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2050 Cable TV will be dead, everything will be through the net.
Physical therapy will consist of transplanted Muscle etc.
There will be wars, proxy of course.
Lunar bases will exist but in the form of say the ISS, manned missions to Mars could be happening but on Apollo level scale. Corporate space missions will be in full swing Mining, Manufacturing, Fuel depots, 3D Mapping etc.
Global Warming will be costing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage worldwide.
Diabetes could be cured, but Antibiotic resistant bacteria could be devastating.
Over half of the world's work productivity could be automated leading to massive social/labor upheavals.
Renewable energy will be ending fossil fuel dependency, at least in the Western world. Electric Cars will be the norm.
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2050 will be in 36 years.
Let's go 36 years back in time.
This is how the world looked like in 1978:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/S4MVLQ1.jpg) ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/v01LJaT.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/h4ogFFM.jpg) ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/YjRC8UW.jpg)
I don't think anybody had enough imagination back then to predict what we have today.
And in particular, how fast it would happen.
If we want to predict how it will be in 2050, we are now in a similar position.
We simply have no clue.
All we can do is take the latest technology that we have available now and multiply that by a factor of 100.
So what do we have got?
3D printing
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/yiTdqFg.jpg)
Google Glass
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/V04dlmo.jpg)
Nanotechnology
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QZwKMGa.jpg)
Self-driving cars
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/tTJH4fb.jpg)
Supercomputer
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dKP9pvY.jpg)
Lab-grown burgers
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/shfUScT.jpg)
Laser rifles
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/0Vp48KK.jpg)
Brain-computer interfaces
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/loXpkYA.jpg)
Drones
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XWwNWLC.jpg)
Virtual Currency
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/saOITqi.jpg)
Smart Clothing
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/SJ7h3BF.jpg)
Virtual reality
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/vrKlMLT.jpg)
Space stations
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/tzSnrll.jpg)
Microchip implants
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/eiMH04J.jpg)
Holograms
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/X7YJFUu.jpg)
Remote control of neurons
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RbUIvET.jpg)
Robots
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ekreAJa.jpg)
Now scroll up again!
Look at how the things looked like in 1978!
See how they look now!
I will leave it to your imagination to speculate how all of that will look like in 36 years and how it will impact out society!
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On May 08 2014 01:43 Acertos wrote:
On a social level, English will be known by more and more people as second language as education develops. French will most likely become the fourth language spoken at birth behind in order Indian, Chinese and English.
French is only the 10. most spoken lanuage atm, why would it overtake spanish, russian or arabic?
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Zurich15366 Posts
On May 08 2014 16:36 urboss wrote:
2050 will be in 36 years.
Let's go 36 years years back in time.
This is how the world looked like in 1978:
[...]
Now scroll up again!
Look at how the things looked like in 1978!
See how they look now!
I will leave it to your imagination to speculate how all of that will look like in 36 years and how it will impact out society!
This is a misleading approach, since technological progress is not linear at all.
However, looking back 36 years the world looks very, very similar to our present anyway. At least compared to say, looking back 70 years. The vast majority of technological transformations was completed by 1978. Since then there has been comparatively little progress that we could call revolutionary. And people DID predict much of the technological progress we have today. For example, we have to realize that while they look stone age to us now, 1978 already had networked computers. What people looking into the future are mostly lacking is an understanding of how (predictable) technological progress will cause or go along with social changes.
I argue the future will go along the same lines. I am fairly certain we can identify the area that will see the most progress: Software, which will enable us to create "smart" machines. That however does not mean robots walking around, or other things that look completely out of place. Rather, a lot of our current machines and processes will be automated. For example self driving cars and automated delivery drones. These technologies are fairly easy to predict, just as the internet was in 1978. However the social changes are more difficult: How will society deal with jobs being replaced by machines? Will there be new professions, and will they pay enough to make up for the loss? Personally I have a rather pessimistic outlook regarding these questions, but in any case they are more interesting than talking just about technological progress.
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On May 08 2014 17:09 zatic wrote:
This is a misleading approach, since technological progress is not linear at all...
Exactly, technological progress is not linear, it's exponential!
That is why it's so hard to predict!
In case there are any game-changing revolutionary innovations, it is even harder to predict.
And let's face it! In the 70s, no one came even close to predicting the media and technology that we have right now.
Even though you might have been able to deduce it all with a lot of imagination.
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On May 08 2014 17:09 Snotling wrote:Show nested quote +On May 08 2014 01:43 Acertos wrote:
On a social level, English will be known by more and more people as second language as education develops. French will most likely become the fourth language spoken at birth behind in order Indian, Chinese and English.
French is only the 10. most spoken lanuage atm, why would it overtake spanish, russian or arabic?
Official lenguage of 10+countries in Africa. Estimated to 700 millions in 2050.
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Zurich15366 Posts
On May 08 2014 17:53 urboss wrote:Show nested quote +On May 08 2014 17:09 zatic wrote:
This is a misleading approach, since technological progress is not linear at all... Exactly, technological progress is not linear, it's exponential! That is why it's so hard to predict! In case there are any game-changing revolutionary innovations, it is even harder to predict.
It's really not. If it were we would be all driving flying cars and living on Mars. The transformations through technological progress achieved in the first half of the 20th century far eclipsed that of the second half, and even more that of the past 36 years. If you look at predictions of the future from the 50s, you will see fantastic imaginations straight out of science fiction. Coming from the background of the insane technological transformations previous it is understandable that people back then predicted a future that would be similarly progressed - space travel, flying cars, 10 hour work weeks, etc.
As it turned out, technological progress slowed down. Or, if that sounds too radical, the fruit of technological progress today is less than that of previous progress. My argument is that we will continue on that path; With the added problem that the progress we will have (mostly automation) will cause a significant amount of social challenges.
And let's face it! In the 70s, no one came even close to predicting the media and technology that we have right now.
Even though you might have been able to deduce it all with a lot of imagination.
This is just not true. Many of our current advances were predicted back then, foremost the internet. In literature this would be called the Matrix, in academics the Hypertext. The concept was very real.
It can be argued that the achievements in miniaturization of the past decade have not been predicted as closely - but that miniaturization would continue was of course a common understanding.
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It's hard to discuss this without actual data backing it up.
The Internet itself may not have been so hard to predict, but all its implications were.
I'm just saying that if people assume that they can predict the future by just extrapolating the present, then they are terribly mistaken!
Let's just agree to disagree and we'll meet again in 2050!
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I still don't know how the internet "works"...or computers...or anything electronical.
Like..why does a piece of plastic that gets burnt hold information? - CD's for you.
I fully expect the world to have seen a major war before 2050. Just look at the last 14 years, since 2000 off the top of my head we've had Iraq/iran/afghanistan, bloody end to the sri lankan civil war, north korea and now crimea and russia. Thats 14 years with probably god knows how much ive missed.
36 years with more build-up on these things? You're kidding yourself if you expect peace, unfortunately.
I expect technology to have made a significant breakthrough in an area or two VR/Holograms are ones im watching.
Global warming and overpopulation to become a serious problem.
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Zurich15366 Posts
On May 08 2014 18:37 urboss wrote:
It's hard to discuss this without actual data backing it up.
The Internet itself may not have been so hard to predict, but all its implications were.
I'm just saying that if people assume that they can predict the future by just extrapolating the present, then they are terribly mistaken!
Let's just agree to disagree and we'll meet again in 2050!
This is getting funny, you were the one who proposed looking back 36 years and extrapolate from that to the future. Anyway this is exactly what I am saying: Just as the internet was not that hard to predict 36 years ago, technological innovations of the future may not be either. However the social implications are the truly interesting topic.
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As I said, all we can do is to look at our current technology and then let our imagination work on that.
By looking back 36 years, we realize that it is impossible to simply extrapolate linearly.
Every new technical invention - however small it may be - opens up ten new avenues that we can exploit.
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I'm fairly sure a weaponized catastrophe of some sort will make most everything else irrelevant.
It's human nature that we're all the heroes of our own stories. We're inculpable to our own minds. This biological trait will kill us. Hitler seems to be the modern depiction of evil, but he was also a man who thought he was doing the right thing. Some day, some person[s] doing the "right thing" is going to have the means and self-narrative to unleash major catastrophe.
Too many weapons, too many people with conflicting narratives, to think it will all lie dormant for eternity out of some Game Theory concept of "mutually assured destruction". If anything, someone will one day blow up the planet just to prove they can. And they'll think themselves the hero for doing it.
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I think by 2050 we will all be dead, asteroid hit, wiping ourselves due to war, disease. Pick any.
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On May 08 2014 19:24 SayfT wrote:
I think by 2050 we will all be dead, asteroid hit, wiping ourselves due to war, disease. Pick any.
Humanity is too everywhere to be exterminated by any event we can think of. We also have way too much ingenuity. People will survive somewhere.
Say an asteroid impact kills 7 billion people, that still leaves 161 million people alive.
Unless whatever the catastrophe is makes the Earth completely uninhabitable, even including underground bases like in Fallout, humanity will survive.
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Baldness will be cured and I'll regret being 1 generation too early.
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On May 08 2014 17:09 zatic wrote:
However, looking back 36 years the world looks very, very similar to our present anyway. At least compared to say, looking back 70 years.
Over one billion Chinese people disagree.
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On May 08 2014 06:45 MoonfireSpam wrote:Show nested quote +On May 08 2014 03:35 CosmicSpiral wrote:I would argue that Japan is such a bizarre outlier in terms of sexual perception that any trends among the population can't be projected. Less about sex, but sometimes it feels like the unemployed / uneducated breed more than the people with jobs and careers.
That would be a normal feeling. Pretty much all studies I've read have concluded that as female education level goes up the birth rate goes down.
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As for the topic itself. I think we will keep seeing gradual improvement in most areas. This will lead to devices being cheaper and combinations being possible.
The best example I can think of is cell phones. The first ones pretty much needed a car battery and a suitcase. As electronics/batteries got smaller it got smaller. Then it hit a size when being smaller wasn't a competitive advantage and technology started to be added instead. Now it is a computer, TV, music device, video camera...
As the trend goes on devices get more dynamic and things like living outside of the city becomes normal. Since transports, power transfer and generation becomes easy enough to give a high standard of living.
As different fields improve and combine we will see more electronics in humans and more altered humans. The first truly "super" humans will probably be born around 2050.
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Gah formatting this is such a pain in the ass
On May 06 2014 22:01 urboss wrote:
How do you think the world will look like in 2050?
Will there be major wars until then or will the world drift toward peace?
I think nuclear weapons have made nation vs nation violence much less likely, and will continue to do so. Sub-state levels of violence, however, will proliferate.
Will democracies prevail?
There is no way to answer this question with a reasonable degree of validity.
Will there be a new world power?
China, possibly, although the world will more likely resemble post 1815 Europe, with a concert of major powers.
Will global warming and overpopulation finally show their effects?
If they don't by 2050, they won't, ever, since that's when global population levels will peak, and CO2 emissions as well.
Will we have found efficient ways of creating renewable energy?
Cost-efficient; yes, but possibly because existing fossil fuels will have become so expensive as to make renewable energy comparatively cheaper.
How will we be communicating with each other?
Mind-computer interfaces.
Will there still be Facebook and Twitter around?
I give it a 32.33%, repeating, chance of existence. (But will anyone in 2050 understand that reference?)
Will people still be having a social life in the real world?
Yes.
What are people going to do in their spare time?
Eat, sleep, shit, fuck
Are new forms of art and entertainment going to emerge?
Is the music going to sound different?
Will YouTube beat television?[/quote]
Yes x3
How might future games look like?
Immersive VR environments through augmented reality displays and/or direct CNS stimulation
Will there be a robot in every household?
Yes, because I think most houses will have a central operating system or cloud-based 'appliance management', sort of like how every house today has HVAC
Is there finally going to be a robot that cooks for me and cleans up afterwards?
Yes, I think fridges will become replaced by food vending machines
Are we still going to have Smartphones? Wearables? Google Glass?
Is everyone going to have chip implants?
No and yes
Will computers become more powerful?
Will Moore's law still be in place in 2050?
Yes and no, since you'll either get stagnation or an AI-driven singularity
How will the Internet look like?
Will it still be possible to live completely offline?
Will governments take over the Internet?
The internet will become the primary medium through which people interact, and the lines between the internet and the physical world will become very blurry thanks to augmented reality displays
Will there be new ways of transportation?
Will the electric car take over the traditional car?
Freight and passengers will become increasingly moved by robotic systems (quadrocopter drones, drone trucks, ships, trains, planes, etc).
Personal vehicles will become an increasingly expensive luxury.
How will technology enable new ways of warfare?
Will there be wars at all?
Yes there will be wars. Tech will enable increasingly smaller sub-state actors to wield increasingly disproportionate levels of firepower, but those toys will require increasingly complex industrial bases to produce. The net effect is that sub-state actors with access to complex industrial bases and some shield against nuclear or nano retaliation will become the most violent actors.
Will women reach equality?
For the most part, they already have
Will we still be dating in the real world?
How will partners find each other?
Yes, but most people will meet online
Will there still be sex?
Yes
How many times will the stock markets crash until 2050?
Will there be a major change in our economic system?
Will the majority of people still be working?
Will there still be poverty?
Most 'labor' will be done by robots. People who can interface with bots and AI networks will do well. People who can't will become 'economically marginalized'.
Will we finally be able to treat diseases without side effects?
No
Is there going to be a major breakthrough in the sciences?
Too vague
What will be the new threats to mankind?
Grey goo... probably
Will we be able to colonize other planets by 2050?
Yes
Please present your own vision of the future!
The questions are only here to give suggestions as to where the discussion might lead to.
You can answer some of these questions, or go more into detail on single questions, or just ignore the questions entirely!
So, how do you think the year 2050 will look like?
What will be vanished, that is common nowadays?
What will be important changes that will affect our lives?
What do you wish there would exist by 2050?
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The girls will be even prettier. 
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On May 09 2014 04:24 Big J wrote:The girls will be even prettier.
You mean the sexdroids that you can order with any kind of preference you may have in 2050? huehuehu
On May 09 2014 02:32 Yurie wrote:Show nested quote +On May 08 2014 06:45 MoonfireSpam wrote:On May 08 2014 03:35 CosmicSpiral wrote:I would argue that Japan is such a bizarre outlier in terms of sexual perception that any trends among the population can't be projected. Less about sex, but sometimes it feels like the unemployed / uneducated breed more than the people with jobs and careers. + Show Spoiler +That would be a normal feeling. Pretty much all studies I've read have concluded that as female education level goes up the birth rate goes down.
---------------------------
As for the topic itself. I think we will keep seeing gradual improvement in most areas. This will lead to devices being cheaper and combinations being possible.
The best example I can think of is cell phones. The first ones pretty much needed a car battery and a suitcase. As electronics/batteries got smaller it got smaller. Then it hit a size when being smaller wasn't a competitive advantage and technology started to be added instead. Now it is a computer, TV, music device, video camera...
As the trend goes on devices get more dynamic and things like living outside of the city becomes normal. Since transports, power transfer and generation becomes easy enough to give a high standard of living. As different fields improve and combine we will see more electronics in humans and more altered humans. The first truly "super" humans will probably be born around 2050.
And it will be either a american or a chinese soldier.
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EPT
