Maximum Happy Imagination

I just finished reading Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, which came out in 2012. It has been cited a couple of times in lists of top ten books about books. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:  

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The bookstore’s secrets extend far beyond its walls. 

I wouldn't classify it as a top book that I have read; probably the term I have seen that I would agree most with is "charming", and that makes it good enough for me to spend a couple of days on. 3 1/2 stars out of 5 if I had to rate it.  

In the book, a Google employee that represents the love interest in the book asks the main character to play a game.

“Have you ever played Maximum Happy Imagination?" "Sounds like a Japanese game show."
Kat straightens her shoulders. "Okay, we're going to play. To start, imagine the future. The good future. No nuclear bombs. Pretend you're a science fiction writer." 

Okay: "World government... no cancer... hover-boards." 

"Go further. What's the good future after that? 

"Spaceships. Party on Mars."
"Further."
"Star Trek. Transporters. You can go anywhere."
"Further."

I pause a moment, then realize: "I can't."

Kat shakes her head. "It's really hard. And that's, what, a thousand years? What comes after that? What could possibly come after that? Imagination runs out. But it makes sense, right? We probably just imagine things based on what we already know, and we run out of analogies in the thirty-first century.” 

It is an interesting proposition. The BBC on its "Timeline of the Far Future" website doesn't address anything like this. It has mostly astronomical occurrences that are fairly easy to predict, like changes in the North Pole star and comet returns. The only thing of interest I saw was that in 1000 years, because of evolution of languages, they predict no present day word would still survive.  

I enjoy "Futurama", which takes place around the year 3000, but I don't think I have a better guess of what will happen in the next few thousand years from watching that show.  

If I were still living in a dorm and hanging out in my friend's room every night with a bunch of people, this would be an interesting topic.  

I suppose the most common guess is that in five thousand years we will be doing whatever our robot overlords tell us to do.