A cautionary not for those who predict the future, and those who always believe all the projections. We're not running out of phone numbers in Indiana nearly as quickly as once predicted:
Cell phones caused a big need for more numbers in the 1990s, and the Internet caused some families to add second lines for modems.
But technology has reduced some of that demand. Some people choose a cell phone instead of a home phone. And broadband services mean people can be on the phone and the Internet at the same time without multiple lines.
There are always variables you hadn't counted on that will work against the assumptions of your original parameters. Advances in an unrelated area can affect the outcome in the predicted area -- great progress in communications, as we are now experiencing now, for example, will greatly retard the predicted progress in transportation; the more easily we can reach each other electronically, the less need there is to travel. And some of the things you predict, in coming true, can have consequences you didn't anticipate. Global warming, if true, can increase the cloud cover, which can mitigate global warming.
All predictions of the future are based on the extrapolation of what is known. But that's the thing about change, isn't it?
