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2 TEACHERS Distance learning is becoming more popular, and through the miracle of online classes and electronic grading, today's faculty lounge could become tomorrow's virtual help desk. Though a complete conversion is unlikely, outsourcing our education system might cost less than installing all those metal detectors.
3 PRINTERS President Oprah may use her book club to rescue the printing press from extinction when newspapers and magazines make the switch to digital paper. Xerox and other visionaries are racing to produce a material that's as flexible as regular paper and as versatile as a computer screen, with the end result keeping news junkies happy, not to mention all those trees.
4 STENOGRAPHERS Sophisticated voice-recognition software will replace court reporters and lots of secretaries and executive assistants. Note to self: don't ditch the assistant just yet--technology may cover the grunt work, but who'll cover for you when that report isn't ready or get blamed for the snafu?
5 CEOS Top-down decision making will be too cumbersome, and golden parachutes too obscene, for the blistering 24-hour business day. A global team of quick-thinking experts will carry companies through the Internet age and beyond.
6 ORTHODONTISTS No more metal mouth, thanks to 3-D simulation programs that will crank out a series of disposable, clear-plastic "aligners" to shift your teeth into position. Already in clinical trials, this technology is geared for adults, so all you gap-toothed prepubes will have something to look forward to.
7 PRISON GUARDS Microscopic implants will restrain convicts from engaging in criminal activity. The sensors will require lots of fine tuning, though--we wouldn't want an aggressive telemarketer getting zapped, would we?
8 TRUCKERS Interstates will have "smart" lanes enabling computer-driven vehicles to travel bumper to bumper at high speeds. Suburbia will decongest by using bottleneck sensors in cars to suggest alternate routes, and while you can kiss those meter maids goodbye, expect tickets to appear on your virtual dash.
9 HOUSEKEEPERS If fridges today can decide to buy you more milk (online), then self-motivated vacuums don't sound so far afield. Perhaps self-cleaning homes will use a central vacuuming system or dust-eating nanobots. Either way, you can bet your retirement community there are people working on it.
10 FATHERS Between in-vitro fertilization and cloning, dads could become dinosaurs. Moms, too, with the possibility looming of an artificial womb. Did somebody say George Orwell?