Imagining if we’d grown up with The Usborne Book of 2021 instead of The Usborne Book of the Future.
"Forest fires now burn continuously across the USA." 
"By 2021, scientists predict that a respiratory virus pandemic will sweep the globe, killing millions."
"This picture shows a computer at work in the car industry."
Rocket troops of the future
It is night-time, as private military contractors prepare to board a SpaceX Super Heavy Starship rocket transport.
It is night-time, as private military contractors prepare to board a SpaceX Super Heavy Starship rocket transport.
It is dawn as the SpaceX Super Heavy Starship rocket transport lands. Armed ground vehicles based on an electric truck design hold a cordon around the transport before the main body of private military contractors move off to deal with the uprising and illegal refugees.
A typical Earth city in the year 2021
This seasonal migrant worker needs an oxygen mask and breathing apparatus to harvest produce. Climate crisis wildfires contribute to air with dangerously high levels of particulates. The mask also helps with reduced lung capacity due to an earlier respiratory virus pandemic.
Looping tube under the ground
A House in 2021
Manipulated populations of the 2020s will be scared of crime. This lock is computerized — it scans and recognizes the retina of anyone approaching. Strangers are reported to police, private companies, and a neighborhood watch electronic bulletin board.
This ringed world is not Saturn, but Earth in the year 2021 according to NASA super computer simulations. Thousands of man-made satellites have been launched into orbit. They produce b-coins (“binary coins”), the monetary system that underpins commerce and art in 2021.
A 2000-er vacationing at the beach in 2021
Ristos and mobies make it easy to stay in touch in 2021. The risto doubles as a watch too, continuously feeding data like location and heart rate back to advertisers, companies providing services and law enforcement.
Scientists and entrepreneurs are imagining safer and faster methods of getting home after a stay in a hospital. By 2021, you might ride home in a private electric motor ambulance designed by a computer millionaire. The ambulance will be driven by a 2000-er paid by the minute.
Computerized displays on medicine vials will show what kind of treatment a patient can afford. In 2021, this is needed because of rising inequality. Not everyone is allowed to have life-saving medicine.
Early warning satellites would enable media teams to move quickly and document scenes of potential high engagement. In this picture, a Disney+ electric hover-jet swoops low over a separatist attack to pick up survivors, as buildings crumble and mobie connections falter.
Moonminers
By 2021 mining the moon will be important as computer titans (people who made their fortunes programming computers) put in place their plan to escape the planet. The moon will be their first target after they have achieved orbit.
By 2021 mining the moon will be important as computer titans (people who made their fortunes programming computers) put in place their plan to escape the planet. The moon will be their first target after they have achieved orbit.
There is no need for expensive rocket power to get materials and goods off the Moon. This long loop machine does the job, adapted from an underground loop tube transport machine on Earth. It accelerates delivery modules up to 4,200 meters a second.
During the respiratory virus pandemics of 2021, people will send short messages to each other over electronic computer networks. These messages could be about whether the pandemic is real or whether to trust medical treatments.
A typical Earth city in the year 2021
(insets follow)
(insets follow)
Although these look like stunted, dying trees, they are not. They are radio towers for ristos and mobies — the miniature computers people carry with them.
Perpetual wildfires create a sky that looks laden with smog. Visibility is limited, but also provides a good opportunity for people to take and share photographs.
Heavy trucks regularly travel on roads delivering goods to people within hours of ordering. The financial systems of 2021 provide easy credit for people to buy things.
This cozy living room of 2021 has many electronic gadgets which are already being developed in the 1980s.
This picture shows an all-too-likely scene from 2021. Direct-action climate crisis terrorists have attacked an oil rig to disrupt the petroleum industry. A fast patrol electric hydrofoil has been cleared to fire an depleted uranium-tipped anti-shipping missile at the terrorists.
This picture shows how computers have changed farming in 2021. “Electronic eyes” developed by computer geniuses let farmers harvest crops even at night-time when the stars are out. C.P.U.-controlled tractors are more profitable for companies, preventing farmers making repairs.
Ristos, mobies and TV screens will all be important during the respiratory virus pandemics of 2021. Meetings could be held over risto or using a TV as shown here. Computers could be used to count votes too, which would be very important during an infectious pandemic.
The electronic revolution
Crime in cities will be much reduced thanks to the risto. Police in 2021 will all have ristos and mobies, giving them instant access to criminal records and evidence. Police will use electronic eyes and ears all over a city to look for and stop crime to keep us safe.
3-D cameras hanging from the ceiling of each room create the illusion of a complete room as the growth team explains how they will attract more users. Perhaps you will be the computer expert to invent this “metaverse” for everyone to benefit from!
/fin
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