Have you ever wondered what our world could look like in about 100 years from now? Take a look at this pictures and see just how things may turn out to be.
Citscape: Could we be living underwater in 100 years time?
They look like scenes from a science fiction film - but these striking images show how we could all be living in 100 years time.
From owning an apartment in an underwater ‘bubble city’ to eating 3D-printed restaurant food and travelling in our own personal drones, academics have predicted how technology will revolutionise life within a century.
The most dramatic changes look to come in not just how we live but where we live, with science opening the door to homes underwater, underground and holidays on the Moon and Mars after we have colonised Space.
With parts of the world already hugely overpopulated, boffins suspect the ocean will be the next place to build and that entire cities could be suspended under the sea.
Inside an enormous see-through bubble, homes, schools, offices and even parks could be built using the water itself to make oxygen and generating hydrogen fuel in the process.
Instead of building skyscrapers up into the air, we look set to reverse them down into the earth, tunneling huge structures 25 storeys deep where people can live and work.
Skyline: Huge buildings could be the living spaces of the future
And these will be homes that won’t need to be repaired or decorated but will have smart LED surfaces to adapt to suit our moods with moving partitions to change layouts on demand.
A new report predicts that going on an exotic holiday in 2116 won’t just mean heading as far afield as Australia or Thailand but leaving the Earth’s atmosphere completely to spend a fortnight on the Moon or Mars.
And if we do fancy staying in our own planet we could have our personal holiday home ready-stocked with all our possessions dropped off at any destination by a drone.
The SmartThings Future Living Report was authored by a team of leading academics including one of the UK’s leading space scientists Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, award-winning futurist architects and lecturers at the University of Westminster Arthur Mamou-Mani and Toby Burgess, as well as pioneering urbanists Linda Aitken and Els Leclerq.
It was commissioned by Samsung’s SmartThings which allows people to control the lights, heating and locks in their home remotely - technology they point out would seem like science fiction as little as 10 years ago.
Holidays: Could we be heading to the Moon or even Mars
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock said: “Our lives today are almost unrecognisable from those a century ago. The internet has revolutionised the way we communicate, learn and control our lives.
“Just 10 years ago, technology like SmartThings would have been inconceivable, yet today developments like this let us monitor, control and secure our living spaces with the touch of a smartphone.
“Over the next century we will witness further seismic shifts in the way we live and interact with our surroundings - working on the SmartThings Future Living Report with a panel of industry experts has allowed me to explore what these could be.
“We are likely to see the emergence of towering megastructures as well as sub-aquatic cities and transportation via advanced flying drones – some of which could be strong enough to transport entire houses on holiday.”
Kitchen sink: Drones could take all our possessions on holiday with us
Advances in medical technology could also mean that pulling a sickie from work is a thing of the past with health diagnosis pods fitted as standard in all homes.
Anyone bluffing their symptoms would be caught out after stepping into a medi-pod that would provide a digital diagnosis and supply medicine or even a remote surgeon.
Like something from 2013 science fiction thriller Elysium, people will be instantly diagnosed meaning life-expectancy would surely rocket.
And people in this futuristic world are unlikely to suffer burn-out from work as the report predicts that we could all be working a three-day week as we attend meetings remotely via holograms.
3D printing could be extended to everything from furniture to food with the ability to download dishes from our favourite chefs and print them, ready to eat, in minutes.
Expert vision: Scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock has revealed what the future could look like
SmartThings UK managing director James Monighan said: “The smartphone revolution is already ushering in the smart home revolution, which will have massively positive implications on how we live.
“Our homes are becoming smarter and can now detect the presence of things like people, pets, smoke, humidity, lighting and moisture. And this is just the beginning.”
SmartThings also surveyed 2,000 British adults to ask them what they thought would be the most likely advances in future living.
Top of the list was virtual work meetings - already possible through the internet - with 48% of people agreeing we will attend meetings via holograms in the future.
Taking commercial flights into space was also deemed likely by 41% of those surveyed and 26% thought it would be possible to have virtual interior design that adapted to suit your mood.
The public seemed more sceptical about the idea of building skyscrapers into the earth, with just 16% believing this would happen, and they were also unsure about giant skyscrapers housing entire cities, with just 18% saying they thought this was on the cards.
Source: Daily Mirror