• Welcome to the Internet Infidels Discussion Board.

In 100 years from now the world is..

 
 
 

In 100 years from now the world is..

  • Total voters
    17
R

rousseau

Contributor
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
13,762
Let's play 'predict the future'. I deliberately provided few options. Support your opinions within.
 
I'm not sure. Things have definitely been getting better, but big, ugly climate change is coming, and that could mean a lot of conflict.
 
Other:

I see three reasonable choices here:

1) It's *MUCH* better than now.

2) We aren't around.

3) We are still around but on the way out. Much worse than present.

Unfortunately, I think 2+3 are far more likely than 1.
 
Throughout history, many vocal people have been pessimistic about the future, as they could see problems looming that they had no idea how to prevent.

Despite this, things have always actually improved.

Oddly, it always seems to be the privileged and idle who are most pessimistic; the under privileged generally perceive change as likely to be good, but they have little voice, so it is the fears of the over privileged that get the press (or the air-play).
 
I have faith in humanity to solve most problems. Most diseases will have been conquered including most form of cancer. The ageing gene found, setting up a colony on Mars, and poverty almost eliminated by technology and new methods of increasing agriculture yields beyond our wildest dreams as soon as this GM foods scaremongering is seen for what it is.
 
In 100 years from now the world is..
Click to expand...
As ever, it depends who you are. On current trends, I'd anticipate worse* for 90% in the developed world, better for 90% in the developing world, better still for the remaining 10% in both and absolutely stellar for ~1% of the fortunate 10%. IOW the global 90% will meet in the middle with the remainder consolidating their gains and "social mobility" between groups continuing to decrease.

*By "worse," I don't anticipate physical deprivation (except perhaps having to live with your parents until you're past reproductive age) so much as more financial insecurity, debt, unemployment, fewer workplace protections etc. But that does mean less physical wealth than the losers would otherwise have enjoyed.

Climate change might throw a spanner in the works for everyone. The beginning of the end of cheap energy might reverse fortunes somewhat as production reverts to more local and labour-intensive. And small unforseen changes propagate into big ones over a century, so who knows?
 
Doom sayers have been around since Adam was a brat. Yet, we are still here and thriving. Only a few decades ago predictions were made that the planet could not sustain a population of 1 billion people. We now have over 7 billion.
The only thing holding back even more progress is religion, especially in the moslem world.
 
It will be wet around the edges and dry in the middle. Forests burn every summer; grass grows in their place. Wind: hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, blizzards, sandstorms.
People wandering about in large and small groups, the large, better-armed ones wiping out the small whenever they encounter one another; eating up the last animals and fish - which are mostly radioactive from all those destroyed coastal nuclear reactors and missile bases; pretty much all the maritime people have cancer and ugly babies. New, ever-more-barbaric religious cults spread.
Some half dozen isolated mountain villages survive intact. In a thousand more years... who knows?

Many events were predicted and didn't happen. That makes people optimistic: "I didn't die when I jumped off the barn roof, and that proves I'll be okay jumping off the 17th floor balcony."
And some extinctions did happen, even though nobody predicted them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom