Thought Experiment 7

Here's another question for you. I really would love your answers:

Do you think the world will be a better or worse place 100 years from now?

That's a good question. Of course, no one knows. Anything can happen in an instant. Just look at Japan for example. Of course they live on 4 fault lines, and it wasn't a surprise that a big quake hit them, but how big it was, how it affected them, couldn't be anticipated properly.

I guess this question is more about the answerer than the asker. What kind of person am I?

Optimistic? Do I foresee a utopian society where everyone is happy and healthy like onboard the Starship Enterprise? Where basically everyone has all of their needs met, has satisfying work, has great healthcare, and has an exciting life?

Or Pessimistic? Is it going to be a dark, grim, distopian society where there are a few Haves and many more Have-nots? Where health is only for the Haves, as is good food, clean water, and justice. Where most of society is basically enslaved to the few Haves, and the lives of the Have-Nots are miserable and horrid.

Or, perhaps I am Pragmatic (ooh yes, that's me!) where I think things will probably be pretty much the same as they are now. Yes, that's how I see it. Although really it can go any direction, and I'm quite aware of that. But I think that there will still be some people with all the power and all the money, and most of us will be getting by here in the US. Other countries like China and India will probably change so drastically with their budding economies that no one can predict what they will be like.

I think politics will still be royally and horribly out of whack, making huge mistakes that harm everyone, just to appease the groups that give them huge amounts of money. I am hoping that we'll have global climate change in check but I wouldn't be surprised if by then Florida is half under water from the melted ice caps, etc.

I think there will be a minority of thinking, rational people, but no one will listen to them. I think people as a general rule will still be self-absorbed and shallow, since I can't imagine how that can change any time soon. I do hope that education will be cool again, but I can't see how that can change either. It will take something big, like the original Space Race to get this one country out of the rut we're in.

But other countries might fare much better, of course. I know that China and I think India are working towards green energy much more than the US (which is becoming more backwards by the minute), so maybe they will help pave the way forward with science and technology.

I think science and technology can help us all live better lives, but must also be kept ethical and safe for the planet. I think this will take global cooperation which I don't think is possible yet, if political leaders insist on continuing to act like kindergarteners.

I think anything can happen in the middle east, so it could all end at any time by stupid hot-headed fanatics and terrorists. But I'm hoping there will remain some sort of peace. Let the bickering and name-calling stay just that. But it sure would be nice if they could all grow up and act like adults and play nice with each other.

What else? I think some diseases will be virtually eradicated thanks to billionaires generously giving to help science find cures. But I think we'll still have cancer (since it's so complicated and not really one disease at all). But maybe we'll be rid of malaria, and maybe clean drinking water will be affordable and available to everyone by then. I don't know. I hope so.

Will there be polar bears? I sure hope so. They are my favorite animal. But I also wouldn't be surprised if they go extinct before 100 years is up, considering how we're not fixing the threat to them and most other endangered species so far.

Which brings me to the biggest question: Earth will most likely still be here (unless someone decides to build a galactic highway and we are in the way), but will humans? Again it could go either way. I'd like to think we won't go extinct any time soon, as I'm partial to humanity in a  familial way, but if we do, it would probably be because of a handful of complete #*$&^@'s making bad decisions.

I think there will be secular people, a greater percentage than now, but religion will still be around. Even though I would rather that it be gone, I think that's unrealistic.

I'd like to think we have a colony on Mars or at least the Moon, but I hope if we do, we do it right, not in a horribly destructive way.

So that's all I can think of right now. What do you think the world will be like in 100 years?

1 comment:

  1. Before I answer (or also if I don't get around to saying much) I'd like to direct your attention to http://www.paleofuture.com/

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