Six or seven years ago I came across a blog post talking about the best contemporary science fiction books. One thing it said was if you want to see what life will be like in 2025, read Rainbows End, the new book by Vernor Vinge. Part of the plot deals with a man who suffered from Alzheimer's for 20 years, but is brought back to reality when a cure is discovered in the 2020s. He tries to cope with dizzying technological changes as he integrates back into society.
I've been amazed how many times, in the years since reading the book, I've heard about some new bit of technology, and thought "yup, that was in Rainbows End." Here are a few of those things I can remember:
Driver-less cars
It amazes me how real these are getting. Google has test driven self-driving cars thousands of miles in major cities in California, and laws are being worked on in several states to allow them for normal use.
Computerized contact lenses
In the book, contact lenses can overlay information on your field of vision, or, more spectacularly, alter what you see in real-time. For example, instead of looking at cars driving down the road, you can see dragons flying in formation. This is still a long way off, but I've seen news stories every so often about research into computerized contact lenses, and Google Glass is a step in this direction.
Wearable computers
In the book, clothes are wired into your contact lens computers. Shrugging a shoulder, or some other subtle movement, allows you to manipulate the data shown by your lenses. These days, smart-watches, which are linked to your smartphone, are a step in this direction.
Friends of Privacy
Lastly, in the book there was an organization called Friends of Privacy that allowed information to be deleted from the internet. The past few weeks, this very topic has been in the news, with Google removing search results from its index due to the European "right to be forgotten" law.
There were many, many other technological predictions in the book, some of which I only vaguely understood, and some I'm sure I've forgotten. Overall, the book's plot was good, not great. The best parts by far were the descriptions of near-future technology.
And I should point out that Vernor Vinge has a history of accurate predictions. In the late 1970's, he wrote a short story called True Names, which foresaw the rise of the internet and virtual reality. It became a cult classic, influencing many computer scientists and programmers. It's one of the best stories I've ever read.