January 2, 2000
Web posted at: 7:06 a.m. EST (1206 GMT)

(CNN) -- How would you like your own free e-mail account, courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service? Or what about a small computer chip embedded into your body that receives information and transmits it directly into your brain?

Those are among several surprising predictions coming from futurists gazing into what lies ahead for humanity in the new century and beyond.

"One of my first predictions for the new millennium is that the U.S. post office will give everyone in this country an e-mail address," says Watts Wacker, founder and director of FirstMatter, a research organization.

Wacker said the Postal Service has the infrastructure, the ideas and the will to carry this out.

"I think that will actually happen pretty quickly," he told CNN, predicting that such a development will occur in about two years. "They've done their homework."

However, Wacker said the instinct against change among many Washington lawmakers could pose an obstacle.

Wacker and fellow professional visionary Faith Popcorn also see big advances in bioengineering -- the use of science and technology to solve mankind's biological and medical problems.

VIDEO What does the future hold? Here is an analysis, from CNN's Garrick Utley. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Garrick Utley shows how predictions from 100 years ago have panned out. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     AUDIO Wacker thinks the next millennium spells a tough time for English language 138K AIFF or WAV sound Popcorn predicts a resurgence in spirituality 354K AIFF or WAV sound

One example is technology embedded within people, which Wacker calls "the fusion of the world of the made and the world of the born."

"It's a teeny, tiny brain chip that's inserted at will ... (that) will give you language (skills or other) knowledge," Popcorn told CNN. "It will be very non-invasive ... and give us an expanded ability to do what we want to do.

"We won't have to learn French, we'll know French. It'll extend our health and monitor our pulse and blood pressure," said Popcorn, the founder of BrainReserve, a futurist marketing consultancy. "I think we're going to see that shift in the next 30 years."

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