Virtual Society: 2013

Security remained a big problem on the internet. As the home became increasingly computerized, internet based commerce dominated, and companies existed over the net, hackers had gone from being a mere annoyance to a very serious threat. People had become accustomed to biometric identification when making financial transactions, and when going to the airport. Now biometric devices started to be used for identification purposes. Some companies required a hand, face or retinal scan to access company systems. Some e-commerce companies had also begun to offer it as an identification option when transacting over the internet. Privacy groups cried foul, and some people refused to adopt the new technology. However, it did solve the problem at hand, and thus plenty of people bought such identification devices.

Nanocomputers had continued to grow. Embedding medical monitoring devices was now very common. Almost everything from couches to books to shoes had a small computer contained within it. Some were simple, simply allowing a person to search for a lost set of keys for example. Some were increadibly complex, allowing for very advanced communication. Everyone had their own personal network linking their objects.

Nanites had also begun to appear. These very small robots could handle very detailed assembly tasks, that simply were too difficult to do with human hands. It was the final step in the process of automation which had begun decades ago. Fully automated factories began to emerge. These factories had no workers whatsoever. They were remotely controlled from offices. The represented the beginning of the end for the blue collar job.

2013 had also marked a milestone. MIT announced it would become the first major university to shut its doors and go entirely online. It admitted its final class for its brick and mortar programme, number only 300 students compared to the over 60,000 from all over the world now in its online offering. Other universities were expected to follow suit.