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Life in the twenty-first century

　　The World Future Society is a group of people from more than 80 countries who are interested in how modern technology is making our world better, and who write reports about how it will change our lives．

　　The things that we will be able to do in the twenty-first century(since the year 2000)should help us live better lives in many ways, at home and at work, in our own country and around the world．Here are just some of them, put into five groups．

People

　　People may live for up to 120 years and use new technology to help when people go blind, deaf and have other problems．The number of people over a hundred years old could go from 135,000 today to 2.2 million people by 2050．By 2015 people think that 100 million workers will be able to work from home for a company in a different country by using the Internet．

Money

　　Worldwide e-business will become even more successful with online shops that sell special products for each person, which will be brought to their house the next day．

Environment

　　The technology for making energy from wind and the Sun is growing very quickly．In the future wind and Sun energy could become much cheaper and many more countries could use it．This would be very useful in poor countries．The air in big cities would also become much cleaner and healthier as a result．

Society and culture

　　The Internet will help to create more worldwide friendships．Families may spend more time together as people will be able to do 24-hour online banking and shopping．

Technology

　　The new science of“nanotechnology”(very small robots or machines)will make all sorts of products smaller and lighter．Very, very small machines could take away rubbish, make things in factories, and help inside the human body by taking away fat．By 2012 people will be able to wear these small machines that look like watches, which will give them lots of information about their body and keep them healthy．