We ought to set down some core principles to refer to when discussing the future.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

Predictions aren’t very useful without hard evidence to back them up, and the best sort of evidence is reality. All short-term predictions, if they are viable, ought to have a clear next step to bringing about their existence. The most reliable and trust-worthy predictor will have already taken this step.

With that said, the next best way to make a prediction is to examine the past. In general, history is an excellent resource to inform us about how we act, perceive, and record. For example, I have trouble believing we will ever have personal jetpacks - the history of air travel is predisposed against it (not to mention physical impracticalities, fuel costs, inconvenience, and general sentiment for public transport). A good prediction will examine historical precedent.

Beware Science Fiction.

Science Fiction is fiction first, science second. Sci-Fi has some neat ideas, but they ought to be examined carefully. Many times, Sci-Fi will introduce seemingly near-practical inventions while failing to take into account their full implications. Predicted inventions should not be considered out-of-context.

The future will be messy and human.

There will be no clean lines and gleaming surfaces, there will be no single human government, and there will be no universal hive mind. The future will be distinctly human, because it will have been built by humans. No purely technical change will unify humanity, solve it’s deficiencies, or end all suffering.

The future may not be good.

Humanity, indeed, all life, is a happy accident, and we are still in a very fragile position that is  not getting any better. There is no reason humanity has to survive. We have only one habitable planet, no easy way of reaching others, no inexpensive way of Terra-forming others, and an steadily-increasing population.

There are no aliens.

At least, we won’t ever run into them. The universe is very very large, life is very very fragile, and if we encountered any extraterrestrial life, we probably wouldn’t be able to recognize it as such or communicate with it. Drake’s Equation examines many factors necessary for meeting intelligent life, and the end result gives us almost no chance at all.