You’re making me feel better by the minute ! Thanks friend. I took a thrashing in the pit like noboys business. So much nicer conversing with people here. Maybe I should take the hint . I hope you do get some children though. I am teaching my brother in laws. Nothing finer than teaching them something that is right and you know will be with them for the rest of thier lives.
That’s your solution to everything- to move under the sea. It’s not gonna happen!
The depressing thought occurs that life in 3007 might actually be pretty much like life in 1007 …
Some things are eternal. The Cubs will still choke. The Brewers will still suck all season. George Steinbrenner’s head-in-a-belljar will fire the clone of Billy Martin. Donald Trump’s hair will still look bad in the Bad Hairdoos of History Museum – which is what the Smithsonian Institution will eventually morph into.
As mentioned aerlier, the things that “make us human” will still be around… love, joy, hate, selfishness, territorialism and war will still be with us, although how we act on them may well be altered… What would a person of 1007 make of an text msg that said “U n I need to knock boots!”
Nationalism will probably be a LOT less important, claiming a national origin will be akin to showing off your ancestral clan tartan. Something that may or mayt not be an interesting “conversational point”, but nothing to fight or die for.
People will be much more mobile…
Human population on earth will probably be a lot lower… probably under a billion.
Artificial Intellegence will have a legal status similar to individual humans, and the barrier between meat/non organic intellegence will probably be pretty blurry.
Colonization of planets and asteroids will have happened
Lifespans will be greatly enhanced, health issues will not exist.
The inhabitants of that time will probably look back at this time as a barbaric and terrible time (much like we look back at the dark ages)
Universal education, personal development will be the norm. A large percentage of the population may be illiterate, however, as who needs to read with a direct mind interface to the ubiquitous information net.
What “defines” a human being will have changed… Gene modification, cybernetics and who knows what will have advanced to the point that anthropomorhic forms are not needed .
Gravistatics (Control of gravity), Nanotech and Biological sciences, Cold Fusion, FTL Drives, and more will be common place.
Science/technology will have advanced to the point where it looks like “Magic” to us poor primitives of 2007.
Just guessing and hoping, but you know, I’d rather be an optimist than a pessimest here…
FML
I look after my brother’s kids sometimes on a Saturday. I like watching Doctor Who with them. I’m not sure I’m a good influence though, apparently I let them stay up far too late.
That’s true. Everyone always thinks of the future as Futurama or The Jetsons, when in reality it could turn out to be like Planet of the Apes or the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Um, sounds like your thier hero . Just who they need you to be.
#1 Nanotechnology will be far advanced to the point of practically being able to shapeshift. I see machine/body becomeing almost married to each other. Aging slowed down, if not completely stopped. Humanity is free from disease.
#2 Communication/Virtualization directly from person to person over vast distances. (although I don’t see us solving the speed-of-light thing by then)
#3 Our Solar System has been well explored and starting to exploit its resources.
#4 We’ve finally figured out how to take as much energy we need from the Sun and use it efficently.
#5 Peanutbutter cookies the size of cattle.
#6 Religion at an all time low.
and #7 Soylent Green IS made of people.
Hmmm… maybe this is more my hopes rather than my predictions. But what do I care, #1 isn’t going to be solved until after I’m dust.
By the year 3000. we all won’t be recognizeable as members of the same species anymore. We won’t be – we will have split off into custom-designed species.
We will re-write our DNA, in more or less real time, to match our form to our functions, or to our giggles. We’ll redesign everything from kidneys to brain synapses, and give ourselves some DNA juice to download upgrades.
There won’t be any group distinctions of sexual orientation anymore. Any two individuals could create any kind of organs they want to rub against each other. Either of them could morph into a being with a womb, or the DNA wizards could design some kind of hydroponic womb-thing.
I think I might be stealing some of these ideas from science fiction that I read long ago, but I am failing to recall exactly what.
Or… In the year 3000, the year 2000 will be remembered as humanity’s ‘golden age’, with achievements never to be repeated. It’s been over 30 years since a man last walked on the moon. The last supersonic transport is no longer flying. It could be that there is a general economic collapse, spurred on by an aging population and a general decline in population. Throw in another big war or two, or a large natural disaster or two, and we could see a long, long period of stagnation.
Another thing to remember is that the rapid changes of today are not guaranteed to continue. Major new technologies oftem kick-start a major societal change, and to the people living in it it might seem to go on forever. The curve of change isn’t so much a smooth exponential curve but a straight line marked with some steep increases from major breakthroughs in science or engineering.
Think of where we’d be today if we hadn’t discovered computers. Would we be much different than we were in 1960? No CAD/CAM, no finite element analysis, no advanced scientific tools, no factory robots…
If we max out the capacity of computers or of our ability to build increasingly sophisticated software, we could stagnate in technology for a long, long time.