POLL: What Will The World Be Like In Ten Years?

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@ dmc

Well, North Korea, Pakistan, China, India... And that's just for starters. Once you have a deadly new toy to show off, all of your neighboring countries will want one too!

Increasing advancements in technology, such as nuclear weapons. Now any madman with enough money can threaten the world! Say you have a situation similar to Saddam, but 10 years from now. The technology in 10 years might enable him to send powerful weapons to our shores. At the very least he might be able to devastate his neighbors.

I do. The disputes between India and Pakistan could escalate into WWIII. Both countries have nuclear weapons. The dispute we have with North Korea over thier nuclear weapons could escalate into WWIII. Then you still have Al Queda to deal with. I'm sure a whole new set of problems will pop up in the next 10 years.

Then you have the massive overpopulation problem. Combine with the stripping of natural resources from the planet, the amount of forests we're destroying, the polution we are causing, and the fact that we are in a reactive mode only to things like environmental problems, we don't plan that stuff out because that would actually require the politicians in power to have intelligence and foresight (a contradiction in terms).

I honestly don't see the human race limping along for much longer.I think the next 10 years are going to be full of fear and panic as people begin to realize that we are all doomed. Yes, I see a situation similar to "1984" where we all watch the Free Vee all day to erase our minds, or the movie Brazil, where we are all caught in a vast network of machines that don't do anything except bury us in the system.

[ December 27, 2002, 08:15: Message edited by: Nutrimat ]

 

There is no overpopulation problem. There is a severe distribution problem though. Overpopulation is only really true on a regional basis where the land cannot sustain the people that live there. Like large parts of Africa but even in many western cities for instance, London and New Yorks population isnt sustained by what is produced within their boundaries but what is brought in. So overpopulation isnt a problem of supply but of distribution and logistics.

 

Jorgon, there already is a computer running at 3.0 Terahertz. IIRC, it is an NEC mainframe in Japan.

I think that Asia will economically control most of the world by that time unless US or EU can implement some serious productivity changes.

If we don't have an overpopulation problem now, we will by then. I wouldn't be surprised if the world population is close to 10 billion by then. And just so you know, I read an article in a scientific journal (sorry, don't remember what one) and biologists tend to believe that the world can only properly support about 1 billion people.

I highly doubt that we'll have a 1984 situation. The people wield too much power right now for that to happen.

Then again, I'm probably just too much of a visionary for my own good and will end up being completely wrong.

 

Well, then, I stand corrected, Rastor. That's crazy, I'm surprised to never have heard of it.
dmc, it's been proven that both India and Pakistan have nukes, they've both tested them. The Cold War was quite safe, seeing as how both the USSR and US believed in mutual destruction, therefore it was not worth it. India, Pakistan, Saddam, do not seem to care quite so much, it is not just a belief system feud as the cold war was, but a cultural feud as well, and that runs much deeper.

India and Pakistan would most likely remain a regional conflict as no one else wants blown up, although China would exploit the outcome and seize their chunk and everyone elses as well of Kasimir. The US needs to leave North Korea alone, if they did not go and try to impose their ideas on everyone and be self-righteous to the point of blindness, maybe 9/11 would not have happened, maybe all these little countries would not be out for blood. As for over-population, you are wrong, America ahs no over-population, neither does Canada, Brazil, or alot of countries, the cities often times do though. For example, Shanghai has a population over 15 million, downtown, not even metro(1992 figure). While the Chinese countryside in parts has not even 5 people per square kilometer!

Heh. Rastor tells it like it is. Japan is in recession but is still such a bastion for technology. And China, if they stopped opressing and could effectively mobilize the work force, their GDP or whatever it is called would be outrageous!!! 1 billion people working! Nothing would be impossible. Dayum.

A world war 3 scenario is always fun to toy with though, and even more fun to explore the possible outcome(books like "Deathlands" Axler, or "Ashes" Johnstone). The UN is wasteful as well. Like UNICEF and the the world bank lending money to despots to spend on weapons to slaughter civilians. Not enough money is actually used the way it was meant to be worth it, so it should be stopped.
Oh, btw, the Ivory Coast could be another Vietnam, the French dragging some country in to help fight guerillas cuz the French suck.

 

Rastor where have you gotten that 1 billion number? And what standard does that expect people to live by? I have read that the earth can sustain (feed,clothe,house) something closer to 20 billion than one.

 

Is anyone going to watch the special on The Learning Channel ( I think) on what animals in the future will be like?

 

I have read this article as well, with properly he means like the average American in a suburb, you know wooden house, big garden, private garage, etc..
In Europe those things are called villa´s, In America those things are normal ..

[ December 28, 2002, 13:04: Message edited by: Morgoth ]

 

Well, I remember reading years ago that if everyone stood shoulder to shoulder they'd stretch to the city limits of Jacksonville. And if every family in the world had an average sized U.S. house and one acre of property the amount of land taken up would be about the size of Texas. This was about..... I dunnon, 5-10 years ago. So, as far as overcrowding.....

 

Actually Morgoth was struck me as odd when I was over in the states was how small people lived there. True I was only in middleclass homes but they were substantially smaller than the ecquivalent household would live in Sweden. I had also the image of huge houses as the norm. Perhaps I was at the wrong place and I think Sweden as a large country with little population has a tendency for bigger homes than most other european. Real Estate is really cheap here.

 

You want to see overcrowding or a population boom? Take a look at the areas around San Diego here in the US. When my wife and I moved here we had to look for a house very quickly because we had a number of animals and couldn't rent. Anyways, the property that was available was outrageously expensive. Our agent found a home in our "price range", but by the time we got to the house, they had already accepted an offer that morning and since that time had four other offers made on the house! The closest house we could find that we could afford was 50 miles north! As I drive into San Diego, I see houseing developments going up everywhere. Everytime I return home to where I grew up, suburbs of Chicago, there are always new homes where there were once open fields. Overpopulation is a major problem and I think it will continue to be in the future. According to what I learned in ecology, overpopulation is when the land cannot sustain all the organisms in the area, not just people. the world has been severly overpopulated for a long time and its going to continue.
Look at all we are doing to sustain life and
create life. Life expectancies have increased dramatically. Supposedly we are even cloning people now. Instead of discovering ways to increase the number of people or increase life expectancy, we should be looking for ways to control the population.
I know I may upset some people with this, but does every single couple have to have a child, or two or three? My wife and I have decided not to have children. We don't want any. It has nothing to do with overpopulation, we just don't want to. But I have heard of other people who may not want to have children, still produce children. We have children having children. How about more research on birth control and preventing kids from having kids?
We are using up natural resources faster and faster, yet we aren't spending money on finding alternative resources. Take Gasoline, there are so many alternatives to gas, but you don't here about them because of oil companies lobbying politicians.
So were do I see the world in ten years? If things continue the way they are going, I see things getting worse. I see more polution, overcrowding of cities and depletion of many resources. Maybe not in ten years, but definitely in our future.
By the way, the number of organisms and ecosystem, or environmental nich, or the earth in this case, can sustain, is called the carrying capacity. There is actually a formula for it. I'll find it someday.

[ December 30, 2002, 09:20: Message edited by: Elios ]

 

There is definetely an overcrowding problem but it appears only in big cities not in small cities or rural areas. For example, Athens has a populalation of 5 millions, while the population of Greece is 10 millions. So, while Athens has the half population of the country, there are small cities, rural areas and islands that have much less population than the one they could have. There are some islands that could have 10000 people and instead of this they have 200 people. This happens because people are moving from rural areas and small cities to large cities because there they can find better job oppurtunities better services etc. So,there is no need for birth control,if you want to face overcrowding, just give people the motives they need to stay in the place they were born and don't force them to move in a larger city.

As for the original topic, does anybody hear about the water wars?

 

You give them those motives to stay were they are, the the population of those areas will increase overtime. As more people stay and services and opportunities improve, the population goes up. Hence the same overcrowding problem in the future for major cities and rural areas.

 

We do seem to have gotten one-sided on this topic. I think we need a shift in a different direction. Overpopulation is a concern, but there are also other issues, like water wars. And, as always, the Indian sub-continental feud. The short story I'm working on has that area as a pivotal point, because not only is land an issue, but also religion. South America is also not vey friendly to the US, so could they do something OPEC-esque? Or maybe more appropriately EU-esque? Will Russia wake up? Or will Chechnya be the example and Russia further dissolve into a bunch of feuding unstable state/country's? Will Africa stabilize, what will happen with the Sahara, will it be irrigated and the desert process be reversed, as it is totally in our power to do so, or will it grow larger in the wake of poor farming techniques by poor farmers and over-grazing by nomadic tribes with animals?

 

Well, it is thought that, by 2020-2030, China will finally become the world's wealthiest nation. America's economy will have crumbled, leading countrys like Britain, France and Germany to also suffer severe Economic difficulties.

Oh and by the way, I know how to become Billionaire by the year 2030. But I'd be an idiot to tell any of you. But trust me, this plan is 90% sure of working. All i'll say is that it involves moving to China.

 

Erm..... Chow Mein?