ber one. tonight on "nightline" -- blood in the street. violent mobs, wanton destruction. a police crackdown and the unforgettable image of a boy crying for help and what happened to him next. we're on the scene with the latest tonight. plus, dazzle factory. they command an enormous fan base and a market worth billions. how do these kids go from head shots to headliner? we go inside the making of a tween star. and playing god. it's wild science. using an avataro make a dead person speak. tonight, the world's most famous futurist says it can be done.

and he's doing it. good evening, i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin tonight with a city torn apart by chaos. violent riots have rocked the streets of london for four days now. of other british cities as well. e perpetrators of mainly young men, seemingly bent on looting and vandalism. the first protests took to the street after a police shooting on saturday but the question of motive seemed to be lost. momentarily at least amid the destruction. abc's jeffrey kofman is there. [ sirens ]

>> disperse yourselves now -- >> reporter: these are not images anyone in london wants to see or anyone in london wants the world to see. one of the great cities of the world engulfed in an inferno of anarchy. roving gangs on a rampage. smashing store windows. stealing with impunity. watch this. one of the most disturbs images. a bloody boy appears to be getting help. but watch closely. the helpers help themselves. stealing the contents of his backpack. >> he just took something from his back -- >> reporter: another unforgettable image, a news photographer caught this woman leaping to safety as the building around her is engulfed in flames. it has been like this across britain for four nights running. most serious disorder here in london. historic buildings that survived the blitz of world war ii lost in the arson of mindless

vandals. last night alone, more than ten major fires devoured city blocks. businesses lost. homes lost. one person is dead. it's amazing the number isn't higher. >> i saw the building, it had flames -- the building and it was just black smoke coming billowing from the corner of the -- you know, ten minutes longer in that building and we would have been dead. we would have been dead. >> reporter: it all began saturday in north london. what was a peaceful protest against the police shooting of a black man alleged to be a gang member turned ugly. on saturday night, it spread. it got worse on sunday. and much worse last night. more than 75 separate incidents so far. overwhelming police and firefighters. as police tried to contain the violence, the mobs dispersed, texting each other to regroup a few blocks away. when they did, they smashed

everything in sight. they set cars on fire. often police were nowhere to be seen as the roving gangs helped themselves to tvs and anything else they could carry. >> let's get some watches -- >> they are feral rats. what are those parents doing? those children should be at home. they shouldn't be out here causing mayhem. i'm absolutely livid. >> reporter: this was reeves furniture store, established 144 years ago, in what was then the village of croyton, what is now south london. >> it survived the wars, two great wars, first world war, second world war, 1930 depression. >> reporter: this is reeves furniture store today. a charred monument to senseless mayhem. and here to see it,, the mayor f london, boris johnson who cut short his vacation overseas to try to end the cycle of violence. what we witnessed was not a warm welcome. >> you didn't get here for 30 to

45 minutes, it's outrageous -- and you are to blame -- >> i'm very sorry, very sorry. >> reporter: this is a city in fear but a city that iss also struggling to understand. why do you think this is happening? >> i think it's a mix of unemployment in the area. there's always been problem with gang culture as well. >> repororr: but to many here in britain, it is much more than that. in part, a symptom of massive cuts imposed by conservative prime minister david cameron, including health care, education and police funding which is to be slashed by up to 20%. the prime minister, though, is focused on law and order. with a warning for those thinking of joining the chaos. >> you will feel the full force of the law. and if you are old enough to commit these crimes, you are old enough to face the punishments. >> reporter: here in london, police have begun issuing pictures of suspected looters, asking the public to help identify them. almost 700 people have already been arrested.

the contagion of valance is spreading to the north of england. this is the city of birmingham with mobs roaming the streets. police struggling to establish it is much the same in manchester. almost a game for young looters eager to see what they can score by smashing their waynto a store. with the olympics a year away, london had been focusing on being a showcase to the world. now it has to show the world it is capable of securing its own streets. what is different tonight, a massive police presence. there were 6,000 officers on duty in london yesterday. today, 16,000. cynthia. >> thank you, jeffrey. a story that we will continue to follow closely. just ahead, how young is too young to get into the fame game? [ male announcer ] every day, thousands of people

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individually, they earn about $12 a week in allowance but collectively 8-year-old to 12-year-old kids in the u.s., 20 million strong, wield $43 billion of their parent's money in annual spending power. and they've got the stars to prove it. tween stars who are all the rage right now. tonight in our encore presentation, we visit with one of them, victoria justice, a seasoned veteran at 18. but what's the cost of fame so young? here's juju chang for our series "celebrity secrets." >> reporter: victoria justice is a child star who's just now

coming of age. ♪ best friend >> reporter: she's packed a lot into those 18 years. she's worked hard for nearly half of them. like miley, the jonases and selena, victoria used a hit tv show to catapult into tween superstard superstardom. now she's breaking into movies and released her album. ♪ best friend's brother is the one for me ♪ >> i want my songs to be on the radio and i'd love to do a tour and do movies at the same time. >> reporter: victoria is an actor, a singer and a dancer, which makes her a triple threat on the hollywood tween scene. add cover girl looks and maybe she's a quadruple threat. >> i just hope it all works out because my family moved out to l.a. for me and i want to be able to, you know, buy a house for my parents and i want my sister -- i am going to choke up. i'm sorry. >> reporter: she gets emotional

in part because she's still refreshingly candid. but also perhaps because there's a lot of pressure on a career that began at the age of 8 with a national commercial. >> ovaltine's amazing. >> i was watching tv and a kid came on the tv and i started yelling, mom, i want to try that. >> reporter: victoria is half irish, half puerto rican. marketers call her wide-ranging appeal multiethnic, nonspecific. >> i had done over 30 commercials. i modeled for a bunch of different people. which was really cool. but at that point i was getting older anani was, like, i want to do tv and film. i want to move out to l.a. i want to go for it. >> reporter: i want to be an actor? >> i want to be an actor. >> reporter: today, she had nickelodeon star maker dan schneider to thanks, the man who created i-carly, zoey 101 and drake and josh. >> victoria is going to be one of the biggest stars in the world within five years. i think the girl's going to be making $10 million a movie.

>> reporter: she was just 12 when he cast her on zoey 101. >> i'm an actress. >> reporter: what makes her a superstar on the launch pad? >> when she walked in and said, hi, i'm victoria justice and i'm 12 years old, i thought this kid has real charisma. this is probably a kid i want to develop a tv show. >> reporter: he created a show called "victorious" just for her where she excels at navigating life. >> this is not just a high school. these kids are all artsy and creative. >> reporter: do you want to be a movie star? >> yeah. >> reporter: or a singing star? >> i want to do both. >eporter: you want it all? >> i want it all, why not? >> reporter: victoria is just one of a slew of young would-be stars loaded with talent hoping to land the jackpot. a show aimed at the lucrative teen audience, boys and girls aged 8 to 12 who spend $43 billion every year. >> i think the whole kid's tv thing really snuck up on the entertainment business. so now the big agents want to

sign the kids who star in these shows. >> reporter: kids television keeps churning out those young stars. ♪ i wanna be famous >> reporter: big-time rush featuresesendall, logan, carlos and james. they're tv stars who play pretend rock stars, whose real-life concerts are now selling out. sound familiar? i'm amazed at how loud screaming girls can be. >> never ceases to amaze. >> reporter: these four guys were plucked out of 15,000 who auditioned and seemingly overnight they've become big-time superstars. >> i was more freaking out because i didn't'tnow how big it was going to get but i knew it was a big responsibility. i didn't know if i was ready -- >> or the job in general. >> it's tough. people don't realize how much people are looking at you and judging you and, you know, constantly trying to i guess watch you fall. >> thank you. >> reporter: but the child star making machinery requires hard work.

lots of it. we caught up with victoria while she was shooting a prison musical spoof on set. she'd been working till 3:00 in the morning. these are long hours you're working. >> they can be pretty long. i think if you love what you're doing and -- with the whole cast, we have so much fun that it doesn't even feel like work half the time. >> reporter: there's another price to pay for fame. victoria gave up her childhood in many respects. even moved her whole family. >> when your family gives up so much for you and they really believe in me, you know, and it's really -- it, like, makes me happy that -- >> reporter: it's touching. >> yeah, it's really touching. i just want to be able to, like, give that back to them in a major way because it's amazing to be in the business for me. sorry. >> reporter: but how do you avoid the well-documented dark side of young fame? the one that britney, lindsay and generations of child stars have long battled? >> i always have to remember there are kids who are 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, who are watching me

and i'm not going to step outside and do something that, you know, they wouldn't be able to do too. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm juju chang in new york. >> more on the topic tomorrow on our special, "primetime nightline, under age & famous," at 10:00 p.m. eastern. ♪ i'd do anything for you, dear ♪ ♪ anything 'cause you mean everything to me ♪ ♪ i'd know that i'd go anywhere ♪ ♪ for your smile ♪ anywhere ♪ yes i'd do anything ♪ anything for you ♪ ♪ [ recorded voice ] onstar. we're looking for city hall. i'm sending directions to your car. [ recorded voice #2 ] turn right on hill street. go north for two miles.

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well, some experts have future prediction down to a science. they're known as futurists. tonight, the world's foremost futurist tells abc news john berman what he thinks is going to happen next. >> reporter: this room full of boxes and letters and documents might look like a matter of bookkeeping. >> this is actually my father and my mother on their wedding day. >> reporter: but it's about more than bookkeeping.

it's about resurrection. inventor ray kurtzwell is making arrangements to talk to his father, who's been dead for more than 40 years. >> i'll be able to talk to this recreation and ultimately it will be so realistic that it will be like talking to my father. >> reporter: his plan is to take this room full of information about his father, an orchestra conductor, and put it into a computer. one day, he hopes to be able to create an avatar, a virtual computer replica of his father, who knows everything his father did and thinks like his father did. >> you can certainly argue philosophically that's not your father, but i could actually make a strong case it would be more like my father than my father would be had he lived. >> reporter: while he might not be talking to a computerized recreation of his father just yet, not yet doesn't mean not ever. not with ray kurtzwell. itit been said he looks and sounds like woody allen's

nerdier younger brother but it's also been said by bill gates that no one is better at predicting the future. he's been at it a while. >> my name's raymond kurtzwell. >> reporter: by the age of 17, he landed on tv after inventing a compute they're cour that cou music. he went on to invent optical scanner, machines that read for. he is known for predicting and thinking. mostly about how fast our technology is advancing. >> this is $1 billion more powerful than the computer i used when i was a student. >> reporter: the implications are beyond epic. it's what will help him talk to his dead father and he says eventually eliminate death altogether. are you afraid of death? >> i think all human beings are and should be. not just fearful but realizing

that death is a real tragedy. >> reporter: can you beat it? >> i believe i can. >> reporter: beat death how, you ask. by taking computers and putting them inside our bodies. robots fighting sickness from the inside. >> these will become the size of blood cells. we'll be able to put intelligent machines inside our bodies and brains to keep ourselves healthier, augment our immune system. >> reporter: as amazing as this sounds, kurtzwell says this will happen soon, within a few decades. but to make sure he lasts that long, he takes more than 200 vitamins every day. >> maybe i'm gifted in being able to take pills -- >> reporter: and he supplements these pills with monthly blood transfusions. kurtzwell and all his actions is the subject of this film. the idea that technological advancemenenis so fast that soon

humans and computers will american. the doomsday scenario some see is computers will be so smart they won't need us or want us. think "the terminator." >> i'll be back. >> "the terminator's" not an impossibility. i think that symbolizes the downside of artificial intelligence. >> reporter: that's a pretty big downside. >> it is but there's a bigger downside to not pursuing it. >> reporter: without it, kurtzwell would not be able to talk to his father again. >> creating an avatar of this sort is one way of emboding that information in a way that human beings can interact with. >> reporter: maybe we need to reassess just whatt ecounts as human. >> it is inherently human to transcend limitations. >> reporter: i'm john berman for "nightline." >> remarkable ways preserving yield by looking ahead. that's oreport for tonight. thank you for watching abc news. we hope you tune in