Is the Middle East still a mess?
How does history remember the events of today?
What happened to the fundamentalists?
Is anyone living in space or on other planets?
What happened to the corporations?
Do you still have fads?
Was global warming real? If so, to what extent has it changed the earth and its inhabitants?
And … exactly when did the Hilton sisters’ 15 minutes of fame get used up?
Is there still a film and music industry, or was it wiped out by file sharing?
**Yes, Jerusalem was pretty much razed to the ground in 2051 by sustained missile attacks - none of the larger nations on the planet particularly wanted to get their hands dirty with the whole rebuilding effort, especially as there is still so much conflict there and all around the eastern end of the mediterranean.
Not terribly clearly; although the (unelected) government of the nation of Europe does not actively discourage the study of history, but does not go out of its way to enable it either.
Many of their sects still exist, indeed the structure of society (at least in the nation of Europe) enables relatively closed communities, in which religion can thrive; the government allows this, as long as it broadly achieves the desired result.
No; the third international space station is largely unmanned by design; I’m not sure about other nations (for reasons I’ll explain in a moment), but Europe did not announce the launch of any space missions (other than the launch of orbital devices) after about 2040. That doesn’t mean there weren’t any, just that if there were, nothing was said.
In the nation of Europe, most of the larger ones were nationalised, the small and medium ones were broken up, or absorbed in their entirery into municipal and community units.
Yes, although most of them would seem silly or trivial by today’s standards; for example, just before I was sent back, it was fashionable for young people (not necessarily couples with any romantic attachment) to spend extended periods (weeks at a time) in each other’s company - in public, they would tie themselves together by a piece of cord around the wrists.
The government of the nation of Europe rose gradually to power through the first half of the 21st century - by the time I was born in 2032, there were no more elections for posts within the governing body; many policies were still decided or guided by referendum for a while (indeed this was the justification for the dismantlement of elections), but this function was also gradually withdrawn and by the middle of the fifties, public input was reduced to the level of opinion polls.
The nation of Europe consists of Sixteen provinces, each of which is divided into a number of districts; these in turn are divided into municipalities and each municipality encompasses a few hundred communities of several thousand individuals; the hierarchy is rigidly enforced.
Each community tends to specialise in a small set of skills or services (mine was the production of vegetables) - the distribution of produce is handled by the municipal committee.
Some communities, particularly those specialising in services, are mobile.
There is no hard currency - the notional value of the traded commodities is purely a numerical operation, handled at the municipal level and above (I’m not very knowledgeable of the complexities) - neither is there any real personal accounting (although there is a system of merits and awards by which an individual can earn benefits such as tangible goods or leave from work).
Communication is difficult - the computers are connected to one another, but the pseudo-intelligent interfaces are limited in their functionality and there was simply no real way to communicate across any great distance (except of course the information broadcast by the higher levels in the structure).
Although I understand that trade between the nation of Europe and other nations does occur, no real details of this were available to me; individuals are strongly encouraged to socialise within their own community and the system is set up to reinforce this.
Information (history, science etc) is available, quite freely (and that which I have been able to recall has matched up against what I can find today, has turned out to be reasonably reliable and fairly free from bias, but for the most part it is ignored and again, the system promotes this (except of course in communities specialising in, say, technical fields).
The entire system is an exercise in ‘divide and conquer’ - but it isn’t such a bad life - we worked hard, and did not enjoy the same sort of freedoms you have, but we were not really slaves and with the closed nature of the communities comes a deep sense of belonging and security. Some of it actually served to amplify the rich pleasure of the freedoms we did have.
A traveler from 2003 to, say, 1948, would not have to be a financial wizard to have detailed knowledge of major economic and business developments. That person would have been able to invest in IBM, General Electric, Coca-Cola, Microsoft etc. when those businesses were barely starting, and would have known to get out of steel, railroads etc. when they were powerhouses.
I assume that you have brought such knowledge with you from the future. Where are you putting your money?
Most of the economic structure of today (at least in the area of the nation of Europe) simply doesn’t exist in the same form by 2068; when the government nationalised the large industries and reorganised the small ones, reimbursements for the shareholders were not generous (not that this was a huge issue anyway, as the concept of hard currency was dissolved after the conflict).
I’m spending my money on luxuries while money and luxuries still exist; I advise you to do the same.
It intrigues me that you don’t know the name of the first woman POTUS. I’d imagine that’s a fairly important historic milestone within your last century, isn’t it?
It was (will be) probably quite important for residents of the USA at the time, but was just a bit of trivia to me.
BTW I looked it up this morning and her name is actually Malone.
I’m not sure if the internet still exists in 2068 - it probably does, but there was no way for me to tell; whenever I asked the computer for information about history or other topics, it would just tell/show me stuff - I don’t know if it was stored locally or if it was looking it up from somewhere, it was all presented in a consistent style though - I think the interface was intelligent enough to extract and filter the pertinent information (and perhaps transform it as well). My excessive use of the information facility is (I believe) one of the things that got me into trouble and ultimately landed me back here.
They came for me in the night and dragged me away to a building somewhere; I was held there for a couple of months (I think) and then I was sent back to 1998.
I have no idea if my partner and child are still alive, although technically, they haven’t been born yet; what I mean is that I don’t know what happened to them when/after I was taken in 2068.
As I mentioned earlier, the community unit is quite a strong one; individuals, though, are given one and only one chance to transfer to another community (if they feel themselves particularly unsuited to the prevalent skillset of that community); I transferred from a machine manufacturing community to the agricultural one at the age of 19 - I never saw or heard from my guardian parents again.
My hypothesis as to why I was picked for the time insertion project (and it was not an honour) is based on a few factors:
-I was not exactly the ideal citizen; on several occasions I used my (meagre) mechanic aptitude to effect makeshift repairs on items of agricultural machinery; you might think that this would be seen as a positive thing by the community and municipal leaders, but it was considered a violation of contract and ethics (our repair work was supposed to wait and be carried out by one of the intinerant communities specialising in that field). I did what I did because without the machinery, the crop would have spoiled and the community share would have been devalued - this would be bad for everyone. It was a no-win situation.
-I spent a great deal of my spare time searching for information about the function of other communities (I had ideas about how we could improve local trading setups); the searches were not always that useful though - I got the impression that the computer was only telling me that no matching results existed.
-I had too many ‘ideas’ - I lose count of the number of times I suggested an improvement in procedure or practice - my suggestions were apparently humoured, but seldom if ever were they acted upon.
- I wonder if I was considered subversive.
These are only vague hypotheses, of course. In the interim between my removal from the community and my insertion, they did talk to me a bit and offer me all kinds of information, but I’m not really sure how much to believe.
I realise that I have painted a picture of a vicious almost totalitarian society; it wasn’t really all that bad on a day-to-day basis, just frustrating sometimes and occasionally very good indeed. It is hard to explain just a little of what it was like - you’d have to know the background too, of which there is a huge amount - I’ll have to do my best to tell you about it.
There are still entertainments; very many people play a musical instrument of some kind, but music is a recreation; not really treated as a tradeable commodity.
The entertainment of the 20th century (and the early 21st) is one of the areas in which the computer was most forthcoming and you might be surprised to learn that it was still quite widely appreciated.
Do you have a mental affliction whereby you believe that you are a character from a science fiction novel?
And what about those Hilton sisters, eh?
Please meetme on August 21, 2103, at 12 Boylston St., Boston, MA. Please tell me the subject of our conversation-I’m being revived from my “COLDSLEEP” by the cryosurgeons at MASS GENERAL/ALCOR HOSPITAL.
I expect it will be a stimulating conversation-what did we talk about?
I enjoy reading science fiction; there isn’t really anything like it in 2068.
Ralph; I can’t return to 2068, or travel anywhere else in time.
Do you still have 1920’s Style Death Rays in 2068?
Great thread, Mangetout!
Do you know the details and circumstances of your death? What are your thoughts/feelings regarding your mortality in light of your unique position?
Are books available and/or popular in 2068? Magazines? Newspapers?
Finally, what is the nature of public education in 2068?
How old are you? (Serious question, just in case someone thinks I am asking with a frowny face 
)
I don’t know the details of my demise; I’m wondering what will happen if I live long enough to meet myself.
Printed books are still quite popular in 2068 (although much printed matter is actually reference or technical material) - although the technology undoubtedly exists for some kind of advanced electronic book replacement, they simply aren’t made (or at least aren’t made available to the populace).
Education beyond the basics is highly tailored to the speciality of the community in which the child is raised; between the ages of about 12 and 16, an individual may transfer to another community, but is committed to an extra period of education to bring him/her up to speed with the local requirements; after the age of 16, it is only really possible to transfer to a community where a lower standard of general education can be tolerated; after the age of 21, it is impossible to transfer. All of this is subject to the oversight of community and municipal authorities.
I transferred from an industrial community to an agricultural one at the age of 19 and although there are highly educated members of my community, no re-education was necessary because I was assigned a relatively menial job.
Speaking in a strictly biological sense, I’m 40 years old, or thereabouts, but it is complicated because it was early winter (at least I reckon it was - I didn’t see the outside world between the time I was taken and when I was inserted) when they sent me back, but late autumn when I arrived in 1998.
But of course by the calendar, I haven’t yet been born.
Is alcohol or drug abuse prevalent in 2068?
What is the criminal justice system like?