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Of course, it doesn't have to be that way...
We have historically made a precedent, a route map, a journey and we’re following along without giving much of a shit.
Mass migration on a never seen before level as global warming forces people to relocate away from huge swathes of earth that are now a barren wasteland ie.- Slough
Oil costing $400 a barrel so cost of running a car becomes prohibitive
Lithium rationed so only a small percentag of people can own or drive an electric car
Israel destroyed by a nuclear device made in a middle east lab by fundamentalists
Obesity and diabetes become even more commonplace in the west and clog up the health system
the prevalence of chipped e-bikes on the road will lead to licensing, yearly "mot", registration (with id plates) ,mandatory third party insurance and compulsory helmet use for all cyclists.
We’re 3 pages in and ...
No ones predicted a Riot 😜🗣🗣🗣👋
The Anthropocene in full-swing will simply bring more of the same.
1. Exponential mass-species-extinction/loss of biodiversity
2. Solastalgia on a global scale.
3. 'Internet-addiction' normalised ( ie redundant as a 'disorder') by 2030.
4. Human social-interaction increasingly focusing around youtube (or future equivalent), MMORPGs and cybersex apps.
5. PMCs up a 1000% on today's figures as endless war continues to provide business and media-content.
6. Misinformation/disinformation is normalised as the internet continues to function as a global rumour-mill. Propaganda now defined as a valid form of 'content-provision' and therefore graded rather than rejected.
7. Social health care collapses and vanishes under the weight of private interest and increasingly sedentary/fast-food lifestyles
On a macro scale - no idea and frankly, I'm trying not to think about it.
Within my immediate circle. Fear, uncertainty, confusion, the prospect of tough times ahead. Being the best person I can be. But right now I can't help feeling that I wish I'd been the sperm that didn't make it to the egg, because this is ****ing hard work.
Ok how about some positives:
1. Cancer cured
2. Universal basic income accepted as a good idea.
3. Due to curing of cancer, better lifestyles lots of people living healthily into old age.
4. Points 2 and 3 combine to force a change in working practice - people are far more flexible, far more options to work less for longer so the work can be shared between people; also older people staying productive longer keeps and increases skills in the workplace so the knowledge economy strengthens
5. Changing attitudes to work mean people stop commuting so much, resulting in a much reduced environmental burden
6. Huge advances in renewables reducing environmental impact further
7. With people quitting the rat race it becomes more normal to be less materialistic, and people aren't shopping constantly to make themselves feel better after working a shit job, hence even further environmental improvements; also as tech stabilises people start buying stuff to last longer.
8. Advances in lab-grown food means far more countryside can be turned over to recreation in busy places like the UK.
9. Fewer people procreating means stabilised population despite more older people.
10. Due to all the above people in the UK finally ditch neoliberalism.
Each generation likes to think that the world couldn't possible go on without it hence the popularity of disaster movies and end of the world predictions.
We'll largely continue as normal with a few bumps along the way.
Human population will stabilise around 9bn in about 2060.
Global warming will most definitely be a thing but will probably stabilise after we largely abandon carbon as an energy source and come up with other forms of mitigation.
I don't think we will have immortal humans - premature death, barring accidents, will be a thing of the past but we won't have people living to 200 (everyone will make it to 90 instead)
Will still won't have flying cars, but they will drive themselves. My daughter (who is 4) might never need to learn to drive
Well this thread has taken a cheery turn what happened to the Star Trek future?
Too boring apparently. Sexy space battles and dystopian future, with lots of lens flare, is what people want. According to JJ Abrams and the producers of STD (best bit of that is the acronym).
The Roddenberry view of the future in Star Trek though I always thought of as kind of communism or socialism that works (or at least works for those that are accepted into the Federation). No money, everyone works for the betterment of themselves/society, and everyone seems to have equal opportunities and quality of life.
Molgrips and Richmtb - that is the utopian sci-fi view of the 60s and 70s. The idea that technology will provide solutions for all issues and increased automation will reduce the burden of work on all, with the wealth from all that improved productivity shared amongst everyone. I grew up reading this stuff. I guess there is much academic writing about how the sci-fi of each generation reflects the current rather than future.
It's a pretty socialist view of the future - which isn't exactly in line with either those that hold the balance of global political power or wealth.
May be the only way to address climate change - but where is the impetus for change going to come from?
I reckon we'll continue to destroy the planet until eventually we all die. And we'll deserve it.
Shame about all the other species but what the hell, we're more important than them.
Each generation likes to think that the world couldn’t possible go on without it hence the popularity of disaster movies and end of the world predictions.
Im nit sure that’s what I’m seeing. Those around think the world “might” not go on because of them which is very different.
It’s a pretty socialist view of the future – which isn’t exactly in line with either those that hold the balance of global political power or wealth.
Its not even what the electorate at large seems to want, let alone what those with power/wealth want.
Anyway, short to mid term prediction is that the standard of living in the U.K. will drop to somewhere around that of Spain, hopefully not as far as Portugal. The housing crisis will continue for decades regardless of what happens to prices as those that lose equity refuse to sell and minimal(not enough)l social housing is built despite some grand election promises/lies.
I reckon we’ll continue to destroy the planet until eventually we all die. And we’ll deserve it.
Unfortunately for bio diversity I reckon our species is the mammalian equivalent of Cockroaches. Our societies may well collapse but our environmental adaptability could easily see us survives such shocks albeit with drastic population declines.
There are plenty of cheery predictions in this thread, certainly around human medical treatments and some form of political cohesion.
Its really difficult to predict anything positive for the future, when all around us we see the impacts of the human race over the last 50 years... simple extrapolation of those impacts and applying predictions it’s clear we are heading one way.
More division, less social agreement, more political upheavals and more control, less food, less raw materials, greater atmospheric impacts and increased loss of other species.
I like Molgrips future best. I think I'll go and live in it. 🙂
In our immediate future. I think autonomous vehicles will be the biggest game changers in the First World. They may well require special roads for high speed travel, but why use roads?
If you look at the current state of development of drones, it may well be that our autonomous vehicles are aerial, thus reducing the pressure on infrastructure. Instead of parking your 'car' close to work, you send it off to a parking station which need not be taking up valuable real estate, and instead summon it to the pickup point when you need it. A likely corollary is that either shared ownership or rental would make more sense - Boris Drones?
Roads will become local amenities for human and eBikists, or golfcart type vehicles.
Each generation likes to think that the world couldn’t possible go on without it hence the popularity of disaster movies and end of the world predictions.
Quite the opposite. Every generation in living history has believed that the natural world would magically regenerate in line with our demands/in spite of us. Most people still believe this. But then again, most people still believe that an 'ecosystem' is a paranoid delusion courtesy of hippies, assorted Marxists and solar-panel vendors.
The reality:
We're currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we're now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate. Dozens of species going extinct daily.
Unlike past mass extinctions, caused by events like asteroid strikes, volcanic eruptions, and natural climate shifts, the current crisis is almost entirely caused by us — humans. In fact, 99 percent of currently threatened species are at risk from human activities.
The threat:
We’ll largely continue as normal with a few bumps along the way.
I like Molgrips future best. I think I’ll go and live in it.
Yep, sounds good but as others have said those with a socialism bias will like that fantasy but the people that run the world will never let it happen. Unless we kill them off in a revolution so maybe that should be the first step...
Income tax on technology and machines.
Jobs will become scarce. As we get more technologically advanced (in our view) we will need to keep the population financially healthy and active to prevent civil unrest. A tax on tech will produce this wealth and will enable the population to continue to have a socially active and fulfilling life.
A working forum.
Don’t be absurd!
If you look at the current state of development of drones, it may well be that our autonomous vehicles are aerial
There are some things I'm pleased I won't be around to "enjoy".
kerley
...Unless we kill them off in a revolution so maybe that should be the first step…
Mmm, at the rate they are killing off the weak and vulnerable in our society, that may be the logical and ethical step...
The Roddenberry view of the future in Star Trek though I always thought of as kind of communism or socialism that works
Nah, it's post-socialism. We are living in what some call the age of scarcity. Meaning that there are only so many natural resources that we need to work on to turn into food and goods, and those need to be exchanged via money because they are limited, and also because people need to work to process them. Socialism is required to share the limited wealth between everyone, because we all need it.
Post-scarcity means resources are limitless and free - in Star Trek this is because they have replicators that can create anything out of energy which is itself free and limitless. Just imagine - once you have enough of these machines anyone can have anything they want. So who needs to work? Everyone will be able to do whatever they feel like, only without the negative connotations that has in our current age. We resent people who can do whatever they like, we call them 'spoiled' and complain that they don't understand the value of things. Well in the post-scarcity age, nothing will have value beyond its functionality, and since being able to do whatever you want will be available to everyone, it won't be divisive or create resentment.
I think though that school will still be mandatory for kids. Work will still be available for those who want it, but it'll be interesting stuff like art, science, research, engineering etc. And education will still be required to show kids what's out there, give them a taste for the things that they might want to pursue.
Molgrips and Richmtb – that is the utopian sci-fi view of the 60s and 70s. The idea that technology will provide solutions for all issues and increased automation will reduce the burden of work on all
Actually, I think the one crucial piece of that scenario I posted is UBI which is political, not technological. It would (or could) switch the balance of power from employers to employees, and that would be seismic. Increased automation would have to follow - not the other way round.
What Molgrips describes is pretty much what the Post-Capitalism book is about. The idea is that the digital economy and automation combine to erode the basis of capitalism by open sourcing intellectual property and eroding the price mechanism.
I have my doubts though. People will not accept a universal basic income, much as I'd like to think they would. What's more likely is an amplification of the already developing separation of society into haves and have-nots. Those with money and property will be able to use that capital to pursue a lifestyle of less work and more leisure, and perhaps less consumerism. Those without will be reduced to the status of serfs, surviving on whatever crappy jobs and pay they can get topped up with minimal benefits. We're not far from this now, it only needs further erosion of the welfare state to complete the job. How long before we see gated communities and private militias to protect the rich from the unwashed masses? I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see city centres walled off to keep out undesirables.