I'm leaving Bruce's message unedited below, as I think it is most interesting to revisit it, almost 3 years down the road.
Udhay On Mon, Jan 21, 2019 at 10:19 PM Bruce A. Metcalf <[email protected]> wrote: > On 01/01/2019 04:21 PM, Peter Griffin wrote: > > > What are your predictions for 2048? > > A most interesting challenge, thank you. I'm afraid I'm more pessimistic > for 2048 than I am for later dates. I think many issues will get worse > before they get better. > > 1. Malthusian forces will bring famine to much of the third world, > unless some new disease gets there first. Growing resistance to > acceptance of vaccination will aid the latter. > > 2. The first world will fortify to keep others out. This will reach a > peak when military force is used to kill immigrants/invaders. > > 3. Global temperature rise will result in significant sea level rise, > which will threaten major cities and inundate low-lying countries. The > first world will throw inordinate amounts of money at hardening coastal > cities in what will prove a futile attempt to deny change. > > 4. Tribalization will continue to worsen cooperation, from the > international level down to communities. Such conflicts will in some > cases result in political separations, which will serve to ossify such > attitudes. > > 5. Each generation will have less patience for bigotry and prejudice, > and the conflict with their elders will continue as it has for several > millenia. "Change occurs at the rate of attrition." > > 6. Technology will surge in governmental applications (especially > oppressive ones), continue to advance slowly in consumer applications, > and stagnate for science and technology. Space will either become > crowded or empty. > > 7. All of the above is subject to change if a charismatic leader > appears, promoting a more civilized approach. Of course, this would also > lead to religious wars, but perhaps not immediately. > > 8. Email will still be here, but with any luck it will have evolved, > perhaps following the EMAIL2 proposal. > > I would be 94 in 2048, so perhaps I'll get to see how well I guessed. > > Cheers, > / Bruce / > > -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
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