Envisioning the world of 2100

[RAMA]

http://www.wfs.org/futurist/septembe...ry-first-light

A child born today will only be 88 years old in the year 2100. It’s time to start thinking and caring about the twenty-second century now.The next 88 years may see changes that come exponentially faster than the previous 88 years...

RAMA

[B.J.]

<pedantic> The year 2100 is still in the 21st century, not the 22nd. </pendantic>

[gturner]

^ They change that rule in 2073.

[Warp Core Breach]

[PurpleBuddha]

gturner wrote:

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^ They change that rule in 2073.

They change it back two years later.

[gturner]

No doubt the push to change it back started in Kansas or Tennessee, where Christians wouldn't hold with the idea of a year zero no matter what a number-line looks like.

[EmoBorg]

Human civilization has collapsed and we are all ruled by Apes who have been made super intelligent by human scientific experiments.

Orang-Utans sip on earl grey tea and nibble on crumpets served on silver trays by human servants who wear sarongs.

Chimpanzees go to funfair where they fling feces at a chance of dunking humans in water.

Gorillas make young human adults wear diapers and teach humans sign language.

I bow to our future Ape overlords !

[Robert Maxwell]

I know you guys are just having fun, but how about actually discussing the linked article?

[B.J.]

Well, the original link isn't an article in itself, it has links to other pages, each of which has many links to other articles. Personally, I'm not going to spend the time searching through all of that.

[Robert Maxwell]

B.J. wrote:

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Well, the original link isn't an article in itself, it has links to other pages, each of which has many links to other articles. Personally, I'm not going to spend the time searching through all of that.

What, you can't just look for something that interests you and discuss it? I'm not asking for a research paper here, just less spam.

[Kruezerman]

Optimistic, I'll give you that (especially the FTL part).

But I've never been really keen on the "trans-humanism" bit.

[gturner]

I wouldn't make many predictions that far out, because each decade out adds more uncertainties. 2030 isn't too hard to envision, and perhaps we could hit 50/50 predicting 2050.

For a few predictions, the world will probably switch mostly to thorium power or fusion, with few additions to hydro-electric. Solar and wind might peak in the not-too-distant future, as they'll remain more expensive in maintenance and land area and are hard to harden against natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes. IR laser power beamed from space is another possibility.

Science, technology, and medicine will obviously advance by leaps and bounds.

Almost all of the world will have advanced to the washing machine and gas cooker stage of technology (a very important milestone that frees up enormous labor).

Western Europe will include several small Muslim countries, and perhaps France itself will face a Muslim majority - or there will have been another nasty war.

The leader of North Korea will be Kim something something.

[STR]

If a child born today will be 88 in 2100, that child will have had an entire life to make the world a better place in 2100. It's his responsibility, not ours. The generation in power has to make sure things don't get FUBAR between now and 2020. The generation after that has to keep things intact until ~2050 and even the generation mentioned in the OP will really only be in control until ~2080. The succeeding generations will have a far better understanding of the needs of their time than we will. Our best thinking could create massive problems down the road. Choking, sooty pollution used to be viewed as a good thing, a symbol of productivity and advanced technology less than a century ago.

It's fine to think about the future, but thinking there is a lot we can do, aside from climate change mitigation, is false. Also, futurists need to really get off the idea of "exponentially faster" development. There will be no singularity.

[StarMan]

STR wrote:

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Also, futurists need to really get off the idea of "exponentially faster" development. There will be no singularity.

Are you expecting the curve to drop off?

[Robert Maxwell]

I can't speak for STR, but I expect energy and resource crises to put the brakes on this "exponential growth" idea. What we are doing is simply not sustainable, and any notion that we will reach the Singularity in time to avoid the effects of such shortages is little more than fantasy.