In the spirit of full disclosure, I should state for the record that over the years I personally have excepted more than $40k for futurism-related activities.
But I have to say it sounds like I did a better job at it than the folks mentioned in Ars Technica’s overview, “Experts believe the future will be like Sci-Fi movies”:
Are these scenarios really indicative of future trends? Given the prevalence of many of these concepts in science fiction content, it is obvious that the ideas themselves are at least relevant enough to warrant consideration. That said, the nature of the survey and the way that the scenarios are presented makes the entire thing seem less plausible. In looking at classic science fiction films of the past, from Blade Runner to Soylent Green, one realizes that few of them really predict with any accuracy the world we live in today. Culture and technology can change in radically unpredictable ways, and today’s experts may lack the foresight to perceive the future with the clarity of Hari Seldon.