Kids offer a glimpse of the future

Young people at Intel’s Computer Clubhouse take a guess about what kind of technology will rule in the years to come

By Ray Pitz

The Beaverton Valley Times, Jul 10, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Jonathan House / The Beaverton Valley Times

Intel fellow Nancy Douyon helps Lexi Conrad learn the basics of the image altering program, Photoshop, during a teach-in session in Beaverton on Tuesday.

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Forty years from now, we’ll live in a world with hover boots, flying chairs and talking houses.

So say some young Intel Computer Clubhouse technology whizzes envisioning the future during a recent session at the Beaverton Police Activities League.

And the ideas the students generated on Tuesday afternoon will soon be shared with young people worldwide as they are uploaded to the Web.

“The whole idea is Intel is celebrating its 40th anniversary,” Janet Rash, community relations manager for Intel, explained during a recent meeting of the young minds. “So what they’re going to do is talk about what technology will look like in the next 40.”

After posing the question of what technological advances will look like four decades from now, students transformed their thoughts into drawings using crayons and markers.

Cole Magnuson, 10, came up with no less than 12 ideas regarding the future including a portable remote control device “that can teleport you to anywhere.”

But he didn’t stop there, coming up with visions of what it would be like to fly with the help of hover boots and a body-changing watch.

“Put the watch on and say ‘invisible’ and you’re invisible,” he said.

Magnuson also envisions a future that includes a prison consisting of laser beams for bars that would prevent prisoners from leaving because “they get shocked.”

He also sees a future need for limitless liquid refreshment.

“One of my favorites would be the Dr. Pepper fountain,” he said. “It’s like a fountain that sprays out Dr. Pepper but can spray out other drinks (too).”

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