe and he replies,"Of course it's safe,they tried it on dogs and all."

Well, something goes wrong and they stay frozen for 500 years. When they are awakened,the people they meet are so DUMB that Maya and Luke are now the most intelligent people on Earth.

The picture goes on to have a whole lot to say about the dumbing down of America..If it weren't so true it would be very funny; but I'm afraid it's true.

Ah yes, the individualized meds. Prescriptions are based on male & younger people rather than both sexes, weight, age, & metabolism appropriate doses. I won't be holding my breath for affordable tailor mades meds in my lifetime.

I do text, but often it goes back and forth so much that a phone call would be faster. But for anything more than a text (140 characters) I need a real keyboard - as a high school newspaper editor I learned to "think on a keyboard" and have done so ever since. Perhaps the next couple of generations can change their way of working, but I sure hope we don't loose all longer forms of communication. And I am so tired of seeing parents busy with their smart phones while their young children get no attention.

I especially liked this prediction ...
“Start new businesses that create jobs and solve real problems. Also, someone could create a Khan Academy that focuses on professional and vocational skills.”
Reid Hoffman

Now, if humans and other living things can just survive the smog and other forms of pollution that we are so happily and blithely creating in our self-destructive rush to the future, we might just succeed in surviving at least somewhat intact to appreciate some of these innovations. Sighhhh ....

Must take issue with your comment that if you can't write you can't think. That might be fine for a writer to say, but different people express themselves in different ways, say a painter or musician. The manifestation of thinking does not always have to come through the written word

I so agree that actual writing--unlike texting--requires thinking. And that thinking seems to be in short supply these days.

The proliferation of texting is disturbing in various ways. One is that these days I often see a young couple at a restaurant not talking to each other--just sitting there texting other people.

Or young adults so absorbed in texting that they cross the street without looking. I worry that I might run into such an oblivious young person, and it will be deemed my fault because I am old.

I usually just skip video articles entirely. Not only does it take more time to view the video, but the sound is different for almost every one so there's the time to adjust the sound. Then there are the never-ending ads. If it's really something I want to know, I'll search out the written version.

Long live keyboards--at least until voice technology is equally reliable, which is not yet the case. I hope texting as a means of actually transmitting information eventually disappears. It may be fine for sending short messages but that's about all. I've always liked to write, and as several other readers point out, texting involves very little thinking and, in my view, it is NOT writing.

Pessimistic though it may sound, I agree with Marian that most of this hi-tech c&#p is simply fiddling while Rome continues to burn around us. The Pacific NW isn't known for tornados, but we had one yesterday (small but still a tornado), and it's probably not the last.

Well, years ago . . . let's say starting about 1954 the 'future' taxonomies in education were predicted to be tactile - empirical - kenesthectic (take your pick). Though today I have read that only 5% of those of us actually learn through this method. I disagree, however, with the percentage. It is by far in the majority range (70 - 80%).

Do any of these sound familiar? Learn by doing. "Show me how, and I can do it." "Give me fish and I'll eat for day. Show me how to fish, and I'll eat for a lifetime. A picture is worth a thousand words.

As I wrote training materials, the design was always picture on the left page - brief (bullet text) on the right page.

When in the classroom, it was noted that the average person had the attention span of about 10 - 15 minutes. Surprising that today that's about the same period between TV commercials.

Sorry to say, we are all conditioned (behavorial response theory) to look then do.

When you think about opening up a box containing a new gadget - do you read the instructions first? Few do.

Ask Tech Support to interpret the instructions, and they'll have no idea what they admit. "Those were old directions. Just do as I say!"

So much today that is written in books is out of date by the time it is published. We should only be reading manuscripts and abstracts today!

Ronni, fewer and fewer read and do . . .

"Let me get my hands on it, and I'll make it work!"

(BTW: What's that 1-800 number for this new gadget I've got?)

If full-sized keyboards are bypassed, I will be giving up the computer. I hate texting and using a small keyboard or touch screen is no better.

Do you know that many schools are no longer teaching cursor and that 3rd graders are learning how to type even if only with a couple of fingers.

My 4th grader great-granddaughter types, manages a computer, a tablet, a cell phone as a pro. She and her brother get their school assignments via a school website they access and return papers to.

So many of the predictions of what life would be like in 2000 have failed to materialize, and I believe the same will be shown in 2025.

The one thing that will remain however will be the increase in Pentagon budgets and divisiveness in our country.

Too bad yesterday's blog didn't get to me until Tuesday since this one really touches a nerve. It's not that I have a problem with texting, which works for some things, although I despise Twitter and the whole idea of compressing any kind of intelligent thought into 140 characters. From the examples I've seen, e.g. in Huffington Post's "Twitterati," tweeting is for idiots. But the passing of email sorely pains me and I see it getting closer all the time. I lamented the loss of actual letter writing and that is now practically obsolete. Email was the only substitute we had, but I have been criticized for my letter length emails by family and friends. Too much to read, they say, even my history professor son. My response is, what the hell are future historians going to study if there is no written record of what people did or thought except in contentless sound bites or cat videos?

Futurism is obviously not an exact science and many predictions haven't come true---yet. But unfortunately it's often just a matter of time. The computer-driven dumbing down of the mass of society is almost unstoppable. Like another commenter, I liked "Idiocracy" for depicting the consequences of that. Another look into the future of a computerized world is "Super Sad True Love Story" by Gary Shteyngart. I am already seeing far too much of it coming true and it was only written a few years ago.