Pearson also predicts a breakthrough in computer human links. By linking directly to our nervous system, computers could pick up what we feel and, hopefully, simulate feeling too so that we can start to develop full sensory environments, rather like the holidays in Total Recall or the Star Trek holodeck, he says. 74)But that, Pearson points out, is only the start of man-machine integration:It will be the beginning of the long process of integration that will ultimately lead to a fully electronic human before the end of the next century.
Through his research, Pearson is able to put dates to most of the breakthroughs that can be predicted. However, there are still no forecasts for when faster-than-light travel will be available, or when human cloning will be perfected, or when time travel will be possible. But he does expect social problems as a result of technological advances. A boom in neighborhood surveillance cameras will, for example, cause problems in 2010, while the arrival of synthetic lifelike robots will mean people may not be able to distinguish between their human friends and the droids. 75)And home appliances will also become so smart that controlling and operating them will result in the breakout of a new psychological disorder-kitchen rage.