The changes to the world since 1984 have been immense in many ways and relatively minor in others. Do you think 2044 will see similar changes, fewer changes or more changes in comparison?
I think a tiny remnant of homo sapiens will scrape out an existence in the ruins of the planet they destroyed.
Holy shit, 2044 is as far away from today as 1984 is from today.
Give me a minute to process that before I answer the question.
The big difference is robots and AI will do far far more of our thinking and manual labor for us.
Other than that, incremental changes in pretty much all fronts like we’ve seen in the last 30 years. I’m hoping Africa lifts itself out of poverty over the next 30 years.
if i’m alive then i will go to The Future Fair and i will be wearing shorts.
Same shit as 2043 but just a little bit hotter. Starpunk music will be right at its peak and then die out just as fast as disco did in the 1970’s. Flying cars and usable fusion energy will be just right around the corner.
By that time the population in the west will certainly be shrinking unless it’s kept afloat by immigration. Sea level will be a good deal higher so there will probably coastal areas that are abandoned because they just keep flooding too much to be worth it.
Even more people will be living in cities. Driving will probably be harder (congestion) and more expensive, although more of it will be automated. Some areas will support self-driving cars but only where there are enough people using them to make maintaining the hyper-accurate maps they need worth it. Flying will probably be much more expensive as fossil fuel runs out; high speed trains take up the slack and wind-propelled ships will make somewhat of a comeback.
Bandwidth will be enormous but some things will still be relatively slow because round trips are limited by the speed of light. Every aspect of life will be monitored and logged. Sometimes this will be helpful, but mostly it’s just too much data to be useful.
Many people will get old in good health but also many people will have chronic diseases for many decades. Infectious diseases will get worse until we get our act together and make new antibiotics. There will probably be a pandemic virus outbreak of some sort between now and then.
Fewer people will produce essential products and services, but personal services and entertainment will be big. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer until we start giving the poor more money because we realize we can’t expect them to compete for jobs with machines.
And Cubs fan’s hopes will still spring eternal, only to be dashed by June.
People will be connected to whatever the internet turns into all the time, unless they take the effort to disconnect. Disconnecting will be jarring to many.
Every public place will be thoroughly covered by video cameras (or equivalent). Crimes of opportunity will drop. Spying will increase exponentially. Stealth clothing will be a thing.
As iljitsch said, sea level will be higher. Poorer coastal areas like Bangladesh will just be abandoned; richer areas (like NYC) will be protected by systems of levees or dikes or the equivalent.
The middle east will have burnt itself out in religious wars and by running out of oil, and will be the new source of the worst hackers in the world (a title now held by eastern Europe).
China will have peaked and either a) started going downhill due to too much pollution and its effects, or b) started going downhill due to the expense of mitigating that pollution.
North Korea will still be a hellhole, but it won’t be the only one, and maybe not the worst one.
The US will have come close to a civil war over religion (Christianity vs. everything else including atheism) but will have pulled back from the brink and, learning its lesson, will have strengthened the separation of church and state at the constitutional level.
In the meantime, with all the boomers dead, the US economy will be percolating with the best of the world’s brainpower.
Hey, a guy can dream. I won’t be here to see it (I hope).
Jetpacks, bubble cities, and flying cars.
Computers will be more powerful. Food won’t be as good.
The world hasn’t really changed very much since 1984. If the amount of change is only about the same over the next 30 years, don’t worry about it, you’ll just take everything in stride between now and them.
Jeez – I retired in 1984. I had a Toyota Corolla.
Actually, I’m betting that food will be better. It will be synthetic, but it will taste great. We’ve already actually turned the corner with fake meat. It takes a pretty darn well-educated palate to tell mock duck from real duck.
That’s fup duck.
Muslim populations will take over some countries or regions in Europe. They will attempt to impose some sort of Sharia law which will not go over well. Even something mild like banning pork or forcing women to not go topless on French beaches will cause major problems.
I find it odd that other than the 1908 Tunguska event has there not been a major space related disaster like a major meteor strike like the one millions of years ago that killed the dinosaurs. But then that could go on for another million years.
Which countries will they take over? Doesn’t seem likely in the next thirty years there’ll be a Muslim majority in any European country that doesn’t already have one, unless there’s a huge influx into San Marino, Monaco, Andorra, Vatican City, or Liechtenstein.
For example, even by highest estimates not even 15% of the population of France is Muslim, and the population of practicing Muslims is much smaller again.
Grin! It sook me a tecond!
AGW will have crapped out as a cause anyone cares about, replaced by:
- Balkanization of every reasonably large country, worsened by financial instability caused from insane debt/GDP ratios
- Overpopulation concerns, particularly in sub-saharan countries, worsened by improved survival due to disease amelioration that is not accompanied by a rapid-enough lowering of birth rates.
Ducks are made out of FOOD? This guy’s well-educated palate isn’t about to try something that’s deliberately intended to simulate that horrible oily flavor.
By 2044, I will have recently retired.
I suspect the few companies responsible for the throttling of internet speeds in the US will have found a way to be even more profitable by allowing speeds comparable to other countries by then.
Devices designed solely for watching broadcast entertainment in the home will no longer be manufactured.
Internal combustion engines will be included in just 50 percent of manufactured consumer vehicles as hydrogen-powered and hydro-assisted vehicles precipitate a leap in battery technology, allowing political wills to change with increased demand for fully-electric vehicles.
The domestication of the dog will continue unabated.