How will we live in the future? And what will the human race become? This video identifies 25 future challenges and technologies that may help answer these questions. For more information, please see http://www.ExplainingTheFuture.com/25things

Christopher Barnatt's book "25 Things You Need to Know About the Future" is published on 19th January 2012.

Marc Goodman is a global thinker, writer and consultant focused on the profound change technology is having on security, business and international affairs. Over the past 20 years, he has built his expertise in combating cyber crime and terrorism working with organizations such as INTERPOL, the United Nations, NATO and the US Government. Marc frequently consults with global policy makers, security executives and industry leaders on technology-related security threats and has operated in nearly seventy countries around the world.

Wong Meng Weng is a serial entrepreneur. While studying at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1990s, he co-founded an email company, pobox.com, together with his then girlfriend, who is now CEO. Working closely with Microsoft and with the opensource community, he co-authored an antispam standard, RFC4408, which is now deployed worldwide. He moved to Silicon Valley to co-found his second company, karmasphere.com, which subsequently received VC funding.

Brian is a seasoned executive with a proven track record in growing technology based organizations and leads the Better Place Hawai'i project. He has over 20 years experience in senior management, business development, sales, and marketing in the enterprise software, data warehousing, business intelligence, consumer internet, medical software, and biotechnology industries. Brian also serves as a Vice-Chair on the boards of Hawai'i High Technology Development Corporation (HTDC) and the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai'i Authority (NELHA).

A groundbreaking work, Redesigning Humans tackles the controversial subject of engineering the human germline -- the process of permanently altering the genetic code of an individual so that the changes are passed on to the offspring. Gregory Stock, an expert on the implications of recent advances in reproductive biology, has glimpsed the inevitable future of biomedical engineering. Within decades, Stock asserts, technological advances will bring meaningful changes to our offspring; this scientific revolution promises to fundamentally alter the human species.

"Why Using Mathematics To Predict The Future Is Futile, And Why We Should Do It Anyway" Dr. Tony Fisher, Acting Principal and former Mathematics Department Chair at Hunter College High School. His mathematics research at the University of Chicago focused on finite group theory. He has taught everything from Algebra I to Calculus, as well as elective courses in statistics and "alternative geometries." Most recently, he led students in weekly seminars on unsolved problems in number theory, plane geometry and modern algebra.

Building Gods - This film by Ken Gumbs tackles the issue of pending greater-than-human artificial intelligence and the possible ramifications. Different individuals with different backgrounds are interviewed on the subject, including a theologian, a philosopher, a brain builder and a cyborg. A wide spectrum of topics are discussed, including trans-humanism, mind-machine mergers, uploading, and artificial super-intelligence.

The true promise of nanotechnology, says Ray Kurzweil, is that "we'll be able to create just about anything we need in the physical world from information files with very inexpensive input materials."

Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist and the Henry Semat Professor at the City College of New York and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he has taught for more than 30 years. He is a graduate of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and earned his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley.

Dr. Kaku is one of the founders of string field theory, a field of research within string theory. String theory seeks to provide a unified description for all matter and the fundamental forces of the universe.