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What If...

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A series of programmes about what the world of the future might be like.

What If...; What If... We Could Shape Our Lives - Fate or Free Will?

What If...: What If... We Could Shape Our Lives - Fate or Free Will?

09/03/2013

What If... We Could Shape Our Lives - Fate or Free Will?

BBC World Service - What If..., What If... We Could Shape Our Lives - Fate or Free Will?

Who's in control of individual lives at a time of huge global change? Chris Bowlby reports

As the future world faces huge changes in everything from family size to opportunities for women and length of life, how far are individuals in control? Chris Bowlby investigates.

More and more of the world can look forward to surviving into longer life. But what’s just beginning to dawn on the experts, the policymakers and billions of individuals is how all this will relate to other major changes, like women’s rights, migration and chronic disease.  

How will it influence the choices we make, the way we approach the stages of life, beginning with the decision whether to have children? 

In this BBC programme Chris Bowlby tests big trends predicted for the future against very personal accounts of how people shape their lives.

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