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Just because we can’t predict the future and consistently get it wrong doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to try!
I’ve been developing my own predictions for what our country will look like in another century (provided we don’t destroy ourselves in the interim) based on the technologies being imagined and developed today. Here’s a couple of generalizations for your viewing and debating enjoyment, don’t for get to add your ideas too! There actually is a chance some of us alive today will be there to see them happen!
Transportation:
In 2100 people will still mostly get around on 4 wheels, but that’s where the similarities end. The #1 difference between the car of today and the car of 2100 will be who owns it. Private ownership of vehicles will be extremely rare and cost per unit will be very high but people won’t mind because of the low cost and flexibility of future “car rental” companies.
In 2100, when you need a vehicle you simply order one from the rental service. As all cars in 2100 have a self-drive feature, the vehicle simply drives itself to your doorstep after you order it and goes back to the rental garage on it's own after you're done . Also, this system has the added benefit of being able to get whatever type of vehicle you need for the reason you need it. The cost of renting a vehicle as it’s needed will keep private transportation costs down to reasonable levels and automatic drive features will keep wear & tear, accidents and insurance costs low, meaning big profits for these rental companies.
The average car of 2100 will be electric powered; gas powered cars will have gone the way of the dinosaur decades before and be little more than an antiquated curiosity. The electric car will have a range that is basically the same as today’s gas powered cars (300-500 miles) and will be capable of instantly charging faster than it takes to fill up a gas tank today thanks to improvements in battery technology made possible by nanotechnology. It will prove to be far more reliable, practical and safe than other alternatives such as hydrogen.
The car of 2100 will be made mostly of various carbon nanotube materials rather than steel. Dents and scratches will be able to “self-heal” thanks to nanotech and the color of the vehicle will be able to change at the sound of a voice command.
Housing:
In America ca. 2100, housing types will be split more or less equally between single family homes and multifamily apartments. Renters will outnumber owners by a strong margin. Most developed areas will be higher density than today and there will be a strong movement to protect undeveloped areas. Homes and apartments will be generally smaller than today and many common elements of today homes such as garages and mailboxes will be as obsolete as the butler’s pantry or double parlor is today. Very few examples of 1950-2020 homes will still be around in 2100; thanks to planned obsolescence, the materials used in modern home construction just won’t last over the long haul and will require complete replacement before 2100 comes around.
There won’t be a single electrical line or cord anywhere in the house of 2100; power will be “beamed” over short distances to appliances and electronics from a central power unit in the house, which in turn receives power directly from relay stations powered by orbital solar power stations with uninterrupted 24/7 solar coverage. Telephone poles and power lines will be a thing of the past.
In 2100, the biggest design trends draw from historic styles, use natural materials, and generally exhibit high quality craftsmanship. This is a backlash against the technology of the virtual word; many people crave things perceived as being “real” and “authentic” because there is so much that isn’t “real” in their daily lives, though such things will only be available to a wealthy minority. The majority endures relatively bland, simple setups that require a minimum of maintenance (and cash) and make up for it with some pretty amazing entertainment options…
The Internet and Entertainment:
The internet of 2100 is as far removed from the Internet of today as the latest Hollywood technical eye-candy are from the first “moving pictures” of the 20thcentury. The future internet could be more accurately described as an immense, ever expanding series of parallel virtual worlds of every conceivable kind. Future “video games” are indistinguishable from reality and have long supplanted television and movies as the most popular entertainment medium.
The “TV” in 2100 is usually an entire wall of a home covered with “video wallpaper” with intensely vivid color and resolution, even by today’s top of the line HD standards, but that’s all “old hat” technology by 2100. Instead, direct interface is far more popular.
Old fashioned types usually opt for video contacts/glasses and earphones and motion capture interface to navigate the ‘net, but the latest, greatest (and scariest) way to surf in 2100 is with direct brain interface. There are no sci-fi style head plugs like The Matrix… all you need is a quick surgery to implant a chip in your brain and you can experience the virtual world exactly as you experience the real one.
There are safety features and “kill switches” aplenty, but the danger of being “lost” in the virtual world is a real fear, much like the idea behind the movie Inception but with virtual computer worlds instead dreams.
In many, many cases people spend more time living virtual lives than real ones, only returning to the waking world to take care of essential bodily functions. A few never even leave the virtual world; there will be care facilities for the withered comatose bodies of those who would rather live as gods in their own worlds than face the real one.
Because of such things, there are a host of new psychological and medical problems unknown to the folks of the early 21st century which will plague humanity like cancer and heart disease today… but the physical ailments of today will cause little worry in 2100, and brings us to the next subject...
Medical Technology:
Much like entertainment, comparing the medical services of 2100 to 2012 is like comparing today’s medical treatments to the leeches, bleeding and mercury treatments of the 1800’s. There will be no dialysis, chemotherapy or even pharmaceuticals to take; nanotechnology will have made them all obsolete. When something is wrong, you get a purpose-built micro-machine inserted into your body to solve the problem AND have done at an early stage, usually before symptoms can even manifest!
That is because the average bathroom of 2100 has a battery of checkup and self-diagnosis tools included as part of the “standard equipment” of the room. Using them daily is second nature, like brushing our teeth every day.
Beyond preventative measures and early intervention, it will be entirely possible to grow and replace nearly any piece of the human anatomy… and even the entire body, minus the consciousness of the person him/herself anyway. Genetic engineering and augmentation will essentially create a new genus of the human species, though the manipulated folks would never acknowledge it...yet. It will even be theoretically possible to live forever, for those who want to (an can afford to) try.
Unfortunately such advancements haven’t benefited everyone though… only the relatively wealthy people of the world have access to such medical wizardry. And taken as whole, the average person in 2100 is poorer than the person of 2012, even in America….
Fixed! It seems you used a font that is not compatable with the choices CD can handle. I used Arial #10 ************************ Transportation:
In 2100 people will still mostly get around on 4 wheels, but that’s where the similarities end.
The #1 difference between the car of today and the car of 2100 will be who owns it. Private ownership of vehicles will be extremely rare and cost per unit will be very high but people won’t mind because of the low cost and flexibility of future “car rental” companies.
In 2100, when you need a vehicle you simply order one from the rental service. As all cars in 2100 have a self-drive feature, the vehicle simply drives itself to your doorstep after you order it and goes back to the rental garage on it's own after you're done . Also, this system has the added benefit of being able to get whatever type of vehicle you need for the reason you need it. The cost of renting a vehicle as it’s needed will keep private transportation costs down to reasonable levels and automatic drive features will keep wear & tear, accidents and insurance costs low, meaning big profits for these rental companies.
The average car of 2100 will be electric powered; gas powered cars will have gone the way of the dinosaur decades before and be little more than an antiquated curiosity. The electric car will have a range that is basically the same as today’s gas powered cars (300-500 miles) and will be capable of instantly charging faster than it takes to fill up a gas tank today thanks to improvements in battery technology made possible by nanotechnology. It will prove to be far more reliable, practical and safe than other alternatives such as hydrogen.
The car of 2100 will be made mostly of various carbon nanotube materials rather than steel. Dents and scratches will be able to “self-heal” thanks to nanotech and the color of the vehicle will be able to change at the sound of a voice command.
Housing:
In America ca. 2100, housing types will be split more or less equally between single family homes and multifamily apartments. Renters will outnumber owners by a strong margin. Most developed areas will be higher density than today and there will be a strong movement to protect undeveloped areas. Homes and apartments will be generally smaller than today and many common elements of today homes such as garages and mailboxes will be as obsolete as the butler’s pantry or double parlor is today. Very few examples of 1950-2020 homes will still be around in 2100; thanks to planned obsolescence, the materials used in modern home construction just won’t last over the long haul and will require complete replacement before 2100 comes around.
There won’t be a single electrical line or cord anywhere in the house of 2100; power will be “beamed” over short distances to appliances and electronics from a central power unit in the house, which in turn receives power directly from relay stations powered by orbital solar power stations with uninterrupted 24/7 solar coverage. Telephone poles and power lines will be a thing of the past.
In 2100, the biggest design trends draw from historic styles, use natural materials, and generally exhibit high quality craftsmanship. This is a backlash against the technology of the virtual word; many people crave things perceived as being “real” and “authentic” because there is so much that isn’t “real” in their daily lives, though such things will only be available to a wealthy minority. The majority endures relatively bland, simple setups that require a minimum of maintenance (and cash) and make up for it with some pretty amazing entertainment options…
The Internet and Entertainment:
The internet of 2100 is as far removed from the Internet of today as the latest Hollywood technical eye-candy are from the first “moving pictures” of the 20thcentury. The future internet could be more accurately described as an immense, ever expanding series of parallel virtual worlds of every conceivable kind. Future “video games” are indistinguishable from reality and have long supplanted television and movies as the most popular entertainment medium.
The “TV” in 2100 is usually an entire wall of a home covered with “video wallpaper” with intensely vivid color and resolution, even by today’s top of the line HD standards, but that’s all “old hat” technology by 2100. Instead, direct interface is far more popular.
Old fashioned types usually opt for video contacts/glasses and earphones and motion capture interface to navigate the ‘net, but the latest, greatest (and scariest) way to surf in 2100 is with direct brain interface. There are no sci-fi style head plugs like The Matrix… all you need is a quick surgery to implant a chip in your brain and you can experience the virtual world exactly as you experience the real one.
There are safety features and “kill switches” aplenty, but the danger of being “lost” in the virtual world is a real fear, much like the idea behind the movie Inception but with virtual computer worlds instead dreams.
In many, many cases people spend more time living virtual lives than real ones, only returning to the waking world to take care of essential bodily functions. A few never even leave the virtual world; there will be care facilities for the withered comatose bodies of those who would rather live as gods in their own worlds than face the real one.
Because of such things, there are a host of new psychological and medical problems unknown to the folks of the early 21st century which will plague humanity like cancer and heart disease today… but the physical ailments of today will cause little worry in 2100, and brings us to the next subject...
Medical Technology:
Much like entertainment, comparing the medical services of 2100 to 2012 is like comparing today’s medical treatments to the leeches, bleeding and mercury treatments of the 1800’s. There will be no dialysis, chemotherapy or even pharmaceuticals to take; nanotechnology will have made them all obsolete. When something is wrong, you get a purpose-built micro-machine inserted into your body to solve the problem AND have done at an early stage, usually before symptoms can even manifest!
That is because the average bathroom of 2100 has a battery of checkup and self-diagnosis tools included as part of the “standard equipment” of the room. Using them daily is second nature, like brushing our teeth every day.
Beyond preventative measures and early intervention, it will be entirely possible to grow and replace nearly any piece of the human anatomy… and even the entire body, minus the consciousness of the person him/herself anyway. Genetic engineering and augmentation will essentially create a new genus of the human species, though the manipulated folks would never acknowledge it...yet. It will even be theoretically possible to live forever, for those who want to (an can afford to) try.
Unfortunately such advancements haven’t benefited everyone though… only the relatively wealthy people of the world have access to such medical wizardry. And taken as whole, the average person in 2100 is poorer than the person of 2012, even in America….
Worldwide democracy.
China will become democratized this century and i think there will be no more dictatorships left 70 yrs from now.
Space technology
More advanced successors of the Kepler telescope will have not only identified multiple earthlike planets, but measured their chemical composition and we will have identified with certainty worlds with oxygen, water and carbon.
Will have developed faster propultion techniques that will have allowed manned Mars visitation on mission lasting only a few months round trip.
Interstellar ships powered by antimatter engines will have moved out of the theoretical and firmly into the experimental stages, and we will be on he cusp of manned missions to the very outermost planets in our solar system and sending very fast unmanned probes to Centauri system.
Due to the technological singularity coming in 2030 to 2045 it is impossible to know what society will be like in 2050 let alone 100 years from now in 2112.
Worldwide democracy.
China will become democratized this century and i think there will be no more dictatorships left 70 yrs from now.
.
Nope. Just the opposite. Democracy, if referred to at all in history studies, will be regarded as a quaint and futile system that obstructed "progress" and led to a chaotic societal growth akin to cancer. Nothing will stop our headlong rush into Oligarchy (the bosom of our trusted caretakers), which is already well underway and highly visible in 2012. The world will still be divided between the haves and the have-nots. Or rather, the deserves and the deserve-nots. The test for that, as in 2012, will still be obedience, but I leave the possibility open that disobedience might be unimaginable in 2100. There will be no resistance, and everyone will be taught that they are living in a utopia. The central focus of science will be to bring about this utopia for the good of everyone, and once each echelon is in place, there will be no turning back.
World peace will have come as 98% of the world's population comfortably lives day-to-day existence in a direct computer-brain interface. In fact, people younger than their 80's (birth year 2032) in the U.S. will have experienced little else. Energy usage will dramatically decline as human beings are largely immobile in the "real world" and genetically engineered to use as few resources as possible.
Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, any number of others a decade from now. There will be no year 2100 for the majority of humans and it will be nothing like the previous predictions. There are too many crazies running countries.
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