There can be no doubt that technology hugely changed how we lived and died in the 21st century. However, it also masks changes that are arguably even more profound. In the year 2001, a few people seriously considered the future. Many of us have envisioned a utopian world; however, none has given serious consideration of where we were going as a society. Today we predict almost everything: what the weather will be, what housing we will need, what our pensions will be worth, where we will dispose of our rubbish for the next 30 years, and so on. In a thousand years or so, if society continues that long, the year 2020 may well be viewed as the threshold when the modern world began – when humanity started to consider the future as well as the present and the past.

Dr. Albright is a digital sociologist who has spent her career looking into the future to predict where things are going. She is a thought leader on the growing intersection of society, behavior, and technology. Dr. Albright is currently a Lecturer in the departments of Applied Psychology and Engineering at USC, where She teaches master’s level courses on the Psychology of Interactive Technologies and Sustainable Infrastructure.