However now we have mastered these new technologies, both at work and in the home, we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our learning endeavours, making progressively more use of these new necessities of life as they evolve. No need to get behindhand again.

But just where will we be 10 years from now? Just as the devices we are all using now were then expensive, cumbersome rarities, so will be the unwieldy, unreliable and costly new technologies of today become our commonplace servants in 10 years' time. Without them we will be technologically second class citizens at the mercy of those that have adapted to the new regime. They will be the masters, we the servants, just as is happening across the world today to those already left behind at this stage of the race.

So what can we expect? The basis of our conjectures is the rapid convergence of the following enabling technologies:

• Wireless communication
• Computers and information processing
• Micro miniaturisation
• Secure and resilient networks
• The human body

We envisage that our bodies will be part of a total network looking like this

Our conjectures are concerned mainly with the body network. This represents the systems that will accompany us for most of, or for some components all of the time. This network will allow on-line connection to our work network, that is the systems that support our work environment such as company Intranets and Extranets, and our domestic network, that is the systems that support us in the home, such as entertainment, domestic security and shopping. It will also connect to the society network, that is the services that support our well being and monitor our responsibilities, such as health, education, taxation and punishment/correction. Finally, of course, it will link to the ubiquitous World Wide Web, giving access to all the information and services that are deemed by our regulators to be fit for our consumption.

The body network will be made up of the following types of components:

• External body pack
• Integrated interfaces
• Embedded components

We start by looking at some of the components that make up the current external body pack:

• Laptop or palmtop computer
• Mobile phone
• Internet/email connection
• Power pack
• Myriad connectors (usually with some missing!)
• Bag(s) to carry them all in

Although getting smaller and lighter, the body pack remains pretty cumbersome and is used mainly in batch mode with comparatively little integration of the individual functions. We connect up to each function when we feel we need to.

We are already seeing a rapid convergence of these components into a single unit, based on wireless technology and the intelligent mobile phone. However while the miniaturisation of the processing, memory and communications components continues apace, there remains a fundamental limitation with the present methods of input and output. Conventional displays and keyboards need to remain large enough for us to view and touch with an acceptable level of comfort and ergonomic convenience. Also power packs remain a problem, particularly if continuous usage is required.

These input/output problems are being addressed by technologies in varying states of development, including:

• Hand writing recognition
• Continuous speech recognition (CSR)
• Direct retina projection
• Flexible reading tablets

Thus input to our external body pack will increasingly be via simple pointing devices for control purposes, hand writing for small amounts of data, and CSR for both control and bulk input purposes. Output will be small screens for small amounts of data, by natural or computer-generated speech for transient information, and by direct retinal projection and/or reading tablets for full screen working similar to that available from a current VDU.

The components for CSR and direct retina projection will be contained in a head set no larger or more obtrusive than a pair of spectacles. The reading tablet will have the display qualities of paper, that is high resolution, high contrast, flicker free, and flexible to the touch, and should be no bigger than a small book. These will be the first integrated interfaces and will communicate with the external body pack by wireless. The body pack itself will be no bigger than today's personal organiser, and will be free of wires. All units within the body network will communicate using the body system wireless local area network (Body LAN), which will also embrace the gateways to the other systems supporting our W-Person.

At this point the body network will be as compact as a smart young person's designer sunglasses and personal CD player (and will probably embrace their functionality). It will be continuously available to us, subject to periodic recharging of the batteries. However there is already research and development in this area, including solar power from cells embedded in clothes and power generated from movement via, among other approaches, intelligent shoes.

What can impede or stop these developments?

• Better technologies
• Health concerns
• User acceptability

Our conjectures are based on the further evolution of already fairly well developed technologies, rather than on speculative research. Obviously if research leads to better technologies which can get to market quicker, they will change our scenario by improving on it.

Health hazards could arise from the wireless technologies involved as already contemplated with existing mobile phone usage, let alone with the much extended and intensive usage envisaged. Also eye strain could result from direct retina projection, and voice problems from the rather restricted and artificial speaking required for CSR. But then we are learning to live with keyboard, mouse, VDU and posture problems that have led to the large incidence of RSI cases.

User acceptability takes us into an unknown area. However remember that over the last 10 years we have had to learn to master keyboards, use spreadsheets and word processors, connect up to the Internet, and to put up with all the variants of RSI, so a few more inconveniences will probably not deter us. Also it is quite likely that, as with other systems components now commonplace in computer networks, mass consumer markets for the new technologies will be established before the business markets emerge. As at present, our children will be proficient with the new toys before they are released to us.

The third component in our body network is currently more controversial. The idea of electronics embedded in our bodies may seem far-fetched and unacceptable, but let us look at the realities and the opportunities before condemning it. The reality is that electronic systems have been embedded in our bodies for many years, for example in the form of heart pacemakers and cochlear implants for the deaf. Also there is current research on retina implants for the blind to be used in conjunction with external cameras and direct nerve stimulation to create an artificial form of sight.

Health care is leading the way, ranging from remote computer-aided surgery, through the replacing or bypassing of faulty body parts, to routine monitoring of bodily functions with automated links to central health systems for preventative medical purposes (part of the future Society network). Other applications have been mooted, including the tagging of criminals, and beyond. No doubt a major impediment to progress in some areas will relate to the 'freedom of the individual'. However the technology will be there, whether we like it or not, and will be available to use in our body network if we decide to use it.

Three examples of the use of permanently implanted devices are continuous health monitoring as mentioned above, personal location monitoring allowing you and those you wish to know to be informed of your exact location at all times, and the holding of sensitive personal information. This last application would replace insecure smart cards that can be lost, stolen or copied with an implanted component that is integral with our body and holds both static and dynamic data.

The replacement of components currently within the external body pack with integrated human interfaces and embedded systems, together with continued progress in micro miniaturisation, will progressively remove the obtrusiveness and inconvenience of the body network. A final touch could be the replacement of the power pack by a continuous power source. The human body has an ideal candidate, in the form of a sturdy continuously operating pump, which could potentially be harnessed to provide the additional power for our body network. At the same time it could alleviate the need for us sedentary types to spend time in otherwise pointless aerobic activities to keep our hearts working hard and healthily.

But perhaps not just yet!

Of course conjecture is disciplined speculation and not forecasting based on established trends, and certainly not projection from known facts. Ten years is fairly arbitrary and the technologies involved are in varying degrees of development. Much of what we envisage may occur earlier, some not at all. Apart from technology, limiting factors are likely to be increasing regulation concerning potential health hazards, the ethics of body implants, and an understandable squeamishness about being a pioneer user. However most of us will have to accept it, at least in part, as tomorrow's reality and join the privileged community of W-People.

© 2001 Vic Forrington. All rights reserved