Middle managers replaced by robots by 2051

Offices will disappear and robots will replace middle-managers within the next 50 years.

The prediction comes from the entry that won the '50 Years of Business Computing' competition organised by the National Computing Centre.

In her study, amateur futurologist Chandra Amaravadi, a researcher at Western Illinois University, predicts the impact IT might have on people's 'working and personal lives over the next five decades.

Data will travel at near-light speed and the internet, into its third incarnation by 2051, will be referred to as the Play Grid. Homes, hospitals, recreational centres, schools and other establishments will all be linked to the Play Grid. Office life will cease to exist as employees either work from home or in IT centres.

The study predicts: "With the majority of their employees gone, companies have done away with physical buildings. The modern equivalent of the office is the IT centre which is rented out on a per-use basis and billed to the company in question.

"At such facilities people from several different companies work in a semi-casual way, exchanging gossip and the latest technology. Such centres will enjoy a direct connection to the Grid."

Automation will result in job displacement and most administrative and middle-management positions will be replaced with robots.

However, society will suffer from an increasing shortage of engineers, mathematicians and physicists.

The study claims that by 2051, many diseases, such as cancer, will have disappeared because of advanced genetic treatments and nanotechnology. Artificial intelligence applications will become commonplace.

Other predictions include:
2015: CERN scientists capture the Higgs Boson particle making possible new power generation.
2022: Mars mission a complete success.
2050: GlaxoSmithKline launches space laboratory despite environmental protests.