Currently I'm reading "Science on the Edge" - a book that describes itself as "...a collection of conversations with leading scientists..".
And I've noticed that a recurrent theme is that of "The Singularity". Now "The Singularity" is a term borrowed from physics, meaning (to quote the Wiki) "a place where quantities which are used to measure the gravitational field become infinite.". But the singularity they are referring to is different, it refers to something known as a "Technological Singularity". This is the point, depending on your source, wherein Computers become "Intelligent" and can program and design themselves. Wherein human intelligence is appended to a machine, wherin human evolution joins up with computer evolution.
Almost all of the scientists in the book agree that "The Singularity" is coming, where they disagree is as to when (estimates range from 2020 to 2050), and they disagree as well as to the possible results or outcome. Generally the view is rosy.
At this point we'll be able to download our entire lives into a computer - a sort of "Virtual Immortality". And this is only the beginning.
Now here I become a little skeptical. Great advances are being made, undoubtedly, the technology we can buy generally lags several generations behind what is actually being manufactured. This is inevitable, we wouldn't want anyone to jump right into the ipod terabyte without having first purchased the 512 MB, the 1GB, the 4GB, the 8GB, ad infinitum. The release of technology is staggered so as to keep funds coming in. But I recall as well reading a readers digest book as a child - "Strange Stories, Amazing Facts", part of which dedicated itself to having "Respected Authorities" predict the future, the year 2000, if I recall correctly, and the predictions were - well, suffice it to say we live in a very different future. By now we were to be on Mars, robot slaves would do our work for us, and so on.
This future did not work out as planned.
Nonetheless this new future is interesting. And it has possibilities. It's being introduced to us through the arts and literature - think of films such as "The Matrix", "AI", there are more. And the future is always inevitable, regardless of how it comes about.
It's an interesting idea.
For Mark Pesce's take on the future evolution of technology, view his video "Becoming Transhuman".
Or Ray Kurzweil at the TED talks.