To foresee 300 years in the future, I looked back how people lived 300 years ago.
Three centuries ago, average life expectancy was only 33 years. Even the wealthy nobility only lived to be 39 on average. But 300 years also marks the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.People began to build steam engines and discover
iron-making processes. Spinning technology, steam ships, and steam engine railways made their debuts during this enlightened age. Machines dramatically changed lifestyles as their overwhelming power enabled humans to extend their
muscular abilities. At the same time, a backlash known as the Luddite movement erupted in the early 19th century. People claimed that machines were intrusive, frightening and would steal jobs from humans.
Looking at our lives today, however, machines and humans co-exist as we make full use of the incredible abilities of machines. Humans are becoming liberated from the backbreaking labor and dangerous work they used to have to do.
Machines dig to build water supply systems, life is far more hygienic, and much safer. The extended average life expectancy today is a result of the Industrial Revolution.
Over the past 300 years, machines created a paradigm shift that dramatically changed the way we live. How will technology evolve and lifestyle change in the next 300 years?