| 15. |
Heavy dependence on oil will continue as long as oil is available. Alternative energy sources will play gradually increasing but modest roles for some time to come. When change in energy generation sources comes— due to dwindling oil supplies, higher energy prices, and new technologies made feasible by the high prices— the change is likely to be abrupt.
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| 16. |
Information technologies will continue to become faster, cheaper and more powerful. The Internet will reach more and more people in more and more places. Information will continue to become more and more widely accessible. Advantages of location in obtaining information will disappear. Countries with no fiber-optic Internet infrastructure will go straight to wireless. The Internet and entities connected to it will be vulnerable to cyber terrorism. |
17. |
Just as demand for oil will outpace supply, so will the demand for other natural resources and raw materials. China is likely to experience a raw-materials crisis. |
| 18. |
A growing demand for energy will collide with demands for steps to moderate global warming. |
19. |
Greater interconnectivity of the world’s peoples and economies will make the impact of some natural disasters more widespread. Growth of populations in vulnerable zones means the human toll of natural disasters will be large. |
| 20. |
As space-exploration capabilities improve and the earth becomes less and less capable of supporting its burgeoning population, the push for harvesting resources from and colonizing other planets will intensify. |
