Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100

have been killed or injured in car accidents when the driver fell asleep, especially at night or on long, monotonous trips. Computers today can focus on your eyes and recognize the telltale signs of your becoming drowsy. The computer is then programmed to make a sound and wake youup. If this fails, the computer will take over the car. Computers can also recognize the presence of excessive amounts of alcohol in the car, which may reduce the thousands of alcohol-related fatalities that happen every year.
    The transition to intelligent cars will not happen immediately. First, the military will deploy these vehicles and in the process work out any kinks. Then robotic cars will enter the marketplace, appearing first on long, boring stretches of interstate highways. Next, they will appear in the suburbs and large cities, but the driver will always have the ability to override the computer in case of an emergency. Eventually, we will wonder how we could have lived without them.
    FOUR WALL SCREENS
    Not only will computers relieve the strain of commuting and reduce car accidents, they will also help to connect us to friends and acquaintances. In the past, some people have complained that the computer revolution has dehumanized and isolated us. Actually, it has allowed us to exponentially expand our circle of friends and acquaintances. When you are lonely or in need of company, you will simply ask your wall screen to set up a bridge game with other lonely individuals anywhere in the world. When you want some assistance planning a vacation, organizing a trip, or finding a date, you will do it via your wall screen.
    In the future, a friendly face might first emerge on your wall screen (a face you can change to suit your tastes). You will ask it to plan a vacation for you. It already knows your preferences and will scan the Internet and give you a list of the best possible options at the best prices.
    Family gatherings may also take place via the wall screen. All four walls of your living room will have wall screens, so you will be surrounded by images of your relatives from far away. In the future, perhaps a relative may not be able to visit for an important occasion. Instead, the family may gather around the wall screen and celebrate a reunion that is part real and part virtual. Or, via your contact lens, you can see the images of all your loved ones as if they were really there, even though they are thousands of miles away. (Some commentators have remarked that the Internet was originally conceived as a “male” device by the Pentagon, that is, it was concerned with dominating an enemy in wartime. But now the Internet is mainly “female,” in that it’s about reaching out and touching someone.)
    Teleconferencing will be replaced by telepresence—the complete 3-D images and sounds of a person will appear in your glasses or contact lens. At a meeting, for example, everyone will sit around a table, except some of the participants will appear only in your lens. Without your lens, you would see that some of the chairs around the table are empty. With your lens, you will see the image of everyone sitting in their chairs as if they were there. (This means that all participants will be videotaped by a special camera around a similar table and then their images sent over the Internet.)
    In the movie
Star Wars,
audiences were amazed to see 3-D images of people appearing in the air. But using computer technology, we will be able to see these 3-D images in our contact lens, glasses, or wall screens in the future.
    At first, it might seem strange talking to an empty room. But remember, when the telephone first came out, some criticized it, saying that people would be speaking to disembodied voices. They wailed that it would gradually replace direct person-to-person contact. The critics were right, but today we don’t mind speaking to disembodied voices, because it has vastly increased our circle of contacts and enriched our lives.
    This may also change your love life. If you are lonely, your wall screen will know your past preferences and the physical and social characteristics you want in a date, and then scan the Internet for a possible match. And since people sometimes lie in their profiles, as a security measure, your screen will automatically scan each person’s history to detect falsehoods in their biography.
    FLEXIBLE ELECTRONIC PAPER
    The price of flat-screen TVs, once more than $10,000, has dropped by a factor of about