I was born in 1967. Highlights and low lights that year, socially, for sure! Not going to go into that now, but was a more-tumultuous time than now for sure.
The '67 Shelby 500 was a heckuva car, the updated so-called "Eleanor" being a gorgeous and iconic vision of the era. I may or (more likely) will not ever own one, but this is undecided. My point, then to now: functionality is a shadow of my 2015 Porsche GTS C4, at about the same price in modern dollars. Entirely predictable, though.
Examples of (other) advancements that were entirely predictable, 1967 - today:
- Self-inflicted environmental degradation leading to desertification and suffering. Too damn bad: stop breeding like rats?
- Near-extinction of major/large wild mammal species. They're doomed, period. Stock up the DNA bank for the future; their future is the zoo only.
- Technology advances are hard to predict. None surprise me per se.
Unpredictable:
When the swarms of 'refugees' from climate and other catastrophes would start invading the West due to overpopulation, war, etc. Already occurring in Europe, and it's been going on here awhile too and come to a head recently: thank God we have a Executive Branch to demand 'NO' to alien hordes. We don't need economic migrants who refuse to integrate, thanks: apply that resourcefulness to your own country.
How long it will take Western society to stop, and reverse, the above butt-cold using whatever means necessary. That will take a massive groundswell from within the U.S., and European states, populations. The day will come when 'the People' say, "enough!"
Fortunately, there have been major agricultural advances, too, to by-and-large keep us all fed. There is little starvation in the world today, which should make anyone glad.
Complete wildcard:
American social bifurcation, the traditionalists vs. Socialists and other wreckers. No idea exactly how that will solve itself, either through force of arms, dialog, or other benign re-integration. I hope for the former, but if the latter the freaks will lose. Pyrrhic victory for the nation, though and we'd become another rump Roman Empire.
Space? We're finding it's too expensive to move men into space. I personally believe this will be the realm of robots, including Bracewell and von Neuman probes. Too, that we will become 'Belters and mine asteroids for the humongous resources. Beyond that, and the orbit of Mars, I am skeptical. Point being it may take unknown advances in physics to move us elsewhere: folding space, wormholes, other mathematical abstractions I can't predict nor can anyone else. Man cannot move at sublight pace, unless fusion ramships are possible or other sublight tech to move us to near lightspeed.
Disasters are wild cards. If there is major climate change, it might wipe away a sizable fraction of humanity. Tough luck. A supervolcano event could be extinction-level, or see "wipe out significant..."
Nuclear or biological weapons, not sure which is worse. Nukes are blunt instruments the likes of which we cannot imagine. I suspect a city or other target will go up in a mushroom cloud by terrorists vs. state actors first (or next, rather).
Rise of an AI: God knows what that will be like, which may sweep aside this entire list based on coldly rational calculations made in microseconds.
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