From AzJohn's link in post #5 to the NIC homepage;
[NIC]: This is not meant to be an exercise in prediction or crystal ball gazing; our project may be called “2020” but neither our hindsight nor our foresight is 20/20. Rather, after considering the forces that will shape our world, a variety of regional and global scenarios will be developed that represent alternative futures—and these futures will be discussed and debated through a series of conferences, in papers, and through dynamic Web-based interactions.