What do you think the future will be like in 20-50 years?

  • Thread starter Thread starter grbmrdj
  • 111 comments
  • 11,703 views
nevermind
 
Last edited:
I completely missed Famine's joke, until you pointed it out with the drum roll. I really must read him better.

So you had to ruin it.
 
So what should I do now?
 
Although I am sure that the future will turn out exactly nothing like this, this is what I imagine for the future:

- Flying cars, obviously. By then they'll be about as normal as cars are today. Autopilot and changeable paint will be standard.
- Normal cars will still be around for those with less income (they'll be very cheap) and for recreation, much like the horse is used today.
- Certain cities (such as Tokyo) will be entirely made of supertall skyscrapers due to crowding, and social class/wealth will be organized by height in the building - higher = wealthier.
- Sub-orbital and orbital spaceliners will have replaced airliners as the main way to get places fast, and a ticket will cost about as much, perhaps a bit more, as an airplane ticket today.
- Permanent base on the moon, used as the primary international astronomical observatory, with aeroponic plant farms and solar power. Optimistically, a settlement will have been made on Mars as well. In addition, due to energy shortage, a giant solar farm also resides near the settlement. Freighters come regularly to transport the stored solar energy back to Earth.
- ISS complete, refined, and expanded upon - with comfortable living space for astronauts, solar observatories and other things essential to space programs. This station is the business station, used exclusively for research and harnessing the sun's rays for use on Earth.
- The United States (and hopefully Russia, China, France, England and several other countries) has a separate station used as a docking point for outbound and inbound spacecraft. Long distance spacecraft reside permanently at the station, which contains a central ship docking and repair bay for refueling, repairs and checks. Astronauts coming up from the Earth board a small, light shuttle that takes them only to the station to transfer them to their main craft. This same light shuttle, which has its own docking area, also takes astronauts who have just returned from a space journey back to Earth. This geostationary space station (meaning it always stays locked above Cape Canaveral) also contains a living section for astronauts to live and work in while they wait to either return to Earth or embark on a space journey. This section spins around a central axis at the precise velocity so as to mimick Earth's gravity.
- At least one space hotel operational for the rich who want a good view of the Earth.
- Private luxury spacecraft will have replaced private jets as the way for the super wealthy to get around.
- Research and development posts (unmanned) deployed on key asteroids - thrusters also placed to redirect asteroid in case it s on a collision course with Earth or a planetary settlement.
- The first self-sustaining starships, as well as hyperdrive, are under development.
- Scientists are making strides in perfecting cold fusion.
- Railroads still going strong as transporting goods has become an issue by then. Since most people are now travelling in the air, track speed limits are higher and all grade crossings are being replaced with overpasses. Very large airships do most of the air transport; trucking (semis/tracker-trailers/eighteen wheelers/HGVs/whatever you want to call them) is all but extinct, except for in Alaska where the Ice Road Truckers are still doing their thing. There really is no other way up there, with air travel being all but impossible.

As you can see, I've put a lot of thought into this. :D
 
- China will take the crown off uncle Sam's head.
- Some thirld world countries will reach first world levels of development, which will completely redesign the political geography of the globe.
- Medical advancements will bring up extended longevity and better life quality.
- Science will gather more followers in the same proportion as religions will lose them.
- Propulsion technology will allow the man to land in Mars and further enforce the need of expanding the humankind territory over other systems.
- You'll be driving fully electric cars, entirely made of aluminum and Carbon composites. You can also let the car drive itself by the intelligent roads.
- There will be still poverty, war and fanatism over the world.

Now dropping Nostradamus's prophet hat:

- Polyphony Digital will release Gran Turismo 9 simultaneously with Turn 10's Forza Motorsport 17.
- Justin Bieber will still be out there.
 
I completely missed Famine's joke, until you pointed it out with the drum roll. I really must read him better.
Famine's sense of humor is so dry, it's sponsored by K-Y.
 
Realistic Predictions for 2030?

1. $200 oil

2. Auto-companies do a 180 degree turn. Say hydrogen fuel cells are the automotive future. (again) Just wait another ten years. (again). No one listens. Everyone is driving 2 liter turbodiesel hybrid SUVs that get a "woeful" 40 mpg.

3. Possible ecological collapse in some biomes, food shortage due to collapse of certain fish stocks and degradation of farm lands (doesn't matter if you have tons of arable land left... if transport of grain and feed is made more difficult by expensive oil, that still won't help us). Wait... that's already happening... In related news, China exports of 'fetus soup' collapse due to item #6.

4. Increased reliance on hydro-power. Grand Canyon dammed up to become the world's largest hydro-power installation. Eco-weenies cry foul.

5. "We have sustainable positive output fusion! It will only take us another thirty years to commercialize it, as our test reactor costs a rather dear one trillion yuan." (Yes, it'll be Chinese)

6. Population decline in China. Government offers 100,000 yuan incentive for every child after the second. Babies smuggled in from Japan.

7. Americans arrested en masse at the Mexican border, trying to jump the fence into Mexico looking for jobs making iPod Xs.

8. Iraqis celebrate the closure of the final US military installation in Iraq. Towns around the base are in mourning, though, as US troops are big spenders on Saturdays out.

9. The US announces another round of trade sanctions on Iran. Iran doesn't care. In related news, Iran announces the first nuclear-powered car. Banned in the EU due to not meeting radiation exposure limits and crash safety requirements. Radioactive steam exhaust makes for colorful nights in the Persian capital.

10. Gran Turismo 6 finally released, despite Sony officially stopping production of the Playstation 4 five years prior. Achieves ten million in pre-orders, which is a record. One month later, it is discovered that half of the preorder customers have died of old age.

Funny how humanity is primitive for thousands and thousands of years.. yet in last 100 years we did wonders. I dont get it.. something had to jump start us for doing that..

Yeah. Mass media and efficient data storage.

There have been dozens... if not hundreds (if not thousands plus plus plus?) of "Edisons" over the centuries. There's indication that some ancient cultures already had electroplating and batteries, clockworks and other items attributed to the industrial revolution of the past three centuries. People have been fiddling with internal combustion for hundreds of years, as well. Yet, it is the mass availability of knowledge that has helped spark faster development in the fields of science, technology and commerce.

Even the simple development of movable type helped push science. Then you add mass publication and wired communication and your "Edisons" in far flung corners of the globe no longer have to reinvent the wheel... they can simply pick up where the last "Edison" left off.
 
Last edited:
As much as I'd REALLY like to be on the "flying cars" bandwagon... people can't even manage to drive in 2 dimensions. There's lines on the road and in parking lots that a LARGE number of people just can't manage to see. Why the **** would we wanna put these morons in the air and give them not only an extra dimension to deal with, but also fewer lane/road markers?

No, there's no way humans will have flying cars in the foreseeable future. Flying autopilot transportation, maybe. But as far as people flying their own vehicles... holy damn, I hope not.
 
Realistic Predictions for 2030?

6. Population decline in China. Government offers 100,000 yuan incentive for every child after the second. Babies smuggled in from Japan.

japan have a negative fertility rate, population predicted to be replaced by robot maids and gundams.
 
Iphone 10, still no Flash Support, still with a crappy camera, STILL overrated. Gran Turismo 6. A new Prius that runs on banana peels, and doesn't make a sound, but takes materials from 100 different countries to make. Al keyboards will be cell phone sized. We'll have 18MP cameras the size of your fingernail.

Meanwhile, in world affairs. North and South Korea will be at war. America calls most of it's troops over to help South Korea against North Korea, who has the aid of China. The taliban use this opportunity to launch a large attack on Israel. Iran, and everyone else start launching long range missiles at cities. Osama bin Laden is already dead(old age of course, the US couldn't find him if he were in a McDonald's).
 
One thing im certain of is WW3 NATO V Comunist powers
 
japan have a negative fertility rate, population predicted to be replaced by robot maids and gundams.

By 2030, most of the pureblood Japanese will be dead, don'cha know? I'm talking about the children of immigrant workers in Japan.
 
My predictions,

After a global market crash that makes 2009/2010 look like small bump man will have to look at new technology to overcome the shortfalls in food and water, large steps into matter rearrangement will lead to replicators. The rich-er of the nations will be living in fear as money will have less and less meaning and we will start to work as humans should, religions will become a very small minority and people will look to science for answers more and more. Space travel will have been hit hard but we will see more need for it as our interest is sparked by a close encounter by a huge asteroid in 2029 a world killer.

Human kind travels to near planets but due to time restrictions its as far as we can go without huge periods of time in stasis. Nations will crumble and the human race will become united under one flag and name. People will be taller on average and also gene therapy will have become the norm for age and people will live to an average age of 160.

Sony will have a PS9 coming with GT14 been released with photo realistic cars and lighting, full damage, but still 2D trees, the monkey on Trial mountain will have a mate and baby and will be looking gray, KY will be The oldest games director at the age of 93. And vows to make another game. Tourist Trophy 3 will be coming along nicely after intermittent production over the last 30 years. Microsoft will have been hit hard in the market crash and Bill Gates will have been imprisoned after stealing food from a child. Steve Jobs will be a floating head in a glass jar and is waiting for Jonny Ives to design a Uni-body (pun intended) that is to his liking. Iphone will be still having reception problems.
 
One thing im certain of is WW3 NATO V Comunist powers

In the next 50 years? I really doubt it. I'm kind of hopeful that the world is past the business of engaging in world wars. I think the last one demonstrated that very little is achieved.
 
• Flying cars
• Domestic servant robots
• No crime
• Flat screen TVs
• Holidays on the Moon
• Nuclear powered trains
• Digital watches with built-in phones
• Food replaced by nutritional pills
• Everyone wears metallic jumpsuits

Someone's been watching the Venture Brothers again, haven't we?

More electric cars, but gas-powered ones will still exist: You laugh, but most classics that will be roadworthy 30-50 years from now will be Honda Civics and Ford F150s. Electronics will take over most of the driving experience. Speed limits will decrease due to increases in population, and NIMBY (not in my backyard). No flying cars (as most people can't handle cars in 2 dimensions with 14 concurrent distractions).

Air traffic will still increase, due to no flying cars. Planes will be later and travel more uncomfortable, as nobody wants a new airport in their backyard.

The family farm will be all but gone; replaced by massive corporations to grow food. Lots of less-natural products will continue fill the void.

Religious fanaticism won't go away: Hopefully, it will be less violent and angry in its evolution (poor choice of words?) towards non-believers, but thankfully there's enough level-headed non-believers and the like to balance it out.

There will be so many media companies, yet so few conglomerates controlling what we know as "truth".

I have no idea what the technological future brought last week, let alone 30 years from now. Should be interesting, expensive, and lots of landfills of plastic and silicon.

The garbage industry will never disappear: Landfills will have to find more places to go as they fill up and become parks.

People will still hold onto things and memories from their past.

A whole lot of things won't change one iota due to clashes in culture, disagreements, lack of funds, and vested interests.

It won't be as bad nor as good as we expect it to be.

Nostradamus will still be completely wrong, off-the-mark, meaningfulness, and incorrect...and people will still interpret and re-mold it as spot-on brilliance.
 
Last edited:
I think all sports almanacs will be banned in the near future and I'll be living it up after the success of my invention - the mobile phone with built-in bottle opener.
 
Funny how humanity is primitive for thousands and thousands of years.. yet in last 100 years we did wonders. I dont get it.. something had to jump start us for doing that..
The discovery of oil and the mass-production and distribution of abundant energy...?

In my humble opinion, the key to understanding what the real future will be rests in the answer to the question of sustainability.

I completely agree. By 2060, I think the world will be practically unrecognisable from the way it is today. I reckon that the way we are currently consuming irreplacable resources as well as rendering potentially reusable resources un-reusable, there is likely to be several 'moments of reckoning' within the next 20-50 years, including the very real threat of a nuclear conflict over resources, probably with China and her allies on one side, and everyone else on the other.

In the past few weeks, I've been reading up on China and their growing need for energy and other resources (rare earths being the latest reason to worry!), and what this implies for everyone else, and particularly the US. There seems little doubt that China will become far more influential in world affairs as US influence wains. The Gulf wars are but a taste of things to come, showing the world what even supposedly civilised nations are willing to do in order to secure energy resources, under the pretense of spreading 'democracy', 'human rights' or some other bogus front. I reckon in the near future, such pretense will be disposed of altogether and it will almost certainly come to blows eventually.

I think those nations/people best equipped to survive the coming resource crunches are those who adapt to sustainable ways of life the fastest, but there will always be the possibility that everyone will be caught in the crossfire when the big guns start shooting, when it finally dawns on them that they have built their vast empires upon unsustainable foundations.
 
Someone's been watching the Venture Brothers again, haven't we?

Just trying to recall all the stuff 'to look forward to in the year 2010' from a book i had at school in about 1980.
 
Someone's been watching the Venture Brothers again, haven't we?
Nah, it would seem like he's just watched a couple of re-runs of Tomorrow's World from the '70s.

EDIT: Damn you! :dopey:
 
I hate thinking about the future, but anyways in 2050 I will still be using my Toshiba Satellite '06 Windows XP
 
I think all sports almanacs will be banned in the near future and I'll be living it up after the success of my invention - the mobile phone with built-in bottle opener.

:bowdown:
 
I think all sports almanacs will be banned in the near future and I'll be living it up after the success of my invention - the mobile phone with built-in bottle opener.

bottle-opener-iphone-case.jpg


It exists already in case form.
 
All racing cars will be driver-less.
 
Greenpeace will have no reason to exist.
 
The family farm will be all but gone; replaced by massive corporations to grow food. Lots of less-natural products will continue fill the void.

I disagree. Large farms in rural America will still exist but most of their crop will be for export as urban vertical farming springs up to feed municipal populations. The biggest problem for food in the future will be the cost of transport, so any kind of farming solution will have to be much, much closer to the consumer.

Maybe we will have diesel-electric semis like we have trains. Also, the semi-truck will have to have a complete aerodynamic makeover. There's no reason why an object as long and obnoxious as a semi truck and trailer can't be aerodynamically efficient too.
 
Funny how humanity is primitive for thousands and thousands of years.. yet in last 100 years we did wonders. I dont get it.. something had to jump start us for doing that..

Humanity hasn't been primitive for thousands of years. I mean for pete sake the Egyptians were building massive pyramids thousands and thousands of years ago, there is nothing primitive about that.
 
Back