Ian Pearson's Guide to the Future

Welcome to my guide to the future. This is an archive of all my older public domain articles up to Dec 2007 when I left BT. The more recent ones are on the Futurizon site at http://futurizon.com/articles/guide.htm. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful. The following articles cover a wide range of aspects of the future, mostly about the impacts that new technology will have on our business and personal lives. I write new articles regularly, and have been known to respond to requests for articles on particular subjects, so if you don't find what you are looking for here, drop me an email and I'll consider your request. But no promises. The articles are posted here in an unpolished form and sorted alphabetically. The titles are mostly self explanatory, and most could be prefixed with 'the future of...'. In some instances, attractive formatting has been lost while converting them for the web. Tough! I hope that you are more interested in the content of the articles than their aesthetic appearance, and remember, they are free and I'm busy!

 

All of the documents on this site are free to download for your personal use, though you must ask permission before reproducing or distributing them in any form. One of my roles is as a professional conference speaker. I do about 100 talks each year, many of which are keynotes at large conferences. I also write professionally (paid commissions do not appear here for obvious reasons). If you would like to discuss the possibility of my speaking at your conference, or accepting a writing commission, I will be happy to discuss rates. I also do lots of stuff with the media, so if that's your line, and you find something of interest, give me a call. My contact and other details are here. My email is idpearson@gmail.com

 

Note that most of the articles have a heading referring to BT’s futurologist. That’s because I was with BT until the end of 2007. I am now with Futurizon, www.futurizon.net.

 

  1. adastral park 2035 (Nov 2005)
  2. advertising (Jan 2001)
  1. the aged (Nov 1995)
  1. ageing (March 2002)
  1. air (March 2002)
  1. air 2 (March 2003)
  1. air 3 (March 2004)
  1. architects (March 2003)
  1. the arts (Jan 2001)
  2. babies (Jan 2005)
  1. bacteria (May 2003)
  1. a bad day in 2020
  1. bad dreams (Sept 2001)
  1. badges (Feb 2001)
  1. banks (Jan 2001)
  1. the bathroom (Jan 2001)
  1. big brother
  1. the boardroom (Feb 2001)
  1. books (March 2002)
  1. brands (Feb 2001)
  2. breast implants ( June 2005)
  3. breast implants 1 (June 2005)
  1. broadband 1
  1. broadband 2
  1. broadband 3
  1. broadband 4
  1. broadband 5
  1. buildings (Mar 2002)
  1. business (Mar 2003)
  1. but will it work? (Mar 2003)
  1. by 2020 (June 1997)
  1. call centres (Feb  2000)
  1. capitalism (Aug 2003)
  1. the care economy (Jan 2001)
  2. careers (Feb 2006)
  1. cars (August 2000)
  1. catalogue shopping (Feb 1999)
  1. Chaos - from order to chaos and back(Mar 2000)
  1. check-in (Jan 2002)
  1. chips everywhere (Aug 2000)
  1. Christmas (Dec 2000)
  1. Christmas2 (Dec 2002)
  1. Christmas for criminals (Nov 2004)
  2. churches, hippies and spiritual revival (Feb 2005)
  1. cities (Jan 2001)
  1. clothes (Jan 2001)
  1. communications (Feb 1999)
  1. community networks (July 1997)
  1. commuting (June 2003)
  1. computing in 2048 (June 1998)
  1. contact lenses (Mar 2002)
  2. convergence (June 2005)
  1. the countryside (Feb 1999)
  1. courtrooms (Jan 1999)
  1. creativity (May 2001)
  1. crime (May 2001)
  1. criminal justice (March 2004)
  1. cyberspace (Feb 2001)
  1. cyberspace2 (Mar 2004)
  2. the new dark age (Feb 2006)
  1. the dark side (May 2001)
  1. death (Aug 2000)
  1. diets (Jan 2002)
  1. direct action (Oct 2000)
  1. dna (Mar 1992)
  1. drivers of change (Aug 2000)
  2. driving (July 2005)
  1. earth (Aug 2000)
  1. ecommerce (Oct 1998)
  1. education (May 1998)
  1. education terminal (June 2001)
  1. electronic democracy (Feb 2001)
  1. engineering (Mar 2004)
  1. entertainment (Jan 1998)
  1. the environment
  1. the environment 2
  1. environmentalism (Aug 2001)
  1. everyday life in 2010 (Aug 1998)
  1. everyday life in 2020
  1. evolution (Nov 1995)
  1. fashion (Aug 2000)
  2. fashion 2 (April 2005)
  1. financial services (Feb 1999)
  1. flirting (Jan 2005)
  2. food (Mar 2001)
  1. friendships
  1. the future - a brief summary (Oct 1997)
  1. gambling (Feb 1999)
  2. gambling (Aug 2005)
  3. games (August 2005)
  4. games2 (August 2005)
  1. gardens (Jan 1999)
  1. globalisation (Aug 2000)
  1. globalisation 2 (May 2001)
  1. government (Feb 1999)
  1. a guide to the 21st Century (Aug 1997)
  2. hamsters (Jan 2005)
  3. health 2020 (Feb 2006)
  1. health care (Feb 2001)
  1. the high street (Mar 2002)
  1. holodecks (Feb 1999)
  1. the home (Mar 2004)
  1. the home (BTTJ Version)
  1. home LANs (Jan 1998)
  1. home nets (Feb 1999)
  1. hotels (Aug 2000)
  1. information waves
  1. instant messaging (June 2001)
  1. insurance (July 1999)
  1. investment banking (Dec 2002)
  1. IT in 2025
  2. IT in business (Feb 2006)
  1. IT in the countryside (Feb 1999)
  1. IT in the third world (Sept 2001)
  1. IT trends
  1. jobs
  1. kids bedrooms (Jan 2005)
  1. the kitchen (Feb 2001)
  1. learning (Feb 2001)
  1. leisure (Nov 1997)
  1. the leisure society (Mar 2003)
  1. life in 2010 (with pics) (Aug 1998)
  1. the living room (Dec 1997)
  1. local government (July 1997)
  2. loneliness (Nov 2005)
  1. managing (July 2001)
  1. manufacturing (Mar 2003)
  1. marketing (Aug 2000)
  1. marketing technology (Feb 2003)
  1. messaging (April 2004)
  1. the mirror (Mar 2004)
  1. mobile phones (Nov 2004)
  1. money (June 1998)
  1. nanotechnology and space
  1. nanotechnology brief (April 2004)
  2. the next big thing (Nov 2005)
  1. NBIC by 2030 (Oct 2004)
  1. network computers (Aug 2000)
  1. network resonance
  1. networks (Sept 2001)
  1. notes on 2020
  1. the office (Feb 1999)
  1. optical computing (July 1996)
  1. paper (Feb 1999)
  1. pensions
  1. people
  1. pets (Feb 1999)
  1. pharmaceuticals. (Nov 2003)
  1. the phone box (Jan 2004)
  1. policing (Mar 1999)
  1. power (March 2000)
  1. power structures (May 1999)
  1. pros and cons of future technology (Dec 2000)
  1. public transport (Feb 1999)
  1. pubs (Feb 1999)
  1. relationships (Feb 1999)
  1. resources (Aug 2000)
  2. retailing (July 2005)
  1. RFID brief (Mar 2004)
  1. RFID tags in humans (Nov 2004)
  2. road deaths (June 2005)
  3. Running faster (August 2005)
  4. Security (July 2005)
  5. Security (August 2005)
  1. self employment (Feb 2001)
  1. sex (Jan 2001)
  1. shopping (Sept 1997)
  1. shops (Feb 1999)
  1. skin 1 (July 2001)
  1. skin 2 (Mar 2003)
  1. skin 3 (April 2003)
  1. social benefits of IT (Jan 2004)
  1. social IT impacts (June 1997)
  1. social technology (Mar 2004)
  1. social technology 2 (July 1995)
  1. society (Feb 1999)
  1. sport (Feb 2001)
  2. Spiritual Revival (March 2005)
  1. the Starship Enterprise
  2. Stepford Society (Feb 2006)
  1. sticks (Feb 1999)
  1. sticks 2 (June 1992)
  1. the stock market (Aug 2000)
  1. storage based nets (Jan 2004)
  1. storage based nets 2 (Mar 2004)
  1. superstores (Aug 2000)
  1. surveillance (Oct 2001)
  1. tags (Aug 2000)
  1. technology development (Mar 2004)
  1. technology timeline notes (June 1997)
  1. techno-social interaction (Dec 2002)
  1. telecomms
  1. telemedicine (Mar 2004)
  1. teleportation
  1. television (Feb 1999)
  1. television 2 (May 2002)
  1. telework centres (August 2000)
  2. teleworking (July 2005)
  1. terrorism (Jan 2004)
  1. the City (June 1998)
  1. the future (July 1995)
  1. the matrix (When I'm 64) (Mar 2004)
  1. the net (April 2002)
  1. timeline 1993
  1. timeline 1997
  1. timeline 2000
  2. timeline 2005
  1. toys (Nov 2004)
  1. travel (June 1998)
  1. uncertainty (Sept 2003)
  1. university
  1. urban development (Jan 2005)
  1. video cameras (Feb 1999)
  2. virtual economy (Feb 2006)
  1. virtual reality dangers (Mar 2003)
  1. voice-data integration (Nov 2004)
  1. warfare (Jan 1999)
  1. wearables (Oct 1999)
  1. whats next? (Aug 2001)
  1. when I'm 64 (Mar 2004)
  1. why? (Jan 2004)
  1. wireless Liverpool (Aug 2004)
  1. women (Mar 2004)
  1. work (Oct 1997)
  1. yogurt (Nov 2004)