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Everyone wonders what the future holds and those in power at the world's leading intelligence hub predicted what the world would be like in 2015 at the turn of the 21st century.

The startling 70-page Global Trends 2015 report was published by the CIA in 2000 to give then US President George W. Bush an overview of what the secret organisation believed was to come – and identify what will shape our lives today.

Terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and the threats to global security formed a key part of the report.

As we know, the world is incomparable to the one we knew 15 years ago.

The al-Qaida terrorist atrocities on 9/11 sent shockwaves through the world and the subsequent conflicts in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq two years later still prove to be a controversial subject today.

Apple emerged as the technology superpower thanks to its iPod, iPad and iPhone revolution while Facebook and YouTube brought the world closer together.

London suffered its own terror attack at the hands of Islamic extremists in 2005 in the 7/7 bombings.

Thousands were killed in natural disasters such as the 2004 boxing day Tsunami in the Pacific ocean and the devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011.

But how much of this was predicted by the CIA?

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FUTURE CONFLICT

Agents predicted Russia, China and most likely North Korea would pose a threat to the US with nuclear missiles while "probably" Iran and "possibly" Iraq would "have the capability to strike the United States".

The threat of the US being struck by a missile armed with weapons of mass destruction would continue to grow, the document predicted.

It also believed some nations would remain a threat with large military forces and a mix of "Cold War and post-Cold War concepts and technologies".

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It added there would be a low risk of war among developed countries but conflicts around the world would remain an issue.

The report said: "The potential for conflict will arise form rivalries in Asia, ranging from India-Pakistan to China-Taiwan, as well as among the antagonists in the Middle East."

TERRORISM

The report accurately predicted – post 9/11 – that the threat of terrorism would continue to be a huge challenge.

While failing to precisely predict the 9/11 attacks it did warn terrorist tactics would grow increasingly complex in their hope of causing large-scale fatalities.

"Between now and 2015 terrorist tactics will become increasingly sophisticated and designed to achieve mass casualties," it read.

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"We expect the trend toward greater lethality in terrorist attacks to continue."

But the rise of Islamic State was not specifically predicted although it did state that "Middle East and Southwest Asian-based terrorists are the most likely to threaten the United States".

RUSSIA

The CIA report projected a decline in Russia's strength on the global stage.

The report said: "Between now and 2015, Moscow will be challenged even more than today to adjust to its expectations for world leadership to its dramatically reduced resources.

"The most likely outcome is a Russia that remains internally weak and institutionally linked to the international system and primarily through its permanent seat on the UN Security Council."

It also stated that Ukraine will remain vulnerable to "Russian pressures" – demonstrated by the ongoing conflict in the Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

While Russia's economy struggles its military strength remains formidable.

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The CIA placed significance on the evolution of biotechnology while suggesting some countries would fail to benefit from the "information revolution" in 2015.

It can be argued the exact opposite has taken place.

Wi-Fi is available in many countries around the world and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter in the West, and their equivalent in other nations, have brought the world closer together and the dependence on the internet couldn't be stronger.

Yet controversial genetically modified procedures to grow crops and food have proved to be a contentious subject.

A section of the report wrongly predicted cloning of livestock to generate more meat for human consumption would be fully operational by 2015.

It reads: "Genetic modification – despite continuing technological and cultural barriers – will improve the engineering of organisms to increase food production and quality, broaden the scale of bio-manufacturing, and provide cures or certain genetic diseases.

"Cloning will be used for such applications as livestock production. Despite cultural and political concerns, the use of genetically modified crops has great potential to dramatically improve the nutrition and health of many of the world's poorest people."

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HEALTH

The document predicted AIDS and other diseases would "decimate the economically productive adult population" in sub-Saharan Africa and grow as a deadly problem in India, Southeast Asia, countries formerly part of the Soviet Union, and possibly China.

It also projected there would be 40 million orphans as a result of AIDS that would contribute to poverty, crime and instability in Africa.

Recent figures from the World Health Organization's Global Health Observatory reports that 35million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

It adds that 1.5m people died of AIDS-related illnesses worldwide in 2013.

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WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

In 2005, BT produced a technology timeline predicting what could happen up to 2040.

The report, written by Ian Neild and Ian Pearson, along with BT, said the predictions were "possible".

By 2010 it predicted a synthetic voices pop band would get into the UK top 20, there would be domestic appliances with personality, and a virus aimed at toys would be released.

By 2012 it suggested there would be artificial intelligent football managers and AI football teams as TV entertainment.

By 2015 it thought that 25% of television celebrities could be synthetic and computer agents would be thought of as colleagues instead of tools.

And in 2020 the report suggests AI could bring chimpanzee or dolphins up to human level intelligence, self-writing computer software, electronic pets outnumbering organic pets, and an AI entity being awarded a nobel piece prize.

Oh, and humanoid robots could beat the England football team by the 2050s.