2010
Automatic translators allow monolingual humans to converse with any speaker of any major human language.

(Subtext: Of course, the ONLY major language still in existence will be Chinese.)

Bandwidth has increased enormously due to fiber optics and spread-spectrum radio.

(Subtext: Of course, it is all taxed, so this enormous amount of new revenue leads to a huge increase in wasteful government spending.)

2020
Almost all overt tyranny has been eliminated.

(Subtext: All tyranny is now covert, business as usual.)

Physicists have confirmed that the fate of the universe is asymptotic expansion.

(Subtext: Which no one can figure out how it makes any difference to anyone's life and is ...

2010
Automatic translators allow monolingual humans to converse with any speaker of any major human language.

(Subtext: Of course, the ONLY major language still in existence will be Chinese.)

Bandwidth has increased enormously due to fiber optics and spread-spectrum radio.

(Subtext: Of course, it is all taxed, so this enormous amount of new revenue leads to a huge increase in wasteful government spending.)

2020
Almost all overt tyranny has been eliminated.

(Subtext: All tyranny is now covert, business as usual.)

Physicists have confirmed that the fate of the universe is asymptotic expansion.

(Subtext: Which no one can figure out how it makes any difference to anyone's life and is largely ignored.)

Most text, images, audio, and video is produced and consumed digitally. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution of such media is routine.

(Subtext: Which produces an enormous load of lawsuits and ties up the court system from now until forever.)