What will the world be like in 100 years?
88Interesting question that, but I guess we all have wondered about this at one time or another. I am no Nostradamus but I'd try and do some crystal ball gazing on this one.
ENVIRONMENT:
I actually think that the environment would be in a far better place than it is now. I know its hard to be optimistic about the environment, seeing how the developed and developing countries are at loggerheads on issues of climate change and how to tackle it. However, 100 years in the future, I see countries utilizing clean energy (wind energy, solar energy, nuclear energy, etc) as opposed to fossil fuels. I see vast expanses of land, all over the world, where wind farming projects have come up providing sustainable renewable energy. I see the vast majority of cars (flying cars included) running on water (yes - water indeed) causing no harm at all to the environment. I see that the thing called "plastics" is extinct - people are using biodegradable materials instead. I see that there is no such thing as "paper" anymore - people therefore don't cut trees anymore. Not even for building houses - composite, unheard-of materials have replaced wood. Air travel 100 years in the future is nonexistent. The rich and the wealthy use teleportation devices to travel the world, thereby removing a big chunk of the worst polluters of today - planes.
HUMAN SOCIETY:
Things are not quite rosy here. I see that countries still exist (good thing I guess). Borders are still guarded zealously and fought for. I see nations squabbling over water - that precious resource of the future (especially because they run cars now). I see that terrorists still abound - the Osama types still roam the Earth terrorizing countries and peoples. I see that the United States is no longer the sole superpower of the world - the most powerful country on Earth. I see the most powerful countries dominating the world as being China, India and Brazil in that order. I see that China and India have become the equivalent of the US and the erstwhile Soviet Union - fighting another Cold War between them.
What Technologies Can We Develop in 100 Years?
TECHNOLOGY:
In addition to what I've stated above, I see that we've progressed significantly - technologically speaking. I see that we've developed nanobots (small microscopic robots) that repair our body and do the required plumbing of its systems, keeping us healthy and making us live longer than anytime in world history. I see that the average age a person can live has stretched well beyond a 100. However, immortality continues to evade the human race. Cyber immortality, however, is a reality. People can live forever in cyberspace by downloading their collective memories and experiences onto the information superhighway. I see that bionic humans are common 100 years in the future. I see that amputees don't exist anymore - they are able to regenerate practically all body parts. I see that we've developed technology (warp drives, et all) to enable us to travel to distant galaxies and go "boldly where no man or woman has ever gone before."
Well, there you have it. I see that the world would be a far better place to live in, but would continue to have some of the same problems (like terrorists and terrorism). Compare the world 100 years ago and where we are now and you can get a fair idea of how the world would be 100 years in the future.
People back then would have laughed off some of the technologies we have developed and use today. I see all of the above (and more) being a reality 100 years in the future.
|
Acer Aspire One AOD150-1920 10.1-Inch Ruby Red Netbook - 6.5 Hour Battery Life
Price: $338.64
List Price: $319.99 |
|
HP Pavilion DV4-1541US 14.1-Inch Espresso Laptop - Up to 4.25 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)
Price: $699.99
List Price: $799.99 |
|
|
HP Pavilion DV4-1433US 14.1-Inch Laptop
Price: $678.53
List Price: $799.00 |
|
Dell D600 Laptop 1.6ghz 40gb DVD/CDRW B Grade Includes Genuine XP Professional restore cd!
Price: $7,700.00
|
|
Acer Aspire AS1410-8414 11.6-Inch Sapphire Blue Laptop - 6 Hour Battery Life
Price: Too low to display
List Price: $449.99 |
Other Articles By This Author
- Is God Powerful Enough to Stop Injustices in the Wor...
I've come across this question multiple times. I've seen it being asked by people in the aftermath of natural disasters like the Indian Ocean Tsunami, after man-made disasters like 9/11, etc. ... - Recovering Deleted Files And Deleting Securely
For a major part of my computer literate life, I had no idea that one could recover files that had been deleted from the recycle bin. I knew that one could restore files from the recycle bin, but never knew... - Advantages and disadvantages of being an only child.
Being an only child can be either good or bad, depending on how you perceive it and how you are brought up by your parents. The advantages could be that you get the undivided love and attention of your... - Would You Want To Live To Be A 100 ?
I don't think I would really want to live to be a 100. While the thought seems attractive at first glance, I really wonder whether I would be able to live in good health till that ripe old age. Health,...
PrintShare it! — Rate it: up down flag this hub
Comments
Thank you for your well-thought out response to my hub. Yes, some of the things like teleportation and warp drives perhaps might not come about - but then again who knows? As I said in the post, much of the things that exist today would have been dismissed off outright by people living just a 100 years ago.
Very good point. My father once told me that, somewhere in the first half of the 20th century, he read a science fiction book where people didn't use paper money [all they had at the time]. Instead, they carried little pieces of plastic that carried information about the user's account. From fiction to reality in 20 or thirty years.
Now the changes are seeming more outrageous. We're actually starting to understand how and why genes get turned on sometimes and off other times. 100 years ago, no one knew that genes even existed--how, for example, blue eyes or mental illnesses were passed from generation to generation.
Absolutely. Its human nature to dub things "impossible" when they cannot fathom how its going to work or how that technology can possibly come about. But, its also human nature to find out ways to make things work and come true. Science fiction is actually a great thing - it stimulates the minds of individuals to attempt those "impossible" things and it seems (from evidence of past) that they do manage to make some of those fictional thoughts into hard reality. There are lots of things that scientists don't know about. Its a learning experience! And I am sure some of the technologies that we think now as being impossible - may yet come to fruition.
Dear Shil, visions are never just visions, whenever we see something, we create that. Can you please, just see a nicer future about part of human society? Your talent is so big, your knowledge and intelligence as well, I appreciate that very much.
Can I just remind you on some facts, known from Quantum Physics experiment?
One of the most confusing experiments occurred when quantum physicians (Bohr) observed electrons/photons, and they sometimes acted as waves, sometimes like particles...depending of observer expectations. Without watching them, they exist just as a set of probabilities!!!
Our future is also...just set of probabilities...until is observed, on one way or another. I prefer to observe it like paradise for all.
Knowing that, BY OBSERVING OUR FUTURE; WE ACTUALY CREATE IT.
Love&Light
Right Tatjana. The reason I wasn't so positive about the human society part is that for some reason we never seem able to get past our petty religious and territorial differences. A world without governments and borders is so difficult for people to agree upon. As long as seperate governments exist, conflicts would exist.
Dear all, there is information about teleportation, based on knowledge and exames of one of the biggest scientist of the world in 20th century, Nikola TESLA (I am proud to say, he was from my country!)
In Japan, teleportation is already realized by:
Takashi Yamanoue, Kagoshima University, yamanoue@cc.kagoshima-u.ac.jpYasuhiro Tsutsui, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan Takao Tsutsui, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan
More in my hub.
What human mind observes...it will be created, sooner or later.
In Love, Light and Positivity, kindest regards.
The thought of the future scares me. I just pray that a better future lies ahead for our children. Nice hub.
Look to the way people interacted with each other a 100 years ago, compare how we do it now and get an idear how it wil be in a 100 years from now.
I couldnt agree more.
Thanks for the hub
yo people what up we are doing a science project and we need help
how will global warming have affecyed the earth in 50/100/150 years from now?
I love your vision of the future. hat a positive and hopeful hub. I hope you are right.
Thanks for your comments Amy. I hope we humans have an exciting future. Hope we don't self-destruct by abusing our planet.
teleportation is not very likely nor is faster than light travel. the biggest change in a century will be the rise of artificial intelligence. many people will spend most of their time in virtuality. the climate will be harsher. personal freedoms will be much less than today. the rich will be able to extend their lifespans for centuries. machines wil fight wars.
Teleportation and travel to distant galaxies are non-starters, in a hundred years or a hundred million years. We will always need paper and managed forests provide that for us today.Artifical intelligence will not happen either.Our most powerful supercomputers are not even close to insect intelligence yet.
Genetically modified plants will be useful in boosting agricultural production and will reduce imputs such as fertiliser and sprays. Robots will be doing simple tasks such as cleaning hospital floors ect,more like automated washers.New medications will increase average life expectancy in the developed world by 6 to 8 years.Average iq will have dropped by 5 points.
I agree most of our energy production will come from renewable sources, solar being a big contributer.Already the cost of solar power is approaching parity with fossil fuel generation. My great hope is that we can crack controlled nuclear fusion in the next 50 years, we've been working on it for 50 years already.
People who suggest that the progress we achieved in the past 100 years will predict what will be achieved in the next 100 years are wrong. For example,the first powered flight was in 1903,the fastest aircraft ever built, the usaf sr71 was designed in the mid 1950's. We are now further away from the planning of the fastest aircraft ever built than its engineers were from the Wright brothers.
Thank you Fintan for your valuable perspective. Quite interesting.
I wonder how war would change if we have the ability to teleport?
I don't share such rosy picture, all I can see is population growth and food crisis ahead of us, not for no reasons.
1) We only just celebrated on the eve of the new millennia with 6 billion people on Earth, since another billion people had joined our party by 2010 -- 6 billion in 1999 now 6.8 and by next year today 7 billion.
When I was born, there were 3 billion people, by the time my son was born, there were 4 billion on earth. Now it seem to be 1 extra billion people on earth every 10 years from now.
Since the millennia, this one world footprint uses the equivalent of 1.3 Planet Earth to provide the resources we need today, while our pH neutral water sources are depleting fast due to industry, food, and population growth, and is firmly locked in a vicious cycle of demand -- One world one dream same nightmare.
2)I see rubbish everywhere in the future.
Population and waste is mathematically linked to resources and the climate. Take the biosphere and the climate for example.
Our mother Earth has a bio-capacity - the natural absorption rate of organic carbon in the soil mantle, but the human animals have already discharged double that figure, with the developed nations being the biggest contributor and preacher of recycling, whilst shipping millions of tons of solid waste to another geological cleft.
In a vicious dose-dependent cycle, such amount of toxic waste affects global geochemical balance; further contribute to the shifting in climate and trophic levels (food chains) in the ecosystem, known as the bio-magnification. What a wise eclecticism.
The volume of solid domestic waste discharged in the Earth’s biosphere has reached a geological figure of 400 million tons per annum and rising, in a generation's time, mankind will suffocated in its own garbage.
What is a toxic waste to humans is a food source for insects and birds, and the chemicals that concentrated in the droppings of the birds are food for vegetations; ultimately find their way in our food source.
The natural absorption rate of organic carbon in the soil mantle is estimated 42 million tons annually. Human discharge of organic carbon had reached 85 million tons per annum – doubled the Earth's natural absorption ability.
The recent world food crisis provides not only a warning but also an opportunity (or wake up call) to examine our sustainability in a rising population scenario, and there seems not enough food, land, water, housing, transport and natural resources by 2050, let alone 100 years time.
Sterling Sage says:
15 months ago
Thanks for publishing this thoughtful and insightful hub. You paint a very plausible picture of the future.
I think most of the technology you describe is possible, and if given enough time to develop, almost inevitable. There are a few exceptions, though. Teleportation is one; the power to "remember" every atom, every quark, every molecular bond, seems beyond the possible computer memory required. I use the term "computer" to include all computational systems, including biological, crystal, and the like. Even if sufficient memory is available, there's the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to deal with; you can't measure the position of the smallest units of matter and also know which way they are moving. Star Trek made a clever plot device to overcome the problem: a device known as a "Heisenberg compensator." However, they never gave any clue as to how it worked. I liked the show, but I don't think teleportation is really possible. Of course, I don't know what I don't know, so I can't say anything for certain.
Along the same lines, I don't think there's any way to break the light barrier. I can't say there's no way to bend spacetime to our will, but I think it's unlikely. Warp drives, as I understand the concept, would use warping of spacetime to get around the light barrier.
Aside from these exceptions, I think we're capable of developing what you describe. Plentiful, renewable energy is just a matter of using a little creativity and a lot of resources. Recycled, composite structural materials are easy for me to imagine replacing the current unsustainable forestry and petrochemical plastics. Nanobots; both doable and increadibly versatile. Replacement body tissues and parts; yup, I think so. Water-powered cars; yes, if you are thinking of a closed system where water is broken into H2 and O2 with solar energy or similar, then recombined in some way to provide propulsion. Flying cars; sure, why not? There's even an attempt being made right now, though not quite realized yet. Check out Moller International: http://www.moller.com/
Now for the scary part. Development of all this wonderful stuff is dependent on the survival of global civilization, with all of its scientific techniques, records, and institutions. In other words, a major global catastrophe could stop us in our tracks.
The current environmental situation presents us with the risk of such a catastrophe. It's true that we are starting to take action, and will probably keep working on it until we achieve sustainability or are overcome by the momentum created over the past 100 years. Global warming's causes and effects are almost immediate in terms of geological, evolutionary, and meteorological time, but the humanly-perceivable time scale is tiny in comparison. We have done so much damage, without knowing it, that our ability to prevent widespread distruction is now in some doubt. No one seems to know for sure. As you said,
"Its hard to be optimistic about the environment, seeing how the developed and developing countries are at loggerheads on issues of climate change and how to tackle it."
This is so true. I have a particularly hard time being optimistic. My skeptical nature is part of the reason, but I've also done some research that could make almost anyone nervous (excluding certain political schools of thought that I won't mention here). I wouldn't say that I know we're doomed, but I think we may be teetering on the edge of a very, very steep slope. For that reason, I think CO2 emissions must be drastically reduced at almost any cost.
Another potential for catastrophe is war. Though I don't think it's likely, I think a conflict of superpowers (like China and India in your vision, for example) could wreck our planet through a combination of nuclear, conventional and biological weapons, along with the military applications of unforseen technologies that might be developed.
This isn't to say that I necessarily disagree with your vision. As I said, I think it's quite plausible. It's only that my crystal ball is a slightly different color from yours, and may have a crack or two (don't they all?)
I hope and pray (OK, I don't really pray, but I would if I were a religious man) that we'll avoid whatever pitfalls we encounter in the next 100 years. If we make it that far, it will probably mean we'll have learned to manage the threats that are facing us now. We'll have pulled back from that slippery slope and begun a new journey through the uncharted fields and forests of a brighter future.
May humanity and the wonderful planet on which it was born live long and, yes, prosper.