I just can not get enough of studies that try to predict the future. It seems that every time we stare down the rabbit’s hole we always pull out a lame duck. Yesterday, the PEW Internet & American Life Project posted its ideas about the future of the internet based on a survey of 742 internet leaders, builders and activists.

While it does make some points that I would venture to agree with, it’s always safe to assume technology only very rarely follows easily predictable trends. Here are a few of the predictions that the report makes, at the very least they left SkyNet out of it — well, for the most part.

• The deployment of a global network: A majority of respondents agreed with a scenario which posited that a global, low-cost network will be thriving in 2020 and will be available to most people around the world at low cost. And they agreed that a tech-abetted “flattening” of the world will open up opportunities for success for many people who will compete globally.
• Human control over technology: Most respondents said they think humans will remain in charge of technology between now and 2020. However some fear that technological progress will eventually create machines and processes that move beyond human control. Others said they fear that the leaders who exercise control of the technology might use this power inappropriately.
• The fate of language online: Many respondents said they accept the idea that English will be the world’s lingua franca for cross-cultural communications in the next few decades. But notable numbers maintained English will not overwhelm other languages and, indeed, Mandarin and other languages will expand their influence online.