Will the next 25 years surprise us like the last 25 did?

On the last day of the year 2000, the future looked bright.

- RAHUL MATTHAN

The world had survived the Y2K bug, and early signs seemed to indicate that the rapid proliferation of internet access points would dramatically benefit society. We ended the year with optimism, hopeful that the impending digital revolution would democratize knowledge, erode authoritarian regimes and enable global prosperity. We believed we were on the cusp of a period of sustained technological acceleration that we prematurely christened the 'Long Boom.'Twenty-five years later, it is clear that our optimism was misplaced. Not only did the internet not create a 'Global Village,' it weaponized connectivity, leading to a world divided by the Great Firewall of China, European regulations and American corporate silos. Social media made things worse, optimizing engagement over information to the point where, in less than a decade, friends and neighbours were divided along tribal lines and forced to operate in echo chambers that presented divergent versions of the same reality. Rather than coming together, nations have drifted apart, riven by concerns of digital neocolonialism and the rapacious intentions of technologically advanced nations, as represented by the global corporations that serve as the spearhead of their ambitions.

Given our poor performance, it seems futile to attempt similar predictions today. But this article appears in print on the very last day of 2025 and I couldn't resist reflecting on how I believe technology will shape society over the next 25 years. Here, then, are the four axes along which I believe change will occur.