Selfish Bubble

There is recognition of the need to be sustainable, but commercial organisations continue to steer consumption in such a way that the real impact of apparently sustainable changes is sub-optimal and slow. Virtual worlds have grown in both spread and sophistication to such an extent that 'real world' problems have ceased to be as meaningful as artificial cones - and the distinction between the two is becoming increasingly blurred. Lack of 'progress' towards targets (that no one can agree on anyway) is blamed on China and India - although in reality the latter countries have taken much more effective steps to mitigate the impact of the growth (in numbers and lifestyles) of their populations than the western countries.

Michael

Death of his mother (from a heart attack) - not only because it has had a big impact on his sense of 'place' in the world, but also because he has had a cancer scare himself (it is in remission) and is therefore much more aware of his own mortality.

Biotechnology has impacted directly in two ways: his recurrent lower back problems have been linked with cancer, but he now has an implant that works to keep him largely pain free; he has also had implants around his body that enable gaming and virtual worlds to replicate the movement of his body, and a whole room at home is now effectively a space dedicated to virtual worlds. His computer gaming is now much more involving of characters created by other people, and he has a much wider circle of 'friends' as a result.

He still spends most of his non-work time playing games.

Largely the same pattern as before, but a rung 'up' on the social scale - a bigger house in a more upmarket area.

A more upmarket area in the same general geography - he did think about moving, but the properties that he still prefers to visit in person from time to time are geographically spread around the country, and the midlands location is very convenient for travel.

With his wife, who he married (mainly for tax reasons) after they had been together for over 10 years. He also has several virtual mistresses.

Still in property management, although he now also operates a property management in the US. The US operation was driven both by the increasing level of regulation on environmental and sustainable issues in the UK - which are easier to find ways around in the US - and to enable him to offset the (much higher) cost of flying to the US as a business expense. He has had to employ an on-line sustainability consultant to help him navigate through the rules at home. He usually works six days a week because he is trying to build the business, but because he can now also play games online while travelling he is not in fact working any longer hours.

He goes into the 'shared' office two days a week (his other employees also go into the office those days because that is what he has decided)- the same office space is used by different organisations on the other days; two days he makes virtual visits through the internet to the properties he manages (using the virtual space at his home) both to meet his clients and to 'see' any problems that need dealing with; and two days he visits sites in person - partly because he stubbornly maintains that you still can't beat seeing a problem with your own eyes, partly because he likes to be seen in his car, and partly because that means the car is tax deductible.

For work, by car two days a week - it's a Jaguar multi-fuel SUV that can be very efficient but still allows him to have fun (inefficiently) when he wants to. On longer journeys it can operate automatically, so he has had it equipped with a computer game suite. Outside of work, he still tends to use the car because he is proud that he can afford it.

Yes (see above and below).

Went on a very-high-altitude cruise for two weeks; it was expensive, but he has told lots of people about it (they were suitably impressed).

Visits to the moon have started, but they are still too expensive; once he can afford it (but while it is still expensive) he'll go.

Still steak, although he won't eat much of the normal beef because he reckons it doesn't have much taste anymore.

He is not really interested in exotic food - he likes what he likes...

New installments of computer games, new games, and interactive films - all purchased through an on-line subscription.

Probably the bio-implants (they have become cheaper since he had them, but he wanted them while they were still an expensive novelty) - closely followed by the very high atmosphere cruise.

Computer games - he now has a number of quite fully developed alternate lives through which he can participate in several different games (assisted and enhanced by bio-implants); most of his characters are much younger (one is a criminal mastermind; a more recent one is an alien).

He has not read a book for the last five years. His access to the internet is though his own front-end page, so he's pretty unaware of where what he is looking at has come from.

Mainly (and most importantly for him) through the on-line games environments. He only meets his employees a couple of days a week now.

Mainly computer gaming; he also takes some of the readily available artificial drugs that induce a range of responses that can be selected through a control unit in the house.

He is working on a (virtual) scam that, if it succeeds, should net him several million euro-dollars; he has several buyers lined up, and reckons he will be able to get a good enough conversion rate to bring him much closer to retirement.

He has started to worry about mortality; while his Dad at 80 is doing pretty well (and much better than before he had his replacement knees), he is thinking that he cannot maintain the same pace of work indefinitely - he'd like to get the business to the point where he could sell it and retire.

There is no local paper.
In the virtual world, the main headline is the murder of a major league football star.
In the real world, the C10 (the worlds top 10 companies) meet to discuss multi-media legislation, the next round of technology research and investment, and to discuss the establishment of a World Council for Business.

Wake up 7am
Eat breakfast while checking for virtual world updates, feed the virtual cats
It's a virtual work-day; head into the gaming room, hold a meeting with a residents association in Newcastle, another with the maintenance team (dispersed across the UK), and investigate a structural problem at one of the sites in Cardiff. Attend a court hearing in London on whether a previous management company failed to comply with regulations on the retro-fitting of grey-water systems five years ago.
An hour at lunch in the virtual world on the planned scam.
In the afternoon, meet a possible new client in Florida. Read latest articles on property management regulation.
Stop work at 6pm
Have a drink with the wife in the garden, then dinner.
Evening game on-line with the wife and friends from 8-11.
Bed at 11.30pm