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What Will Our Life Be Like in 2040?

Welcome to your future life!

You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is young-looking, In 2040, medical science is better than ever. Many people your age could live to be 150, so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging nanotechnology(纳米技术) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age!

You say to your shirt: “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2040, “smart clothes” contain particles(分子) much smaller than the cells(细胞) in your body. The particles can be programmed to change your clothes’ color or shape.

You walk into the kitchen. You grab the milk, but a voice says, “You shouldn’t drink that!” Your fridge has read the small computer chip(芯片) on the milk’s label(商标). And it knows the milk is old. In 2040, every food item in the grocery store has a small chip.

It’s time to go to work. In 2040, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve(袖子). Nano-sized “smart technology” is all around you. “Your whole body and surroundings will become part of the same network,” says scientist Ampy Buchholz.

So will all these predictions come true? For new technology to succeed, says futurist Andrew Zolli, “it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example—what will be the next?