# The future's bright - at least according to one website **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 27, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-futures-bright-at-least-according-to-one-website/572811 "2011-02-27T17:24:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-futures-bright-at-least-according-to-one-website/572811/1 "2011-02-27T17:24:20Z")
I’ve just come across a very interesting [site](http://www.futuretimeline.net/index.htm)that predicts what will happen to our world (and the universe). As it says: > [@](#): > > Here you will find a speculative timeline of future history. Part fact and part fiction, the timeline is based on detailed research that includes analysis of current trends, projected long-term environmental changes, known advances in computing such as Moore’s Law, the latest scientific advances, and the evolving geopolitical landscape. It takes a pretty optimistic view: we won’t wipe ourselves out, completely ruin the world, or get hit by any interstellar nasties. In fact, we end up as omnipotent beings without a care in the world - or the universe. I hope they are right. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-futures-bright-at-least-according-to-one-website/572811/2 "2011-02-27T18:20:30Z")
[Mod mod]Changed “ne” to “one” in title[/Mod mod] Moving thread from IMHO to MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-futures-bright-at-least-according-to-one-website/572811/3 "2011-02-27T18:38:20Z")
That was an entertaining read until I got to “USA cedes four states to Mexico.” Oh, please. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-futures-bright-at-least-according-to-one-website/572811/4 "2011-02-27T18:43:14Z")
It’s all fiction. It’s not that I know the future and know it to be different. I don’t. NOBODY knows the future. All predictions beyond very short term, obvious stuff are hopeless guesses. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-futures-bright-at-least-according-to-one-website/572811/5 "2011-02-27T18:45:06Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > That was an entertaining read until I got to “USA cedes four states to Mexico.” > > Oh, please. :rolleyes: Don’t forget that by then those southern states have become deserts and the populations are moving north. Canada and the USA have become one entity too. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-futures-bright-at-least-according-to-one-website/572811/6 "2011-02-27T18:46:15Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It’s all fiction. > > It’s not that I know the future and know it to be different. I don’t. NOBODY knows the future. All predictions beyond very short term, obvious stuff are hopeless guesses. Yes, but isn’t fun and interesting to make those guesses? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-futures-bright-at-least-according-to-one-website/572811/7 "2011-02-27T19:10:14Z")
Some of the far-out guesses are too far out to be reasonable without some inventions or discoveries far exceeding that of atomic energy or computers. Like terraforming Venus by moving its orbit to near-earth, or building a sphere \>1AU in diameter. The scale far exceeds what puny man can tackle, at least for the next 10,000 years. Now 100,000 years ahead, things might be different… ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-futures-bright-at-least-according-to-one-website/572811/8 "2011-03-01T04:49:16Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > That was an entertaining read until I got to “USA cedes four states to Mexico.” > > Oh, please. :rolleyes: That’s in the same vein as predicted by [The Next 100 Years](http://www.amazon.com/Next-100-Years-Forecast-Century/dp/0767923057/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298954895&sr=8-1-spell). In that one, at the end of 2099 the southwestern states were still part of the U.S., but there were a ton of tension between Mexico and the U.S.