‘MAD’ ROY BOFFIN: I don’t know; I think there’ll be plenty of changes. Who can tell what new inventions there will be? Science is advancing so rapidly it seems as if almost anything might be possible within a hundred years. What is a pipe dream to us could well be outdated within a few decades. I would guess that machines will become more and more human-like. Everything will be voice-operated, and the machines will be able to reply. ‘Roast this rabbit, Oven!’ you’ll order, and the oven’ll say ‘Right away, boss; your wish is my command!’ and do it. Everything will be fine until the machines, which will be able to communicate with one another as well as their owners, decide to form trade unions and demand better working conditions. French ovens will deliberately burn the lamb. British tumble dryers will follow a work-to-rule policy. Appliances in America will go on a ‘Million Machine March’ through Washington, DC.

CEDRIC HERDWICK: You’ll be able to change the colour of everything when you want. Well, maybe not everything, but they’ll make a lot of things so you can do it. If you’ve got yellow-and-white striped wallpaper, or curtains, and you fancy them being black you’ll be able to point a remote control at them, press the black button and they’ll turn black. And if you then want them orange you’ll press the orange button and they’ll turn orange. You’ll be able to do it for loads of things –your furniture, your car, your computer…. Simple designs like stripes and spots might be possible too. It’ll be great going out, because you’ll be able to change the colour of your clothes as you’re walking along.

BRIGITTE MAY: What wouldn’t one give for the chance to take a peek into the future and see not just what life is like then but what people think of our age? What will seem strange to them? What will seem barbaric? What will they admire in our culture, if anything? How much will they even know of it? We think we live in an information age, but so much of what we record is ephemeral. I think the major area of change will be energy. We will rely entirely on renewable sources. Who knows, maybe the countryside around here will be dotted with giant windmills in twenty-one hundred.