Prologue
Most likely, every person on earth has at least once in his life thought about what will happen in the future, what will change in the world, in people, in technology. Since childhood, I have dreamed of inventing or at least using an already created time machine to see the past and the future with my own eyes. Almost every day I think about what awaits me in the future, how my life will change, who I will become, whether I will achieve something in life. Undoubtedly, it is difficult to predict the future, but it is not harmful to dream. I want to tell you how I see the future of the global world at the turn of 2100.

***

Another morning came, the day was the most ordinary, one of the 365 days this time of the jubilee, the 2100th year. However, for our hero, Vitaly Markov, he was not so ordinary. He was celebrating his 90th anniversary, which is not such an amazing date for a person living now in the XXII century.

He celebrated his birthday in the company of his large family – his wife Veronika, his son Pasha with his wife Alice, daughter Angelica and her husband Arseny, as well as a pack of grandchildren – Vitalik (named after his beloved grandfather), Sashenka, Maxim and the recently born Andrei. In general, a whole team of troublemakers who endowed Markov's house with a cacophony of sounds.

Vitaly and his wife moved into this house recently, just a week ago: his children gave it to them so that the older members of the Markov family would live in a good house equipped with the latest technology. Simply put, in a smart home. Before that, they lived in a modest two-room apartment, built back in 2030, where Pasha and Angelica grew up. A lot has changed since then, and the children wanted to provide their parents with good living conditions, although they resisted, saying that they were doing fine without "these newfangled things."

However, the children's gift to the "oldies", if they can be called that at all, really liked it. Despite the popularity of the design in the style of "hi-tech", the house was furnished comfortably, in warm colors, not a bit reminiscent of the cold shades in modern buildings. New technologies were designed to make life easier for people, not to interfere with it in any way. The area where the private house was located was "very nice," as Pasha and Lika's mother said. Green, surrounded by ecological trails in order to walk along them. At the same time, the entire infrastructure was located much more conveniently than in the Emerald residential complex, where they lived earlier. In addition to parks, there was a modern hospital nearby, and the streets were technological, while remaining simple and cozy. In a word – a fairy tale!

But back to our heroes. Animation reigned throughout the house, the wife was running around with festive dishes, the daughter and daughter-in-law tried to help her, but they only heard Veronica grumbling that she herself would set the table for her beloved husband, especially now, in a smart house, there was no need to watch whether the pie would burn. Fresh food was delivered to the house, directly from the beds of a high-tech agricultural complex located outside the city. Most of the products could be ordered directly from production, which simplified life.

"And anyway, I'm not that old," Veronica giggled, "not like your father.

The children laughed, and Vitaly, embarrassed by his wife's comment, angrily threatened her with his fist. As a joke, of course.

- Hey, I recently passed a full examination, I'm healthier than anyone healthy! – he exclaimed and picked up his grandson running past in his arms. – Here, look! – he began to toss the child over him, which made the grandson laugh out loud. – Sashenka, is your grandfather old?
- Nah, Grandpa, you're not old. You're... ancient as a dinosaur! – Sasha, at the age of three, did not really understand the time intervals, thinking that his grandfather had not caught the birth of the universe.

- Well, then I'll eat you! – and the grandfather began to tickle the child, which turned his laughter into uncontrollable laughter.

- That's it, Grandpa, let go! – Sashenka did not stop laughing, but the "dinosaur" took pity on him and let him play with his brothers. After him, he shouted: - Grandfather, but you must tell me later what they were, well, dinosaurs!

The whole family smiled warmly as they watched this action.

"The dish is ready in the oven" - announced the information system of the house, returning all residents of the house to reality.

- Oh, I'm running, - Vitaly's daughter caught herself and ran into the kitchen.

"Convenient," Markov remarked. – Right for a dinosaur like me.

- We are glad that you liked it, – Vitaly's son-in-law replied, - we were very afraid that the new technologies would not be to your taste with Veronika Alexandrovna.

- No, Arseny, technology has stepped forward, and we need to keep up with them. Even if sometimes with a limp," the owner of the house grinned.

- Well, here's the last dish on the table, you can go eat, - Veronika came out of the kitchen, checking whether everything was ready for the table.

***

After a whole hour of feasting and congratulations, as well as entertaining and heartfelt stories from the past (where without them), Pavel got up from the table, went into the hallway, and then returned.

- Dad, when we were helping you move and sorting out the boxes, we found something. We decided that it would be very interesting for you to read.

He handed Dad a thick envelope with the inscription: "To Vitaly Markov from Vitaly Markov from 2025. Open it when it turns many years old."

- Wow, dear, is this a letter from yourself? – my wife asked, looking with interest at a real paper envelope, carefully sealed and signed in a neat handwriting. – What did you write there?

- I don't remember myself, to be honest, - he scratched the back of his head. – probably something very awkward.

- Grandpa, open it faster! The boys shouted excitedly, of course, forgetting that the smallest of the brothers had only recently fallen asleep. The baby sniffed discontentedly, so his mother, Alice, had to go to lull him to sleep, on the way reproachfully shushing the boys who admired such an "artifact". Already in a whisper they asked again: - Grandpa, open up, we are very interested!

- Okay guys, I'm opening up!

He carefully opened the envelope and pulled out two folded sheets of paper. In addition to them, the envelope also contained clippings from magazines and newspapers, some brochures and photographs.

Vitaly took the photo by the corner and looked closely – the photo was none other than himself. He is about 15 years old in this picture: happy, he is sitting at his laptop and making a report for some lesson. That year, his parents bought him a brand-new laptop for his birthday so that he could study. He studied then, of course, many times less than he played computer games. This did not prevent him from entering a good university, but his parents constantly scolded him. However, he was still very happy.

- The most real photo! – admiring, muttered Pasha. – Were they still printing photos then?

- For the most part, no, a lot of photos were already stored on digital media – flash drives, disks or "clouds". But some of them we printed to hang on the wall, put in an album or give to friends. I probably printed out this photo on purpose then to enclose it in a letter," he looked warmly at this photo, almost crying.

- Cool! – the kids crowded behind Grandpa's back and peeked over his shoulder or from under his elbow to look.

Vitaly carefully unfolded the letter, a large text was printed on two sheets. He remembered printing it on an old inkjet printer because his parents had spent their spare money on a birthday present for him. Then he started reading the first paragraph.

"Hello, Vitaly Andreevich! Well, or how should I address myself to the future? I don't know, to be honest. On my birthday, in 2025, I decided to write a letter to myself: in it I write my ideas about the future. What if what I imagine him to be now becomes a reality? Even if not, it's not harmful to dream. Probably, it will still be interesting for you to remember how you fantasized about spaceships and virtual reality glasses. I have attached to the letter a lot of clippings and notes about modern technologies in my 2025 – so you can assess how the world has changed and remember your youth."

He stopped at this line and looked at the breathless members of his extended family. Everyone was wondering what the future looked like, and now the present, to grandfather, when he was not yet a grandfather at all.

- Read more? Vitaly asked conspiratorially. Everyone nodded silently.

"That's what I think about space.

There will be a lot of important changes in the field of space, I am sure that by 2100 people will be able to colonize Mars and the Moon, create stations there, start growing food and will even be able to live on these planets without the help of Earth. They will also be able to launch a huge number of satellites and unmanned ships into the orbits of other planets in order to study the system as best as possible, they will even be able to get to Alpha Centauri. They will find a planet, exactly with conditions like on earth, fully habitable and will be able to settle there."

- Well, did you guess? Vitaly asked, turning to his son. He was just a "pro" on this topic and worked in the field of cosmonautics. His group was engaged in processing information transmitted from spacecraft, including from the Moon and Mars.

- Well, we haven't reached Alpha Centauri yet, of course. But the Moon and Mars are already actively developing. A planet similar to Earth has been discovered, but has not been fully studied. Well, we haven't settled there yet, of course. But as soon as, so right away, Dad! Pasha scratched his head thoughtfully. – You're almost a prophet!

- Yes, my imagination worked as it should! Look, there are just articles from scientific journals about space. It turns out that even then we had a lot of what we have now at the development stage. Look, there was even space tourism already!

- Grandpa, have you been in space? Maxim asked.

- No, Max, it wasn't as accessible then as it is now. Although I would really like to.

- Then on your next birthday we will give you a tour to the moon, you will fly with your grandmother on vacation.

- Our travel agency is just doing this, - Alice said, - Dad, I'm serious. It is necessary to realize your old dream.

- If only health allows, - Vitaly said reluctantly.

- You yourself shouted an hour ago that you are healthier than all healthy people, - his wife nudged him in the side with her elbow, winking approvingly.

It is precisely the time when space flights did not cause such fear as before. Now it has become more commonplace than it once was.

- Come on, Grandpa! – the grandchildren did not let up. – What else did you write there?

"In the field of science and technology. Back in the last century, well, in the XX, people began to fantasize about flying cars. It was believed that somewhere out there, in the 2000s, people would definitely travel, dissecting clouds by cars, but unfortunately, it was not possible to bring this fantasy to life. Despite this, we have created cars that run on electricity, this is clearly a breakthrough, a great help for the environment. Therefore, I believe that, although they will not create flying cars, they will at least replace most of the fuel-powered cars with electric cars and, of course, improve them. Until quite recently, people walked with push-button phones, now almost everyone walks with a touch. Phones today are the source of all knowledge, almost everything can be done with it. To call, write, record a video, record on a voice recorder, take a photo — this is the smallest part of what today's new devices can do, phones will undoubtedly improve by 2100, the camera will definitely shoot and "see" like the human eye, or even better, processors will become very powerful, this will allow the phone perform almost all functions and work as a powerful computer currently works. Finally, they will create glasses with which you can record voice, video, take photos and display an image right in front of your eyes.
Scientists will finally be able to create an engine with almost 100% efficiency and solve many problems, perhaps they will give an answer to the question - "Are there any other intelligent beings besides us?". They will find a lot of new organisms, other developed beings, create the smartest AI that can express all emotions, feel pain and solve all tasks, even those that are beyond the power of man. Drones will make smart, they will be able to perform many different tasks themselves, once you give them a command, they will work much longer than the current ones. The Internet speed will increase several times."

- Yeah, you've listed a lot here, - said the son-in-law. – Actually, there is common sense here. New technologies are full of their functionality, AI is now used everywhere. True, an impressive structure for its control has been created for this, but in a month or two, thanks to AI, you will not even be able to go to the doctor anymore. Your new home will conduct regular examinations of the body itself and monitor its indicators. A smart assistant allows us to be calm for your safety, well, and ours, too, as well as comfort and convenience.

I think it will be very cool for our grandchildren to spend their holidays in this new house. Yes, and we are calm.

- Was it restless before? The "elder of the family" asked, pretending to squint.

- No way, Vitaly Andreevich, - Arseny answered fearfully, - I didn't mean that.…

- Relax, I'm joking, - Markov immediately laughed, - what else did I guess?

- Well, a lot of things seemed to be guessed, but as if not. Electric cars, designed using new technologies that have stepped forward a lot, are really invented – with a bunch of chips, in addition to the good old autopilot. But in the field of public transport, they also came up with something new: for example, shuttles, you know. Like your old commuter trains, only on an electromagnetic cushion.

- Yes, exactly. I use it all the time, but I didn't even think about it. And we don't even have smartphones anymore, but what mega-ultra-super-duper backgrounds, right, Maximka?

- Exactly! – he really liked it when Grandpa used prefixes to words. "Super duper" was his favorite, and he always used them in his speech. – However, it is no longer fashionable to use phones. It's much cooler to use a telebraslet! Mom promised that she would give it to me when I go to school!

- Ahaha, okay, Maximka, but I will use my favorite dedus background. Maxim really liked the cartoon, which his grandfather always included – about fixies. He even somehow disassembled his grandfather's old walkie-talkie to find at least one, but it was in vain. "They hid," he said then, distressed. And grandfather always communicated with his grandchildren in his own, "grandfather's" language, which always amused both grandchildren and others. – Yes, I know, now there are many gadgets that have replaced those that were the newest at the time. Everything is improving. But what can I tell you, kids, it wouldn't be like this now if they hadn't developed new and new things at the time. Now the new is a continuation of the old: it is a logical continuation of what was. And so from year to year.

- Dad, have you been reading philosophy again? – the daughter asked, smiling tenderly at him and rejoicing in these happy moments in the family circle. She thought to herself that it was just wonderful that new technologies did not take out real life, but only harmoniously complemented it. And that they are sitting at the same table, and not communicating via a conference call, invented just to simplify communication.

- Yes, I have here volumes of Kant, Plato, Descartes and others. It's useful sometimes to turn to the thoughts of the past, you know.

He just got out the brochure of the exhibition at the Expocenter in 2025, where they went to school and where the demonstration of the latest technology took place: electric buses for public transport, automated workshops for production and many cool other things. He even printed out an article about Tesla, an electric car with autopilot. Then it was cool, but far from perfect by the standards of 2100.

- Well, that's it, I'm reading on.

"In the field of ecology. Humanity is growing, the amount of waste is also growing, the ecology is suffering. Ecology will begin to improve, they are already trying to do everything for this, as an example, electric cars and electric buses, biodegradable materials from which food packages and bags are made. The energy that is obtained by burning coal, oil and gas extraction will be replaced by water, solar and wind energy. The number of waste processing plants across the earth will increase hundreds of times. The fight against pollution will be in full swing, natural resources will also be restored. Of course, due to the increase in the number of people on the planet, many new cities will be built, respectively, there will be less free land."

"Well, I'm right about something. I recently heard on the news that the number of people has already reached 9 billion.

- Yes, that's right, Vitaly Andreevich, - said Alice. – However, the population growth rate has decreased, as everyone consciously refers to the birth of children. That is why not 10 billion, but 9. Less developed countries have begun to catch up with the countries of the first echelon in their development. The birth rate has decreased, but mortality has also decreased, including from diseases.

- It's good if people live well on this planet. We also take care of nature. By the way, Veronika and I went to a tree planting campaign last year. A law was passed on mandatory landscaping of all urban and adjacent territories to purify the air and strengthen the soil. So slowly we got to our residential complex. By the way, I disagree about new cities. We have a lot of people living outside the city now – transport accessibility allows. Not cities as such are being created, but urban agglomerations that allow everyone to work close to home, industries to harmoniously exist close to each other. In general, it's almost a utopia.

- And what is utopia, Grandpa? – the grandchildren did not let up.

- Well, this is such a representation of the ideal. An impossible dream.

- But almost all of your dreams from this letter have come true! – they muttered indignantly, not understanding how this could be, if an impossible dream came true for itself.

- Well, you could say that. Not everything is perfect, but I will be very glad if bad things never touch you in my life. Okay, there's a little bit left, let's finish reading.

"Infrastructure and medicine. In kindergartens, most likely, little will change, but schools… Textbooks will disappear in almost all schools, and children will carry special tablets with them, in which all the books and all the information necessary for studying will be in them, homework will also be done in them, of course, this will not affect the Russian language, because you will also need to be able to write. There will be even more additional specialized institutions so that children can improve their level of knowledge. The number of hospitals will increase and there will be a lot of additional services to help people. Doctors and scientists will unite and create a drug that can cure cancer. They will also be able to create devices and treat deaf and dumb or blind people, there will be a lot of changes in medicine, any disease will be nothing to people, because they will find a cure "for all diseases".

- Well, we have not found a cure for all diseases, - Vitaly grinned. – But we are taking giant steps to ensure that diseases do not overshadow our existence. Who better than me to know that!

He laughed heartily as he reread the lines.

- Well, I wasn't very good at medicine, but I'm sure that back then I hoped that humanity would jump over its head in these matters. However, I am sure that the hopes of me, a fifteen-year-old, were fully justified. So, what else is there?

"Society. Humanity will grow smarter in the future, strive to reach new heights and boundaries, will try to change the world for the better, people from different countries will unite and share useful knowledge. Most likely, the vocabulary will change, which is already happening now. "Slang" is already popular among young people. Some adults do not understand modern youth and climb the Internet in order to learn new words. As it happened before, so it will be in the future, people will communicate differently, and their relationships will change, and speech will change.

Of course, you can think about this topic for a very long time. This is only a small part of what will be able to change in the future, in my opinion there will be a huge number of changes, both small and very large-scale, the world will change significantly, people will change, of course."