Posted on 04/20/2008 1:22:29 PM PDT by kingattax
60 essayists analyze future problems and prospects in 50-year forecast
How will the world look in the year 2058?
Sixty thinkers from around the world rise to that challenge in a collection of essays titled "The Way We Will Be 50 Years From Today."
The consensus view is that we'll muddle through many of the issues that vex us today — including climate change and terror threats. And we'll hit upon so many medical and technological wonders that today's 50-year-olds will have a fair chance of finding out firsthand how the world will look in 2058.
The problem with having so many predictions of the future is that they can look like a collection of to-do lists: The most popular item on the checklist would be getting your complete genetic code analyzed, so that the doctors can give you custom-made medications for what ails you (or what might have ailed you without the drugs). And don't forget the cyber-implants: Several essayists, including inventor-futurist Ray Kurzweil, heralded the day when nanomachines would merge with our own bodies.
In addition to those well-worn themes, "50 Years From Today" is jam-packed with nuggets of less conventional wisdom from experts in fields ranging from bioethics to counterterrorism.
* Diseases ranging from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder will be shown to be caused by infectious agents that take advantage of genetic predisposition, says psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, president of the Treatment Advocacy Center. Researchers will be surprised to find that many of those infectious agents are being transmitted from animals to humans. As a result, it will be uncommon to keep cats, birds or hamsters as pets — but we'll still have dogs around, because they've been "man's best friend" for so long that we've already adjusted to their infectious agents.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Bump for later read
See Paul Kennedy’s book, Preparing for the Twenty-First Century, published in 1993.
He was a very knowledgable academic who made a thorough study of trends and probable events, and he couldn’t even predict the next 15 years. It is well worth reading, just to see how even the best can go wrong by being too much influenced by the events that have just happened.
Future Headlines:
Baby conceived naturally - - scientists stumped.
Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.
France pleads for global help after being taken over by Jamaica.
Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.
George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.
Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89 and reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.
85-year, $75.8 billion study: Diet and Exercise is the key to weight loss.
Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lbs.
Japanese scientists have created a camera with such a fast shutter speed, they now can photograph a woman with her mouth shut.
(I just posted it. I didn’t write it!)
Massachusetts executes last remaining conservative.
Supreme Court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.
Average height of NBA players now nine feet, seven inches.
New federal law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, fly swatters and rolled-up newspapers must be registered by January 2036.
Congress authorizes direct deposit of formerly illegal political contributions to campaign accounts.
Capitol Hill intern indicted for refusing to have sex with congressman.
IRS sets lowest tax rate at 75 percent.
Florida voters still having trouble with voting machines.
Were two of these thinkers Zager and Evans?
60 essayists analyze future problems and prospects in 50-year forecast
That there will be many negative side effects is not in dispute. Ways of life will change and in some cases degrade, but I believe that we will find ways to adapt. We may find that we have to move into underwater habitats. We will need to invest massively in more environmentally responsible energy production. And the world's ecological and economic systems will almost certainly change, too. But we will survive.
PUKE.
As a result, it will be uncommon to keep cats, birds or hamsters as pets — but we’ll still have dogs around, because they’ve been “man’s best friend” for so long that we’ve already adjusted to their infectious agents.
___
We’ll be able to live to 100, but we won’t be able to conquer the scourge of cats, birds and hamsters.
I want my flying car, damnit.
No doubt in 50 years there will be flying cars.
I just cam back from the year 3,000, much is the same except they live under water - and your great, great, great grand daughter is doing fine.
It doesn’t matter the magnitude or the number of medical breakthroughs if government run healthcare prohibits patients access to it!
Not to worry!
Government run healthcare will ensure there is no incentive to investigate any medical breakthroughs.
It's only a matter of time before we have universal health insurance. If not this election cycle, then certainly the next one.
I noticed “Cubs Win World Series” wasn’t one of them. Of course, that would be just crazy! ;-)
I’ve got news for all of you:
In 2058, there will be universal peace and good will towards men, weapons of war will have long been turned into plowshares, the lamb will lie down with the lion, and the one and only reason this (and other astounding events) will come true is because the King of kings and Lord of lords Himself, Jesus Christ, will be ruling this planet from His Throne in Jerusalem, exactly as His Word says he will.
I believe I will live long enough to see it all happen, and I’m already past the half century mark.
Believe it FRiends, it’s going to happen, as sure as you surf to FR every day, it’s going to happen, Praise God.
Read “The Black Swan” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He writes about how poorly economic and other future guessers actually do. The unseen events actually turn the wheel of history. Non of the great paradigm shifting inventions were ever foreseen. Trying to guess the world 50 years out? We can’t even guess it ten years out.
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