essay how i see my life in 2030

For many companies—and many industries— the COVID-19 pandemic set off a period of head-spinning change. They realized they were capable of moving faster than they ever thought possible. They went digital in a matter of days, not years. They offered new services almost overnight. If companies sustain this newfound speed and agility, it’s conceivable that more innovation will happen in the next ten years than in any previous decade in modern history. Life in the 2030s could be vastly different from today.

In 2019, we launched a multimedia series in which business leaders and McKinsey experts describe what the 2030s might look like. We called the series The Next Normal , to refer to things that experts say could become commonplace in a few years but today are cutting-edge or even nonexistent: things like lab-grown meat , or digital wardrobes , or robot surgeons .

When COVID-19 took over the world, our use of the term evolved: the “next normal” became synonymous with postpandemic realities. But we’ve continued to ask leaders to look beyond the near-term future and envision their respective industry’s next decade. Scroll down to read some of their more evocative—and provocative—predictions.

Could our experts’ prognostications be wrong? Of course. But chances are, in 2035 or thereabouts, much of what’s described below will indeed just be … normal.

Explore The Next Normal

The future of video entertainment: immersive, gamified, and diverse, the future of shopping: technology everywhere, the future of space: it’s getting crowded out there, the future of the high-rise: creating people-centric spaces, the future of air mobility: electric aircraft and flying taxis, the future of capability building, the future of wellness: connected and customized, the future of business: reimagining 2020 and beyond, the future of car buying: omnichannel, personalized, and fun, the future of fashion: sustainable brands and ‘circular’ business models, the future of hospital care: a better patient experience, the future of parcel delivery, the future of insurance: faster, easier claims, the future of food: meatless, the future of packaging: smart bottles, edible boxes.

This interactive experience was a collaborative effort by McKinsey Global Publishing’s Imaya Jeffries, Kareem Parrott, Katie Shearer, Shirley Shum, Amanda Soto, and Monica Toriello.

A business journal from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

What Will the World Look Like in 2030?

September 8, 2020 • 8 min read.

Big economic, technological and demographic changes are coming, and the pandemic is accelerating many of them, Wharton’s Mauro Guillen says in his new book.

• Public Policy

Wharton’s Mauro Guillen talks with Wharton Business Daily on SiriusXM about his new book on the trends that are shaping our future.

Big demographic, economic and technological changes are coming — from an aging population in the U.S. and the rise of sub-Saharan Africa as a compelling middle-class market to automation causing “technological unemployment,” according to Wharton management professor Mauro Guillen.

In his new book, “ 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything, ” Guillen discusses how these changes will affect us in the years to come. During a recent interview on the Wharton Business Daily show on SiriusXM , Guillen noted that while these trends have been gathering pace for years, the pandemic is accelerating many of them. (Listen to the podcast above.) Rising inequality across income, race and gender will demand urgent attention, and government policy making will need to become more innovative to address such challenges. Individual responsibility will play a role, too, in areas such as climate change, he says.

An edited transcript of the conversation follows.

Wharton Business Daily: Why did you write this book?

Mauro Guillen: Everyone sees change everywhere, and I think it’s important to figure out where are we going to be five to 10 years from now. How are consumer markets going to look? It’s extremely important for businesses and also for individuals – as investors, as savers and more generally as citizens – to figure out what the future’s going to look like.

Wharton Business Daily: What role has the pandemic played in that change?

Guillen: The pandemic essentially has two different effects, depending on the trend. One is to accelerate and to intensify some things. For example, consider population aging. Inevitably in a recession, we have fewer babies. The mere postponement of having babies accelerates population aging, so problems related to Social Security and pensions will arrive earlier. Other types of trends get delayed, or even reversed, by something like this. One of them will be the growth of cities, especially in Europe and in the U.S.

“We’re going to have to think very carefully in political terms and in social terms about the implications of further automation, especially in the service sector.”

Wharton Business Daily: North America, Europe and Asia have been vital in the last several decades, but you talk about other areas of the world picking up and having a larger impact in the years ahead.

Guillen: I am very bullish on sub-Saharan Africa because of their demographic dynamism, and because the biggest cities in Africa are growing and creating an expanding middle class. Now, only maybe 15% of the sub-Saharan African population is middle class. But that proportion is growing. That will change the world, because Africa will soon become the second most populous region in the world.

Coming Shifts in Technology

Wharton Business Daily: What significant changes do you see in terms of technology?

Guillen: As a result of the pandemic, technology adoption has been progressing much faster, out of necessity. We’ve been confined to the home, students cannot attend school and so on and so forth. But we also need to watch carefully the new incentives for automation, especially in the service sector, that this public health crisis creates.

We’re going to see more automation. We’re going to see, unfortunately, more technological unemployment. Many other jobs have been lost in the American economy. I don’t think they’re coming back. We’re going to have to think very carefully in political terms and in social terms about the implications of further automation, especially in the service sector.

Wharton Business Daily: Would the increased emphasis on automation also influence policymaking and education?

Guillen: Yes. In terms of policy making, we have to figure out how to retrain people and how to help those people find other jobs. We may have to consider very seriously ideas such as a universal basic income , which you have discussed on your show on several occasions. This used to be a fringe idea, but it’s quickly becoming more mainstream.

Wharton Business Daily: We’ve seen a little bit of that here in the U.S. with the $1,200 stimulus checks that were part of a $2.2 trillion package of coronavirus relief measures. But what you’re talking about concerns how governments look out for their citizenry, correct?

Guillen: Exactly. It’s not just about being nice to people, which I think we should be. But universal basic income also has a business case. Remember, two-thirds of the American economy is [made up of household] consumption . If people don’t have jobs or don’t have well-paying jobs, then we need to compensate for that.

Wharton Business Daily: You also focus on how currencies may change. To a degree, we’ve already seen that with bitcoin.

Guillen: Yes, we need to seriously consider how entrepreneurs can come up with new ideas as to what cryptocurrencies, or to be more precise, crypto tokens, will be used for.

“I hope that the two presidential candidates start debating exactly how they’re going to deal with increasing inequality.”

If cryptocurrencies are just a substitute for the money that governments issue, then I don’t think we’re going to get too far because our regulators are always against cryptocurrencies as a competitor for legal tender.

But if we add other functions or other uses to those digital tokens — like if they will help us vote, keep politicians in check or provide incentives for people to save the environment — then there is a bright future ahead for digital tokens. So instead of digital currency, I would say digital tokens, which would include a currency component to them.

Inequality: The Next Frontier

Wharton Business Daily: How do we address the wealth gap?

Guillen: That’s a huge development of the last 20 years, and the pandemic only exacerbates inequality. Not everyone can work from the home, and therefore they have to expose themselves to the virus while taking public transportation to go to work. Consider students. It is estimated that up to 20% of K-12 students in the U.S. don’t have the hardware or the connectivity that they need at home in order to continue school work. This is the most unfortunate part of this pandemic, and it exacerbates inequality based on income and race.

That is true even by gender. Unemployment is growing faster among women than men. So, this is something that we need to pay attention to. I hope that the two presidential candidates start debating exactly how they’re going to deal with this increasing inequality.

Wharton Business Daily: Are we ready to tackle these issues?

Guillen: There is increasing awareness, but I guess we will have to wait until after the presidential election. But whoever happens to be in the White House and whoever controls the Senate come January, I don’t think they will be able to ignore the issue of inequality. We’re seeing social tensions and all sorts of frictions proliferate. The sooner we start tackling it, the better.

Wharton Business Daily: People are worried about various individual issues. But should the emphasis be on changing the overall mindset about how we want our world to look in 2030?

“We’re seeing social tensions and all sorts of frictions proliferate. The sooner we start tackling it, the better.”

Guillen: I do believe so. For example, many parents are now concerned about whether their children will be able to have the kind of life that they have been able to have. The way things are going, maybe only a small fraction of them will do better than their parents.

Here in the U.S., one of the single most important values that we have is that we want every generation to do better than the previous one. And this is becoming increasingly difficult. Millennials right now are suffering from — for a second time during their adult lifetimes — a very difficult labor market.

There’s more consciousness and awareness of this, and the culture will need to adjust in terms of revisiting some of our values.

Wharton Business Daily: How will the mindset of governments and policymakers need to change?

Guillen: The time has come to be a little bit more innovative, to explore things in terms of government policy making that 10, 20 years ago we thought were completely out of bounds. The problems have become so large. By the way, we haven’t even talked about climate change. We really need to start thinking outside of the box.

Wharton Business Daily: What should we be doing?

Guillen: We need to focus on two things. One is international collaboration among governments when it comes to climate change, but also in other areas like trade, where it is completely absent right now. The second one, which is the one that I push in my book, is we as individuals need to take ownership of this. We need to be less wasteful. We need to economize our resources. We need to be more pro-environment in our own behavior as consumers.

More From Knowledge at Wharton

How Financial Literacy Helps Underserved Students | David Musto

Cass Sunstein on Nudging, Sludge, and the Power of ‘Dishabituation’

Basel III Endgame Political Lobbying Efforts in U.S. Have Been Remarkable Says Wharton Professor

Looking for more insights.

Sign up to stay informed about our latest article releases.

20 Amazing Ways Your Daily Life Will Be Different in 2030

For more than 90 years, The Kiplinger Letter has been alerting its readers to important emerging technologies and how they will impact businesses, consumers and investors.

• Newsletter sign up Newsletter

For more than 90 years, The Kiplinger Letter has been alerting its readers to important emerging technologies and how they will impact businesses, consumers and investors. ( See our Greatest Tech Forecasts of the Last 90 Years .)

Over the decades, the Letter has helped readers understand the implications of a wide array of technologies — from airplanes, televisions and satellites to the Internet, smartphones and much, much more.

Forecasting the future is no easy task. Kiplinger reporters and editors dig deep, leaning on experts in academia and the private sector. We tap our sources in government to understand how regulations will affect emerging technology. Moreover, we look at past and present trends and apply careful, considered judgment to forecast and analyze coming developments.

In the following slides, we highlight some amazing developments that will shape your world in 2030. While many of the picks seem right out of the realm of dazzling science fiction, prepare for them to eventually become commonplace.

Your Technology Will Emit Scents

A typical day in 2030 will begin with a soothing voice emanating from your iPhone (version 14 by then, we figure) to bid you good morning, while the room fills with light and a scent of your choosing: coffee? bacon? The devices, advanced version of today’s plugins, will attach to phones or work wirelessly. Personalized scents will deliver a cognitive boost or a restful waft when you need it. Online shoppers will be able to sniff flowers, food or cologne before buying. Leading the charge: Many start-up firms, as well as leading purveyors of fragrance sprays and other scent-emitting devices.

• ON YOUTUBE: This Phone Smells Like Popcorn

Sponsored Content

Your Bed Will Adjust to You

In 2030, the only thing to blame for a bad night’s sleep will be yourself (or the kids/dogs/cats). You’ll generally sleep well, thanks to a bed packed with sensors that automatically adjust to your body’s pressure points. The bed also controls temperature and monitors sweat, stress and heart rate via sensors. Also included: a mobile app for combining sleep data with diet and exercise for personalized tips.

Your Fridge Will Handle the Grocery Shopping

Got milk? In 2030, your refrigerator will monitor inventory and order items you’ve requested to have on hand for dinner tonight. The Internet-enabled device will have a chip that allows it to pay for the items, too, without having to ask you for authorization.

Your Food Will Be Grown Vertically

In 2030, most food will look the same way it always has, but it will be produced much differently. Vertical agriculture will be all the rage — growing fruits, vegetables and grains in buildings controlled with artificial intelligence, rather than on horizontal land. Meat will be grown under laboratory conditions with stem cells taken from livestock.

The impact on agriculture, pollution and land-use trends will be profound. In 2015, nearly one-third of the world’s land was used to raise crops and livestock. By 2030, much of the arable land will be back to its natural state — a plus for the environment. Vertical farming recycles nutrients and dispenses with pesticides. Lab-grown meat reduces reliance on antibiotics. Reduced use of pesticides and antibiotics helps the environment.

And with food produced in growing facilities near population centers, there will be scant need to transport fruits and veggies across vast distances. Decentralized production will ensure fast delivery of fresh food, even pick-your-own, in the most remote and forbidding of places. In 2015, Alaskans welcomed the news of a commercial food-growing facility in Anchorage. In 2030, such facilities will be common.

• ON YOUTUBE: Vertical Farming Comes to Chicago

Drones Will Deliver Goods to Your Doorstep

A drone will deliver those groceries you ordered, right to your doorstep at an appointed time. Everything under the sun will be delivered by drones, as long as it is relatively light, under 10 pounds or so — things like books, chargers, batteries, medication and cleaning products. Need a summer outfit? Have a drone bring you shorts, sleeveless shirt, sunglasses and sandals. Forgot Valentine’s Day? Call in a drone to deliver flowers, a card and chocolate to your sweetie. Can’t find your kid’s soccer cleats before the big game? Order a new pair of shoes and have them delivered to the field. And so on — you get the idea. Many deliveries will take 30 minutes or less. Look for Amazon to lead the way with drone delivery.

• SEE ALSO: Surprising Jobs That Can Be Done by Robots

Your Wi-Fi Router Will Control Everything in Your House

Homes will be supersmart in 2030. Your Wi-Fi router will operate as a hub for controlling all of your appliances, entertainment screens, locks, lights, robotics, indoor and outdoor security sensors, heating and cooling systems, plus much more. Virtually every item in your home will contain a wireless chip that connects with your smart home system, allowing you to control appliances from anywhere.

Your Furniture Will Be a Shape-Shifter

By 2030, furnishings will be very movable. Imagine a bed, for instance, that stores against the ceiling during the day to create floor space. Or, floor-to-ceiling shelving that slides around to create separate rooms or one big one. Items will move with a gesture or light touch.

Furniture will transform itself, depending on your preferences. Tabletops will conform to securely hold various objects and even animate static objects.

Customization will be a hot trend, since living quarters in big urban areas are becoming smaller, partly to hold down living expenses and partly because many people no longer seek more room for “stuff.” Baby boomers, millennials and Generation Zers are downsizing, or not amassing things to begin with, renting goods and services as needed. Call it the “Uberization” trend.

• ON YOUTUBE: MIT Media Lab's Tangible Table

You Won’t Have to Drive (or Park) Your Car Yourself

Alas, still no flying cars in 2030. They’ll still be too pricey to incorporate into everyday use. Besides, there will already be enough things flying around (think drones of all kinds), not to mention larger fleets of airplanes.

But there will be lots of driverless cars, operated by a combination of artificial intelligence, very accurate electronic sensors, and advanced mapping and communications gear that lets cars “talk” with one another, and also with traffic lights and other infrastructure.

You will have the option to take the wheel yourself or to put the car on autopilot and let it take you where you want to go while you otherwise occupy your time.

What a relief it will be to negotiate streets effortlessly without coming to a dead stop in a traffic jam.

At your destination, you will exit the vehicle, and it will find a place to park itself. You might even program it to take a friend to the airport before returning for you.

• ON YOUTUBE: An Autopilot Ride in a Tesla Model S

Air Travel Will Be Much Faster

Supersonic jets will take you from New York City to London in about four hours. Jets will make the trip from NYC to Los Angeles in only two-and-a-half hours. Faster trips will entice more people to travel more often. Several passenger versions are on the drawing board, including at Boeing and at Europe’s Airbus. The Airbus version, dubbed “the Son of Concorde,” is projected to be able to fly at 1.4 times the speed of sound.

• ON YOUTUBE: Aerion/Airbus AS2 Animation

Facial Recognition Will Enhance Security

Getting through security checkpoints will be much swifter in 2030: no more handing IDs and boarding passes to security agents. Instead, facial recognition systems will confirm the identities of ticketed passengers as they steer their luggage toward its own screening.

By the way, hotel check-ins will be easy, too. You’ll access your room via your smartphone.

You Won’t Use Keys Anymore

Keys of all types will be pretty much outdated by 2030. Your mobile device will be programmed to lock and unlock doors at home, at the office and elsewhere. The secure software, which uses short-distance wireless signals, can be used on any mobile device. So if your phone runs out of juice, you’ll be able to borrow someone else’s device and log in with a fingerprint or facial scan. Phone stolen? Simply log in, and change the digital keys. Need to lend your “keys” to someone else, such as friends or contractors? Send a digital key to their smartphone, with a limited timeframe in which it will work — say, noon to 3 p.m.

• SEE ALSO: 8 Amazing New Military Technologies

Your Glasses Will Augment Reality

In 2030, a pair of lightweight virtual reality glasses will sell for as little as $200 to $400. They’ll help you function in your everyday world — seeing and hearing everything around you while receiving texts, interacting with talking 3-D images of people and more. Your gestures, eye movements and voice will direct the images you see in your VR glasses.

A real-estate agent might use such glasses to sell homes. Prospective buyers wearing augmented reality glasses will be able to visualize a building on an empty lot, for example — walking around it, seeing it with solar panels, etc. Doctors will wear them to read vital patient info while performing surgery. Heck, on the golf course, your glasses will tell you the distance to the hole, wind conditions, scores and more.

Wearers will even be able to lose themselves in an environment outside their surroundings. Experiences will include everything from climbing Mount Everest and visiting Mars to re-creating crime scenes and sitting down with an overseas relative in a virtual park.

• ON YOUTUBE: The Samsung Gear VR

Your Power Will Be Much Greener

In 2030, much of your power will come from blended sources, featuring natural gas (the biggest source), wind (number two), and smaller contributors such as hydro and nuclear in approximately equal amounts. Solar will be a smaller slice of the power mix, but far larger than it was in 2015. Wind and solar farms will operate at utility scale, with vast wind farms onshore and offshore and huge solar arrays in the southern U.S.

Coal use will continue to shrink, down by 2030 to about 20% of the overall U.S. energy supply, though that will still be a much bigger part of the country’s energy mix than solar power.

The blend will spell a much cleaner environment, at least in the U.S., with very little conventional air pollution from hyper-efficient gas-fired power plants, and none from solar, wind or nuclear facilities. There’ll be little pollution from most vehicles, either.

• SEE ALSO: New Military Technology to Make a Stronger Warrior

Your Home Will Have a Battery

In 2030, home battery power will be prevalent. Batteries will be just another system, like your hot water heater or AC unit — a boxy, heavy object that lives in the basement or garage and gets replaced as needed but otherwise goes unnoticed.

Battery storage units will protect against blackouts and store excess power collected by solar panels, allowing your home to be much more self-contained.

Batteries will also allow property owners to avoid peak pricing for electricity that’s supplied by the electric grid during high demand. Tiered pricing systems will be standard, doing much to encourage conservation when the grid is stressed. In fact, most neighborhoods and homes in 2030 will be considered “microgrids.”

• ON YOUTUBE: Elon Musk on Tesla Energy

Your Water Will Be Recycled. . .

. . . over and over again. Your shower will reuse water as you wash, for instance. Such devices, adapted from showers used in space, filter out dirt, soap scum and other particles and save nearly all of the water used every time you shower. Likewise, water from sinks and toilets will be saved and purified for reuse.

Such closed-loop systems will be a big help in preserving critical water resources, mitigating once-growing worries about severe water shortages around the world.

• ON YOUTUBE: Recycling Water on the ISS

Implanted Microchips Will Make Sure You Take Your Pills

Wearable — and, get this, implantable (more on that in a moment) — technology will be a big help when you have health issues.

Fitness trackers will monitor your vital signs 24/7, taking electrocardiograms, checking and analyzing blood glucose levels, noting your blood pressure and more. They’ll communicate the data to your health care providers in real time.

Your wearables will also call 911 and alert your doctor and others as needed if the device senses you’re having a heart attack or a stroke, for example.

Implantable microchips will dispense medications on a prescribed schedule, ensuring that you and your loved ones get exactly the dose needed without fail.

You’ll Get Personalized Medical Care Tailored to Your Unique Genetic Makeup

Personalized medicine will be in full stride by 2030, thanks to the big drop in the cost of sequencing a person’s DNA, so that each and every individual’s medical care can be tailored to his or her own unique genetic makeup. Each newborn baby’s DNA will be sequenced in a matter of hours, providing a lifetime of personalized strategies for disease prevention, early detection (key to keeping down costs) and treatment. Prescription drugs and dosages will be exactly customized to a person’s genome profile.

Your Life-Saving Organ Transplant Will Come From a Dish

In 2030, organs grown in a petri dish will be a blessing to many people on transplant lists. Folks who need a new heart, liver or pancreas will be among those who will get new life.

• ON YOUTUBE: Will Lab-Grown Organs Cure Cancer?

Your Smartphone Will Record Every Word You Say — for Better or for Worse

Forget what your spouse told you last night to be sure to do today? That won’t be a problem in 2030, when you’ll simply ask your mobile device to remind you. “Get concert tickets.”

Your phone or some other gadget will continuously record all of your conversations, wherever you may be, and will instantly recall the parts you request. Helpful, yes. Creepy, too.

You Won’t Pay in Cash

Paper bills and coins, even the penny, will still be around, but mostly in the realm of collectors or confined to just a few outlier transactions. Checkbooks will also be close to extinct. Even the use of credit and debit cards will fade fast by 2030.

Most transactions will be electronic, with your bank account information stored in your mobile smart device, which you can use to pay for goods and services. The financial dealings you will make on mobile devices (smartphones, watches, etc.), plus ones made on your behalf (your grocery-buying fridge), will be secured by advanced biometrics, such as voice, fingerprint and face recognition.

John Miley is a Senior Associate Editor at  The Kiplinger Letter . He mainly covers technology, telecom and education, but will jump on other important business topics as needed. In his role, he provides timely forecasts about emerging technologies, business trends and government regulations. He also edits stories for the weekly publication and has written and edited e-mail newsletters.

He joined Kiplinger in August 2010 as a reporter for  Kiplinger's Personal Finance  magazine, where he wrote stories, fact-checked articles and researched investing data. After two years at the magazine, he moved to the  Letter , where he has been for the last decade. He holds a BA from Bates College and a master’s degree in magazine journalism from Northwestern University, where he specialized in business reporting. An avid runner and a former decathlete, he has written about fitness and competed in triathlons.

Being the executor of an estate can be overwhelming, but breaking the process down into individual steps can help make it much less daunting.

By Brian Skrobonja, Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) Published 8 April 24

Deciding how much of your wealth to give to charity or your kids depends on your life stage. Here are key considerations based on age.

By Leslie Gillin Bohner Published 8 April 24

Economic Forecasts Major legal risks to text-generating artificial intelligence: Kiplinger Economic Forecasts

By John Miley Published 25 May 23

business We flag a wide variety of cool side hustles to earn bonus bucks for expenses both expected and unexpected as we begin to emerge from the pandemic.

By Bob Niedt Published 11 February 22

taxes If you are self-employed, minimize the odds of an IRS audit by avoiding these audit triggers.

By Joy Taylor Last updated 25 January 23

Economic Forecasts What’s in store for all sorts of business costs in 2022?

By The Kiplinger Washington Editors Published 12 October 21

Coronavirus and Your Money Although uncertainty and confusion have surrounded the Paycheck Protection Program since its launch, that shouldn't stop small business owners from participating in the loan program, which was just extended to May 31.

By Rodrigo Sermeño Published 30 March 21

Technology To help you fight identity theft, consider adding a VPN.

By Emma Patch Published 20 March 21

Tax Breaks If, like most people, you claim the standard deduction instead of itemized deductions on your return, there are still many other tax deductions available that could save you a lot of money.

By David Muhlbaum Published 5 March 21

Politics Depending on your income, the Build Back Better Act recently passed by the House could boost or cut your future tax bills.

By Rocky Mengle Published 20 January 21

• Contact Future's experts
• Terms and Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy
• Advertise with us

Kiplinger is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site . © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Life in 2030

• Hacker News

This is a written version of a presentation I gave live at the a16z Summit in November 2019. You can watch a video version on YouTube .

My day job is to think about the future, so I’ve been thinking a lot about what life will look like in the 2030s. What do we need to build? What social acceptance do we need? What business models do we need?

My daughter, Katie, is a high school junior, which means that when we hit the year 2030, she’ll be in her late-20s, heading into her mid-30s. In this presentation, I’ve imagined what a day in her life might be in the year 2030.

Like most of us, Katie has a morning routine to get ready for the day. It typically starts with a piece of technology—the toilet. Now, it may not look like it’s changed much, but in 2030—like most other things in our house—it will have become a smart toilet. That means it measures 10 properties of your urine, including glucose, and it looks for health problems before they present themselves. After Katie is done, she’s training for the marathon, so she’s ready for her run. Sorry, even in the 2030s there is no train-for-a-marathon pill that you can buy, so she has to log her miles. She slips on her exercise gear, including a shirt is made out of spider silk, engineered by DNA. It’s got sensors sewn into it that pick up health stats like temperature, EKG, and heart rate. It also has actuators, so it can bump her on the wrists to give her directional cues: turn left, turn right, slow down.

As more and more of us in the world crowd into cities, we need to be smarter about the space that we use. And so while Katie is out running, her room is reconfiguring itself from “sleep mode” to “eat mode.” It’s also got “work mode” and “party mode.”

When Katie is back from her run, she’s ready for breakfast. This meal is personalized specifically for her. It understands her genetic makeup, as well as the makeup of her microbiome, so it knows exactly how much lactose her body can break down. It’s also tailored specifically for her training regimen. When you’re training for a marathon, you need more protein. The amount of carbs that you need depends on how many miles you’re running that day. And you need a baseline amount of iron to make sure you’re carrying enough oxygen in your blood. So we take her workout plan and her health stats and we send them to the roboticized kitchen, which is going to build a meal specifically for her. It will deliver the food to her autonomously, via a delivery robot.

Now, one intriguing place where she could get protein is with something called cultured meat—meat that we’re going to grow in a bioreactor. After breakfast, Katie is ready to pick out her clothes for the day, which she does in conjunction with her smart mirror. Actually, the smart mirror is helps her to pick two looks: a physical-world look—that’s her hair, makeup, and clothes—as well as a virtual-world look. As Katie spends more and more time in virtual meetings, the way her avatar looks has become as important as her physical-world look. The mirror can preview both the avatar look and the physical-world look, and she can swipe through a couple options and select the look that she wants.

The last piece of her wardrobe is augmented reality contact lenses. In 2030, we’ll have tiny projectors and cameras built into contact lenses that will sync with nearby computers to basically give us a heads-up display on the real world. As people come into Katie’s field of view, she’ll get reminders about their names and the last time she had contact with them.

So now Katie is fueled up and ready to go to work. First, she consults her smart coach. Today, if you are a CEO, or a five-star general, or maybe director of the CIA, you probably have a chief of staff follows you around to all your meetings and helps you be the best you. In 2030, Katie’s chief of staff is software. It listens to every meeting she has and gives her real-time feedback. For instance, her smart coach might say, “Hey, you might have wanted to ask a question in that situation, instead of stating opinion.” The smart coach is also listening to every call, so it can automatically extract action items and block calendar slots for them.

Those calendar slots get booked depending on what kind of action it is, when it’s due, and how important it is. The smart coach knows Katie is a morning person. If you’re a morning person, it’s best to do your focused, analytical work in the morning and your creative work in the afternoon. But if you’re a night-owl, it’s actually reversed. The smart coach knows all of this and can block out all the right time slots on your calendar.

Katie has a big day today. She works in sales, and they’ve been preparing for a big call, which she’ll do in virtual reality. (Yes, there are still sales people in the 2030s.) Katie works at a company called Influencers, Inc., which builds products for influencers to sell to their fans. Think of it as an entire supply chain that can get behind somebody who’s becoming popular on social media.

The team has been preparing by doing a bunch of customer research and product development. If you wanted to build custom clothes to sell to an influencer today, that task would probably be a lot of summer interns, Excel spreadsheets, focus groups, and conversations spanning over the course of months. In the 2030s, this is all going to be automated with software in a matter of hours. We can ingest the influencer’s social media feeds to get a sense for her style, then we can adjust the social media feeds of her fans to figure out what’s popular in certain neighborhoods. We can then automatically generate candidate clothes to build and put those options in front of a human designer who can pick the best one and then put his or her own finishing touches on it. As a result, Katie’s team has three outfits that they’re ready to pitch the influencer when they have an audience with her.

Katie wants her team to practice for the sales pitch, so they head into a VR conference room. Katie’s team is global: she lives in Portland, her clothing designer is in Paris, the clothing manufacturer is in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the data analyst is in Lagos, Nigeria. But the VR room will do real-time translation, so the team members all hear each other in their native languages. But the system doesn’t automatically translate cultural nuance, so the team gathers in the VR room to build their cultural understanding.

The influencer herself lives in Tokyo, but none of the team has spent enough time in Japan to understand the nuances of the culture. So the VR room can simulate the influencer talking with various tones of voice and body language so the team can figure out her state of mind. Is she into it? Is she not into it? Are we in the right price range? Does she like these designs? When she says yes, does she mean “I love it and I want it,” or does she mean, “yes, I understand you, but I disagree”? Katie’s team practices all these things in VR simulation, so that when they meet the real influencer they have a much higher sense of cultural understanding.

When it’s time for the actual call, they do that in VR, as well. That way they can view the clothes in 3D, preview how the supply chain would work, and assess how would they actually manufacture these clothes. While this is happening, Katie’s AR contact lenses can superimpose an engagement meter over everybody in the room. When somebody’s engagement level falls too low, Katie knows to prompt them to lean in and speak up.

So the influencer seems pretty excited about the clothes, but she has some ideas of her own. Instead of just incorporating that feedback, the team offers to run an instant poll. If we were trying to set up an A/B test with a global audience today, this might take weeks. But in the 2030s, software automates this process so it can be completed the same afternoon. The data scientist finds people who have purchased clothes before and their lookalikes—that is, people who are likely to buy the clothes as well. Influencer’s, Inc. software creates and delivers an A/B test within a social media app and gives her fans the opportunity to provide feedback. In this way, the influencer can reach hundreds of her fans instantaneously. In turn, the fans can get paid instantly for giving this feedback. They can choose to get paid in a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Libra, or they can choose to get paid in Influencer Coin. If fans are convinced this influencer is only going to get more popular over time and her Influencer Coin appreciates over time, this gives the fans a way to participate in the upside of an influencer’s rising popularity. It’s similar to the way startup employees get to participate in the upside of their startups through equity.

Because we’re doing this with cryptocurrencies powered by the blockchain, we can do this globally and instantaneously. As soon as the fan gives feedback, they get rewarded. Once the feedback is returned, software automatically updates all of the documents associated with getting the supply chain to build the clothing, starting with the sales contract. The sales contract goes to the influencer, she sees the results of the instant poll, and she’s excited to see that a lot of her fans agree with her own taste. She digitally signs the sales contract.

That digital signature unlocks a chain reaction of smart contracts that are built and distributed throughout the supply chain. Everybody’s who’s going to have a hand in creating these clothes, from the fabric supplier to the button supplier to the dye supplier, will get a smart contract that stipulates the terms of their participation. All of these smart contracts are essentially pieces of software that tie the supply chain together, replacing the hand written or typed or word-processed documents that we’ve been using for centuries. Once the orders start coming in, the supply chain will get paid as soon as they deliver according to the terms of the smart contract (rather than waiting for weeks or months to submit invoices, get human approvals, wait for the foreign currency exchange to take place, and then wait for the local currency payment to arrive), and they too can choose to get paid in Bitcoin or influencer coin. In this way, the supply chain can also participate in the rising popularity of the influencer and experience the upside of her growing popularity.

Back at Influencers, Inc., Katie’s excited to have closed a new influencer contract. She’s going to celebrate with her favorite activity, which is drone racing. She heads to the mall, where a drone racing stadium has replaced the former big box retailers.

In this new style of entertainment, audience participation is woven into the game itself. As fans cheer for their favorite pilots, the volume and coordination of their cheers determines whether the drone pilots get a double or triple point bonus as they fly their craft through obstacle rings. Crowd participation influences the way the game unfolds. Katie’s pilot, Wonder Woman, comes in second. Because she’s such a high finisher, when Katie logs into the drone racing game on her phone, her drone has new capabilities.

After the drone race, Katie stops by a store called the Bionic Suit Store. Katie’s helping a friend move over the weekend, so she needs to get fitted for an exoskeleton that will help her move bigger and bulkier items. She stops by the store to get calibrated and comfortable with the controls. When she’s ready, she schedules the suit to be delivered to her friend’s house when it’s time to move on Saturday morning.

Then Katie’s ready to go home, so she summons an auto-pod. Her city, Portland, has recently replaced their light rail system with an autonomously summoned mass transit system. She can summon a ride just like a Lyft. The auto-pod is a private, one- or two-person pod that’s half the width of a normal car. It turns out that if you do the math, packetizing mass transit in this fashion is an excellent idea, just like packetizing data for the internet was. You can actually move more people from point A to point B in these private pods, even during rush hour, compared to trains.

Now Katie is back home and ready for some sleep. Before bedtime, she’s got one shopping errand and two important connections to make. Katie offered to host the after-move party at her place, and so she needs to rent some furniture. In particular, she needs to have a cocktail bar delivered for the weekend. She fires up her AR shopping app to see what’s available. The AR contact lenses render exactly what the furniture will look like in her space, so she knows if it’ll fit and if she likes the look and feel. She scrolls through some of the options and picks one to be delivered for the party.

Then she has two important connections to make. The first is with her pet kitty. Sadly, kitty’s been having tummy troubles. As soon as Katie’s AR contact lenses see the cat, they remind Katie that kitty is on day 5 of a 10-day course of antibiotics. The AR lenses remind Katie to mix the antibiotics in with the cat’s food. This is a CRISPR-engineered pet, so the cat also glows in the dark. This is awesome because the non-glow-in-the-dark kitty was very good at hiding. Now, jellyfish genes that produce a protein called the green fluorescent protein (GFP) are integrated with the cat. No more hiding.

One more important connection. Her grandfather lives in San Francisco; he loves living independently. But lately, as he ages, he’s been having trouble doing things like getting out of the couch or bending over to pick up a box. So he’s recently gotten himself a robotic tail, inspired by a seahorse, that knows what he’s trying to do and automatically counterbalances to make it easier for him to get up and down stairs, pick up boxes, and leave the sofa. The robotic tail needs to be calibrated every few weeks, which involves changing the counterweights in each of the vertebrae. Katie offers to do it for him.

Today, a lot of us help our parents digitally by logging onto their laptops and helping them with Gmail problems via remote desktop. But in 2030, Katie does that with remote robotic arms. The kitchen robot that’s in her grandfather’s kitchen has a remote control mode, so Katie can “dial in” and control the arms.

There’s one last thing to do before Katie goes to sleep. She’s been having these incredibly vivid dreams in which people are wearing awesome outfits. She wants to remember the details of those dreams, so she can share them with her coworkers. Just before she falls asleep, she slips on a headband will record her dreams in a way that she can share with her friends.

So what have we seen? We’ve seen better health through personalized food, richer data sets, and shorter feedback loops. We’ve seen a flipped supply chain that allows people with big fan bases to actually make their own lifestyle brands. We’ve seen easier ad hoc global collaboration that spreads the benefits of ownership much farther than today. We’ve seen tech that gives us superpowers, as well as a deeper empathy for cultures that we haven’t experienced before. And we’ve seen a set of new experiences, such as going to a mall to watch drone racing or having a glow-in-the-dark pet.

I know that predicting the future is a bit of an uncertain enterprise. I may have gotten some of the details of the specific products I’ve mentioned wrong, but I’m pretty confident in the direction of these products. That’s because I’ve seen a lot of work today, either in a startup form or corporate innovation form, that points in this direction.

So: how will we get to this 2030 vision? How do we build it? What technology do we need to build? What business models do we need to build? What privacy frameworks do we need to create? Let’s go back to the beginning of Katie’s imagined day.

For starters, a smart toilet is part of a broad trend towards longitudinal health data. That’s a fancy way of saying: let’s use cheap sensors to get your health data over time and use that data to predict health outcomes, such as kidney stones or diabetes. So what data do we have? We have the data that tracks your urine. We have smart speakers that listen to changes in your voice over time. We’ve got what you look like, in the form of selfies. So we have lots of data. We also have algorithms that can take this data and predict health outcomes. We can use selfies to predict skin cancer, we can use changes in your voice to predict depression or early-onset Alzheimer’s.

What’s missing is a business model, a privacy model, and an ethical framework to tie these two pieces together. Imagine you’re using Instagram or your smart mirror and an alert pops up that says, “Hey, do you want me to send all these pictures to your doctor?” I’m not sure I want to do that. Would it be any better if it offers to send it to an insurance company? It’s not clear what the business model is that ties these two things together.

Let me give you an edge case that shows how tricky this will be to design. Katie takes selfies with her BFF all the time—imagine that Katie’s insurance will pay for the skin cancer detection service, based on her selfies. Now imagine that her BFF’s insurance doesn’t cover that. What happens when the algorithms spot potential melanoma in her BFF? How do we design the right business models, privacy framework, and ethical framework to get the best health outcomes to everybody? It’s going to be tricky.

Next, how do we get to spider silk shirts? This is an amazing biological material. Ounce for ounce, this is lighter than cotton, tougher than Kevlar, not derived from petroleum, and biodegrades naturally. So why aren’t we all wearing spider silk shirts today? The short answer is it’s way too expensive. Spiders themselves don’t generate that much usable silk. You can’t farm it, because if you put enough spiders close together they start eating each other. So: bioengineering to the rescue. Using techniques we’ve recently discovered, like CRISPR, we can copy and paste DNA that codes for spider silk proteins and stick them inside E. coli. Then we can turn E. coli into a factory to build the materials that we want.

Until very recently, a problem with this approach was the DNA sequences that code for spider silk protein are very long and repetitive. So if you just do a copy and paste of that long, repetitive sequence, and then stick it inside E. coli, E. coli will break the sequences down and you won’t get the proteins you want. Recently, a team at the Washington University in St. Louis figured out a way to recode the DNA into shorter sequences and in a way that E. coli won’t reject it. They now have E. coli producing spider silk proteins that, when combined with other ingredients, make spider silk fabric. This is a perfect illustration of where we are with bioengineering today. We’ve discovered the basic techniques like copy and paste DNA. And now we’re working on the higher level engineering design principles that allow us to do things  that nature can’t more cost-effectively.

How do we get to robotic furniture? No technology breakthrough needed—you could actually buy this today if you wanted from a company called Ori Living. But this does illustrate a challenge, which is that our homes are turning into data centers. I’m guessing most of us do not want a second full-time job as a data center engineer, managing this fleet of software and equipment that we have in our house. We’re going to need a breakthrough in usability design that makes the experience of upgrading software for all of the devices in our house—every light bulb, every plug, every shirt—simpler. We’re definitely not there today; you probably have 10 devices that are all prompting you for updates. That’s not going to work when we have hundreds of devices in our houses.

How do we build customized foods? In particular, how do we get to the protein in these meals? One intriguing possibility is what’s called lab-grown, or engineered, or slaughter-free meat. Here’s the basic idea: We take a tissue sample from a pig or a cow, harvest its stem cells and put those stem cells in a bioreactor, a nutrient bath. When cells are in a healthy environment, they’ll multiply. If we can do that, we have the possibility to grow the meat that we want without raising and slaughtering animals. Growing meat in this way, in a bioreactor instead of on the field, would have several advantages. One, it’s definitely better for the environment. (Little known fact about global warming: 17 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are caused by cows burping and farting.)

Obviously, it’s better for the animal. And though the jury’s still out, we suspect that it would be better for us. It’s likely easier to keep this supply chain cleaner than managing the cold chain from a slaughterhouse to your refrigerator.

If we could do this, what should we do with it? We should probably start with the species that are under the most pressure today, like the overfished Pacific bluefin tuna. There’s potential to grow it, instead of fishing it. But we don’t have to stop there. We aren’t constrained by animals that we’ve encountered. From basic biology design principles, we could engineer meats that are nutritious and delicious from animals that have never existed before. That’s the potential of bioengineering.

Next: the smart contact. It turns out that the VR supply chain has already done a great job of shrinking projectors and cameras into very, very small form factors. So the questions are: Can we shrink it even smaller? Can we shrink it into a form that we could embed into a transparent flexible material, like what contact lenses are made of? And can we get them at a high resolution so that even though they’re tiny and embedded in a contact lens, we can see full-color text and images? If we can do all that, how do we add power and data to it? Believe it or not, there are already tons of companies working on each one of these problems.

There’s a Silicon Valley startup called Mojo Vision that demonstrated one piece of this puzzle, the high-resolution tiny projector. It’s made out of micro LEDs and is half a millimeter across. It has a pixel density of 14,000 pixels per inch. The latest iPhone clocks in at just under 500. So this thing has 30 to 40 times the pixel density of the iPhone and is half a millimeter wide. That’s like a 10th of the size of one of the black dots on a ladybug. But now that we’ve gotten it small enough and pixel-dense enough, there are still other problems. Can we put it into a contact lens? Can we get it power and data? There’s incredible engineering going into packaging all of these components in contact lens form.

How do we build a smart coach? If you think about what we want out of a smart coach that we’re not getting from Alexa today, it’s the ability to understand us much better and answer higher-level questions. There is already an analog device that weighs about 3 pounds and draws about 20 watts of power that can answer those questions already. And it can answer those questions despite the fact that it has enormous handicaps compared to modern computers. Its components are a million times slower, and it has a terrible memory subsystem. That device is our brain.

It’s possible that we can build things that are more explicitly brain-like to achieve a smart coach. And it’s certainly possible that we can get there on our current trajectory, which is more data fed to better machine learning algorithms. But there’s a potential shortcut on the hardware side, called a neuromorphic chip. It explicitly models the brain—how neurons are connecting to other neurons and adjusting their weights over time based on stimulus. Instead of using logic gates and zeros and ones, neuromorphic chips have connections with neurons that have different strengths over time. From a hardware point of view, we might be able to build a more brain-like computer.

On the software side, we also have a lot to learn from brains—even teeny brains that are young and relatively underdeveloped. For example, there’s a cognitive psychology experiment that has been conducted with toddlers. An experimenter is hanging up clothes in front of the toddler and drops a clothespin.

The baby reaches over and hands the clothespin back to the experimenter. No prior training, the toddler has never been in an experience like this, and yet, he’s figured out that the experimenter is going to need the clothespin to solve his problem. Not only that, the baby decides he’s going to help, even though there’s no promise of reward. Humanity for the win.

There’s so much going on in the base software of this toddler that we would love to reverse engineer and put into our smart coach. The ability to form what psychologists call a theory of mind, in other words, a prediction of other people’s desires, and goals, and emotions. The ability to break a task down into sub-tasks, without seeing thousands of similar examples. And third, and maybe most importantly, the built-in desire to help when it’s actually helpful. There’s a fascinating variant of this experiment in which the experimenter just throws the clothespin on the floor and doesn’t look at it. You know what most babies do in that situation? They don’t do anything. They don’t pick up the clothespin, because they’ve somehow figured out the difference between “needs help” and “doesn’t need help.”

If you’ve ever been in a room where the smart speaker suddenly interrupts your conversation because it couldn’t figure out the difference between “needs help” and “doesn’t need help,” you understand how valuable this is.

The next 2030 tech is the auto-pod. Most of this technology already exists because it’s a subset of what we need to build for self-driving cars. Because the auto-pods have their own right of way, they don’t have to deal with crazy pedestrians and bad drivers. They have a dedicated right-of-way just like the light rail does today. What we will need, though, is a lot of people to say yes. We need regulators, mayors, regional transit planning authorities, state and federal regulators to all say yes to this technology.

We’re still doing a lot of shopping in the 2030s, mostly online, of course. One thing we need is something called post-quantum cryptography. You might have read Google’s recent announcement that they have a quantum computer that has achieved quantum supremacy. In other words, this quantum computer can do things that a normal computer might take 10,000 years to do. One of the things that people have been itching for quantum computers to do is brute force attack the encryption keys that protect all of our messages and credit card numbers today. So, we’re on the hunt for new algorithms that will withstand brute force attacks against crypto algorithms.

The good news is that a worldwide community of cryptographers has been working hard on this problem. And NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technologies, has actually organized a Survivor-like process to identify all the candidate algorithms and successively vote them off the island, until we get to the standard named post-quantum crypto. They’ve been running this process since 2015 and we’re already in the second round of votes. We’ve gone from 59 candidates to 26, and the hope is that we’ll standardize sometime in the mid-2020s.

The last technology I want to talk about is admittedly the most speculative and potentially farthest out of all the products I’ve talked about: the dream recorder. But I want to share two amazing research projects that demonstrate we’re on our way, we have a path forward. If you’re going to record dreams, you need to interpret brain signals, the brain’s electrical activities and turn that into audio and video. Let’s take each of them in turn.

Researchers at Columbia University led by Nima Mesgarani have literally turned brainwaves into speech. They found epilepsy patients that were already getting brain surgery. They inserted probes into the brain to capture brain activity and had people listen to people talking. Then they used the resulting brainwaves to train a voice synthesizer—exactly the same thing that’s in Alexa today. It’s an audio stream from your brainwaves.

Now, could we do the same thing with video? Researchers in Japan published a paper this April doing exactly that. Instead of epilepsy patients with probes inserted into their brains, they took brain scans of people inside fMRIs and showed them lots and lots of images. It might be pictures, it might be a plus sign, it maybe letters of the alphabet. They recorded the brain activity, then used a popular technique today in machine learning called a deep generated network to build an image generator. It’s kind of the same technology that’s behind deepfakes today. The resulting images look kind of impressionist. Still, it’s amazing that we’ve gotten this far. It suggests that one day we might be able to interpret the brain in a way that we could literally record your dreams.

From this vantage point—when we haven’t built those technologies yet, but are on our way there—the future is amazing. I’m ready for personalized food. I’m ready for a healthier me. I’m ready for a healthier planet. I’m ready for smart coach. I’m ready for AR contact lenses. I’m ready to ride the auto-pod. And I’m ready for superpowers at work. I hope this presentation has made you more and more excited about the future that is coming.

Want more a16z?

Sign up to get the best of a16z content, news, and investments.

Thanks for signing up for the a16z newsletter.

Check your inbox for a welcome note.

Frank Chen heads our Early Stage Venture (ESV) Programs team and is responsible for developing company-building enablement products.

• 16 Minutes #57: Semiconductor Shortage and the Global Supply Chain Squeeze Frank Chen and Zoran Basich
• 16 Minutes on the News #52: Dall-E AI for Images; Direct Listings, SEC Ruling for Issuing Shares Frank Chen, Scott Kupor, and Zoran Basich
• 16 Minutes on the News #42: Nvidia + Arm Steven Sinofsky, Frank Chen, and Sonal Chokshi
• GPT-3: What’s Hype, What’s Real on the Latest in AI Sonal Chokshi and Frank Chen
• 16 Minutes on the News #37: GPT-3, Beyond the Hype Frank Chen and Sonal Chokshi

The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) is available at  https://a16z.com/investments/ .

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see  https://a16z.com/disclosures  for additional important information.

• The Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps Olivia Moore Read More
• How AI Will Usher in an Era of Abundance Anish Acharya Read More
• Why 2023 Was AI Video’s Breakout Year, and What to Expect in 2024 Justine Moore Read More
• The Future of Prosumer: The Rise of “AI Native” Workflows Anish Acharya , Justine Moore , and Olivia Moore Read More
• Marketplaces in the Age of AI Olivia Moore Read More

What Will the World Look Like in 2030?

By The Editors Dec. 26, 2019

• Share full article

Lab meat. Cyberterror. Influencer I.P.O.s. The Times asked 13 public figures for their predictions on the best and worst to come.

Opinion | --> A Decade of Distrust

The reviews are in for the 2010s and they are at best mixed. For good reason: You can stroll down the street talking to your far-flung grandmother on FaceTime while corporations and governments use facial recognition technology to surveil you. There’s been a multicultural renaissance in arts and culture and a sluggish, unequal recovery from the Great Recession. Donald Trump was elected president and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez emerged as a potential new face of the Democratic Party. Depending on who you are, some trends of this decade have delighted you, others filled you with dread.

The 2020s will surely be characterized by the same subjective mix of terror and excitement. But over what?

The New York Times Opinion section asked politicians, writers, technologists, thinkers and others what most excites or terrifies them about what will come between now and 2030.

Edward Snowden

Former n.s.a. contractor and author of “permanent record”.

The drowned cities of tomorrow will be founded on the conveniences of today. Electricity usage by data centers is enormous and expanding, threatening to top 10 percent of global electricity consumption within the next decade and to produce roughly five times the CO2 emissions of all current global air travel. As more power is required to cool these data centers, the warmer the planet will become; and as consumer electronics get cheaper and more disposable, the more they will leach their minerals into our groundwater, poisoning the future.

To achieve sustainability we will need to treat technological change and environmental change as symbiotic. If more efforts aren’t directed toward converting data centers to renewable energy, and innovating ecologically-responsible, recyclable machines and batteries, then the internet, too, will become a weapon of the rich, even more than it already is — a tool used to seize and control ever more scarce natural resources.

Andrew Yang

Democratic presidential candidate.

The greatest challenge of our time is automation, and by 2030 we’ll be experiencing its full effects on our economy and society. Technology can improve lives. It can also take away jobs. This is in large part how we have already ended up in a world where 78 percent of people are living paycheck-to-paycheck, most new jobs are contract or gig work and recent college graduates are drowning in debt while also being underemployed. Children are experiencing depression and loneliness at record rates because of smartphones and social media. Without understanding and getting ahead of much of this, we’ll end up at the mercy of the big tech companies. We need to re-evaluate the way we view work, put people over profits and create an economy that works for us instead of the other way around. I fear what will happen if we do nothing, but I’m excited by what could happen if we pick our heads up from our different screens and come together.

Editor at large, Vox.com

Every year, we kill more than 70 billion animals for food. The vast majority of them live lives of suffering, jammed into the grooves of our industrial agriculture system. But human beings aren’t exempt from its costs. Our meat habit is responsible for almost a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, a third of arable land use and more than 10 percent of the worldwide freshwater footprint.

Without the 20th-century advances in breeding, antibiotics, ventilation, transport and more, processing enough animals to feed the world would have been impossible. But the conditions were inhumane — and what that technology wrought, other technology may end.

The rise of plant and cell-based meat is the emerging trend that fills me with the most hope. The spread of Impossible Burgers and the soaring performance of the Beyond Meat I.P.O. have proven that there’s a multibillion-dollar market for clean meats, only now in its infancy. It’s entirely possible that by 2030 we’ll be on our way to growing healthier, tastier, kinder, cheaper and more environmentally sustainable meat — at a mass scale, without all the killing. If so, we’ll live through one of the greatest reductions in sentient suffering in history.

Stacey Abrams

Democrat from georgia.

In 2030, America will be only a decade or so from a becoming a majority-minority nation — a complicated transition fraught with challenges of identity and fraternity. In the meantime, the international community will also have to move toward net zero carbon emissions. Our only path to a thoughtful, responsive transition is a truly participatory democracy: Citizens will have to decide that we are something greater than a collection of individuals or political factions. Though we have been reminded in recent years that democracy is fragile, Americans are preparing for the challenge by participating in the 2020 census, registering marginalized communities and fighting voter suppression. By 2030, we’ll see whether our nation has stood true to its pluralistic roots and used the climate crisis as an opportunity to restore alliances here and around the world.

Alexandra Scaggs

Financial journalist.

Unless central banks decide to keep borrowing rates low indefinitely, by 2030 a roughly $12 trillion corporate debt bubble will burst and break the economy as we know it.

That’s when things could get weird: Americans will have to legally declare themselves to be businesses in order to find work — either contract work for a few surviving conglomerates or selling directly to customers online. Top influencers will fare better, raising millions of dollars in personal brand I.P.O.s. But most workers will live at the whim of sprawling, tech-led corporations — even line cooks and dishwashers, whose apps schedule them for shifts with little notice. Bloggers and writers will try to survive by selling à la carte subscriptions through Facebook-owned platforms. A drive to organize incorporated bartenders will fail once the Supreme Court rules they violate antitrust law by colluding to raise prices — a precedent that will effectively kill private-sector unions. Only shareholder prudence and worker solidarity will be able to keep full-time work a norm. But who, after the 2010s, can count on that?

Mike Gallagher

Republican congressman from wisconsin.

Here’s a dystopian future of which we should all be afraid and do everything we can to avoid: The internet as we know it is largely American, but by 2030 the Chinese Communist Party will have built an entirely new internet where Beijing attempts to monopolize key supply chains, stifle free speech and hoard personal data. The menace is already real. The C.C.P. is increasingly exporting its model abroad. Huawei and ZTE seek to build the world’s networks; WeChat and TikTok play a growing role in online discourse; Chinese cryptocurrencies could one day threaten the dollar. It’s not too late to stop — but we need a sense of urgency.

Caity Weaver

Writer at large, the new york times magazine.

By the end of the decade, ads will be the highlight of my days. I might, by then, have a child, who might occasionally behave in captivating ways — but it will be no match for my personalized ads. Mass customization is already, if not improving our lives, certainly making them more particular. Social media home pages auto populate with photos and videos (short videos, thank God) irresistibly similar to those we have previously clicked. And nothing is better attuned to our true selves than the tracking data that trail us like ducklings. Did you once consider buying a blanket online? You sound like someone addicted to blankets. Perhaps you’d enjoy seeing other blankets you could buy, in between images of friends?

I experience a Darwinian thrill observing my ads’ coevolution with me in real time. They memorize my soul and in exchange teach me that, yes, I would like to learn about an Australian shoe brand I’ve never heard of. In 2030, the only ads I encounter will be for products I would kill to buy, with no filler of irrelevant medications or home décor that fails to complement my aesthetic. They’ll be our new little loved ones.

Professor of international political economy, Brown University

Only one thing matters between now and 2030: climate change. Strange, then, that we will do nothing about it — for reasons of politics. The Republicans are denialists whose main constituencies are in states whose business model is carbon heavy. The Democrats are Green New Deal-ers at the grass-roots level, but the money people inside the party fear and distrust their base.

With that kind of split among the Democrats, it’s easy to imagine the plausible: Trump wins re-election, leaving the Denialist in Chief to continue at the top of the world’s most powerful government. With the Senate more or less structurally locked in their favor, Republicans will probably get one more clean shot at the White House in 2024. But thereafter, climate change will be “Too Big to Ignore,” and boomers will no longer be a decisive electoral bloc. At that point, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is either a kingmaker or obtains the nomination herself, and perhaps even wins. But this will be 12 years after we were told we had 12 years to fix the problem. Oops.

Jami Attenberg

Novelist, author of “all this could be yours”.

A decade ago, everyone was worried the internet would kill the independent bookstore. But nearly 1,000 new stores have opened in the United States since 2009. And the owners — in partnership with authors and readers themselves — are harnessing the dynamic nature of the internet like some wild and wicked young horse to promote their decidedly more fixed product.

“Bookstagram” and “book twitter” complement the bookstore, boosting retail sales and audiences for readings. For a recent book launch, I wrote postcards to readers who preordered my book through Books Are Magic then watched as the recipients posted images on social media, responding to what I sent. There is no playbook for any of this. We’re operating on instinct and genuine symbiosis. And community-oriented bookstores are thriving. That will remain the case over the next 10 years. We’re not letting go of these stores, or each other, anytime soon.

Dambisa Moyo

Economist, author of “edge of chaos”.

Forecasts suggest the world’s population could reach a staggering 9 billion people by 2030 — triple the population of the early 1960s. Much of this increase will come from the poorest regions of India, South America and Africa. Africa alone is expected to represent nearly half of the world’s population by the middle of this century; by some estimates, India is adding 1 million people to its working age population a month. If we don’t place international cooperation over national self-interest, the world will be unprepared for this population explosion, which could become a catalyst for greater global conflict with dire implications for the global economy, migrants and the environment.

Garry Kasparov

Chairman of the renew democracy initiative and former world chess champion.

I’ve made my share of dire forecasts — and as quite a few of them have come to pass, I’m often called a pessimist. In reality, I’m an optimist, issuing warnings in the hope of being proven wrong. Despite my professional focus on A.I. and the human-machine relationship that will define our future, the emerging trend I’m most concerned about is purely human. The free world is lurching toward a polarized, post-truth reality that reminds me of my life in the Soviet Union, where the truth was whatever the regime said it was that day. If the battle for a shared, fact-based reality is not fought and won, 2030 will make the outrages and demagogy of 2019 look like a golden age of comity.

Min Jin Lee

Novelist, author of “pachinko”.

When I was in college in the late ’80s, I went to chapel on Sundays. There were four or five undergraduates at the services; I didn’t hang out with them. I’d sit alone in an empty pew, mumble the hymns, then right after the benediction, I’d dash to the dining hall. I wouldn’t mention where I had been. As a Gen X liberal, I avoided talking to anyone about Jesus, God or the Bible. Going to church was awkward, isolating, uncool.

Campuses today seem to be blooming with faith groups. Jewish students can happily go to Chabad or Hillel House, and churchgoing Christians find support through a number of denominations without shame. Muslim and Hindu students are finding faith communities alongside students who identify publicly as Baha’i, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Mormon, Jain, Shinto, Tao and Unitarian. And respect for indigenous spiritual traditions is a norm on campus. The young people I meet around the country today are far more open about their religious practices than in years past. My guess? By 2030, religion will actually have a stronger hold on young people.

P.W. Singer

Cybersecurity specialist, fellow at new america.

Our cities, workplaces and homes will be “smarter” by 2030. That means nearly everything in our lives will be networked into profitable, energy-saving infrastructures — much of it prudently designed to ward off the worst of climate change. But the transition to an autonomous, always-watching-us internet of things will be bumpy. The economy, politics and even family life will struggle to master a world of evermore intelligent systems that operate in ways we understand less and less. Don’t expect the old sci-fi clichés of a robot uprising. Expect the rise of even more populist anger, driven by so much change so quickly; new crimes that exploit those very same networks; and a new generation of terrorists, able to hold an entire city hostage.

Larry David

Comedian, writer and producer.

Besides being a great bar mitzvah D.J. and amateur chemist, one of my unique talents is spotting trends. In 1964, I was the first to predict that jeans were going to be all the rage — and look how that turned out. That was also the same year I watched my friend get stoned and I immediately told everyone, “Hey, I think this marijuana thing could really catch on! People seem to love it!” Truth be told, I also predicted the demise of the bagel, but nobody’s perfect.

Be that as it may, I am prepared to state unequivocally that the next big trend will be outright, brazen, shameless lying. This, of course, originated in the White House and I’m already seeing signs of it everywhere. Even I, heretofore the George Washington of comedians, have succumbed.

Here’s just one example: Last week I attended the screening of a director friend’s new movie, which I hated. The next day, when he asked me what I thought of it, I told him I hadn’t seen it. He said incredulously, “What are you talking about? I saw you there.” I said, “No, you must’ve thought you saw me. There are always a lot of old bald guys at these screenings.” “But we spoke!” “Again, you’re confusing me with someone else.” At that moment, I saw him questioning his own sanity and I knew I was in. Three days later he was put in a straitjacket and taken to Bellevue. Yeah, this lying thing is going to be big.

Advertisement

• Tata Steel share price
• 165.15 -0.48%
• NTPC share price
• 363.15 0.03%
• HDFC Bank share price
• 1,535.80 -0.83%
• ITC share price
• 436.90 2.49%
• Kotak Mahindra Bank share price
• 1,825.10 2.40%

The world and life in 2030

What will life look like in 2030?

It is comforting to think that it will consist of “high-tech and communicative" houses, food that is “convenient, delicious, and healthy", and education provided by “superstar teachers".

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Trend Compendium 2030 predicts that extreme discrepancies between “haves" and “have-nots" will decrease globally, but they will increase within individual countries.

Yet, the global context is changing in ways that make such a world not only undesirable, but unsustainable.

For one, we have an increasing capacity to harm one another. The compendium predicts a proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including among non-state actors.

Moreover, we are bombarded with information about the actions of others, but often without the insight or understanding that would place them in context and recognize the human—and therefore humanizing—interests, values, hopes, and fears that motivate them. And if the compendium is correct that media will become more personalized, it is easy to imagine many of us choosing that media, which confirms our biases and reinforces our preconceived notions.

Recent years have provided disturbing examples of where an interdependent world with plenty of information, but little understanding, can lead. Cartoons depicting a revered prophet in despicable ways get printed in an obscure newspaper and—after months of poor decisions by media and political leaders alike— spark violence between communities.

As if in response, a conference dedicated to calling into question one of the most horrifying events in recent history is held under a government’s patronage, complete with a competition of cartoonists lampooning the historical tragedy.

We have enough information to know how to ridicule and denigrate one another’s most sensitive and revered symbols, but not enough empathy and compassion to understand why we should not.

The compendium is supposed to help leaders better guide their companies, communities, organizations, and—in some cases— countries. Its predictions inspire at least three ideas to consider.

First, while we look to governments to remove barriers to accessing information and to expand and protect the freedom of the press, we need media leaders to use the tools at their disposal to enlighten as well as entertain. If, as the compendium predicts, we are to witness a marked rise in “infotainment", how can we identify and communicate the facts and truths, which may be difficult or even dissonant for some to hear, but which are crucial to ensuring a real understanding of our world?

Second, the positive and constructive capacities of religious communities should be recognized, welcomed and cultivated.

The compendium predicts an increase in religiosity, but mainly stresses its negative consequence —growing radicalism. This may be accurate, but it makes the common error of linking faith itself to radicalism—particularly for Muslims—when it highlights what it terms “radical Islam". The most reliable studies and surveys prove that there is no correlation between devoutness of practice and extremist views in Muslim societies. Indeed, the common denominator of extremism is the perception of being under persecution, attack, and persistent humiliation, whether due to political oppression and lack of opportunities at home or political domination and occupation from abroad.

More importantly, we should recognize the fact that diverse religious communities offer some of the very capacities and resources that will be most needed if we are to deal with the challenges expected to confront us in 2030.

For one, there is the unparalleled reach of religion. In this era of globalization, it is easy to forget that nothing has achieved the global presence that our diverse religious traditions have. Synagogues, churches, mosques, and temples remain by far the most ubiquitous institutions from the most remote villages to the densest urban neighbourhoods.

And while religions get blamed for many of the world’s ills, there is at least as much evidence that they offer the deepest available reservoirs of empathy, compassion and humility, inspiring billions throughout history to act in service of others and even, at times, to forgive the unforgivable.

A world in 2030 marked by increasing intra-state conflict, expanding refugee and displaced populations, and rapid urbanization—with associated family dislocation and increased crime and drug rates—will need the service and leadership that religious communities are uniquely placed to provide.

Third, we need leaders who understand the implications of living in an interdependent world— that what is most urgently required is not only, and perhaps not even primarily, the intellectual capacity to grasp increasingly complex realities, but the deeper understanding and care that comes with empathy for others. If we cultivate this capacity in our leaders, the creative and entrepreneurial problem-solving spirit that we celebrate today will perhaps be directed towards ensuring that “your life in 2030" is free from want and free from fear no matter where you are born.

Shamil Idriss is acting director, UN Alliance of Civilizations and Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. Comment at [email protected]

Milestone Alert! Livemint tops charts as the fastest growing news website in the world 🌏 Click here to know more.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Wait for it…

Log in to our website to save your bookmarks. It'll just take a moment.

You are just one step away from creating your watchlist!

Oops! Looks like you have exceeded the limit to bookmark the image. Remove some to bookmark this image.

Your session has expired, please login again.

Congratulations!

You are now subscribed to our newsletters. In case you can’t find any email from our side, please check the spam folder.

Subscribe to continue

This is a subscriber only feature Subscribe Now to get daily updates on WhatsApp

• order now ✕
• How It Works
• Discount Program
• Additional Services
• Free Essays
• Affiliate Program

The World in 2030

The world is changing at an unprecedented intensity and rate. Policy makers, institutions and nations all over the world are finding themselves responding to these outcomes associated with these changes. Advances in science and technology have had profound impacts on society, which have played a crucial role in changing nearly all aspects of human life including how people relate, health, education, crime, governance. Communication, transport, entertainment, and sport among others. One of the most notable inventions that have changed human life is the Internet, which has been considered one of the most influential inventions of the 20th century. Moreover, the lives of people are being influenced by developments that were imaginable about 10 years ago. For instance, mobile devices like tablets and smartphones have revolutionized communications. Emerging technologies such as 3D printing, nanotechnology, robotics, genetics and artificial intelligence are poised to have significant impacts on the lives of people. Such advancements are likely to affect various domains of life at individual, national and global level. The aim of this paper explores the world outlook in 2030. To this end, this paper explores how politics, cyber warfare, cross-culture, terrorism hegemony and Internet will be different in 2030 when compared to the present.

Get a Price Quote

Globalization together with the increase in interdependence among countries is poised to change the balance of political power, which will make it challenging to individual countries to influence the course of events. There is no doubt that power is gradually shifting from the West to other parts of the world as well as to non-state and individual actors. It has been projected that, by 2030, the increase in middle powers will affect the balance of global and regional politics. A rising interdependence will affect security, technology and economic problems. As a result, a crucial attribute of global attributes will be energy and climate challenges as well as resource security. In addition, global politics will be rife with considerable security and conflict risks such as nuclear war and cyber warfare and cybercrime, which will still be prevalent as of 2030. An international political gridlock is a likely observation by 2030.

Another notable trend is that global governance institutions are increasingly becoming weaker. In addition, they are becoming less equipped with respect to managing societal, political and economic revolutions. With the weakening of international governance institutions, more governance layers that do not adhere to international values and norms will be established. It has also been projected that the future of the market-oriented and conventional liberal democratic order is uncertain. Countries having autocratic governance structures will report an increase in political as well as economic influence when compared to countries that will still be using democratic governance mechanism.

The world will witness a radical transformation in terms of global politics by 2030. The magnitude of change in global politics has been likened to the change witnessed during the French Revolution and the beginning of the Industrial Age albeit occurring at a more drastic speed. By 2030, Asia will be nearly regaining its global powerhouse status that it had before the 16th century. In this respect, it has been predicted that Asian countries will outshine the Europe and the US combined in terms of military power, population economy, technological investment, and overall power index. In spite of Asia being a powerhouse, it is imperative to note the likelihood of the diffusion of the global political leadership in the sense that no single nation or coalition will play a dominating roles as is the current state with the US that is dominating. In other words, by 2030, the international political environment will be multipolar, whereby various non-state and state actors and subnational actors like cities are posed to play crucial governance roles.

Cyber Warfare

In 2030, the threat level of cyber-attacks perpetrated by non-state actors will be higher than the current. In addition, the link between cyber warfare and weapons of mass destruction is likely to increase. It has been predicted that cyberspace will be characterized by an increase in non-state actors. This translates to an increase in access to disruptive and lethal technologies, which implies that people who are experts in technologies like cyber systems are likely to sell their systems to people who are willing to pay more including terrorists and competing state actors. The increase in cyber terrorism is a likely trend by 2030. Cyber terrorists will not focus on mass casualties; instead, they will place more emphasis on causing financial and economic disruptions. The vulnerabilities of cyber systems will also increase owing to the fact that only a few people will have an understanding of the crucial cyber systems. Three potential scenarios have been associated with cyber warfare by 2030s, which include causing mayhem, extensive financial and economic disruption, and using cyber systems for weapons of mass destruction. Causing mayhem already exists although it will be more prevalent in future. It is characterized by password theft, defacing of websites, and putting websites offline for a number of hours. Financial and economic disruptions are also being experienced currently. Their magnitude are expected to increase by 2030, whereby there will be frequent cases of theft of financial data such as the data belonging to largest securities exchange to an extent that it can trigger global financial crises.

Owing to the fact that the cyber economy is growing, disruptions in the Internet economy are poised to have significant impacts on the real economy. In addition, by 2030, cyber systems will be integrated in weapons of mass destruction. For instance, cyber terrorism will involve malfunctioning nuclear plants through the use cyber-attacks, disruptions of systems for air traffic control, and taking down the electricity grid among others. Currently, the level of these threats is low; however, the threat level is poised to increase with the societies increasing their dependence on software and the increase in the interconnected systems. The result is that the damage levels inflicted by cyber weapons will increase in magnitude and scope.

Cross-Culture

Globalization is having significant impacts on the families. It has a played a crucial role in increasing the number of multiracial families across the globe owing to the fact that it facilitates the global movement of people as well as interaction. With an increase in immigration, the rates of intermarriages are on the increase. As of 1960, only 1 percent of families in the US were interracial; however, as of 2008, 7.6 percent of American families were interracial. This trend has been increasing, not only in the US, but also across the globe. During 2010, about 3 percent of Americans identified themselves as multiracial. It has been predicted that the multiracial population in the US and across the world will continue to increase such that, by 2030, 20 percent of Americans will have a multiracial background. By 2030, the significance of race will have declined significantly. This will plays a crucial role in blurring the ethnic and racial lines because of the increase in people identifying themselves as multiracial. In addition, it has been predicted that the social stigma associated with being multiracial is posed to decline significantly by 2030s. By 2030, it is expected that the world will experience significant changes with respect to the ethnic and racial landscape, which can be attributed to increasing immigration across the globe facilitated by the interconnected nature of the world. It emphasizing the global multi-racial society that will be experienced by 2030, it is worth noting that, by the same time, the whites will no longer constitute the majority in the US. The world is increasingly becoming more diverse with the increase in the number of intermarriages. In the US alone, it is projected that the population of interracial individuals will increase threefold, which will render race labelling inapt.

Notable predictions have been regarding the state of terrorism by 2030. The first remarkable prediction is that the current trend of Islamic terrorism is expected to end by 2030. This will be attributed to the increase in political upheavals in the Muslim world and the emergence of new generation of Muslims who are less interested in the differences in fundamental aspects of the religion. Just as other terrorist waves reported in history such as the Anarchists (1880-1890s), anti-colonial terrorist movements that emerged after the Second World War, and New Left terrorists (1970s) ended, the current wave of religious terrorism is predicted to end as of 2030. The Arab Springs have helped in highlighting the moral legitimacy associated with a non-violent movement owing to fact that protesters in the spring championed for democracy and refrained from associating the protest with religion. Irrespective of the projected culmination of Islam-related terrorism, it is imperative to note that terrorism will not be eliminated altogether since other forms of terrorism such as cyber terrorism are likely to increase. Moreover, terrorism could emerge from other religions. Moreover, terrorist tactics is likely to change owing to the fact that terrorism will not focus on inflicting mass casualties; instead, emphasis will be on causing mayhem and disruption by going after important cyber systems.

It has also been projected that, as of 2030, majority of countries will have realized the tactical importance of Muslim terrorism, as is currently the case with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other Muslim nations. Many countries will acknowledge that the only way of reversing the strategic liability associated with Islam terrorism into a strategic asset is through funding it and targeting their enemies with it. This is not a completely new strategy; however, it will be happening on a whole new scale, which is likely to result in an increase in the number of Islamic militias having vast resources, experience, weapons and training. In other words, there is the possibility of state-managed terrorism, whereby countries are likely to make use of terrorist movements because of apparent insecurity. As a result, terrorist movements are likely to be used as a means of deterring attacks. Nevertheless, it is imperative to note that state-funded terrorism is on the decline amidst an increasing international disapproval. Moreover, the costs of a state funding terrorist movement is increasing significantly with an increase in global cooperation against terrorism.

Projections indicate that the current US hegemony is poised to end by 2030; however, no any other country will have hegemonic power. As mentioned earlier, the global political environment will be multipolar, characterized by power distributed among states and non-state actors. There is the possibility that, after the US hegemony ends, Asia is likely to regain its global power. In a multipolar environment, the influence of the US will be same as the influence of other emerging countries that would have achieved a “great power” status. The influence of the US has stemmed from its economic weight, as well as its hard and soft power. However, with the emergence of other nations, the unipolar environment is coming to end, which marks the end of dominant role that the US played in various domains including political, economic and cultural hegemony. The underlying observation is that, despite the fact that US will remain powerful, the world is ultimately changing, and by 2030, power will be distributed to various state as well as non-state actors like corporations.

Internet remains one of the most disruptive technologies that change a faster pace. The Internet is increasingly becoming more integrated to human lives with the increase in inanimate devised connected to the Internet. Projections indicate that internet users across the globe will reach 5 billion by 2020. As of 2025, the internet penetration rate is expected to be 47.13 percent. Amidst the increasing number of internet users, more than 26 billion devices will be connected to the internet. Moreover, technological development will make internet speeds faster than the current speeds. Current fiber optic connections support a maximum of 1 Gigabytes per second (Gbps). This speed is expected to increase to about 100Gbps by 2030. With such developments in speed, it has been projected that the Internet TV will replace the conventional television broadcast as of 2030.

From the discussion, it is evident that world would be different in 2030 when compared to present on various aspects including politics, cyber warfare, cross-culture, terrorism, hegemony and the Internet. Energy and climate challenges, resource security, nuclear conflicts and cyber warfare are likely to be a common feature of global politics. Moreover, international institutions will be weaker than they are now resulting in governance layers not established in accordance to international laws. Cyber warfare by 2030 will be on a higher magnitude than it is now because of the vulnerabilities associated with increasingly interconnected systems. In addition, the number of multiracial individuals will also increase significantly by 2030 to an extent where racial labelling will be irrelevant. It has been foreseen that Islam-related terrorism will come an end by 2030. In addition, terrorists will focus on causing disruptions rather than mass casualties. No country will have hegemonic power. Moreover, there will be a significant upsurge in the speed and usage of the Internet.

Related essays

• Criminal Law Foundations Evaluations
• Bioethical Dilemma
• Relationship Between the Police and Media
• Enviromental Racism
• Ethics in Criminal Justice Administration Analysis

• Lakhmir Singh

A typical day in 2030 Essay

A typical day in 2030 essay – 500 words.

Introduction :

A typical day in 2030 Essay: It would be amazing if I doze off to sleep today and wake up to a fine morning in 2030. But what if the day is critical ? Is it something that is going to benefit me or am I going to face something interesting that I have never seen before? Or is it going to be something that I might not find interesting? The world is rapidly transforming and eight years from now, the world is definitely, going to undergo a massive transformation that will astonish people. Technologically the world will make progress which will impact the lifestyle of the people as well.  In this essay, I am going to narrate a critical day of my life in 2030.

Also see: Important Essay Writing for your upcoming Board Exam 

Description of the day:

I will wake up in the morning, however, by not responding to the ticking of an alarm clock. I might have a biometric chipinstalled in my veins that will signal me for waking up. Besides this, the chip will help me to learn things within microseconds and store things in the brain. As the chip will be connected to a 20G network, it will also help to back up information. As a household help, I will have a robot as my assistant.  He is going to assist me in my household work. When it comes to having breakfast, I will no longer have to apply butter on a loaf of bread or prepare a glass of juice. I can take a pill that will satiate my appetite and keep me energized throughout the day. As I wear, contact lenses, I can replace those with Google lenses. With the helpof these lenses, I can see distant places and navigate them if I want to.  The biometric chip can also help me to get weather updates. I can driverless cab to drop me at my office. I will also avail my electric car for traveling. After getting back home, I can send signals to the grocery store which will deliver goods to my doorstepvia drones. The wi-fi router installed in my house will control the appliances, locks, and furniture. Moreover, it will enable me, to control appliances when I am outside my house. After I get back home, I will not have to unlock the lock with the key.  The doors of my house will have a face recognition device. Whenever I look at it, the doors will automatically get unlocked. The bed where I will rest will be adjustable and it will help to record my heartbeat and pulse rates. Moreover, it will have devices for instant cooling and heating the room. As a result, I will no longer have to rely on air conditioners or room heaters.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, it can be said that automation will take over manual control in 2030.  Advanced technology overrules the simple lifestyle of people. Besides being a boon advanced technology can act as a bane. Being too much dependent on technology can hamper my lifespan. It might get reduced due to the installation of google lenses and biometric chips. My life will become more mundanedue to less interaction with people around me. This is evident from access to driverless cars instead of cab drivers, robots instead of household help, and drones as delivery agents. I will be devoid of affections and emotions. I will tend to act in a heartless manner. Thus, a critical day in 2030 will be a perfect apotheosis of technological advancement bereft of human emotions.

Important Faq on A typical day in 2030

How will the typical day in 2030?

Ans. In 2030, the typical day will probably involve a lot of multitasking and working from different locations. We’ll likely be using virtual reality headsets and glasses to help us stay focused and organized, and our smartphones will be integrated into our daily lives in a way we never imagined.

In terms of the workplace, things are going to be a little more traditional. Most people will still be employed in traditional jobs, but companies will be looking for ways to make their workplaces more efficient and comfortable. This means that the roles of office worker, telecommuter, and remote worker are all likely to become more common.

We may also see an increase in the use of robots and AI in the workplace. Not only will they help us achieve our goals more efficiently, but they will also enable us to work smarter rather than harder. In 2030, being able to work smarter rather than harder is likely to be a major advantage for businesses.

How will peoples work in a typical day 2030?

Ans. In 2030, the typical day will consist of a mixture of work and leisure activities. After waking up and getting dressed, people will likely head to their workplaces. Throughout the day, they will be constantly interacting with others and working on various tasks. At the end of the day, they may want to relax or socialize with friends before going to bed.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

We have a strong team of experienced Teachers who are here to solve all your exam preparation doubts

Mp board class 7 social science chapter 27 bharat ki janajatiya solution, vidya niketan school manpur bairiya, patna admission 2024 – 2025 details, jkbose class 5 hindi chapter 17 lohri solution, duff and dutt class 10 2024 chapter 7 transformation of sentences solution.

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address

Remember Me

Essay on India in 2030

Students are often asked to write an essay on India in 2030 in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on India in 2030

Introduction.

India in 2030 will be a vibrant country, bustling with innovation and growth. It will harness the potential of its young population, becoming a global leader in technology and sustainability.

India will be a technology hub, with advancements in AI, robotics, and space exploration. Digital literacy will be widespread, empowering even the rural communities.

Sustainability

Sustainability will be a priority. Solar and wind energy will be major power sources, and cities will be greener, reducing pollution.

The India of 2030 will be a nation that values progress, inclusivity, and sustainability, making it a model for the world.

250 Words Essay on India in 2030

India, a land of diversity and potential, has always been a subject of global interest. By 2030, it is expected to undergo a significant transformation in various aspects, including economy, technology, and social structure.

Economic Growth

By 2030, India is projected to become the world’s third-largest economy. This growth will be driven by a combination of factors such as a burgeoning middle class, increased urbanization, and an upsurge in the manufacturing sector under initiatives like ‘Make in India’.

Technological Advancements

India’s digital revolution will continue to flourish. The country is likely to witness a surge in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other advanced technologies, fostering innovation and creating new job opportunities.

Social Changes

Societal changes will be equally profound. The expected rise in literacy rates and gender equality will drive social progress. However, challenges such as population growth and climate change could pose threats to sustainable development.

India in 2030 will be a blend of traditional values and modern aspirations. While it is set to achieve significant milestones, it must also address its challenges proactively to ensure a balanced and inclusive growth. The path to 2030 offers India an opportunity to leverage its demographic dividend and technological prowess to create a prosperous future.

500 Words Essay on India in 2030

India, the world’s largest democracy and second-most populous nation, is on a trajectory of significant change. By 2030, the country is expected to undergo remarkable transformations in various sectors, including technology, economy, healthcare, and social development. This essay delves into the prospective future of India in 2030, considering the current trends and future possibilities.

India’s technological landscape is expected to experience a major revolution by 2030. The country is likely to be at the forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, integrating physical, digital, and biological systems. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Internet of Things (IoT) will be more deeply embedded in everyday life, driving innovations in sectors like healthcare, education, and transportation. With the government’s emphasis on ‘Digital India,’ we can expect a more digitally inclusive society, with improved internet connectivity reaching the most remote corners of the country.

Economic Progress

India’s economy, already one of the fastest-growing in the world, is projected to become the third-largest by 2030. The country’s GDP is expected to increase significantly, driven by improvements in manufacturing and services. Increased foreign investment, coupled with a shift towards a more sustainable and inclusive economic model, will likely propel India’s economic progress. However, this growth must be balanced with environmental sustainability to ensure long-term prosperity.

Healthcare Developments

By 2030, India’s healthcare system is predicted to undergo a massive transformation. Technological advancements will enable more efficient disease management and patient care. Telemedicine and digital health records will become the norm, ensuring healthcare accessibility even in remote areas. However, the country will need to address the growing burden of non-communicable diseases and the challenges posed by an ageing population.

Social Development

Social development will be a critical area of focus for India by 2030. The country will likely witness significant progress in gender equality, with increased female participation in the workforce and leadership roles. Education will undergo digital transformation, making quality learning accessible to all. However, the government will need to address persistent issues such as poverty and social inequality to ensure inclusive growth.

The vision of India in 2030 is one of a technologically advanced, economically prosperous, and socially inclusive nation. While the journey will undoubtedly have its challenges, the potential for growth and development is immense. By capitalizing on technological advancements, fostering economic growth, improving healthcare, and promoting social development, India can look forward to a promising future. As the youth of today become the leaders of tomorrow, their actions and decisions will play a pivotal role in shaping India’s destiny in 2030.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Future of India
• Essay on Indian Heritage
• Essay on Indian Farmer

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

• LISTEN & FOLLOW
• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Amazon Music

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

The physical sensations of watching a total solar eclipse

Regina G. Barber

Science writer David Baron witnesses his first total solar eclipse in Aruba, 1998. He says seeing one is "like you've left the solar system and are looking back from some other world." Paul Myers hide caption

Science writer David Baron witnesses his first total solar eclipse in Aruba, 1998. He says seeing one is "like you've left the solar system and are looking back from some other world."

David Baron can pinpoint the first time he got addicted to chasing total solar eclipses, when the moon completely covers up the sun. It was 1998 and he was on the Caribbean island of Aruba. "It changed my life. It was the most spectacular thing I'd ever seen," he says.

Baron, author of the 2017 book American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World , wants others to witness its majesty too. On April 8, millions of people across North America will get that chance — a total solar eclipse will appear in the sky. Baron promises it will be a surreal, otherworldly experience. "It's like you've left the solar system and are looking back from some other world."

Baron, who is a former NPR science reporter, talks to Life Kit about what to expect when viewing a total solar eclipse, including the sensations you may feel and the strange lighting effects in the sky. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Baron views the beginning of a solar eclipse with friends in Western Australia in 2023. Baron says getting to see the solar corona during a total eclipse is "the most dazzling sight in the heavens." Photographs by David Baron; Bronson Arcuri, Kara Frame, CJ Riculan/NPR; Collage by Becky Harlan/NPR hide caption

Baron views the beginning of a solar eclipse with friends in Western Australia in 2023. Baron says getting to see the solar corona during a total eclipse is "the most dazzling sight in the heavens."

What does it feel like to experience a total solar eclipse — those few precious minutes when the moon completely covers up the sun?

It is beautiful and absolutely magnificent. It comes on all of a sudden. As soon as the moon blocks the last rays of the sun, you're plunged into this weird twilight in the middle of the day. You look up and the blue sky has been torn away. On any given day, the blue sky overhead acts as a screen that keeps us from seeing what's in space. And suddenly that's gone. So you can look into the middle of the solar system and see the sun and the planets together.

Can you tell me about the sounds and the emotions you're feeling?

A total solar eclipse is so much more than something you just see with your eyes. It's something you experience with your whole body. [With the drop in sunlight], birds will be going crazy. Crickets may be chirping. If you're around other people, they're going to be screaming and crying [with all their emotions from seeing the eclipse]. The air temperature drops because the sunlight suddenly turns off. And you're immersed in the moon's shadow. It doesn't feel real.

Everything you need to know about solar eclipse glasses before April 8

In your 2017 Ted Talk , you said you felt like your eyesight was failing in the moments before totality. Can you go into that a little more?

The lighting effects are very weird. Before you get to the total eclipse, you have a progressive partial eclipse as the moon slowly covers the sun. So over the course of an hour [or so], the sunlight will be very slowly dimming. It's as if you're in a room in a house and someone is very slowly turning down the dimmer switch. For most of that time your eyes are adjusting and you don't notice it. But then there's a point at which the light's getting so dim that your eyes can't adjust, and weird things happen. Your eyes are less able to see color. It's as if the landscape is losing its color. Also there's an effect where the shadows get very strange.

Crescent-shaped shadows cast by the solar eclipse before it reaches totality appear on a board at an eclipse-viewing event in Antelope, Ore., 2017. Kara Frame and CJ Riculan/NPR hide caption

You see these crescents on the ground.

There are two things that happen. One is if you look under a tree, the spaces between leaves or branches will act as pinhole projectors. So you'll see tiny little crescents everywhere. But there's another effect. As the sun goes from this big orb in the sky to something much smaller, shadows grow sharper. As you're nearing the total eclipse, if you have the sun behind you and you look at your shadow on the ground, you might see individual hairs on your head. It's just very odd.

Some people might say that seeing the partial eclipse is just as good. They don't need to go to the path of totality.

A partial solar eclipse is a very interesting experience. If you're in an area where you see a deep partial eclipse, the sun will become a crescent like the moon. You can only look at it with eye protection. Don't look at it with the naked eye . The light can get eerie. It's fun, but it is not a thousandth as good as a total eclipse.

A total eclipse is a fundamentally different experience, because it's only when the moon completely blocks the sun that you can actually take off the eclipse glasses and look with the naked eye at the sun.

And you will see a sun you've never seen before. That bright surface is gone. What you're actually looking at is the sun's outer atmosphere, the solar corona. It's the most dazzling sight in the heavens. It's this beautiful textured thing. It looks sort of like a wreath or a crown made out of tinsel or strands of silk. It shimmers in space. The shape is constantly changing. And you will only see that if you're in the path of the total eclipse.

Shots - Health News

Watching a solar eclipse without the right filters can cause eye damage. here's why.

So looking at a partial eclipse is not the same?

It is not at all the same. Drive those few miles. Get into the path of totality.

This is really your chance to see a total eclipse. The next one isn't happening across the U.S. for another 20 years.

The next significant total solar eclipse in the United States won't be until 2045. That one will go from California to Florida and will cross my home state of Colorado. I've got it on my calendar.

The digital story was written by Malaka Gharib and edited by Sylvie Douglis and Meghan Keane. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at [email protected].

Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify , and sign up for our newsletter .

NPR will be sharing highlights here from across the NPR Network throughout the day Monday if you're unable to get out and see it in real time.

Correction April 3, 2024

In a previous audio version of this story, we made reference to an upcoming 2025 total solar eclipse. The solar eclipse in question will take place in 2045.

• Life Kit: Life Skills
• total eclipse
• solar eclipse

How to build a better India by 2030

Hope for the future: India can build a more inclusive economy by 2030 Image:  REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:hover,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:focus,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);} Natarajan Chandrasekaran

Roopa purushothaman.

.chakra .wef-9dduvl{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-9dduvl{font-size:1.125rem;}} Explore and monitor how .chakra .wef-15eoq1r{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;color:#F7DB5E;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-15eoq1r{font-size:1.125rem;}} India is affecting economies, industries and global issues

.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;color:#2846F8;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{font-size:1.125rem;}} Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:.

• India can transform itself in the next days if technology creates opportunity.
• In India, 77% of workers currently participate in the informal economy.
• 90 million people will join the India's pool of potential workers in the next decade.

It is 2030 and India is among the world’s top three economies. Its citizens live with advanced technology in a mutually beneficial ecosystem. Technology creates opportunity. Its users have access to quality jobs, better healthcare, and skill-based education—all of which were out of reach just ten years before. In this vision of India, digital technology helps people bridge gaps that presently hold them back. This is a Bridgital Nation, and it's achievable within a decade.

Have you read?

Urban pollution: breathing new life into india's cities, how can technology help india an extract.

But it is 2020, and we are still on this side of the enormous gap that exists in health, education, justice, and wherever else we look. How will we get to the other side? For India, and developing countries more broadly, the answer lies in the tools of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The prosperity we envision will become real if we think just a little differently about how we can use the technologies bearing down on us to our advantage.

From digital to bridgital

We see digital technologies changing the world around us on a daily basis. From shopping to travel to work, nothing is untouched by digital advances. And the rate of advancement is only increasing. AI and automation are beginning to make their presence felt in our lives. Such has been their impact that they now come with the standard fear of job losses and worse. However, if we look more closely, this narrative applies to advanced economies. In developing countries, which have distinct characteristics, the advance of technology will play out differently. We believe that if applied properly, it will lead to more jobs and better jobs—an approach we call ‘Bridgital’.

Why do we believe this? Because India is ripe for exactly this kind of intervention. Unlike advanced economies, which possess mature markets and where innovation is focused on efficiency, India lacks markets themselves. For instance, there are 190 million adults still without a bank account. Technology-led approaches can create the new markets needed to meet the demands of the underserved. These new markets will bring new local jobs.

India trails global standards in many sectors. In healthcare, for instance, it has half the doctors and a third of the hospital beds compared to global benchmarks. It has neither the time nor the money to catch up with traditional means. When services are reimagined using technology, an additional layer of jobs emerge in mediating technology and existing resources.

In India, 77% of workers currently participate in the informal economy—working on farms or in low productivity jobs like construction or running small local shops. They earn only about $160 a month on average. For this vast informal pool, a contextual technology intervention could boost productivity and wages, thereby improving livelihoods.

In the coming decade, the largest economies will see reductions in their pool of potential workers. The developed world, with fewer workers available, will be busy innovating technology that can substitute for the workforce it is losing. But in India, 90 million Indians, many of whom will be under-skilled and under-qualified, will be added to the workforce. It needs to develop technology to boost its workers’ skills.

In mature markets, digital transformation is focused on increasing efficiency and automating tasks as a profit-making exercise. But in India, where Indians travel huge distances to see a doctor, or where millions of graduates apply for a few hundred positions, a digital transformation will have to take the form of augmenting human ability.

Opening up access to healthcare

Let’s look at the access gap in healthcare, for instance. Right now, there just aren’t enough skilled workers to meet demand. It will take a further 600,000 doctors and 2.5 million nurses to close the access gap.

The doctors we do have spend a quarter to half of their time on activities that anyone else could accomplish: filling prescriptions, logging appointments, administrative paperwork. With a Bridgital intervention, we could change how doctors work. Many pre-diagnosis activities currently undertaken by doctors could be turned into a checklist programmed on to a kiosk, a handheld tablet, or even a smartphone. These could be used by someone without a clinical background, but who has received three to four months’ training on the technology, freeing up the specialist medical team to treat more patients, while giving jobs to those less skilled.

The World Economic Forum was the first to draw the world’s attention to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the current period of unprecedented change driven by rapid technological advances. Policies, norms and regulations have not been able to keep up with the pace of innovation, creating a growing need to fill this gap.

The Forum established the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network in 2017 to ensure that new and emerging technologies will help—not harm—humanity in the future. Headquartered in San Francisco, the network launched centres in China, India and Japan in 2018 and is rapidly establishing locally-run Affiliate Centres in many countries around the world.

The global network is working closely with partners from government, business, academia and civil society to co-design and pilot agile frameworks for governing new and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) , autonomous vehicles , blockchain , data policy , digital trade , drones , internet of things (IoT) , precision medicine and environmental innovations .

Learn more about the groundbreaking work that the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network is doing to prepare us for the future.

Want to help us shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Contact us to find out how you can become a member or partner.

Technology also gives specialist doctors the ability to conduct virtual consultations with patients well beyond where roads end, providing access to primary care to the 65-70% of Indians who currently struggle for it.

The net effect is to create jobs and increase the supply of medical help: More than 80% of the gap in doctors India will needs by 2030 can be bridged by this approach. It’s a technology-based bridge built using India’s access challenge as an engine of employment.

This isn't simply theoretical. We have seen this at work in healthcare pilots across India. Doctors, nurses, unskilled workers, outreach health workers, and healthcare coordinators are all at work together in a district near Bangalore. Their work is connected by a common technology platform that allows for coordination between patients and doctors. As a result, patients who would normally have waited too long to see a doctor now turn up at the first sign of trouble. This has meant they can be treated at primary health centres, rather than at hospitals—the last resort. In the few months that the system has been at work, the number of visitors to primary health centres has increased noticeably. We noticed this difference in just one tiny district, and that too only in healthcare.

India is an 'antarlaapika'

Simply looking across six sectors—including transportation, healthcare, and the judiciary— this sort of Bridgital reimagining could lead to 30 million jobs.

In truth, we already have what it takes to create more and better jobs. We also have the capability to improve and make better use of the existing skill levels of our people, especially once we tailor digital approaches and technologies to our needs. We need to stop thinking of humans and technology as competing for the same work and instead realize that using both together will definitely be more powerful than either alone.

There’s a word in Sanskrit that suits India perfectly: antarlaapika — a puzzle that holds its own answer. India is an antarlaapika that can be solved from within.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Related topics:

The agenda .chakra .wef-n7bacu{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-weight:400;} weekly.

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

.chakra .wef-1dtnjt5{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;} More on India .chakra .wef-17xejub{-webkit-flex:1;-ms-flex:1;flex:1;justify-self:stretch;-webkit-align-self:stretch;-ms-flex-item-align:stretch;align-self:stretch;} .chakra .wef-nr1rr4{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;white-space:normal;vertical-align:middle;text-transform:uppercase;font-size:0.75rem;border-radius:0.25rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;line-height:1.2;-webkit-letter-spacing:1.25px;-moz-letter-spacing:1.25px;-ms-letter-spacing:1.25px;letter-spacing:1.25px;background:none;padding:0px;color:#B3B3B3;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;}@media screen and (min-width:37.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:0.875rem;}}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:1rem;}} See all

Explainer: What is the European Free Trade Association?

Victoria Masterson

March 20, 2024

India is opening its space sector to foreign investment

February 28, 2024

Health tech: this is how we harness its potential to transform healthcare

Shakthi Nagappan

February 13, 2024

Buses are key to fuelling Indian women's economic success. Here's why

Priya Singh

February 8, 2024

India is making strides on climate policy that others could follow 

Thomas Kerr

February 5, 2024

How collaborative action on smog could cast new light on India-Pakistan relations

Anurit Kanti, Muhammad Hassan Dajana and Syeda Hamna Shujat

January 29, 2024