IEEE Spectrum June, 2014 - 10

06.14

problems, or shunted into oblivion by public misunderstanding, apathy, or ignorance.
A desired future may inevitably be an
unlikely one. But it's enlightening, maybe
even beneficial, to think about it now, and to
identify the kinds of things that would have
to happen for that future to come to pass.
You might ask, Why not portray the world
of 25 to 50 years from now as fiction? And,
indeed, we've done that, too. We are delighted to include here an original story by
Nancy Kress, "Someone to Watch Over Me."
It grippingly portrays how one very promising technology, implantable electronics,
might be hideously misused. Kress's is one
of six sci-fi stories that we commissioned
especially for our anniversary, from some of
the top sci-fi writers working today. The full
complement, including pieces by Greg Egan,
Brenda Cooper, and Geoffrey Landis, will be
collected in an e-book later this year.
In publishing this issue, we have to admit
to an ulterior motive. After you've all forgot-

ten about this edition, it will live on as a kind
of gift to our successors at IEEE Spectrum in
2064, who will be charged with coming up
with material for the 100th anniversary issue. It's hard to imagine that the centennial
edition of IEEE Spectrum will be available on
printed paper. It's even harder to imagine
that the centennial issue of Sports Illustrated's
swimsuit edition won't be available in 3-D
virtual reality. But surely even in 1964 there
were visionaries who believed that, at this
point in the 21st century, we'd have moved
beyond ink printed on pulped trees.
Had Asimov lived, he would probably
have been disappointed by the fact that we
have no permanent habitat on the moon, no
nuclear-powered home appliances, and no
significant human habitation under the sea.
But that disappointment would undoubtedly dissolve in his delight at what we do
have. That tally might start with
* a fast, easily accessible, planet-spanning
data network;

* a pocket device that can shoot photos and
video, store a huge music collection, and let
its user converse or exchange text and images
with another person anywhere on Earth;
* machines that can quickly and cheaply
determine a person's genome; and
* space telescopes that have discovered
thousands of planets outside our solar system-
and that will soon be able to determine the
composition of a planet's atmosphere as well.
And so, 50 years from now, staffers at IEEE
Spectrum might very well smile indulgently
at our hopes for shared autonomous cars,
bioelectronic cures for disability, and a coherent strategy for space exploration. But
they will surely have other things, every bit
as marvelous. Probably more so.
I'll have to live to be 102 to find out if
they do. To my successor I offer this advice:
Make your predictions bold. And set them
so far in the future that you won't live
long enough to see whether they pan out.
-Glenn Zor pette

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum June, 2014
