Book excerpt: Technology constantly evolves, usually slowly and insidiously – but always just as surely. Things that are currently being developed in laboratories will be in the public domain as different products and applications perhaps as soon as in a few years’ time, and as more refined versions in around ten years’ time. This book deals with the future of technology, and explores the influence new technologies may have on life within the next twenty years. It is divided into three parts, the first of which discusses technological development and the forces and counter-forces related to it. This section also reviews how advances in technology are forecasted, and what kinds of parties make these predictions, and provides examples of forecasts for the next couple of decades. The second part of the book investigates the various areas of technology and their related trends. This section discusses current technological studies which may have concrete impacts in everyday life in a few decades, such as those in the fields of energy, transportation, biotechnology, materials, ICT, robotics, medical technology and space technology. The third part of the book introduces the authors’ visions of how technology may develop by 2035, and presents three different scenarios, or future worlds. These will demonstrate the possible directions in which technological development can take us. The scenarios are introduced through two main characters, Romeo and Juliet (adapted from Shakespeare’s play) in the year 2035. Even though technology is constantly changing, the writers believe that, even years into the future, the significance of human relations will remain the greatest influence on human life.