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Old 06-15-2014, 07:03 PM
 
Location: Finland
24,144 posts, read 24,703,456 times
Reputation: 11103

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As a history buff I hate to predict the future, as we know that the things we predict seldom happens - but something completely different. But ok, 2030 is just 16 years away so here goes.

Some things that have a medium/high probability for happening:

- Grassroot urbanism. The exodus to the suburbs have stopped and people start to find themselves back to the cities again, especially to medium-sized ones. I exclude London, NYC, Mumbai, Shanghai and others certain to grow on purpose. We'll wonder why we left: the cities have the infrastructure, the parks, the services and they're close. We'll think; why did we rob the cities of that what makes it a city - the people? So a McMansion with picket fences and 3 SUV's will not be the ideal anymore, but a green city environment with people and culture.

- Gay marriage. Indeed, why were we against it, it sounds ridiculous. The family values and the world didn't fall apart despite it's legal in every Western country.

- We are probably not alone. In the Universe, I mean. We will still not know for sure as nobody has contacted us and we haven't found anyone, but we've learnt so much new about the Universe that the question "are we alone?" has been replaced with the updated phrase. The probabilities are simply so overwhelmingly in favour that we aren't alone.

- The big technological leap. Oh, how naive we were. There's still famine, cancer, ebola and extreme poverty out there, and we still don't have the tools to extradicate them. We thought technology could save us all, but no, we still haven't taken the big leap. Smartphones and the 2013 computer I write on are like fossiles, relics from the past. I don't know what we are doing with the laptops in 2030, but I predict it's something amazing. The possibilities and performance don't seem to stagnate in any way.

- The death of climate denialism. Ok, some of the old guard is still out there, but they are like the Stalinists of 2014. Sincere, but nobody really takes them seriously. We're already seeing changes in our climate, and while some refuse to believe humans have any part of it, everyone realise there is indeed something happening, we are affected by it, and we really have to try to do something about it. Stronger tornadoes, more severe flooding, tougher heatwaves, extreme drought and so on. And sadly, it again hits the poorest areas of the world the most.

- Touch. More work online, more online economy, more automatised customer service, hell, we sometimes even go to the doctor online. There will be a reaction against the digitalised interaction that is all around us. As we realise almost all of us suffer from cabin fever, we start to appreciate having more people around as and close to us. (Return to my first point.) Oh was it good in 2014 when we just spammed on C-D and bought something on ebay? Now it's all this bit-filled nonsense all around us, we'll think.

- The book didn't die. That was really a stupid prediction in 2014. Newspapers (which might only be published every other day) are probably a hybrid of printed media and digitalised media that you use with your smartphone, but the novel printed on paper will not disappear before I die.

Last edited by Ariete; 06-15-2014 at 07:14 PM..

 
Old 06-15-2014, 07:29 PM
 
3,423 posts, read 4,343,930 times
Reputation: 4226
- Lack of flexible working hours, locations, and opportunities to work creatively
- The popularity of "bling" in today's fashions
- Punk-ish hair dyes, tattoos, piercings
- Clunky little tablet computers with little memory
- Lack of omnipresent wifi
- SUVs
- McMansions
- Hipster facial hair
- Hipster vintage clothes
- Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, the Kardashians
 
Old 06-16-2014, 09:28 AM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,579 posts, read 86,694,851 times
Reputation: 36642
You mean, besides what already seems cheesy, which is almost everything?
 
Old 07-26-2014, 02:03 AM
 
Location: White House, TN
6,480 posts, read 6,137,314 times
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Most of the pop music today will be looked at as cheesy. I don't see most of it having the staying power that the '70s, '80s, and '90s music has had.

Technology will continue to evolve - 2040 technology will make 2014 technology look like 1988.

The death penalty will be on its last legs (in the US) in 2030. In 1999, America executed 98 people; in 2013, 39. It will probably be in the single digits by 2030. The last execution in America will probably occur in the late 2030s or early 2040s. By 2049 it will probably be abolished for good nationwide. Think the 1967-1977 moratorium but permanent.
 
Old 07-26-2014, 06:23 AM
 
Location: Fayetteville
1,205 posts, read 2,680,934 times
Reputation: 2596
Not being able to get packages on Sundays. I've read Sunday delivery is already being done on a limited scale in some parts of the US. I see it happening nationwide because it will give a huge advantage to whoever figures out how to do it first.
 
Old 07-26-2014, 08:04 AM
 
Location: Virgin Islands
611 posts, read 1,452,108 times
Reputation: 594
I think that the absurd narcissism of taking 100's of "selfies" will be embarrassing to us when we show our grandchildren in 30+ years.
 
Old 08-25-2014, 04:30 PM
 
1,149 posts, read 1,583,007 times
Reputation: 1398
Usually the things that future generations find ridiculous were seen as ridiculous in their day, too. Disco, hippies, yuppies, etc.

So I definitely think hipster fashion and behavior will fall into this category. Probably the really terrible techno-pop/rap hybrids that are dominating the airwaves, too.

EDIT: Selfies, too! Yes!
 
Old 08-25-2014, 04:33 PM
 
28,896 posts, read 54,007,423 times
Reputation: 46668
Reality television.
 
Old 08-26-2014, 03:07 PM
 
Location: Chicagoland
376 posts, read 486,815 times
Reputation: 564
Political correctness and its periodic moral panics
 
Old 08-26-2014, 04:05 PM
 
Location: Sunny South Florida
8,039 posts, read 4,718,524 times
Reputation: 10061
A little closer to home:

All these young yuppie couples who insisted on stainless steel appliances and granite countertops in their kitchens will (by the 2030s) be middle-aged couples surrounded by the equivalent of avocado appliances and knotty pine paneling. The dreams of an "open concept" house will be similar to how the sunken living room of their parents' dreams became a dated nightmare. That must-have, "all-purpose bonus room" will be shut off and forgotten just like that formal living room that never got used in their parents' house.

I do agree that a lot of people will be forced to deal with their own pasts as iPhone zombies when they can't seem to remember most of the events of the 2010s, similar to how their grandparents can't seem to remember most of what they did during the 1960s, due to certain "addictive objects" placing them under a spell.

I'm not so sure the global warming/climate change "debate" will be settled even then. It's been basically the same song with updated lyrics since the 1980s, after all. In junior high (1983-85) I was warned about the "greenhouse effect". In the early 1990s it shifted to talk of "holes in the ozone layer". It then became "Global Warming" and shifted to "Climate Change" soon after that. In every new incarnation, our demise was right around the corner (usually twenty years, sometimes as little as ten). I hope by the 2020s some will realize we should have vaporized, roasted, or drowned long ago according to the "experts".
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