2600 A.d.

[Queso]

Stephan Hawking predicts that by the year 2600, the earth will be glowing red from all of the electricity we consume, and the worlds population will be "shoulder-to-shoulder."

 

this time period we are living in right now is pretty amazing if you think about it.

 

what do you guys think about this?

[Turtle]

___I don't think things can go that far without a collapse first. These are indeed amazing times, but then every time is an amazing time.

___On the collapse idea a little further, I point out studies of non-human animal populations. The general pattern is a rise of population (at whatever rate) to some high critical point & then a collapse (die off) of the population to some very low level. If any survive the collapse, the cycle begins anew.

___One way or another, Nature always seems to self-correct. To think we humans are exempt just because we think is capricious. Either we limit things ourselves or the Earth will do it for us. :Alien:

[C1ay]

Technology will change a lot in the next 600 years. I wouldn't worry to much about today's predictions for an era long away. I think mankind will be lucky if it gets through another 600 years without some event that will thin the human population.

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The time frame I keep seeing is about thirty years. By 2040 we will have been ... thinned by food shortages, oil wars, artificial intelligenced to slavery, or globally warmed and freaky weathered into wandering tribes.

On the other hand, we may have a world goverment, a means to travel to anywhere in this universe or any of the hypothetical infinite universes out there, or figured out a way to immortality. We live in what I believe is the most amazing time in our planet's history, and for those still alive in 2040 I can say only that the world will be a very different place.

[Queso]

hooray, i'm sick of the way things are anyway. yeah, i'm up for adventures, and when this happens i'll talk about "the good ol days" but as of right now, the future sounds good to me. :Alien:

[motherengine]

interesting thought from a man who couldn't possibly know.

[kaelcarp]

I read a little book once from about 1890 or so that predicted that by the year 2000 (oh how I wish I could remember the name), we would be able to drive the Earth around the universe with a steering wheel.

 

I really don't see 600 years from now looking much like today at all. Assuming we haven't eradicated ourselves by that point, technology would likely appear as magical to us today as our technology would to people thousands of years ago. I say thousands because technology tends to progress at an exponential rate rather than in a straight line.

 

Ray Kurzweil predicts that by 2100, a single computer could outperform the functionality of all human brains on the planet put together. He figures that by the middle of the 21st century, there will be blurred lines between humans and machines.

 

I would think that, if that happens, we will more easily become space-adaptable and be able to get a good chunk of the population off the planet, to the moon or Mars or space stations. Eventually, we would likely escape the confines of our solar system. Once that happens, we might just find some sort of racial immortality that greatly affects the future of the universe as a whole.

 

Of course, we could all die when some mad genius creates a black hole in the earth's core that sucks us all into it, too, so you never really know.

[Queso]

interesting thought from a man who couldn't possibly know.

 

hah never looked at it that way. it was still just a prediction though, but you're right.

[UncleAl]

All First World social programs will impode by 2030 when the Baby Boomers are retired. Worrying about even 2050 is then silly. We had our chance and we threw it away down the gullets of the Offiicially sad,

 

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/brownies.jpg

 

The Earth is exhausted and China is coming on-line as the middle class. A bacterial culture roars along in exponential growth phase, then it suddenly dies in its own wastes as the last doubling ends the game. Four billion Third World parasites are very close to losing their free ride. The Reverend Malthus will then look up at them from Hell and giggle.

[TheBigDog]

___I don't think things can go that far without a collapse first. These are indeed amazing times, but then every time is an amazing time.

___On the collapse idea a little further, I point out studies of non-human animal populations. The general pattern is a rise of population (at whatever rate) to some high critical point & then a collapse (die off) of the population to some very low level. If any survive the collapse, the cycle begins anew.

___One way or another, Nature always seems to self-correct. To think we humans are exempt just because we think is capricious. Either we limit things ourselves or the Earth will do it for us. :phones:

Evolution is also accelerated by necessity. Evolution through science and evolution through nature will both play a part in how humans adapt to the challenges of the next 600 years. Solving those issues purely in the hypothetical is never the same as being there. I have confidence that the best we can imagine will pale in comparison to what actually plays out. I plan on witnessing as much history first hand as I possibly can! And making some along the way too.

 

Bill

[HydrogenBond]

Predictions of the future never reach the level of prediciton. Fifty years ago they figured we would already have a colony on Mars. It only took about 10-15 years from Sputnik to putting a man on the moon. The Mars predicition was reasonable, but fell short. Fusion energy was suppose to be done by the 1980's but even that fell short of the vision. The priorities changed and the pioneer spirit now has to ask for permission.

 

Something may be technically possible, but that is only step one. One now has to seek the blessing of a bunch of special interests groups, who get more mileage dragging their feet than helping it move forward. As long as they drap their feet, they are important and in the lime light.

 

I could picture the Wright Brothers having to deal with these groups. Flight would have been delayed. Just OSHA and EPA could have added so much weight to their plane, it could have been determined that man flight is not possible in 1903. When they finally work out all the bugs, in 20 years or so, the statisticians would come in and expect at least 100 flights before there is reasonably certainty they were flying. Now it is 1940. Now that the prototype is finally ready, scale-up must face more groups. The first commerical flight should be ready by about 1990.

 

If you read about the visions of the future, the 100 years prediction may be closer to the 200-500 years in the foot dragging reality. There are exceptions. If the technology can create mass consumer demand, then things can move quicker. Advanced robotics has slowly move through the process over the past 50 years. They need to dumb it down by marketing robotics as the heart of a new mobile entertainment center. It will have to dispense beverages, play music, project visualizations, dance to the beat of its own drum, while also welcoming the guests. Consumer demand and competition would cause the capabilities to move fast. If a robot can only get moon rocks or repair the space station, but can't play music it is too technical, resulting in foot dragging. Technology needs to be foot drag friendly or it will be held in limbo.

 

There could be a reason for this. Socio-political positions that make up the foot dragging, created emotional-semi-rational arguments. If man was intended to fly he would have wings. Often new technology is foggy to the layman, due to the shear complexity of this advanced technology. This fog of complexity may be interpretted as being the same as the smoke of political propagana. Even though it is technical fog and not political smoke, the foot draggers may not be able to tell the difference and react to this fog, like it is technical political smokescreen. Market appeal adds a nice shell, to hide the techno-fog, making it less political.

[Jet2]

Stephan Hawking predicts that by the year 2600, the earth will be glowing red from all of the electricity we consume, and the worlds population will be "shoulder-to-shoulder."

 

this time period we are living in right now is pretty amazing if you think about it.

 

what do you guys think about this?

 

Don't worry about that.

Nature will get it all balanced.