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The distinction between the Internet and telecommunications will gradually dissolve over the next 20 years. By 2030, the Internet will be the world's communications infrastructure, a single connected layer binding us all to each other and the things around us.
This connectivity will have woven itself into the fabric of our everyday life. It will be invisible, taken for granted and heavily relied upon.
In 2030, we will connect with each other and our world on an ultra-high speed, ubiquitous, broadband network. It will be a combination of wired links, mostly fibre-optic, and wireless links; it will be cheap, and we will have unlimited bandwidth.
Local area wireless data delivery rates alone are likely to exceed 10 Gbps by 2030, up from today's 300 Mbps and the 54 Mbps that was standard just a few years ago. Mobile wireless will win out over other technologies because of its accessibility. Satellite communications will remain important for remote areas.
This 'pervasive wireless world' in which people, everyday objects and the environment are connected is known as 'the Internet of Things'. We're seeing its emergence now with the things around us and ourselves - via small, wearable or implantable devices - containing embedded intelligence that connects to the Internet.
Over time, the Internet will map our real world onto cyberspace in increasing detail. But connectivity alone isn't enough. These intelligent objects, even today, can generate huge amounts of information, and one of the main challenges that we face is how to make sense and extract meaning from this data deluge.
But by 2030, we will have overcome this challenge. In essence, this means that we will be able to connect the information that these objects generate, and with limited or no detailed direction, have the collective data processed for us in a way that is meaningful and enhances our lives.
Think, for example, of the infamous command "Computer, analyse!" by Star Trek's Jean-Luc Picard. The implications of this are not only significant, but also very exciting.
So how will this affect us? By 2030, we will live in 'smart homes' in which our fridges, climate control systems, entertainment stations, cleaning devices, diet-monitoring robots and a plethora of personal and robotic appliances talk to each other and know when we're on holiday, and respond accordingly.
Our 'smart' car will constantly communicate with other cars and will know which routes have less traffic, recognise when it gets too close to another car or approaches a school zone and when it hears a siren it will compute whether it should slow down, change lanes or stop automatically. Imagine a scenario in which our 'smart' toilets, bathrooms and beds can alert our medical provider if something is awry!
2030 cancer rate
with all this energy passing through any single point