This discussion seems to have shifted more towards a "what can happen in 60 years?" more than speculations about the future.
1) Lets begin this by looking back 60 years; No internet, no wikipedia, no HUGO, parts of Africa still unexplored, globalization nowhere close to what it is today, cultural tolerance way beyond what we have to day, a middle east without the modern talibans (extremists) etc etc
Here we can see clear evidence than in the last 60 years there has been significant change, and there is no doubt that we continue developing.
2) Lets look at our need of electricity; Japan is closing down its nuclear power-plants after the meltdown (catastrophe), we have development within Wave-power (modern hydropower), Air turbines, Solar panels and now perhaps even MSRs and LFTR inbound for major testing.
Here we can spot a close to unlimited growth until we become free of the need of oil and other fossil fuels. 60 Years ago we used oil, another 40-50 years ago electricity to power cars (Example Ford in the late 19th century and early 20thy century).
Lets take this to a new level, magnet rails for transportation, we are talking bullet trains from england to france in less than an hour theoretically, what about a bullet train to the other side of the Atlantic ocean? Or from China to Europe for close to no transport-costs at all for the goods?
Where would such development bring us, well, to a even more globalized society. If I could take a train to Chicago in 7 Hours, I'd spend more time in my hometown for sure, and I'd definitely have a chance to use my english with native speakers. A sightseeing tour in Norway, sure, 1 Hour away!
3) Agricultural Revolution. You say that we have far gone beyond the step of finalizing this revolution, what If we could turn the giant grassland in Africa into a field for crops? Then we no longer would have to say that there is not enough food for everyone, instead we can say that we have plenty of food. Or what about the Russian mainland?! If we could construct artificial field to plant crops all over middle Asia where no-one lives we would secure our food demand for at-least another 50 years!
And, we would no longer have to commit GENOCIDE(s) in the ocean! +1 If you ask me.
Well well, it is indeed an interesting topic; however the future tends to stay unpredictable, and always take a turn for the worse (WWI -> WWII), so to me there is no doubt (and no doubt that I speculate about it being no doubt) that we will see a western world in paranoia in 60 years, perhaps 10 CCTV cameras per head all over europe, passport controls even in our villages on the countryside, and a constant big brother watching our backs on the censured internet which has become gray and boring.
Lets just say that I am not so optimistic about becoming 200 years old either.
1) Lets begin this by looking back 60 years; No internet, no wikipedia, no HUGO, parts of Africa still unexplored, globalization nowhere close to what it is today, cultural tolerance way beyond what we have to day, a middle east without the modern talibans (extremists) etc etc
Here we can see clear evidence than in the last 60 years there has been significant change, and there is no doubt that we continue developing.
2) Lets look at our need of electricity; Japan is closing down its nuclear power-plants after the meltdown (catastrophe), we have development within Wave-power (modern hydropower), Air turbines, Solar panels and now perhaps even MSRs and LFTR inbound for major testing.
Here we can spot a close to unlimited growth until we become free of the need of oil and other fossil fuels. 60 Years ago we used oil, another 40-50 years ago electricity to power cars (Example Ford in the late 19th century and early 20thy century).
Lets take this to a new level, magnet rails for transportation, we are talking bullet trains from england to france in less than an hour theoretically, what about a bullet train to the other side of the Atlantic ocean? Or from China to Europe for close to no transport-costs at all for the goods?
Where would such development bring us, well, to a even more globalized society. If I could take a train to Chicago in 7 Hours, I'd spend more time in my hometown for sure, and I'd definitely have a chance to use my english with native speakers. A sightseeing tour in Norway, sure, 1 Hour away!
3) Agricultural Revolution. You say that we have far gone beyond the step of finalizing this revolution, what If we could turn the giant grassland in Africa into a field for crops? Then we no longer would have to say that there is not enough food for everyone, instead we can say that we have plenty of food. Or what about the Russian mainland?! If we could construct artificial field to plant crops all over middle Asia where no-one lives we would secure our food demand for at-least another 50 years!
And, we would no longer have to commit GENOCIDE(s) in the ocean! +1 If you ask me.
Well well, it is indeed an interesting topic; however the future tends to stay unpredictable, and always take a turn for the worse (WWI -> WWII), so to me there is no doubt (and no doubt that I speculate about it being no doubt) that we will see a western world in paranoia in 60 years, perhaps 10 CCTV cameras per head all over europe, passport controls even in our villages on the countryside, and a constant big brother watching our backs on the censured internet which has become gray and boring.
Lets just say that I am not so optimistic about becoming 200 years old either.
Now doing recoloring for people not in the clan as-well, PM for more info!
PROUD OWNER OF THORN'S GOOD ENOUGH WRITER AWARD!
PROUD OWNER OF THORN'S GOOD ENOUGH WRITER AWARD!
Originally Posted by Smogard49
1) Lets begin this by looking back 60 years; No internet, no wikipedia, no HUGO, parts of Africa still unexplored, globalization nowhere close to what it is today, cultural tolerance way beyond what we have to day, a middle east without the modern talibans (extremists) etc etc
I doubt anyone could have predicted wikipedia 60 years ago. It's unlikely any of us can predict the situation in 60 years time with more accuracy than random chance.
Originally Posted by Smogard49
2) Lets look at our need of electricity; Japan is closing down its nuclear power-plants after the meltdown (catastrophe)
This makes me super mad by the way. Nuclear power is EXTREMELY safe. It is much safer than any other power source. However there's this big knee-jerk reaction - 54 reactors shut down because of 1 disaster? Insanity!
It is quite annoying when we see efficient technology stonewalled because of emotional bias.
Originally Posted by Smogard49
This discussion seems to have shifted more towards a "what can happen in 60 years?" more than speculations about the future.
1) Lets begin this by looking back 60 years; No internet, no wikipedia, no HUGO, parts of Africa still unexplored, globalization nowhere close to what it is today, cultural tolerance way beyond what we have to day, a middle east without the modern talibans (extremists) etc etc
Here we can see clear evidence than in the last 60 years there has been significant change, and there is no doubt that we continue developing.
2) Lets look at our need of electricity; Japan is closing down its nuclear power-plants after the meltdown (catastrophe), we have development within Wave-power (modern hydropower), Air turbines, Solar panels and now perhaps even MSRs and LFTR inbound for major testing.
Here we can spot a close to unlimited growth until we become free of the need of oil and other fossil fuels. 60 Years ago we used oil, another 40-50 years ago electricity to power cars (Example Ford in the late 19th century and early 20thy century).
Lets take this to a new level, magnet rails for transportation, we are talking bullet trains from england to france in less than an hour theoretically, what about a bullet train to the other side of the Atlantic ocean? Or from China to Europe for close to no transport-costs at all for the goods?
Where would such development bring us, well, to a even more globalized society. If I could take a train to Chicago in 7 Hours, I'd spend more time in my hometown for sure, and I'd definitely have a chance to use my english with native speakers. A sightseeing tour in Norway, sure, 1 Hour away!
3) Agricultural Revolution. You say that we have far gone beyond the step of finalizing this revolution, what If we could turn the giant grassland in Africa into a field for crops? Then we no longer would have to say that there is not enough food for everyone, instead we can say that we have plenty of food. Or what about the Russian mainland?! If we could construct artificial field to plant crops all over middle Asia where no-one lives we would secure our food demand for at-least another 50 years!
And, we would no longer have to commit GENOCIDE(s) in the ocean! +1 If you ask me.
Well well, it is indeed an interesting topic; however the future tends to stay unpredictable, and always take a turn for the worse (WWI -> WWII), so to me there is no doubt (and no doubt that I speculate about it being no doubt) that we will see a western world in paranoia in 60 years, perhaps 10 CCTV cameras per head all over europe, passport controls even in our villages on the countryside, and a constant big brother watching our backs on the censured internet which has become gray and boring.
Lets just say that I am not so optimistic about becoming 200 years old either.
Looks like you just want us Humans to be able to survive on this planet. Turning massive areas where people don't live into crops? Imagine how many animals live in those areas because there are no humans in those areas. Imagine how many trees we would have to cut down.
What we would do to the climate after mass deforestation would be devastating. We might eliminate precipitation in those areas making them dry and hot places and we wouldn't be able to fix it within our lifetimes.
We've terraformed the planet enough. I think it's about time the planet starts terraforming us.
Originally Posted by ImmortalCow
This makes me super mad by the way. Nuclear power is EXTREMELY safe. It is much safer than any other power source. However there's this big knee-jerk reaction - 54 reactors shut down because of 1 disaster? Insanity!
It is quite annoying when we see efficient technology stonewalled because of emotional bias.
Nuclear power is not safe enough with the technology we drive it today, if it were, it would cover its own insurance-plans, which it does not. So **** the nuclear power we have today and go go MSRs and LFTRs, or any other safe nuclear technology.
Originally Posted by T0ribush
We've terraformed the planet enough. I think it's about time the planet starts terraforming us.
Okay, for sure, but lets not be to optimistic about a WWIII stabilizing the amount of people on this planet. Perhaps we need to first settle the problems that we prioritize for tomorrow to be able to move on to the problems that lies beyond that, such as the plastics in the ocean, mars terraformation etc etc...
Last edited by Smogard49; Feb 27, 2013 at 10:02 PM.
Reason: I can't spell today.
Now doing recoloring for people not in the clan as-well, PM for more info!
PROUD OWNER OF THORN'S GOOD ENOUGH WRITER AWARD!
PROUD OWNER OF THORN'S GOOD ENOUGH WRITER AWARD!
Originally Posted by Smogard49
Nuclear power is not safe enough with the technology we drive it today, if it were, it would cover its own insurance-plans, which it does not. So **** the nuclear power we have today and go go MSRs and LFTRs, or any other safe nuclear technology.
Fossil fuel power accounts for more than 2000 times more deaths than nuclear.
Nuclear power is well known for having the lowest deaths per unit power. Sensationalist media are more interested in documenting the one failure every 10 years than they are reporting the hundreds of deaths every year from fossil fuels. I guess this would be why you are experiencing a perception bias.
