Future shock

1. Set the scene by asking the students if they have considered what the world will be like in the year 2250.
2. After you get a few suggestions, explain that they are going to listen to some of the predictions the futurologists have made for the year 2250. They should rank the developments by placing them in decreasing order of desirability, i.e. the developments they most want to see happen should come first.

In the year 2250 you will be able to:
- decide on the racial characteristics, IQ, sex, height, etc. of your baby;
- get specialist knowledge about any subject you want by dialling for the appropriate computer program;
- do all your shopping without stepping out of your home;
- achieve your ideal weight by taking an individual programme of diet pills and liquid food;
- prolong your life for up to fifty years if you go to special clinics for two weeks a year after forty;
- fly across the world in two hours in a low orbit spacecraft;
- decide not to work at all;
- get robots to do all the routine jobs in your home;
- take holidays in space;
- live in small communities rather than big cities, which will become more and more dangerous.
3. When the students have completed their individual task, ask them to share their answers with a small group of three or four.
4. When everyone has given their views, the group should decide on three developments they think the world would be better without.