How far away are we?
The futures people talk about, measured against the evidence. Each page breaks the journey into steps, shows which ones have actually been completed, and lists who has made forecasts and when.
Scaling up
Nearly here. It works and is being scaled up.
A complete map of the world's seabed
Scaling up · 2 of 6 steps done
An internet protected against quantum attacks
Scaling up · 3 of 8 steps done
Biochar as mainstream carbon removal
Scaling up · 2 of 7 steps done
Brain implants that stop seizures before they spread
Scaling up · 5 of 8 steps done
Cheap lidar in every car
Scaling up · 5 of 9 steps done
Crops that keep yielding in drought
Scaling up · 3 of 7 steps done
Metal 3D printing as a mass-production method
Scaling up · 3 of 7 steps done
Most software written by AI
Scaling up · 1 of 6 steps done
Pilots
Close. Early pilots are running in the real world.3D-printed homes as a normal way to build
Pilots · 4 of 7 steps done
A full digital twin of the Earth
Pilots · 2 of 8 steps done
AI agents doing everyday computer work
Pilots · 2 of 8 steps done
AI weather forecasts replacing physics-based models
Pilots · 4 of 7 steps done
AI-designed medicines reaching patients
Pilots · 5 of 8 steps done
An AI tutor for every student
Pilots · 2 of 6 steps done
Artificial limbs that move and feel like real ones
Pilots · 7 of 10 steps done
Better deep sleep on demand
Pilots · 9 of 12 steps done
Brain data protected by law
Pilots · 5 of 9 steps done
Brain-computer interfaces for everyday use
Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done
Bridge sensors that flag possible damage
Pilots · 3 of 5 steps done
Buildings cooled without using power
Pilots · 1 of 6 steps done
Buildings that lock away carbon
Pilots · 2 of 6 steps done
Cameras that see like eyes
Pilots · 7 of 10 steps done
Cheap multi-day energy storage for renewables
Pilots · 2 of 7 steps done
Chips made with the next generation of EUV machines
Pilots · 5 of 9 steps done
Clothes that monitor your health
Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done
Computer chips designed mostly by AI
Pilots · 2 of 6 steps done
Computer chips that work like brains
Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done
Crops picked by robots instead of people
Pilots · 3 of 8 steps done
Cultivated meat at supermarket prices
Pilots · 1 of 6 steps done
Curing inherited diseases with a single gene-editing treatment
Pilots · 4 of 9 steps done
Cutting cattle methane with seaweed feed
Pilots · 2 of 7 steps done
Drone deliveries as an everyday service
Pilots · 1 of 6 steps done
Electric cars that power the grid
Pilots · 2 of 9 steps done
Every farm animal monitored by sensors
Pilots · 3 of 8 steps done
Factories heated by stored renewable heat
Pilots · 3 of 8 steps done
Factories that run without people
Pilots · 3 of 5 steps done
Farming with far fewer chemical pesticides
Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done
Farming without synthetic fertiliser
Pilots · 2 of 6 steps done
Farmland that pulls CO2 out of the air with crushed rock
Pilots · 3 of 7 steps done
Finding every methane leak from space
Pilots · 3 of 7 steps done
Flying taxis in cities
Pilots · 3 of 7 steps done
Food made from air and electricity
Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done
Geothermal power almost anywhere
Pilots · 3 of 9 steps done
Grid batteries that last for days
Pilots · 2 of 8 steps done
Indoor vertical farms competing on price with field crops
Pilots · 5 of 7 steps done
Insects as everyday food and animal feed
Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done
Internet cables that carry light through air
Pilots · 2 of 6 steps done
Lab-grown and animal organs for transplant
Pilots · 3 of 8 steps done
Laser internet between space and the ground
Pilots · 5 of 7 steps done
Meat from gene-edited animals in supermarkets
Pilots · 2 of 7 steps done
Medical implants that change shape inside the body
Pilots · 3 of 5 steps done
MicroLED screens in everyday devices
Pilots · 1 of 5 steps done
Most fish farmed on land
Pilots · 1 of 6 steps done
Ordinary phones connected by satellite everywhere
Pilots · 4 of 9 steps done
Perovskite solar panels on everyday roofs
Pilots · 3 of 7 steps done
Power cables with zero resistance
Pilots · 4 of 7 steps done
Power from ocean temperature differences
Pilots · 2 of 7 steps done
Printing features smaller than a cell
Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done
Products that heal their own cracks
Pilots · 5 of 8 steps done
Removing a billion tonnes of CO2 a year
Pilots · 3 of 8 steps done
Removing carbon with the ocean
Pilots · 5 of 9 steps done
Replacing animal testing with lab-grown human tissue
Pilots · 4 of 7 steps done
Restoring hearing to deaf children with gene therapy
Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done
Restoring sight to blind people
Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done
Roads that charge cars as they drive
Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done
Robot dogs inspecting industrial sites
Pilots · 4 of 9 steps done
Robots that can pick any item in a warehouse
Pilots · 3 of 8 steps done
Screening for many cancers with one blood test
Pilots · 6 of 9 steps done
Self-driving cars on every road
Pilots · 2 of 7 steps done
Soft suits that make walking easier
Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done
Space holidays for ordinary people
Pilots · 2 of 6 steps done
Tracking wildlife from DNA in water and air
Pilots · 1 of 5 steps done
Treating illness through the vagus nerve
Pilots · 6 of 8 steps done
Treating severe depression in days with brain stimulation
Pilots · 7 of 9 steps done
Engineering prototypes
Getting closer. Prototypes exist, but not in real-world use.A permanent base on the Moon
Engineering prototypes · 2 of 6 steps done
A quantum internet
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 7 steps done
Bacteria engineered as living medicines
Engineering prototypes · 5 of 7 steps done
Battery-electric passenger flights
Engineering prototypes · 5 of 8 steps done
Checking blood sugar without needles
Engineering prototypes · 2 of 5 steps done
Clearing dead satellites and space junk from orbit
Engineering prototypes · 2 of 5 steps done
Computer chips built from atom-thin materials
Engineering prototypes · 2 of 7 steps done
Computers built from mix-and-match chiplets
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 7 steps done
Computers that calculate with light in data centres
Engineering prototypes · 5 of 8 steps done
Cooling without climate-warming refrigerants
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 7 steps done
Data centres in orbit
Engineering prototypes · 2 of 7 steps done
Deflecting an asteroid headed for Earth
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 9 steps done
Drinking water pulled from dry air
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 8 steps done
Electricity from living plants
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 7 steps done
Electricity from waste heat
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 8 steps done
Flying to work in a jet suit
Engineering prototypes · 3 of 7 steps done
Giving people back their voice with brain implants
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 6 steps done
Humanoid robots in the home
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 9 steps done
Humans back on the Moon
Engineering prototypes · 1 of 7 steps done
Humans landing on Mars
Engineering prototypes · 2 of 7 steps done
Lab-grown blood for routine transfusions
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 9 steps done
Life after the International Space Station
Engineering prototypes · 3 of 12 steps done
Making fuel from sunlight like a leaf
Engineering prototypes · 5 of 8 steps done
Making things in orbit that can't be made on Earth
Engineering prototypes · 3 of 6 steps done
Materials that grow and repair themselves
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 8 steps done
Medical implants that need no battery
Engineering prototypes · 6 of 10 steps done
Medicines and machines built from folded DNA
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 7 steps done
Mining water and oxygen on the Moon
Engineering prototypes · 3 of 7 steps done
Moving objects with sound
Engineering prototypes · 6 of 10 steps done
Navigating without GPS using quantum sensors
Engineering prototypes · 5 of 8 steps done
Quantum computers that can break today's encryption
Engineering prototypes · 3 of 8 steps done
Real hoverboards
Engineering prototypes · 3 of 8 steps done
Redefining the second with optical clocks
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 10 steps done
Robot surgeons that operate on their own
Engineering prototypes · 3 of 7 steps done
Robot swarms doing real work
Engineering prototypes · 5 of 8 steps done
Robots as thin as paper
Engineering prototypes · 3 of 6 steps done
Storing quantum information long enough for a quantum internet
Engineering prototypes · 5 of 7 steps done
Storing the world's archives in DNA
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 7 steps done
Supersonic passenger flights returning
Engineering prototypes · 2 of 8 steps done
Travelling by hyperloop
Engineering prototypes · 2 of 7 steps done
Ultrasound scanners you wear like a plaster
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 7 steps done
Walking again after spinal cord injury
Engineering prototypes · 4 of 6 steps done
Windows and panels made of transparent wood
Engineering prototypes · 3 of 9 steps done
Science demonstrated
Far away. The science works, but nobody has built a working system yet.A probe to another star
Science demonstrated · 1 of 8 steps done
AI that makes its own scientific discoveries
Science demonstrated · 4 of 6 steps done
Bringing asteroid rock back to Earth
Science demonstrated · 3 of 5 steps done
Cars and planes whose body is the battery
Science demonstrated · 2 of 6 steps done
Fighting malaria with gene drive mosquitoes
Science demonstrated · 5 of 10 steps done
Floating cities
Science demonstrated · 3 of 8 steps done
Fusion power on the grid
Science demonstrated · 2 of 7 steps done
Hypersonic passenger flights
Science demonstrated · 4 of 7 steps done
Living in a spinning space habitat
Science demonstrated · 2 of 7 steps done
Quantum computers solving useful chemistry problems
Science demonstrated · 3 of 7 steps done
Quantum machines beating supercomputers on real problems
Science demonstrated · 5 of 7 steps done
Time travel
Science demonstrated · 4 of 8 steps done
Science unproven
Very far away. The basic science has not been shown to work.A self-sustaining settlement on Mars
Science unproven · 3 of 9 steps done
A space elevator
Science unproven · 2 of 9 steps done
Cooling the planet on purpose
Science unproven · 2 of 8 steps done
Reviving people frozen after death
Science unproven · 4 of 9 steps done
Room-temperature superconductors
Science unproven · 1 of 7 steps done
Terraforming Mars
Science unproven · 4 of 13 steps done
Travelling faster than light
Science unproven · 4 of 6 steps done
Why no countdown clocks?
We don’t make our own predictions. Distance is shown by which steps have demonstrably been completed. Where a government, company or expert survey has published a forecast, we quote it with who made it and when.