Future or Fantasy?

　　What will our world be like in the future? Can we look ahead twenty five years and dream about the transformations that will take place? The scholars who make it their business to try to predict the future are not all in agreement about what the future holds. If you visit displays at places like Disneyworld, you can get a glimpse of what some of the predictions are for our lives. As we fantasize(幻想) about what our life might be like a few decades from now, we can speculate about different aspects of our lives.

　　Personal

　　Clothing styles change from year to year and also from culture to culture. Do you think that we will have sleeves in our shirts and blouses? Will we wear socks to protect our feet? Will plastic gloves be used routinely as part of everyday life to avoid transmission of germs(細菌)? Will we still use buttons to fasten our clothing? Will we all wear the same kind of jeans or pants (like a uniform) or will each culture be different? What textiles will be used in manufacturing our clothing? Will a type of nylon fabric be used in an effort to make our clothing more durable? Synthetic fibers which will not fade can be produced in bright colors such as pink and purple in addition to all the other colors of the rainbow.

　　When it comes to matters of personal cleanliness, will we soak in a bath? Will we spray ourselves with water or some other substance in a shower? Will we have a choice of which to use? Will we go to visit a barber for a haircut or will we be able to control the growth of our hair? If growth of a beard could be slowed, the daily ritual(老規矩) of shaving would be unnecessary for men.

　　Health

　　In the western world the number of people who smoke cigars or cigarettes has diminished(減少,遞減) substantially in the last several years. Maybe the use of tobacco will be eliminated completely.

　　Will we be able to heal illnesses and diseases as soon as the symptoms are identified?

　　A cure for cancer would be considered a miracle. Could the disease be conquered with adequate commitment of federal funds to furnish financial resources? Accomplishment of this project would be a triumph of enormous proportions. It would be equivalent to sending several rockets to Mars simultaneously(同時). It would improve the welfare of all humanity(人類).

　　Instead of using a thermometer to take our temperature, maybe we will have sensors(傳感器) implanted in our bodies that will be read by a personal health care monitor. The machine could tell us if we are in need of more oxygen in our blood or if the food we just ate in difficult to digest because of too much acid in our stomachs. Will an appointment with a doctor be automatic if we are in need of treatment or will that profession become obsolete(消亡的)?

　　The monitor might also have the ability to prescribe a lifestyle program for us. A woman might be able to determine if she is pregnant from the use of this machine. A remedy for a sore limb might be verified if the person is uncertain how to treat it. A sore throat, a cough or a stiff neck might also be diagnosed and treatment prescribed. Tension in parts of our body can be caused by stress and precautions and preventative(預防性的) steps could be recommended.

　　A machine might be used for the administration of medicine as well. Could you adjust to the idea of having an injection given to you by a robot using a needle? In fact, the precise dosage might be easier to attain using this method.

　　It seems logical to make use of equipment that evaluate symptoms and interpret data if the performance proves reliable.

　　Critical illnesses could be diagnosed earlier and we could be confident that even the diagnosis of a complex disease could be clarified and the disease could be treated before it becomes fatal.

　　Supposing a life-threatening virus could be controlled, by inference viruses would no longer constitute a threat to our well-being.

　　The concept or idea of people living to an extremely old age has been suggested. Will the consequence of that possibility be that people could also maintain their intellect as they age?

　　Will people be able to make arrangements to have their body or its parts used after they die? The donation would help others to have some of their body parts replaced. Will people still have funerals and be buried in a grave as is the current custom or will cremation(火葬) be the common practice?

　　If we wear corrective lenses now, perhaps our vision could be improved or restored through laser surgery. We would no longer need to wear glasses.

　　The tragedy of a stroke and the resulting mental disability(傷殘,殘疾) could be prevented if a monitor could analyze the person’s condition and recommend changes in lifestyle or treatment that could avert(預防) a stroke or a heart attack.

　　An ambulance equipped with sophisticated portable medical diagnostic equipment could have the ability to assess multiple injuries of the victim of an accident. Recovery would be assisted by the provision of prompt treatment.

　　The prospect of a joint that swells, being treated by a restraint that causes lack of motion, is not a new idea, but will a synthetic joint be used to replace the joint instead of being treated in the current familiar way? Will replacement of a hip joint become more commonplace? Could a doctor operate on one of our organs without having to invade our bodies? Could surgery be performed with the aid of a small that it would be measured in millimeters? The opening required to insert the camera into our body would be tiny.

　　Could a microscope be used in the study of biology to watch the development of a specimen of synthetic bacteria and then the specimen is used to create a treatment for the disease being studied?