Peering into my crystal ball, a vision of the future floats into view.  It is nary a vision of flying cars and space mutants.  Rather, it is a vision of land records and open government.  Let's see what one thousand years from now will be like.

  Each deed recorded is instantly scanned by a computer and posted to the internet for viewing by anyone, anywhere, and at any time.  While this is true already of records in 2009 (I can look at deeds in Arizona for many decades, back), this will be an even faster process in the far future.  An artificial intelligence will scan the document, confirming legal requirements, abstracting names to the index and thus recording documents in seconds, all the while having already deducted filing fees from my bank account. 

  I will access the records history of any property virtually.  That is to say, I will ask my computer to grab me a title history and it will do so for me within milliseconds.  The data will be projected onto the inside of my retina by micro "soliton" lasers; another technology available today and reaching full implementation in that fast-approaching world of tomorrow.

  As my super flying rocket car (I know,  I know, but I had to have at least one) drives me homeward, I review the document history back to the original subdivision map in the 1800's. 

  As I sit down in my living room, I tell my computer to send the documents over to my business partner who is a continent away.  He receives the information instantly.   You may say that this is simply email or instant messaging of today, but in the futue it is more reliable and sends voice messages too.  Actually, I will concede that it sounds like a cell phone or VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol like Skype or TeamSpeak service of today), but I assure you that it is VERY futuristic.

  We review the data in a 3-D virtual workspace.  Second Life provides this ability today, but the virtual workspaces of tomorrow will allow us to feel immersed in a exotic environment far from home.  The smell-o-vision and holograms will put us on a beach in business suites for a tropical vacation meeting.

  Our computers gather more data about the subject property including street-level views (like those on Google Maps), satellite views (like those on Yahoo!Maps), terrain and topographical maps (from the USGS), zoning maps (from county agencies), tax and assessment data, and comparable price lists (Zillow.com). 

  The weird and wild world of tomorrow will continue to have land bought and sold.  It will continue to have people eating, drinking, sleeping, working and doing all of the things that hairless apes strive to do.  It may have space travel and robots, but we have those today already, so the adjustment may be in terms of scope and scale in the distribution of technology and not in the mere fact that such inventions exists. 

  The world of tomorrow holds a lesson for us today.  All of the same tools will exist.  The rate at which we access data will increase.  The amount of data available will increase.  Old book records from centuries past will be scanned in at first and finally digitized as time goes by.  Private databases will have longer and longer histories of things like property values, demographic overlays and market trends, from which the Common Man will be able to compile statistics in order to make investor decisions.

  Your robot may make you a dry martini while you browse public records. 

  Ultimately, it is the human component in all of this information gathering which will make the decision about whether to invest in a property.  This will not be limited to land, but will  include stocks and bonds.  Looking into a company and it's managers will become easier too.

  Critical thinking becomes the skill of tomorrow.  Memorizing presidents in historical order, the date of a battle, or the capital of a foreign land is passe.  This can be acquired online in a mere second.  HOW we use the information becomes the difference between success and failure;  between getting the job and being passed over for promotion. 

  It is no less the case today.  Those who cannot think critically, those who are "stupid" by any other name, can not and will not out-compete those who can understand and function in a complex, dynamic world.