Re future shock, I've been a SF reader for over 40 years, it's been interesting what has "panned out" and what hasn't (e.g., the totally lousy computing on Star Trek). Every now and then there's things that make the hair on the back of my neck rise -- say, when when they created Bose-Einstein condensate -- or the possibility of micro (nano?) black holes from the next generation particle colliders. I had an odd one today: "Nissan announces self-healing paint". Grey goo, grey goo!!!