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"Over the last five years, technology has been rapidly changing and expanding in every field imaginable. Smart phones are now capable of acting as standalone computer devices that can take pictures, search the Internet, send emails and text messages and yes, they even make phone calls. While it might seem that the technology of today has reached its limits, it is still actually spreading its proverbial wings. Only twenty or so years ago, personal computers were becoming small enough and affordable enough for families to buy them for home use. Since then, the world of technology has shown no signs of slowing down and practically every device available today is somehow tied to computer technology. It seems hard these days to fathom the original size of computers and how small they have become in the last ten years, but within the last five years they have become even smaller and somehow more powerful and faster than ever before! The Internet allows people to connect with family, friends, and work colleagues from across the globe in the push of a button. Communication options have literally exploded in the instant avenues of text and video based chat as well as the near instantaneous method of email. Gone are the days where one had to post a letter and wait a week or more for a response and long distance phone calls are unnecessary for anyone with a computer, a webcam, and a speedy Internet connection. Automobiles are now being manufactured with standard GPS and emergency call features for the convenience and safety of drivers and their passengers, making the days of carrying a map completely unnecessary and improving the peace of mind of anyone who must travel the roads alone or at night. Computerized cars are now potentially at risk in much the same fashion as a personal computer as a moderately skilled hacker can theoretically take over basic functions of a vehicle - including its engine. Yes, technological advancement has changed our lives completely, and not al

"SAN FRANCISCO - 3-D printing, used to construct everything from art to toys to spare parts for the space station, may one day produce human organs at a hospital near you. click image to enlarge A 3-D printed prosthetic nose and ear are displayed at an industry show in London in November. The technology may eventually help reduce organ shortages. Bloomberg News photo by Chris Ratcliffe Select images available for purchase in the Maine Today Photo Store The 20-year-old technology uses liquid materials that become hard as they print out three-dimensional objects in layers, based on a digital model. Current medical uses are in dentistry, for hard-material crowns, caps and bridges, as well as prosthetics. Last year, a 3-D printer was used to create a structure from moldable polymer that replaced more than 75 percent of a patient's skull. Now, Organovo Holdings Inc. is using 3-D printers to create living tissue that may one day look and act like a human liver, able to cleanse the body of toxins. Drugmakers and cosmetic companies already plan to use 3-D printed human tissue to test new products. Eventually, the technology may help reduce organ shortages and cut transplant rejections as patients receive new organs constructed from their own cells. "3-D printing is like a new tool set," said Organovo Chief Executive Officer Keith Murphy. "You can make a living tissue you can grow outside the body. That's the core of our technology. How can you be smart about doing that?" Organovo already is preparing to sell strips of liver tissue to drugmakers this year to be used to test toxicity of potential treatments, Murphy said in a telephone interview. The San Diego-based company's five- and 10-year goals are first to use a patient's own cells to print tissue strips that can be used to patch failing organs, and finally to be able to create entire new organs. The first 3-D printer was produced in 1992. Since then, a variety of materials have been used as the t

Kaku talks about space colonization in the future. "Space colonization (also called space settlement, or extraterrestrial colonization) is permanent human habitation outside of Earth. Many arguments have been made for space colonization. A common one is ensuring the survival of human civilization and Earth's biosphere from disasters such as asteroid impact or global nuclear war. Another is helping to provide unlimited space-based solar power and other resources to let all human beings on Earth enjoy developed-world lifestyles with far less environmental damage, and eventually providing a High Frontier where any number of people may settle and thrive. After its successful Apollo project moon landings, the US NASA sponsored the first formal engineering studies of a space colony concept: Princeton professor Gerard O'Neill and colleagues' proposals to build space colonies and Solar Power Satellites (SPS) from lunar materials.[1][2] These proposals are striking for their boldness, level of detail and technical rigor. The thickness of metal beams needed to contain the colony's atmosphere and withstand rotation for artificial gravity was engineered. Chemical reactions to smelt them out of Moon rocks were worked out (by a young K. Eric Drexler, who later became famous as the founder of Nanotechnology).[3] The Moon rocks would be launched to the desired orbital location cheaply using O'Neill's electromagnetic mass driver. Modifying standard 1970s industrial productivity figures as needed (work in space suits would be slower; moving heavy objects in weightlessness easier than in factories on Earth), they estimated that the 10,000-person workforce housed in the first Island One colony could produce one giant SPS-capable of supplying 5% of total American electricity demand-each year. Yet the project timeline didn't call for producing the first commercial SPS until Year 22, and the huge investment-totaling almost $200 billion in 1975 dollars-wouldn't be fully repaid unt

"To call the evolution of the computermeteoric seems like an understatement. Consider Moore's Law, an observation that Gordon Moore made back in 1965. He noticed that the number of transistors engineers could cram onto a silicon chip doubled every year or so. That manic pace slowed over the years to a slightly more modest 24-month cycle."

"Pros of Wind Energy Wind is renewable, freely available and tax-free. Farm businesses may even be eligible to receive a wind-production tax credit. No pollution or waste is generated by the system's operation. Depending on the wind turbine selected, the equipment can be low-maintenance. In general, the more complex the system and the moving parts, the more likely repairs or maintenance will be needed. (Note: After five years, our 10 kW Bergey's generator and inverter required no special repair.) A growing number of utility companies offer simple net metering contracts. (More than 40 states have net metering according to the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency.) Under net metering, a wind energy system owner would receive credit for at least a portion of the electricity they generate. There are numerous statewide wind-energy financial incentives, according to Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency. Numerous national manufacturers of wind turbines have proven reliability track records, including Bergey, Proven, Abundant Renewable Energy, Wind Turbine Industries Corp., and Southwest Windpower, according to John Hippensteel, and engineer with Lake Michigan Wind and Sun, Ltd. Land within the acre or two needed for a residential wind turbine can still be used for pasture, gardens or other agricultural purposes. In our experience-as as noted by the American Wind Energy Association, the Midwest Renewable Energy Association and others-as of 2009, wind is the most cost-effective source of renewable energy, especially when compared to solar electric (photovoltaic) systems. Depending on the system and electricity rates, which continue to rise, your investment might break even in about 17 years."

"Advantages of Solar Power? Solar energy is a clean and renewable energy source. Once a solar panel is installed, solar energy can be produced free of charge. Solar energy will last forever whereas it is estimated that the world's oil reserves will last for 30 to 40 years. Solar energy causes no pollution. Solar cells make absolutely no noise at all. On the other hand, the giant machines utilized for pumping oil are extremely noisy and therefore very impractical. Very little maintenance is needed to keep solar cells running. There are no moving parts in a solar cell which makes it impossible to really damage them. In the long term, there can be a high return on investment due to the amount of free energy a solar panel can produce, it is estimated that the average household will see 50% of their energy coming in from solar panels.   Disadvantages of Solar Power? Solar panels can be expensive to install resulting in a time-lag of many years for savings on energy bills to match initial investments. Electricity generation depends entirely on a countries exposure to sunlight; this could be limited by a countries climate. Solar power stations do not match the power output of similar sized conventional power stations; they can also be very expensive to build. Solar power is used to charge batteries so that solar powered devices can be used at night. The batteries can often be large and heavy, taking up space and needing to be replaced from time to time."

"Every twenty years or so since the Industrial Revolution, a group of new technologies has had a major impact on economic life. Steam power, canals, railroads, telegraph and telephone, electricity, road transport, radio, air transport, pharmacology, television, computers and information technology. Some of these have been general enabling technologies (such as steam power or electricity) which change the way production is organised; some (such as television) create new consumer goods which command a large fraction of household time or expenditure. Enabling technologies transform business life. Consumer technologies transform domestic life." This is talking about how technology can be used for wealth. This also says how every twenty years we get new technology.

"Thanks to technology, people can create more wealth now than ever before, and in twenty years they'll be able to create more wealth than they can today.  Even though this leads to more total wealth, it skews it toward fewer people.  This disparity has probably been growing since the beginning of technology, in the broadest sense of the word." This is about how technology is used for wealth. It also talks about 20 years from now.

In this article you will find key information to begin the great researching stage of this project. While reading this website you learn that one of the main goals of DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and NASA are to create an Interstellar Spaceship that would be able to travel to stars that are light years away. This project is what they will be focusing a majority of their research on and giving grants to separate organizations to help them carry out this goal. They are hoping to develop this spaceship in the next 100 years and are hoping to use futuristic technologies such as thermonuclear engines, or sending vehicles across the galaxy by bouncing laser beams off their sails to help create these spaceships. They are also offering to accept new ideas such as anti-gravity engines, and plasma shields. This website holds very useful information.

"Growing at the average rate of about 3% per year, however, one may calculate that our own civilization may attain Type I status in about 100-200 years, Type II status in a few thousand years, and Type III status in about 100,000 to a million years." Michio Kaku's website has some great articles that have to do with our topic. This article, in particular, has information on types of civilizations. I know that this is a reliable source because it is on Kaku's website.

This site lists some possibilities for renewable energy in the future. It gives predictions for 50 years from now. This site is reliable because "big think", the website it is on, is a reliable website for research and technology and cites its own sources.

"CPU clock speed for a single cpu has been fairly static in the last couple of years  - hovering around 3.4Ghz. Of course, we shouldn't fall completely into the Megahertz myth, but one avenue of speed increase has been blocked:"

"Moore's law is the observation that, over the history of computing hardware, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years. The law is named after Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore, who described the trend in his 1965 paper.[1][2][3] His prediction has proven to be accurate, in part because the law is now used in the semiconductor industry to guide long-term planning and to set targets for research and development.[4]"

This page gave a good amount on how nanotechnology can change the future of medicine, from taking pills to cancer. It also talks about nerve regeneration and how that is in the near future with nanotechnology.

"Nanotechnology is already being used in products in its passive form, such as cosmetics and sunscreens,"

"Nanotechnology medical developments over the coming years will have a wide variety of uses and could potentially save a great number of lives. Nanotechnology is already moving from being used in passive structures to active structures, through more targeted drug therapies or "smart drugs." These new drug therapies have already been shown to cause fewer side effects and be more effective than traditional therapies. In the future, nanotechnology will also aid in the formation of molecular systems that may be strikingly similar to living systems. These molecular structures could be the basis for the regeneration or replacement of body parts that are currently lost to infection, accident, or disease. These predictions for the future have great significance not only in encouraging nanotechnology research and development but also in determining a means of oversight. The number of products approaching the FDA approval and review process is likely to grow as time moves forward and as new nanotechnology medical applications are developed."

"Technology changes quickly - today's popular devices may be obsolete in only two years" This site is useful because it shares some information on the future of desktops becoming obsolete. This site is reliable because it has valid facts that I have seen on other websites.

"What will computers look like in 30 years? Trick question. You won't see them at all." This source is insightful because it predicts the possibility of micro-sized computer chips being in one's body. I will use this site to help me with my themes of the future computer. This site is reliable because it correlates with many other predictions that have been made.

"Ever since Gordon Moore made his famous "Moore's Law" prediction, stating that the number of transistors on a semiconductor application would double every couple of years, the industry has seen fit to beat that trend" The definition of what Moore's law really is.

This source includes many aspects of what our world may look like in the future. It also includes its sources so that we know it is reliable. From environment to new technology, there is a wide variety of information on this website. This site includes multimedia to make understanding of the material more broad for the reader. It appears to be a great resource.

This is a video on an experiment done years ago and recreated now. You might be wondering how this can relate to what we are doing, but that is where the experiment comes in. James Burke is a man who works at BBC. In 1973, Mr. Burke was asked to predict the future. He did this, and some of his predictions came true. Recently, they asked him to do it again, but predict what life will be like in 2100. James Burke's predictions for 2100 are very interesting and eye-opening. This is reliable because he has done it before and those predictions were true. This video shows as "He paints a world 80 to 100 years from now".

"Space tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, such as Virgin Galactic, hoping to create a space tourism industry." Space tourism, in the future, would be the equivalent of taking a trip to the beach. It would be easy to simply vacation on the Moon.