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You only have to look back at classic films like Back To The Future Part II from the 1980s to see how we far our lives were expected to have evolved by now.

Not only was it predicted that the noughties would see us behind the wheel of flying cars on roads in the sky, but our children should be playing on skateboards that hover above the ground and we should be instantly zapping full size dinners from biscuit-sized ready meals to feed our broods in a futuristic version of a microwave.

And from a wealth of scientific predictions made decades ago, it was also believed that we would be living and travelling to other planets in our solar system like we all still hop on planes today.

Clearly none of these have yet come true.

But in a recent survey one in four Britons said they believed that innovations in technology will enable them to do away with their wallets in the next ten years.

Instead of using cash machines and chip and pin more than half the population (51 per cent of 4,000 adults surveyed) believe that by 2025 there will be no such thing as credit cards but we’ll be using our thumbprints to pay for goods and services.

But how realistic is this? And what else can we expect the future to hold for us?

Futurologist Ian Pearson predicts the future using three traits; common sense, observation and an engineering knowledge.

He explained that: “Although I use the slightly wacky sounding title of futurologist, I’m just an engineer who’s making logical deductions for tomorrow based on things we can already see happening.”

And in addition to expectations of using thumbprints as credit cards Ian believes that technology will actually enable us to go one step further.

He believes that electronic information unique to every individual could instead be printed or embedded on thumbnails.

In an exclusive interview with the Birmingham Mail we asked Ian what he believes the future holds for the West Midlands, Birmingham and its inhabitants.....

He suggests driverless cars with no traffic lights or roundabouts; being able to transform streets, buildings and even people into your ideal visual delight; turning shopping malls into game-style realities; video make-up and tattoos; and the icing on the cake, even living up to 100 years after your body dies through computer networks.

In fact, Ian predicts that while some of the things we have will still exist in 2025 in 50 years time – by 2060 – we will have long waved them goodbye.

He said: “Certainly by 2025 we would expect to see some driverless cars in cities like Birmingham, but by 2060 all cars will be driverless. This is the way that people will get around, especially in large cities like Birmingham.

“Driverless cars will mean that we won’t need buses, trams or trains. Driverless cars will be the transport network but this will mean that the infrastructure will also have to change to suit.

“If you want to get from A to B you’ll just ask for a car and you could expect to be anywhere and your request to be heard by a computer and responded to in a minute or so. It would work just like a taxi but you would be automatically charged.

“Birmingham has a lot of frail residents so being able to get door to door easily will mean they will be able to better engage in city life too.

“Another thing that you can expect to see in the future in Birmingham is virtual architecture. You will be able to walk around with a visor on and have your ideal city or street scape super-imposed onto what is physically already there in the city.

“You will, in effect, be able to create your own digital and visual Birmingham.

“Eventually this may lead to architects creating plainer buildings because not everyone will see any elegant details, which will make the building process cheaper, as what I would like to see will be different to the next person.

“So there will be one version of Birmingham for me, and millions for each individual living there. By 2025 this will start becoming reality but will be commonplace by 2060.

“Entertainment is the thing that I think will change the least. I think people will still want to go out to the theatre etc and watch real people on a real stage doing real things.

“Apart from the obvious things like laser shows at concerts there’s no reason to expect that concerts will change that much. I think people will still rather see something with their own eyes.

“And just because we can watch it on the net doesn’t mean we will all choose to do that.”