Your Predictions For Future...

[Messalina Mommsen]

Considering this is a history forum dedicated to the past, this topic may seem a little out of place. Nevertheless, I was wondering what kind of predictions people have for what this earth will be like 100 years from now? Things to consider: politics, environment, technology, society (eg. Who will be the ruling power? What technologies will be in place?)

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

I'm going to be bias. I say that the US will still be a superpower, still fighting more wars, which from a result, deadlier and far more advanced weapons will be developed and I think the US will end their moratorium on experimenting with nuclear weapons. The environment as we know it will differ among areas, such as in China, it will be so bad because as a growning nation, they will guzzle up so much on gas and the emissions will make living in the packed cities of China, not eco-friendly or human-sustainable. I believe that fuel cell technology will solve the energy problem.

(yes, I realize I sound pyschotic, but that's what instantly hit me.)

Edited November 24, 2005 by FLavius Valerius Constantinus

[Ursus]

Islam will be the largest religion on earth. In some parts of Europe Islam will comprise 25-30% of the population. Whether European society assimilates Islam or whether Islam assimilates Europe will be one of the great questions of the future. Whatever the ultimate answer, I see the matter as a thorny issue which will bedevil an already shaky European Union and prevent them from assuming the world spotlight they might otherwise have.

 

Mainstream Christianity will continue to wither in the face of competition from other religions and from secularism. It will be replaced by two competing strands

[Messalina Mommsen]

"I'm going to be bias. I say that the US will still be a superpower, still fighting more wars, which from a result, deadlier and far more advanced weapons will be developed" -Flavius

 

 

"With its internal divisions, and with a century

Edited November 24, 2005 by Messalina Mommsen

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Well if your going to say that crime and poor education is going to bring down the US, then the US might as well be iron-fisted consumerists. The US will rule over its people like a dictatorship and will use means of violence to cut down crime. Violence as sometimes the inevitable answer. Poor Education can be corrected easily, if progress and aid is focused on those of low social income status.

Edited November 24, 2005 by FLavius Valerius Constantinus

[Virgil61]

Economically the U.S. will probably continue coming along as the leading economy. I'm not a big fan of capitalism, but the U.S. economy's uncanny ability to efficiently utilize capital, the financial framework in place to raise that capital, its ability to implement technical knowledge into the market (such as the internet/computer boom of the '90s which, although it finally burst left more wealth, higher efficencies and created new markets) its reaction to market challenges like those from Japan twenty years ago, and-- in spite of the varying quality of our primary/secondary education system (from very baaaad to excellent schools)-- a great university system will continue to give it a strong economic engine. In other words I don't see a great move away from capitalism here.

 

The WHO will become more all encompassing in it's power to mediate between nations and continue to eliminate some barriers but allow others due to demands within economic sectors of some nations for protection of national importance, such as agriculture.

 

If the EU can get its act together and deal with some rising social issues, it may be a big contender, especially if its intellectual capital is used to greater capacity. I fear that the presence of a rising Islamic population there will lead to a serious backlash against them among Europeans that might become ugly. As for Russia; I've studied, lived there, dated them here, have Russian friends and have worked on Russian issues in the Army and my the civilian world for most of my adult life. I have no idea where they'll be, still can't figure them out.

 

I'm not so sure about China, they're hopping along but I think there'll be some major changes there as the population's expectations rise. Their economy is moving but it's so based on exports that small changes in the economies or import laws by the U.S., Japan and the EU would effect it greatly. I've got greater hope for India, language and technical expertise may be their way up. I think Japan, which has been having economic difficulties in the last ten years, will have to change many of it's imporation laws and internal barriers to foreign investment and ownership or be countered with economic sanctions.

 

Except for South Africa, the rest of Africa will remain a hellhole. The South Africans may possibly be a big success story. They have a very good technical base, universities and natural resource. They're trying to lure white professionals who left in the last ten years back, Cape Town seems to be a new tourist mecca for Europeans and the increasing participation of black Africans in universities and technical schools means they may have a bright future if they can get their social issues straighted out--AIDS, crime, etc.

 

Ursus comment on Islam is interesting. I think Islam is going to come to a crossroads soon. Either they adapt to the modern world and more moderate Islam becomes the mainstream or they'll be relegated to economic hell. I think other sources of energy will be discovered besides oil, due to some technological breakthrough, and after that the Islamic world will be with even less resources or any reason the rest of the world is interested in them. If they don't moderate, then I think Christianity and Islam will come to serious conflict in Africa where both religions are booming.

 

I also somewhat agree on his prospects for Christianity, especially in the U.S. although I think it will continue to boom in Africa, possibly causing problems with Islam. It also looks like it may boom in Asia perhaps causing social problems while cultures adjust. I also think that Catholicism will continue to grow in the third world. Once a non-European becomes Pope I think the trend will continue, maybe permanently, and may become a great draw.

 

South America will become a hodge-podge of ecnomically successful nations alongside poor ones.

 

Australia will have Disneyland, be a retirement community for Americans and become the 56th U.S. state after Puerto Rico, British Columbia, Alberta, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan.

[LEG X EQ]

well, i think that we ALL are going to witness atleast the next 55 years of these 100 years(thanks to modern medicine).

 

As for the USA, i dont think it will crumble, why should it. I think that the US will have a major cultural struggle, i predict that in 100-300 years from now the USA will turn from an english speaking nation to a spanish speaking nation amd from a predominatly white nation to predominatly non-white nation. But it will remain the most powerful nation on earth.

[Princeps]

Civilisation as we know it will have begun it's final death throes. The ice caps will be in a terminal state of decline, much of the land mass will be below sea level. Many critical plant and animal species will have been decimated leading to a break down in the eco-system, food chain etc. Chemical polution will have reached toxic levels in many places. We will all be screwed.

[Pertinax]

Well in the manner of Frankie Howerd ( no introduction needed to British members) "woe ,woe and thrice woe".

"Woe to the Romans". We are all doomed. Take comfort in Marcus Aurelius and Lao-Tzu.

 

The EU is useless and will perish.

Edited November 24, 2005 by Pertinax

[Messalina Mommsen]

Civilisation as we know it will have begun it's final death throes. The ice caps will be in a terminal state of decline, much of the land mass will be below sea level. Many critical plant and animal species will have been decimated leading to a break down in the eco-system, food chain etc. Chemical polution will have reached toxic levels in many places. We will all be screwed.

 

I concur. When I started this thread I imagined more people would talk about the environment. In my view, we are not sustaining ourselves, nor the eco-system within which we live.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Lets see, the Earth has hundreds of years left before human artificial detriments destroys 99% of life. But the thing is, humanity, by scientific estimates, is only 200 years from colonizing space.

[Germanicus]

Lets see, the Earth has hundreds of years left before human artificial detriments destroys 99% of life. But the thing is, humanity, by scientific estimates, is only 200 years from colonizing space.

 

I take it you live nowhere near a coastline.

 

With regard to colonies in space, that is something totally up in the air, excuse the punn. You assume that your government is going to continue current levels of spending, actually, the argument assumes a major increase in spending on a Space program. Another thing to remember is that even if there is a colony on Mars in 200 years time, your decendants won't be going, unless they are going to be A)-Super rich, or B )-PHDs in cutting edge science.

 

The other point I guess is that 99% of life doesn't need to be destroyed to make the planet uninhabitable, thats the thing about an ecosystem....it's all interconnected.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Everyone assumes that life on Earth is gonna end by humanities legacies. But really, I don't think we're gonna destroy it. Which is why I'm rooting for fuel cell(free hydrogen) technology to fix the energy problem. Technology will ultimately save us somehow.Although overpopulation is going to tough to fix and I assume in the future every country is going to have to follow China's route and have strict control over the birth rate.

 

Oh by the way Germanicus, I live in Chicago, so I really near the Lakefront.

Edited November 26, 2005 by FLavius Valerius Constantinus

[Zeke]

Ok here is my opinion, I dare someone to fight this!

 

First off in the imediate future either next month or 30 years from now a very gigantic plauge is going to hit the world and its going to be the most devestating thing ever seen by humanity. Come to think of it I accually hope Avian Flu is that plauge, I mean I don't like when people die, and I DON'T WANT TO DIE, but a plauge is needed to take down the population and restart the world. Basically it would clean out all the filth and corruption and the overpopulation that our world has.

 

So here is the senerio if a great avian flu plague does hit...

 

Since it is comming from South East Asia and China it is going to hit there first and its going to wipe out millions in a matter of months. The Chinese goverment will be so unprepared for it that people will just drop like flys..and since there are so many people in Asia the virus will be able to spread faster from person to person. Its going to spread to Europe rabildly and hundreds of thousands will die there. It will be in the United State within the week if there is a major outbreak and since there is no vaccination it will hit the US hard. Since we are the driving point for most of the world when our econmy crashes everything else will just go to the sewers. The great plague will be over in about 6 months to a year. The world will be a tottally different place....

 

Africa will basically be like a desoulute world. When the virus hit the population of all the little quarling sates will die out instasntly because half of them have aids. People with A.I.Ds will die no matter what. Society will be broken down into Tribes once more and war will stop there for about 15 years before the Africans pick up their wheapons to fight more and kill each other. Hence Africa will never become a world power or gain any sagnifigant influence anywhere because it goes through cycles of famine, war and dieses.

 

South America won't be much better, their fragile economies will be gone with the outbreak of the flu and they will lose 10% of there people. The world will see a sudden shortage of tropical fruits and coffee.

 

Australia.....well I don't know the Aussies have yet to surprise me.

 

Mexico will have a nervous break down of sorts and all there people will run for the U.S border yet that will be America's doom because they will be carrying Avian Flu with them.

 

The big cities of the U.S, New York, L.A. Chicago, Philidelphia, and others will all be hit hard and since so many people live in one place the flu will bounce from each person. The stock market will crash and martial law will be imposed, the U.S dollar will hyper-inflate and everything will be so expensive that there will be starvation in certain parts of the country. Since the U.S has such a low education and has no set evacuation plan more people will die here then in Europe. When the U.S econmy is shattered the American Giant will be dead unless it goes off to fight another war which it will not be capable to do because of the shortage of man power. The U.S won't have as many old people either and alot of the younger generation.....like myself will be whipped out. So you will have a bunch of middle aged people who survive.

Your going to have a bunch of religious fanatics running around screaming about the end of the world and religion will suddenly find new hope in the thousands of homless, jobless people who managed to survive the flu.

 

Meanwhile though Europe got hit real bad, it will be the least shattered because of its high education, it united econmy, and Germany will probably be the first nation to get a vaccination for the Flu. Not being racist against Germans but the Germans always come up with the best inventions and medicnes.

 

Russia with its already dwindled population will cease to have a goverment and the nation will be divided by Orthodox Christians claiming the end of the world, Communists wanting to rebuild the soviet union, liberals trying to build a Democracy and a group of Russian Mafia agents controlling the major cities.

 

So the U.S, China, and India will be very hard hit and there control of the world market will perish, replaced by the European Union. Since there will only be about 3 billion people on the Earth insteand of the 6 billion before the plague's outbreak there won't be over population, the enviromental problems that we have will begin to stop and nature will rebuilt itself with human hands. This time humanity won't mess up the enviroment and they will plant more trees to ease global warrming. The Germans will find more efficiant ways to do stuff and cars will run on bio-deisals. In fact more public transportation will be made avaliable and people will generally like to walk or drive golf carts everywhere. People will be less fat because they saw what happened to the poor Americans when the opened all their big corporations. In Europe corporations will go down to replaced by small bussiness and goverment controlled industries. Most of the goods will be made by craftsman instead of mass produced so not so much money will be produced and there will be like a 0.1% inflation level in Europe.

 

Sadly say however...Europe will be the only one to recover from all this the rest of the world will be messed up for 100 years or so.

 

 

The senerio if no big virus kills everyone

 

If no big virus hits then the world in 100 years is going to have about 9 billion people. Smog will cover the entire coast of China and India and American Corporations will still exist in the area. America will lose its power though, 20 years earlier the American econmy collapsed because of our 2.7 Trillion dollar deficet and America ceased to be a world power. Without America India and China though both strong will be reduced to a pitiful states manufacturing goods for nobody but themselfs.

 

The European Union in 100 years will be the strongest entity on the plannet, it econmey will very developed but it will be so effective and tecolnoglocially advanced that there will be no problenms with the atmosphere. Global warming will have slowed down but many costal cities will be flooded unless they build walls or something to protect them from the sea. Europe won't need cars anymore because there public transportation will be so advanced that they won't need it anymore. Meg-Lev trains will dominate Europe and people will be able to go from London to Paris in 45 minutes. London to Berlin will take only 2 hours. Berlin, Geneva, and London will be the capitals of the European Union. Europe will be in a digital age and everything will be advanced and effeciant. Europeans will probably live to be about 120.

 

In terms of religion, if no one is using oil then the Muslim nations will become so bakward that there religion will stay the same and the people will remain oppresed under the Islamic Theocracies that will rule there. No one will accept Islam and basically the area around the Middle East will be like North Korea is now. Thousands of Americans will flee to Europe in search of jobs and that will be the main problem faced by the European Union.

 

Alot of the Europeans will embrace New Age beleifs of Atheism, I am hopping that there will be a Polythestic Revolution and people in Europe will see the light......but thats just a fantasy in my mind . In reality most of the world will reject Christianity and become either New age or Athiest. Islam will only be the dominate faith in the Middle East because no one will be able to escape from the recked econmy there.

 

Well that is my predictions for the future........either way be it Flu related or non-flu related the European Union will be the strongest single entiy restoring the natural balance to the Earth.

 

As for Australia in both theories I don't know what is going to happen there!

 

Sorry about spelling and gramatical errors.

 

Zeke

[Favonius Cornelius]

What a bunch of negativity around here! Times have their ups and their downs, I take this dark look at our future as a sign of our current pessimism, but the march of logic and sanity is unmistakable from the history of humanity. It has its claws sunk deep, and it will not let go.

 

At some point or another there may be a new sickness, but the ability to contain and confront I think has already reached a state of great accomplishment. When confronted with a true problem, I believe that necessity will fuel the technology that is there waiting to happen in biotechnology to new heights. The plague of the future, while being a tragedy, will also cause a critical mass event in biotech, and the exponential rise of knowledge will outweigh the biological ability to overcome it.

 

The world is increasingly becoming united via economic power, intertwined to a point where war in just about any form between major powers is an impossibility. In fact this is an extension of the nuclear world parity that exists. The option of war simply does not exist, and as the United States is finding out, even the option of police action itself is more trouble than it is worth.

 

China is not the threat people like to pretend it is. Its poor mass will eventually cause it too much problems. Compile that with a variety of other issues, and China will soon realize that it makes far more sense to spend its money on its people to keep them complacent than wasting billions on sending someone around the planet in space. The same goes for India.

 

I think Islamic terrorism is a fad that will eventually peter away. Plenty more blood will be shed before they realize that there is no point to it and it will accomplish nothing, over time the liberalism of the west and compelling attraction of logic will cause a change in worldview.