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I have seen this country change so much, even since 10 years ago. Most of it has changed for the worse. What will the U.S. be like, and look like, in 50 years?
After having just re-emerged from my tuned-up time machine...(long one _ I'm wired)
1) Jobs will be considered "disposable" and the era of people having life-long jobs will have long since died. It will be commonplace for people to have several completely different careers during their lifetime.
2) The average size of a new home (if you are lucky enough to own a single family standalone home in 2059) will be in the 1500 square foot range. There will be more apartment/condo/townhome owners in 2059 than there will be single family home owners.
3) Cars will no longer run on gas or diesel. Most individual vehicles will run on electrical power with improved battery technology, with semi-trucks and larger vehicles needing more power running on alternative fuels. No, individual cars still will not fly, however, in some areas, the Police/Fire/Ambulance services will indeed have flying vehicles to be able to navigate above the street traffic. These "air lanes" being driven in will be used exclusively by emergency services only. No "Blade Runner" stuff - sorry.
4) Homes will commonly use a combination of Solar and Wind energy generation in many areas to power their electrical needs. The days of "unlimited" power will be over, as individual homes will have "banks" of power which can be used each day. In other words, you will have a certain amount of power available to you each day, and once you use it up, it's up until the next time period begins. People will learn to use much more efficient products, and will learn to schedule appliance use due to this. Example: Doing 4 loads of laundry will use up most of your power in one day, so, you won't be able to charge your car on that same day, etc etc... our days of being spoiled with a limitless power supply per person will be over.
5) Over time, English and Spanish will be merged slowly by the 2nd and 3rd generation of Hispanics moving here, and a new "Spanglish" will have been created gradually to replace both English and Spanish. This may actually be more in the 100 year range before the entire language has literally changed, but "Spanglish" words and phrases will begin to be commonly used among the entire population within 50 years.
6) Cash will continue to be used for around 25-30 more years, but by the 50 year mark, it will be obsolete. People will have "personal communicators" which will basically just be extremely advanced PDA type cell phones compared to what we have today, with much greater functionality, and in a variety of shapes and sizes with full voice commands, allowing users to literally wear them behind their ear or even as part of their clothing. Your salaries will be deposited to your bank account and you will simply use the beaming technology (infrared or bluetooth type) of your communicator to pay for everything from vending machine items to your bills or groceries.
People riding buses or subways will be able to use their prescription eyeglasses as web-enabled browsers. Their personal communicator will be able to "beam" the info directly into the crystal glass of the wearer's eyeglasses and allow them to see the display as though a 6ft or larger screen were in front of them. Of course, like today, this will open a can of worms regarding people who do this while driving - as even 50 years from now cars will still not fully drive themselves, so safety will still be an issue.
7) Violent crimes will see sharp increases in both city and suburbs in the years ahead. The current "thug" generation will of course have kids who will be even more hardened than they are. Whole gangs of kids as young as 8 or 9 will begin to commit crimes that even today are still considered shocking. Citizens will indeed arm themselves much moreso than today. The Federal Government will establish a "National Police" which over time, will ease this trend, but you will expect to see armed guards on street corners in the worst areas, and armored Federal Police cars patrolling the neighborhoods. People's homes will be built with impact-resistant glass as standard to protect against the rise in home invasions, and homes will be specifically designed with home security in mind above other amenities.
Anyway - that's my take. If anyone reads this in 2059 compare my notes to reality. No need to let me know though as I'll be dead by then. LOL
After having just re-emerged from my tuned-up time machine...(long one _ I'm wired)
1) Jobs will be considered "disposable" and the era of people having life-long jobs will have long since died. It will be commonplace for people to have several completely different careers during their lifetime.
2) The average size of a new home (if you are lucky enough to own a single family standalone home in 2059) will be in the 1500 square foot range. There will be more apartment/condo/townhome owners in 2059 than there will be single family home owners.
3) Cars will no longer run on gas or diesel. Most individual vehicles will run on electrical power with improved battery technology, with semi-trucks and larger vehicles needing more power running on alternative fuels. No, individual cars still will not fly, however, in some areas, the Police/Fire/Ambulance services will indeed have flying vehicles to be able to navigate above the street traffic. These "air lanes" being driven in will be used exclusively by emergency services only. No "Blade Runner" stuff - sorry.
4) Homes will commonly use a combination of Solar and Wind energy generation in many areas to power their electrical needs. The days of "unlimited" power will be over, as individual homes will have "banks" of power which can be used each day. In other words, you will have a certain amount of power available to you each day, and once you use it up, it's up until the next time period begins. People will learn to use much more efficient products, and will learn to schedule appliance use due to this. Example: Doing 4 loads of laundry will use up most of your power in one day, so, you won't be able to charge your car on that same day, etc etc... our days of being spoiled with a limitless power supply per person will be over.
5) Over time, English and Spanish will be merged slowly by the 2nd and 3rd generation of Hispanics moving here, and a new "Spanglish" will have been created gradually to replace both English and Spanish. This may actually be more in the 100 year range before the entire language has literally changed, but "Spanglish" words and phrases will begin to be commonly used among the entire population within 50 years.
6) Cash will continue to be used for around 25-30 more years, but by the 50 year mark, it will be obsolete. People will have "personal communicators" which will basically just be extremely advanced PDA type cell phones compared to what we have today, with much greater functionality, and in a variety of shapes and sizes with full voice commands, allowing users to literally wear them behind their ear or even as part of their clothing. Your salaries will be deposited to your bank account and you will simply use the beaming technology (infrared or bluetooth type) of your communicator to pay for everything from vending machine items to your bills or groceries.
People riding buses or subways will be able to use their prescription eyeglasses as web-enabled browsers. Their personal communicator will be able to "beam" the info directly into the crystal glass of the wearer's eyeglasses and allow them to see the display as though a 6ft or larger screen were in front of them. Of course, like today, this will open a can of worms regarding people who do this while driving - as even 50 years from now cars will still not fully drive themselves, so safety will still be an issue.
7) Violent crimes will see sharp increases in both city and suburbs in the years ahead. The current "thug" generation will of course have kids who will be even more hardened than they are. Whole gangs of kids as young as 8 or 9 will begin to commit crimes that even today are still considered shocking. Citizens will indeed arm themselves much moreso than today. The Federal Government will establish a "National Police" which over time, will ease this trend, but you will expect to see armed guards on street corners in the worst areas, and armored Federal Police cars patrolling the neighborhoods. People's homes will be built with impact-resistant glass as standard to protect against the rise in home invasions, and homes will be specifically designed with home security in mind above other amenities.
Anyway - that's my take. If anyone reads this in 2059 compare my notes to reality. No need to let me know though as I'll be dead by then. LOL
Fortunately, I won't be alive to see any of this stuff. Way too scary for me...
Location: Midessa, Texas Home Yangzhou, Jiangsu temporarily
1,506 posts, read 4,280,755 times
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Here are my predictions.
Gasoline powered cars will continue to dominate as the preferred means of transportation, but with a major difference. Cars will have on board computers that actually drive the vehicle will the occupants read or watch t.v. or sleep or whatever. This computerization will allow for much more traffic on the existing infrastructure. There will be many more cars on the road, but because they will travel at greater speeds and with less space between them, the roads will seem less congested than now.
Every decade, someone will proclaim the end of the petroleum age, but more oil will always found and produced.
Suburbs and exburbs continue to grow. With the advances in computerized traffic control, people will live even farther from the cities' centers.
Advances in information technology will reduce the number of office workers needed in just about every industry. As a result cities will be filled with unused office space in various states of decay.
Big Box retail will eventually give way to internet commerce. Cities will be filled with the decaying empty shells of these stores. Most people will order goods directly from manufacturers, eliminating the retail niche.
Downtown areas will become primarily useful for live entertainment as the offices empty out.
T.V. sets will no longer exist. Instead walls and other surfaces will be painted with microscopic electronics that can display an image on any surface. As a result annoying ads will be everywhere.
Personally I really don't think it will be that much different than now. Technolagy will obviouslly be more advanced then it is right now. The demographics of people will be much different. The Asian and Hispanic populations will be much larger than they are right now, the black population will also be somewhat larger, the white population will grow in actual numbers but a huge decrease in percentage. I believe oil will still be available, although people will use other alternatives too. Cities will all be even more densely populated, and most will have populations over 1,000,000. Suburbs will still be considered desirable to large families. Exburbs will be considered undersirable, and will be the new ghettos. Fast food will be even more popular. Music devices, DVD players, and cell phones will be much more developed then even now. TV will have more channels.
I think it depends on the region of the country you live in. Other areas with change much more dramatically in terms of demographics than others. I think that technology will be the dominating change factor over the next 50 years.
I think those that can speak multiple languages will probably have better job prospects in terms of the global economy over the next few decades.
in 50 years i wont be speaking at all.
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