h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was reflecting on how strange society wouild look to my Grandfather if he were to return from the grave today. Computers, society, work all sorts of things would be very strange to him.

What changes do you predict in 10, 20, 50 years time.

For my part I can't help but fear a "Judge Dread" like future.

PP

I think the bigest advances will be in the medical field.
Sure there will be super-duper TVs, etc, but these are kind of expected and coming along in leaps and bounds already.
There will be great advances in artificial limbs, repair of existing spinal injuries, and presumably advances in cancer treatments. Surgery techniques will be less invasive and more targeted. I would expect that medication will be more targeted as well, and pehaps more designed for the individual patient.

Being a pessimist and all that...

War is coming. A couple of big ones in the next 100 years. apart from that, progress as usual, lots of silly scientists researching unfortunately dangerous topics (probably myself included).

As i've predicted before, i can see the 24 hour society developing even more. With the advent of drugs that negate the need for sleep, i can see a time when we all work much longer hours, then play through the night.
I can't make my mind up if it's a good or bad thing though.

I think the 254 hour culture is here alreayd really in many ways; just a lot of things haven't caught up with it (in the UK at least); can't get food always when you want (I'd rahte rlike to go get food myself now but the only places open this late do trashy rubbish...) I predict great advances in warfare technology helped on their way by the perminant state of war betwen the 'us/Uk/etc and 'the infidils' PCs should be even cooler so that is alright though, who cares about a few tens of thousands of innocent people dieing esp when theyre skin colour ain't the same as ours, so long as we get better PCs and PDAs out of it at the end of th e day... pesamist? moi?

I'm not sure how long it will take, but fairly soon, computers will be powerful enough (in networks) for sophisticated hackers to break the 128-bit encryption method that most secure Internet connections use (and I think this includes credit card transactions and so on), thus destroying Capitalism as we know it.

Or maybe quantum cryptography will stop that just in time!

If so, then there will almost certainly be a great humanitarian disaster instead, perpetrated by the West. China will become the new world superpower, but that won't last long, and then it'll be Brazil's turn!

But at some point we're going to run out of energy resources, of course (well, that'll be in the next century, I think, but the situation will get desperate as the time nears; fuel prices rising and so on), so all luxurious Western society will come to an end! We will become equals with those who live in poverty at the moment, and there will be much greater integration between peoples, and, and...

But maybe a breakthrough in nuclear fusion technology will stop that!

Using our new-found power, we then build particle accelerators of such power and enormity that they create small black holes and self-implode! A great void is left slap-bang in the middle of Texas, where the facility once was. They will call it the Grander Canyon, or perhaps the Grand Void.

But of course, the Yellowstone Park supervolcano is just bound to go boom at some point in the next few years! America will be nigh destroyed, and the rest of the world will face massive climatological problems that kill millions!

But of course it's only a matter of time before an asteroid, comet, or other celestial object (maybe even one of those new-fangled 'dwarf planets') will strike the Earth, killing most of sentient life!

My goodness - so many ways for apocalypse to occur. So many methods of mass devastation to choose from!

OK, most of that was cynical nonsense (and some of it just nonsense!). Thinking of the next 10 years, I don't think much will change. More death, more suffering, more war, more poverty, more people and so on. Technology is the main thing that will change. There's WiMax (ubiquitous Internet connections). High definition video. A hundred new iPods. That sort of thing. Some changes in copyright law; maybe a new tax that goes to the RIAA for anyone who owns anything that produces sound. That sort of thing. It's bleak.

pssst 2Legs, *we're* the infidels

If we can sort out cold fusion, I can see that changing the world.

I can foresee a change in marriage. I think the five, ten and fifteen year marriage will become commonplace. I can also see a big improvement in fertility treatments and I think we will see human cloning before the century is out. The genetic work being done today, will be practised in High School Biology labs within 50 years.

Mapping the Human Genome will be seen as the most significant scientific breakthrough of the century.

All pretty positive so far then - not.

PP

I thought I was being pretty positive

OK, obesity will be a thing of the past soon. Gene-therapy and genetic tailoring will mean we will be able to adjust our body shape without surgery or drastic dieting.

"Does my bum look big in this?" will be answerable by "Yes, but that's the way you like it darling"

If someone does not stand up to the PC police democracy will be replaced by either a religous theocracy or a right wing dictatorship

Crikey.

A future ruled by a mildly amusing one-trick-pony two-hit-wonder reggae star - Judge Dread - wouldn't be that bad would it?

I mean what's the worst he could do - release 'Big Thirteen'?

By the end of century, when the climate *has* changed, and oil isn't an economically viable way to power our economy, and the price of commodities is through the roof, and maybe the agriculture that's sustained various countries just doesn't work any more, I think we'll be in the shit big-time.

This will be the century of global warming, and Norway will be the new Spain (or maybe Tyneside).

A coupla things that will almost certainly happen are China will be the world's dominant economy. How the US challenges this will determine the size and scope of many of the wars which will no doubt occur. A lot of the other wars will be about water, further fuelled by other reasons why resources don't stretch to meet the world's needs (exhausted soils, overpopulation, yadda yadda).

I think around 2100 they'll look back and see 1950-2020 (approx) as the golden age of western society.

*Not* an optimist.

Sharks will of course be able to vomit underwater in the future

Tries to think of something that isn't totally pesimistic...er...erm..

Richard Branson and Tom Cruise go into space on board the first Virgin space flight and discover Lord Lucan and Elvis living on the moon. They decide to stay on the moon and Earth rejoices.




Nighthoover is found (possibly living on the moon with Lord Lucan and Elvis)