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

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Sometime within the coming decades we'll experience a worldwide economic crash, through the floor, because nothing got done about it soon enough. At that point people around the world, even in the wealthiest nations, will have lost most of their wealth and will be struggling to survive. There will be no faith in current governments and there will be widespread self-governance, people taking on roles of individual leadership for a spell. After a while one of two things would happen, at least here in the US: either certain scholars from the libertarian camp will take it upon themselves to set our republic back on its feet and redraft a new Constitution, or we will fall under the arm of a dictatorship. Frankly, the latter is the most likely as history has shown us.

And then the cycle will start all over again.
 
Keef
Sometime within the coming decades we'll experience a worldwide economic crash, through the floor, because nothing got done about it soon enough. At that point people around the world, even in the wealthiest nations, will have lost most of their wealth and will be struggling to survive. There will be no faith in current governments and there will be widespread self-governance, people taking on roles of individual leadership for a spell. After a while one of two things would happen, at least here in the US: either certain scholars from the libertarian camp will take it upon themselves to set our republic back on its feet and redraft a new Constitution, or we will fall under the arm of a dictatorship. Frankly, the latter is the most likely as history has shown us.

And then the cycle will start all over again.
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Strong points, but have you noticed in the 60's for example some people thought that bad things were to come from the future (uh, um, USSR) like Nuclear War (By the way watch Dr.Strangelove if you are interested in this stuff). Same with the 70's, 80's, and in well, always. People have a strong imagination, that will never stop creating crazy ideas. I think that nothing will happen, (no 2012, North Korean Chicken Noodle bombs or anything :sly:) time will tell.
 
We've already had a worldwide economic crash. And we're still experiencing aftershocks. And yet we still have expanding and growing money markets (Korea, China, Asia). None of the market crashes or great wars was ever enough to halt global economic growth. It may take the end of easy oil to stop economic expansion. I don't expect civilization to collapse, though... but a lot of people will go hungry. More than now.

Omnis
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.
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My serious view of a sustainable future is arcologies built closer to agricultural areas. Imagine... High rise residences and commercial areas built beside agricultural land... instead of urban and suburban sprawl built on top of it. Life will be expensive inside an arcology, though... probably even the cheapest accomodations will be New York or Tokyo level expensive. Though since cities are there, we could probably create hydroponic gardens inside skyscrapers... you know... once all their tenant businesses go bankrupt due to the high cost of business... :lol:

Agriculture and aquaculture will play an increasingly important role in food production in the coming decades, as fish stocks decline to levels that don't allow commercial fishing. Aquaculture (fish farming) is already an important source of food... and there have been big advances in farming hard to raise fish in open water farms that simulate free-range conditions.

Omnis
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.
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The biggest problem is the length. A really long semi isn't the ideal shape for aerodynamics.

I think we already have diesel electrics... but train-type ones? Difficult. Train-type installations are huge, with incredibly large diesel motors. A diesel-electric system a la Volt (with the electrics only running the wheels) does have some potential to cut down on cruising consumption... but there would have to be some advances in efficiency to prevent conversion losses from eating up the savings. I guess we'll know if such an approach is commercially feasible once GM finally releases the Volt and people find out how good (or bad... I'm betting on bad) the economy is in charge-sustaining mode.

Floats
Flash won't exist in 20-50 years time.
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We can only hope...
 
Touring Mars
The discovery of oil and the mass-production and distribution of abundant energy...?



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.
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I've read this over several times, it seems sound, serious, and worrisome. I'm wondering if it represents a change in your thinking, and if so how might we (you) best prepare for the future?

Respectfully yours,
Dotini
 
Keef
Sometime within the coming decades we'll experience a worldwide economic crash, through the floor, because nothing got done about it soon enough. At that point people around the world, even in the wealthiest nations, will have lost most of their wealth and will be struggling to survive. There will be no faith in current governments and there will be widespread self-governance, people taking on roles of individual leadership for a spell. After a while one of two things would happen, at least here in the US: either certain scholars from the libertarian camp will take it upon themselves to set our republic back on its feet and redraft a new Constitution, or we will fall under the arm of a dictatorship. Frankly, the latter is the most likely as history has shown us.

And then the cycle will start all over again.
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And then they will announce GT6 is delayed :dopey:
 
Not read the whole thread and don't intend to but the future 2060 ?
The film Mad Max beyond thunderdome springs to mind first,
I
 
The future? Well it'll be less than we think of it. In the 50's we all thought nuclear generators and flying uranium-powered cars would be here.

They aren't.

We'll be surely more advanced, but I see something big on our horizon. This world is on the brink of something. Not destruction, but a point in which economies will collapse, war, hunger, because we didn't fix it now. I myself cannot predict the future, but with the way the world is going in terms of crime, hate, and other various factors, something here has to budge.

And maybe in 2060 we'll all be playing Gran Turismo 20 on our PS7's and Forza 10 on our XBOX 1080's. The new car would be the Chevrolet Shock, which was made against the Nissan Tree. Even if you made a 12.0L V20, you'd still get 30/35 mpg. Damn this topic is a tough one.
 
In 20 years, Kazunori Yamauchi will be appointed the Prime Minister of Japan. His acceptance speech will be delayed.
 
http://gizmodo.com/379114/retinal-imaging-display-glasses-make-terminator-vision-possible

I think these will be everywhere.

Its hard to really predict what will happen, computers are growing faster and faster each year, and technology may never find a true limit. I really think that we will have people living on the moon by then, but only trained specialists there to establish a place for people to live. I don't think a full blown colony could be done until 2100.
 
IVKillerVI
http://gizmodo.com/379114/retinal-imaging-display-glasses-make-terminator-vision-possible

I think these will be everywhere.

Its hard to really predict what will happen, computers are growing faster and faster each year, and technology may never find a true limit. I really think that we will have people living on the moon by then, but only trained specialists there to establish a place for people to live. I don't think a full blown colony could be done until 2100.
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I disagree, we can probably see small moon colonies of miners by 2050 and by 2100 we could have huge space colonies and would be mining not only mars but also the asteroid fields. Nations would no longer go to war over earth resources, but would go to war over extra terrestrial resources.

The reason i believe this is because at the rate technology is advancing, we could be pretty much like star wars by 2300 or less.
 
Mining on the moon isn't quite cost-effective... not if you have to support human miners. Much easier to have a robot system capture an asteroid and shoot buckets of ore back at Earth.
 
If one changes the future, will he/she alter the past as well?




:sly:
 
In 20-50 years? Well, to those who said we'd be on GT10 or GT14 I think that's being pretty optimistic.
We will surely be playing games on the PS9....but GT will only be on it's 6th or 7th incarnation. And it will be delayed constantly.
 
In 20-50 years, the future will be (hopefully) more advanced than our future.

That's what the future will be like in 20-50 years.
 
niky
Mining on the moon isn't quite cost-effective... not if you have to support human miners. Much easier to have a robot system capture an asteroid and shoot buckets of ore back at Earth.
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At first no, but establishing a moon colony would be the most cost effective because lets face it, even if there were robots sent to mine on the moon, they still need engineers and mechanics and what not to make sure everything is running smoothly and everything is fixed. Human ingenuity will never be surpassed by machines.
 
Carbonite
At first no, but establishing a moon colony would be the most cost effective because lets face it, even if there were robots sent to mine on the moon, they still need engineers and mechanics and what not to make sure everything is running smoothly and everything is fixed. Human ingenuity will never be surpassed by machines.
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The problem is the cost of supporting humans on the moon, which may well surpass the economic benefit of any minerals mined on the moon (minerals which we could more easily or cheaply mine off the ocean floor... or even filter from seawater).

Human ingenuity doesn't have to travel there (though I agree... it's something that must be done... if only to prepare us for leaving this planet)... just because your brain is in your head doesn't mean that you stick your head down a hole when digging for gophers...
 
niky
it's something that must be done... if only to prepare us for leaving this planet)...
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It's not settled that we can or must leave the planet, Niky! Why do you say this?? Simply because the doddering old Hawkins says so?
 
Carbonite
I disagree, we can probably see small moon colonies of miners by 2050 and by 2100 we could have huge space colonies and would be mining not only mars but also the asteroid fields. Nations would no longer go to war over earth resources, but would go to war over extra terrestrial resources.

The reason i believe this is because at the rate technology is advancing, we could be pretty much like star wars by 2300 or less.
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Well, I would assume mining minerals on the moon would require some kind of special training, so that pretty much goes with the trained specialists thing.
Besides, it would probably be a small group of people who simply operate and maintain robots that do all the actual mining.

I was also counting in the fact that not everyone on this world can really get along and there would no doubt be wars over who gets to do what in space.
 
Carbonite
Human ingenuity will never be surpassed by machines.
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I doubt that very much. Human intelligence is the benchmark by which we measure ourselves against all other lifeforms on Earth, but there is no limit to what AI could achieve in theory. I reckon we are not far from the point where computers will be able to match human ingenuity in many areas, and I also believe that it is nigh on inevitable that computers will surpass - greatly surpass - what the human mind is capable of... our one consolation is that we will be too thick to comprehend them.

IVKillerVI
I was also counting in the fact that not everyone on this world can really get along and there would no doubt be wars over who gets to do what in space.
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At this rate, this attitude might well turn out to be the most fruitful for anyone considering a future on the moon...
 
We'll be fighting off robots and the we will have to turn to Keanu Reeves, Will Smith, and Arnold Schwartzernegger to save us...wait.....what do you mean it was all made up!! NOOOOO!!!
Should've taken the blue pill.
 
Our conscious situations as people stuck in time can be enlightened by truths of physics and some 'applied introspection'. There is not ONE future. There was not ONE past.
We are much more free as conscious units than that!

The idea that the future is some kind of singular thing for everyone seems comical. Its just selective mass projection/participation. And no future involves us living here as people forever anyway. None of us is getting out of here alive, Chinese or no Chinese, so relax about the future. :)
 
Kiefer Sutherland will be President of the United States.
 
France will be filled with strikers and scums, otherwise the rest of the world should go fine. :D
 
Dotini
It's not settled that we can or must leave the planet, Niky! Why do you say this?? Simply because the doddering old Hawkins says so?
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No, because it's simply quite logical.

Our planet can theoretically support human life for another few million years. But that's theoretical. In reality, swings in the climate may drastically affect modern civilization within the next few thousand. (I'm talking, of course, of the next "Ice Age")

In the long term, our species' survival hinges on the ability to colonize other worlds within the Solar System. Put our eggs in other baskets. This will also allow our species to outlive the Sun's red giant phase.

In the very long term, it hinges on the ability to colonize other worlds around other suns, or the ability to thrive in space without the support of a natural planet.

In the very, very, very long term, it hinges on the ability to escape the Universe before usable energy sources dry up.

-

Hawkings may be even more of a physical wreck than he was a decade ago, but his mind is still quite sharp.
 
niky
No, because it's simply quite logical.

Our planet can theoretically support human life for another few million years. But that's theoretical. In reality, swings in the climate may drastically affect modern civilization within the next few thousand. (I'm talking, of course, of the next "Ice Age")

In the long term, our species' survival hinges on the ability to colonize other worlds within the Solar System. Put our eggs in other baskets. This will also allow our species to outlive the Sun's red giant phase.

In the very long term, it hinges on the ability to colonize other worlds around other suns, or the ability to thrive in space without the support of a natural planet.

In the very, very, very long term, it hinges on the ability to escape the Universe before usable energy sources dry up.
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All of this is assuming we don't blow ourselves up first, which sounds far more likely.
 
Teh_Loserer
All of this is assuming we don't blow ourselves up first, which sounds far more likely.
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The potential for wholesale Nuclear Armageddon seems to have subsided, since the US is the only country currently able to wage an all-out nuclear war... though a limited exchange is always possible (India-Pakistan, or Israel-Iran). The bigger worry is that the loose warheads fall into terrorist hands and are used to target large population centers.

The bombing of just several key cities would cause the global economy to collapse, or go into a deeper recession than it's in, now... but we would survive.

My worry is that we may eventually reach a point where we don't have the economic capability to seed other planets with colonies. As it is, we can probably just barely start to do that right now... and geo-politics assures that any united push will face an uphill battle.
 
Escape the universe? To where?
 
the_book_of_eli-6.jpg


Sorry :(
 
Rey-FD
the_book_of_eli-6.jpg


Sorry :(
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There's always one...:rolleyes:

On-topic:
In all seriousness, I find the chance of nuclear war to be unlikely. Okay, maybe under Sarah Palin we could find ourselves obliterated, but given that she can't debate I find that extremely unlikely.

Closer to home, I wouldn't be surprised if Scotland was given some level of independence from the rest of Britain within the next 50 years. And I wouldn't be surprised either if Ireland was re-united.

In world affairs, I would expect some regional superpowers to develop. Brazil could be a major player in South America, India could be a major player in the Middle East as well as Turkey if it doesn't succumb to Islamic extremism. I would expect the USA's power to wane, as well as China and Russia.

In the West, I expect that religion will continue to dwindle. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Christian terrorism became as frightening as Islamic terrorism is today.

As for technology...maybe I'll be playing GT10 on a PS8 in a few decades. Medical science would evolve to the point where people start living way past 100, maybe even 150.
 
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