People are wrong.
The job of anyone thinking about the future is twofold: 1) Take the current world and apply somewhat plausible changes. Possibly far-out plausible changes, like Tesla™-brand broadcast power, or mostly-plausible, like implanted Treo smartphones. 2) Show how humans deal with this.
People who assume that the future will be bright haven't thought about 2. The world does not get better by default. On a high level, more people right now are turning towards advocates of control, eschewing freedom as they do. Those implant smartphones are only going to be used for Government Behavioural Alteration and global advertising.
More people are drinking, smoking, taking drugs. No wonder-change will kill that off. Information injections that enhance learning will lead to people shooting up with raw information carved on molecules held in saline solution. Literally getting high on information.
People as a whole are not smart. They are big, dumb animals that want to do things like walk on new planets, cling to unhealthy traditions, take new drugs and fuck in new ways.
They are the real future.
