2050 AD

[maddy]

The only thing created during times of peace on this planet is art. We need a big war to unite everyone and make huge technological advances =D

[Lestari]

[quote name='Subtleknifewielder' timestamp='1285452459' post='2464593']
You know there's always China...

Or Russia again. They've never liked us anyway, even after the fall of Communism.
[/quote]
China and Russia are--at least currently--intelligent enough to recognise that a world war would do nothing to benefit anyone. I'm just hoping the US has the same common sense.

Really, when it comes to threats to the international community, I think there is only one nation that seems to pose a viable threat, since their leader(s) have shown time and time again they don't see reason...I think I need not say more...

[quote name='king of cochin' timestamp='1285485173' post='2464990']
For a nation RPing from 2050 onwards my concepts would run along these directions:

1. Near complete elimination of horizontal expansion. All further construction would have to be of vertical nature. This primarily includes residential areas.
2. Largescale hydroponic farms so that a food surplus state can be maintained in the nation without having too much dependence on land for food.
3. Viable space tourism albeit only to Low Earth Orbit.
4. Research colonization of moon.
5. Complete break from hydrocarbon fuels for tranportation and power generation purposes. Viable electric and hydrogen power for transportation. Fusion power for power generation.
6. Implementation of Solar Power Satellite network.
7. Active development assistance given to lesser developed countries not for altruism but for accelerated development of potential new markets.
8. Railguns become conventional weapons platforms replacing chemically powered guns as armament for Main Battle Tanks, artillery etc, ie, as long as MBT and artillery are not superceded by new weapons developed in a major war in the time frame.
9. Average human longevity increases tremendously with active cure found for cancer and many other diseases.
10. AIDS eradicated from the face of the earth, much like small pox in the previous century.
11. Largescale reclamation of land and consolidation of urbanization so that far greater land is reserved for reforestation so that ecosystem could grow more self sustaining.
[/quote]
Much of that is quite optimistic...I mean, of course I'm hoping AIDS and cancer would be eradicated, but efforts to combat AIDS in Africa have failed previously. It's just such a widespread disease, and so many infected Africans are unaccounted for, that I doubt AIDS could be entirely eradicated so soon. One can hope so, but....

Concerning moon colonisation and manned missions to Mars, perhaps those are more viable. However, if this pattern of cutting the budget from space agencies continues (especially in the US, where the American government is constantly draining money from NASA to add to the massive military budget) then it becomes much less optimistic. Really, I'm hoping by 2050 the nations of the worlds will 'come to their senses' and stop slashing space agency budgets.

[quote name='BaronUberstein' timestamp='1285525543' post='2465300']
Or...

We continue our current unsustainable population growth and use of non-renewable fuels, leading to further pollution and rising costs of gasoline. Politicians continue to be elected yet do nothing and deficit spending increases. People will continue to focus on technology that looks cool instead of technology that could stabilize our situation.

Of course I'm a pessimist.
[/quote]

Hmm, this is a likely case--not the worst case, but likely if this trend continues. Curiously enough I was just reading about the population problem. Studies indicate that if the population climb continues at the current rate, Earth will reach 9 billion inhabitants by 2050--we're already dangerously close to the carrying capacity, and Earth, for the moment, is a closed society. A burst of population growth is kind of like drugs in a way--there's a peak, a high as the population reaches its carrying capacity, and then it comes crashing down. If steps are not taken to amend the population problem, then we may well have a catastrophe within the next forty years. Add to that the continued use of fossil fuels driving global warming and the increased need for gasoline...

Yeah, it doesn't paint a very nice picture :/

[Subtleknifewielder]

[quote name='dotCom' timestamp='1286230928' post='2474657']
China and Russia are--at least currently--intelligent enough to recognise that a world war would do nothing to benefit anyone. I'm just hoping the US has the same common sense.

Really, when it comes to threats to the international community, I think there is only one nation that seems to pose a viable threat, since their leader(s) have shown time and time again they don't see reason...I think I need not say more...
[/quote]
You're joking, right?

[Zoot Zoot]

[quote]Really, when it comes to threats to the international community, I think there is only one nation that seems to pose a viable threat, since their leader(s) have shown time and time again they don't see reason...I think I need not say more...[/quote]

Americans?

[Lestari]

[quote name='Zoot Zoot' timestamp='1286288325' post='2475921']
Americans?
[/quote]

Not quite. I admit that the United States is a constant threat to global stability--with their apparent idea that the best way to attain peace is to go to arms--and that they certainly aren't helping the political stability of the world. However, one state poses a [b]serious[/b] and direct threat not just to global stability, but to the world in general. Shouldn't be difficult to guess.

Hint, they have attempted to extort world governments by demanding money on pain of nuclear attack.

[Zoot Zoot]

Yeah, Americans.
Bleh North Korea cant wear the bigmans shoes.

theyre just a kid whos found daddys gun.

[Lestari]

They're more than 'just' a kid who found daddy's gun. They're a really irrational, aggressive, and unpredictable kid with daddy's gun.

[Zoot Zoot]

Fine.
An American kid whos found Daddys gun.

srsly, whilst North Korea are a destabilizing factor in the far east, they dont threaten the west, not yet anyway.
Now Iran? Im iffy about those fellas.

[Lestari]

[quote name='Zoot Zoot' timestamp='1286364246' post='2477062']
Fine.
An American kid whos found Daddys gun.

srsly, whilst North Korea are a destabilizing factor in the far east, they dont threaten the west, not yet anyway.
Now Iran? Im iffy about those fellas.
[/quote]
North Korea is a threat to the entire world, east, west, north, south, all of it. They have weapons of mass destruction, and has consistently proven that they are not a nation run by reason and logic. What happens when you combine nuclear weapons with a lack of reason and logic? Nothing good...

Iran, on the other hand, while politically unstable within itself, the government itself is not nearly as much a threat as North Korea.

[Centurius]

[quote name='dotCom' timestamp='1286417063' post='2477633']
North Korea is a threat to the entire world, east, west, north, south, all of it. They have weapons of mass destruction, and has consistently proven that they are not a nation run by reason and logic. What happens when you combine nuclear weapons with a lack of reason and logic? Nothing good...

Iran, on the other hand, while politically unstable within itself, the government itself is not nearly as much a threat as North Korea.
[/quote]

A country that relies on its big friend and the mercy of the West is not a threat to the world.

Edited October 7, 2010 by Centurius

[Subtleknifewielder]

[quote name='Centurius' timestamp='1286451046' post='2477879']
A country that relies on its big friend and the mercy of the West is not a threat to the world.
[/quote]
It is if it has nukes.

[Botha]

[color="#000080"]Difficult to predict. In some areas, it won't be too much different than today. As a small kid growing up, I can remember all these bold fantastic predictions what life would be like in 1980, or 1990, or 2000. And most of them did not come true - well, perhaps not at least when they were expected to. Only just now are all those silly predictions from the 1950s about how kids would be able to go to school instructed from home finally coming true with the internet - mind you, that was supposed to happen in the 1980s or thereabouts. But predictions I read back in 1980 of the first spaceship capable of inter-planetary travel occuring by 2002 are horribly way off.

On the flip side, there is always some sort of technological revolution that no one could have predicted. In 40 years time we could see some sort of medical breakthrough (cure for cancer, AIDs, etc) which would have drastic effect on the population. However on an economic scale, very little seems to change. There will still be rich people and poor people and grinding poverty and too much wealth.

On a political scale, most things will be the same while there will likely be one or two epoch events on the level of the Berlin Wall coming down. My most probable guess what I could see happen in the next 40 years is the Catholic church will finally liberalise itself in the face of pressure and we may see a new compasion arise on a spirtual level. [/color]