Britons will live like millionaires and driverless cars will be the norm by 2050 according to new study from the Adam Smith Institute
A new monograph released by the Adam Smith Institute has predicted that Britons will live like millionaires and drive around in autonous cars by 2050.
The study, titled 'Britain and the World in 2050', was headed by Adam Smith Institute President Dr Madsen Pirie and looks at trends in scientific research to make predictions about how new technology will shape the lives of Britons and solve the energy, environmental and health problems of today.
The optimistic vision predicts that in 2050 people in the UK will live similar to today’s millionaires, earning twice as much in real terms as they do today.
The report forecasts that the agriculture industry of the future will have experienced a green revolution, with genetically modified crops that are self-fertilizing, pest-resistant, saline tolerant, drought resistant, altitude capable, heat tolerant and cold tolerant, and can grow on land previously thought insufficiently fertile. Many of these will be developed in UK laboratories and universities, as will trees that can mature in six years instead of 50.
As for healthcare, the paper suggests that the NHS will have been radically reformed. People will choose state-funded healthcare from a variety of private institutions, many non-profit and some for profit.
Driverless electric vehicles meanwhile will be the norm in 2050, with petrol and diesel engines outright banned from cities.
Discussing the ideas contained in the paper, the executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, said: “In this paper we have shown just how many of our current problems are on their way to being solved, not by changing people, but by changing the world around us.
“Dr Pirie’s vision for the future is an optimistic one that sees human ingenuity as the key to improving people’s lives around the world. The future often looks bleak because we focus on the negatives – but the reality is that things are getting better, much better, all the time.”