Between February 2009 and December 2010, we spoke to hundreds of people about the future. A few dozen of these people were nice enough to make predictions about the future.

Some of these predictions took the form of elaborate short stories, or intricate drawings or maps.

Click on their names to see what these participants submitted to the project. (Note: to see these predictions in context, click on "Timeline & findings", above.)

In 2040 we will be digital beings with built-in chips. Apple chips will of course be the most coveted and design-savvy ones - Davis Square will be full of Apple people with the Apple logo embedded under their wrists like a cool tattoo.

A wave of my hand and whatever I need will materialize with a light-screen that is manipulated by touch: bank account, calendar, voicemail, Australian time. So when I need an icecream at J.P. Licks, I'd just walk out with what I want and the store would deduct the money from my bank account instantly. Paper money will be obsolete. Just walking through the Somerville Theatre lobby arch will subtract money for a ticket. Theft will be very very difficult and corruption and black marketing will die. If I tried to walk out of a store with a nailpolish I stole, for instance, the store would take the money out as I passed through the door.

There will be no cars (except as collector's items and for special shows), only segway-like solar charged green machines that come with a one-touch weathershield for the winter. These will be provided by cities and states with convenient pickup/dropoff locations - only millionaires will own them because of the intensely high taxation on owning personal vehicles. Pollution and waste will be almost non-existant; we will recycle and reuse eveything with the use of innovative green technology; the earth will be green and the air healthy. Somerville will be beautiful with bike path-like one-way roads. The most coveted condos will be along the Mystic River in Assembly Square. The I-93 and all other highways would have been torn down by then. I would live in an artist studio in Union Square with many dogs and paint and write and make music all day.

Professions will be assigned by ability and talent. Those who have none will have to work in government doing what they are assigned. Salaries will be paid according to quality and effort, and it will be mandatory for every earner to support a cause or a charity in the course of their lives. The more you do and contribute, the less tax you pay. Education and healthcare will be free.

Our local government will lead the way by abolishing class and religion by promoting humanity and world peace.

(source: Auditi Guha)