on Friday and the experts will be discussing the influence of technology on the future. The future is now big business. I clicked into the websites of some futurologists and here's what they're predicting:

·The technology already exists, so very soon all of us are going to use our voices to give instructions to computers. ·In the next few years, we will be communicating with our friends around the world using life-sized video screens in our living rooms.

·By the year 2020, computers will already have become more handy and also more powerful than the human brain both in terms of intelligence and the amount of information they can store.

·By the year 2030, development in biochemistry and medical science will make it theoretically possible for us to live for at least 150 years. Tiny, insect-like robots may be sent around our bodies to carry out repairs and keep us healthy.

·By the middle of the century, computers that are millions of times smarter than us will have been developed. We will be linking our brains to these computers and a huge database. A new species might have developed!

·By the end of the century, we will have discovered other places in our solar system suitable for living and will have discovered ways to go further into space.

I'll be there in Newcastle this weekend. At nine o'clock on Saturday morning, I'll be sitting in the front row and listening to the great Duke Willard talking about the future of my brain. If you can't beat the future, join it!

(3) Post-reading

a) The Programme of the futurologists' conference

Friday

4-5:30 p.m

Prof. Howard Green: Alternative Sources of Energy-New Concept 6-7:30 p.m Group discussion: Love and Friendship in the 21st century 8 p.m Reception Saturday

9-11:30 a.m

Prof. Duck Willard: The Future of the Human Brain 12-1:30 p.m Dr.B.A. Lorry: Vehicles of the Future 2-3:30 p.m Lunch