> 1.Before Nov. 2002 (Nov. 2004 at the latest)there will be a uniform electronic voting system in the United States. There will be no paper ballots or punch cards allowed. Election reform will be one of the most popular subjects ever. The electorial college will not survive until the next presidential election.

Sounds cool. It could be, though, that the old system would have to be preserved for those who refuse to use computers. The computers with which the theoretical exam of the driver's license is dine here are really simple to use, so that could be a solution.

> 2.There will be a boom in passenger rail service in the United States. Trains will be the main mode of travel to and through National Parks. Monorails and maglev trains will only see limited use. Trolly cars, with only minor differences from the ones that ran in the 1940, will make a comeback in a number of major cities.

Could be. Here in Helsinki area we have a very good public transport system, complete with buses, trams, subway and local trains.

> 3.Cuba will become a democracy early in the century and will enjoy a booming economy based on sugar and tourism.

I hope so.

> 4.Before the end of the century, English will be the primary language in developed countries. It will be somewhat different from the English spoken today and will incorperate many terms from other language.

This seems to be already happening. For example, it's very hard to graduate from Helsinki University of Technology without taking courses in English.

> 5.The lines between computers, cell phones, television, radio, telephones etc. will blur, and
> by mid-century will merge into one multi-media communications system.

Already happening, I think. The Finns seem to be quite good in this kind of things, take Nokia for example.

> 6. Sometime in the second or third quarter of the 21st century, people will arrive on Mars.

Hopefully.

> 7. Giant ground-effect machines will carry passengers world-wide. They will travel across open water and possibly some land areas. They will bear little resemblence to present day hovercraft and will be many times larger.
>
> 8. High-speed subways will link major cites with their airports. Some airports will be built in areas where there are no large cities. Their primary function will be to serve as airline hubs. They will likely be connected by rail, possibly subways, to cities up to 300 miles away.
>
> 9. Many of the wonders of the 20th century will come down in the 21st century. Many dams, skyscrapers, and tall broadcasting towers may be eleminated by mid-century.
>
> 10.Book and chalkboard schools will no longer exist. Electronic media will be the learning tools of choice by 2010. Students may communicate with their teachers mainly by computer.

This is already happening, too. Some of our courses do not require paper or printing at all. For example, lecturers don't have any transparencies, the whole presentation is on a CD-ROM and made visible through a video projector. We don't have any books for those courses, either. All material is available on the web.

> 11. There will be mind-boggling discoveries made in archeology and astromony. Underwater archeology
> will add much new information to the historical record.
>
> Did I leave anything out? Do you have any other ideas?

Can't think of anything to add.

Juho