Following the discussion of James, Mark, Carl, etal. inre stale
technology, here's my sociological nanocent.
I don't doubt that technology will continue to grow at a geometric
rate. However, as it does, the ability of the common man to
understand every part of its intricacies will decrease.
There will be fewer people who know how the thing works,
and there'll be a widening gap between the technophile and
the technopeasna
the technopeasant. Even those that are comfortable with
one aspect of high tech (e.g. medicine) may only function
marginally in another (e.g. computers).
This might lead to a couple of things:
1)The revolt of the technopeasants (the rising of the greens as in
_Fallen Angels_)
2)A feudal technocracy were each high tech speciality has a degree
of control because of its specialized knowledge.
I could imagine a cyberpunk world as well, were tech is all icons.
I agree with Mark that by TL 15 we might not recognize ourselves.
ttfn,
eric