There was great excitement on the planet of Venus this week. For the first time Venusian scientists managed to land a satellite on the planet Earth, and it has been sending back signals as well as photographs ever since.

The satellite was directed into an area known as Manhattan(named after the great Venusian astronomer Prof. Manhattan, who first discovered it with his telescope 20,000 light years ago). Because of excellent weather conditions and extremely strong signals, Venusian scientists were able to get valuable information as to the feasibility(可行性)of a manned flying saucer(飞碟)landing on Earth. A press conference was held at the Venus Institute of Technology.

“We have come to the conclusion, based on last week’s satellite landing,” Pro. Zog said, “that there is no life on the Earth.”

“How do you know this?” the science reporter of the Venus Evening Star asked.

“For on thing, Earth’s surface in the area of Manhattan is composed of solid concrete and nothing can grow there. For another, the atmosphere is filled with carbon monoxide and other deadly gases and nobody could possibly breathe this air and survive.”

“What does this mean as far as our flying saucer program is concerned?”

“We shall have to take our own oxygen with us, which means heavier flying saucer than we originally planned.”

“Are there any other risks that you discovered in your studies?”

“Take a look at his photo. You see this dark black cloud floating over the surface of Earth?” We call this the Consolidated Edison Belt. We don’t know what it is made of, but it could give us a lot of trouble and we shall have to make further tests before we send a Venus Being there.”

“If what you say is true, won’t this set back the flying saucer program several years?”

“Yes, but we shall proceed as soon as the Grubstart gives us the added funds.”

“Pro. Zog, why are we spending billions and billions of zilches to land a flying saucer on Earth when there is no life there?

“Because if we Venusians can learn to breathe in an Earth atmosphere, then. We can live anywhere.”

The next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) may be sitting right beneath you, at least if furniture maker Ikea has any say in the matter. The Swedish furniture company’s “future-living” research lab in Copenhagen is conducting a survey to understand what people want when it comes to smart furniture.

AI is now walking into more aspects of people’s daily lives. Self-driving cars are just around the corner, and AI robots can play and beat the best players of strategy games. As smart home technologies have become more ubiquitous, products ranging from smart electrical outlets (插座) to smart smoke alarms are flooding the market. Therefore, it’s not surprising that Ikea would be moving in the same direction.

Exactly why people would want their sofa or bed frame to speak to then, track their daily movements or offer help is not yet clear. Though Ikea’s the new survey doesn’t directly answer that question, it does provide a hint of what people would feel comfortable with. Most participants wanted a more human-like form of virtual (虚拟的) assistants, as opposed to one that is more robotic. In terms of the ideal gender (性别) of the assistants, the most popular choice was neither male nor female. Few wanted a religious form of AI.

Just as with human friends, most wanted AI friends that were like them, affirming their own worldview. They wanted an AI assistant that was reasonably intelligent-that could collect data to predict what a person wanted before he or she asked, and that could prevent someone from making mistakes.

This is not the first time that Ikea has set foot in the field or futuristic technologies. In addition to wireless charging tables and chainless bikes that never rust, the furniture giant has also pictured smart kitchens that can cook the best meal. To decide on how intelligent you want your next sofa or bookshelf to be, you can take Ikea’s survey online.

These are some ideas that some people came up with about what the life will be like in the year 2500.

We will have established a base on the moon. School kids can take field trips to the moon weekly. We will have found cures(疗法) for AIDS and cancer. The war will have ended and peace flows freely through the land. Kids will learn more and be smarter than ever before! History will be the main subject at school. Cafeteria(自助餐厅) food will be delicious! You just walkup to a machine, stick out your tongue, and it will scan your taste buds(味蕾) to see what you want to eat.

—Kristen

Here I am in the wonderful year of 2500 and life is so easy. I work in a pet store and it is so hard! I have to wake up at midnight every day and fly my car to the store. It takes so long to get there. It takes me 20 seconds to get to the store in Mississippi from my home in Florida! At work, I have to push 5 buttons and then I go home. It takes 2 seconds and that is like forever.

—Morgan

In the year 2500, I think we will have invented cars that run on things we don’t need like garbage. Tail gas will smell like whatever you like such as chocolate. I also predict that buildings will be able to go into a different dimension(维) so your car won’t hit them. The cars in 2500 don’t fly, for we haven’t got that technology yet, but they can hover(盘旋) up to seven feet. These cars are made for speed!

—Carly

Instead of cars, we may have hovering devices that float around. We could also have electric cars instead of gas? powered cars. Food might be more healthy. What I believe is that the environment will change most. The environmental changes will also determine many other changes. If more people try to help the environment, then perhaps in 2500 we will have more forests and wildlife. If people won’t help the environment, then we will have no forests and little wildlife left.

—Roberta