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Earth 2075 – Moon, Mars colonies; alien life discovered
By Futuretalk
What will life be like in 2075? Of course nobody can accurately predict that far in advance, but by examining present-day knowledge, we can come up with plausible scenarios of how our future could unfold.
We begin with technologies that radically changed our lives and re-defined what it meant to be human. Biotech, nanotech, and infotech advances quickly led to development of powerful bodies and minds resistant to disease and aging. By 2040, indefinite lifespan became the norm. Robots, artificial intelligence and a terabyte-speed Internet provided breathtaking excitement that kept us forever active in our extended lives.
With concerns over health and dying eliminated, environmental issues took center stage. Nanotech replicators, appearing in mid-2020s, supply most of our food, clothing, and gadgets. By mid-century, researchers began using this wonder science to terraform Earth by converting greenhouse gasses to oxygen and creating an abundance of clean water from hydrogen and oxygen.
Space exploration took on added importance early in the 21st century. Military budgets racing upwards, diverted to a more promising area to achieve world peace – creation of other worlds that promised new experiences for the bold-at-heart and would lessen conflicts between war-minded neighbors.
Moon trips resumed in 2020 and the first colony with safe habitats for permanent living was established in 2030. Centuries-old humans-to-Mars dreams finally became reality. In 2030, astronauts made the first Mars landing and began construction of a permanent base. Trips initially taking 10 months one-way take only 10 hours in 2075 by utilizing a powerful new fuel, “Americuim,” and by jumping off planets via nano-built space elevators instead of using old-fashioned launch vehicles.
Terraforming also began on Moon and Mars by mid-century. Today, people enjoy Earth-like atmosphere on these remote worlds, with lots of lakes, rivers and forests. Moon population has reached 10,000, Mars 50,000, and by the end of the century, experts predict a growth to 2 million and 10 million respectively. “Territorial” governments are now claiming “independent” status and efforts are underway to form an alliance of world governments similar to Star Trek’s “Federation.”
However, the biggest shocker happened recently when astronomers detected radiation rising from a star system at the far end of our Milky Way galaxy, indicating the existence of an alien world powerful enough to control the entire energy output of their sun.
This “type 2 civilization,” rated by Nikolai Kardashev in his advanced civilizations’ scenarios, may already be colonizing planets, and could soon harness wormholes which would enable instant travel to anywhere in the galaxy, including our three worlds.
Discovery of superior aliens have brought our peoples together, minimizing religious and ethnic differences, but issues are huge. Are these aliens friendly or hostile? Do we attempt to contact this advanced civilization, or should we conceal our presence until we develop abilities to protect ourselves? World leaders believe solutions to this debate will not come easy. (I ask you, the reader, which course humanity should take. Confrontation or concealment – please email your vote)
Every scenario mentioned in this article is consistent with known laws and theories of physics and biology, and are within the capabilities of human accomplishment. Get ready to enjoy this bold “magical future.”
This article will appear in various publications and selected blog sites. Comments welcome.
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I’ll bite.
You provide a worthy optimistic assessment of a future timeline based on hope, idealism, and a positive outlook based on possible outcomes from the shadows of just forming technologies. You look at what might be and see a light at the end of the tunnel that could bring unseen wealth and opportunity. What’s not to like?
Yet there is a dark cloud to any silver lining. There is the rotten fruit of man’s intellectual gift, where sweet wonder is made bitter by the frail qualities of our own hearts and minds. You may change the scene, the setting, the lines, or the plot- but the actors always remain the same.
In the abundance you see, I glimpse famine. Where you assume the selfish desires put aside for common good, I presume the aggregate self-interest of individuals as usurping the welfare of all. I could offer this as a contrary stance, merely to contrast your light with an equal dark. However, each skewed vision is in the same way flawed. Perhaps the future lies not in opposite ends of utopia or dystopia, but the middle ground we all seem to muddle through.
As for predicting the future, I do have an unfair advantage. I have a one eyed hobo, but I digress, on with the show.
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We begin with the realization of unfounded power and abilities engendering new choices and radical opportunities that were barely glimpsed at the turn of the 21st century. A new age of mankind dawns, and much like times past, men throughout the world feel the power of this sun to varying degrees.
The first world nations of the twentieth century are new dynamos of this 21st age. Through a combination of military arms, economic might, and cultural hegemony, many people of third world national origin have become second and third class citizens in a globalized society. A society where advances in modern technology have increased the disparity in the quality of life, in the amount of opportunity, and of choice available to the individuals from different parts of the globe.
While technological breakthroughs in medical science have led to an unfounded extension of the natural life span, this benefit is not realized throughout the world. Large multi-national conglomerates, protected by the strict regime of intellectual property protection granted by the might of first tier nations, extract the maximum profit from all consumers for life extending drugs and regimes. While many in the first tier nations can afford the cost of such miracle medicine, not all can. And those in second and third tier nations are consigned to shorter lives in comparison to their first tier peers.
Robots, artificial intelligence, high speed internet- these are all a reality by the middle of the 21st century. Yet the reality is still a dream for billions of humans who cannot afford the cost of this new technology. Unattainable for entire millions who are priced out of a better quality of life by the costs of energy production. You see, first tier nations have used their military might, their cultural soft power, and their economic leverage to secure the energy resources for their people’s way of life, leaving expensive scraps for second and third tier nations to squabble and fight for, often as proxies to the various power plays between the first tier nations.
The advantages of high technology do not come cheap, and the costs are paid for through enforcement of intellectual property rights. Ideas, inventions, creation itself, have all become a commodity like oil and minerals of the 19th and 20th century. First tier nations enjoy even greater prosperity as the technological marvels of this new age are exported for significant profit to those who can afford it. It is even lent, with loans and interest, to those too poor to afford. These nations, these people, they pay as they go, falling ever deeper into debt, selling what remains of their natural resources and wealth. Control of their own destinies is given up for a hollow pursuit of technological leisure that is realized by only a few within these poor societies. The vast millions that comprise most of the second and third tier nations become cheap labor, exploited to support the consumer lifestyle of first tier nations.
Environmental issues are being tackled, yet the science involved has not matured to the point where we are certain that our efforts are safe or successful. Coasts have been washed away, species destroyed or threatened, and people poisoned as we play god with our environment without fully comprehending the interplay of multi-tiered advanced ecosystems. We think we understand the inter dependencies, but that is little solace as entire regions are turned into deserts so other areas may have mild climates. Again, we see the first tier nations adjusting the environmental patterns of our world to suit their local needs, with little heed or care for the effects caused in poorer areas of the world.
The clean air standards imposed by first tier nations have become a tool to inhibit growth, and ultimately control, second and third tier nations and their economic progress. In essence, using an international protocol for the good of the earth as yet another means to maintain the status quo of those nations that will prosper at the expense of others.
And all the while, billions are spent, resources squandered, so some entitled first tier humans, and a few token second or third tier people, can be sent off to the Moon and Mars. The wealth of humanity, spent, so some may live and play in a plastic bubble. Once again, humanity asks that others suffer, on a global scale, so some may pursue an untenable ideal.
We sent 12 people to Mars in 2035. That year in Africa alone, 12 million died of a disease we might have cured if we had different priorities.
Technology and science will not make us less selfish. Indeed, it tends to teach us new ways of being selfish.
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My last week’s article: “Talking computers could spell doom for reading, writing,” described a changing technology that promises by as early as 2050 or before, that all nations could come together technologically and linguistically to participate in our “magical future.” Every human on Earth will be empowered to access information regardless of their ability to read or write.
And the Internet will give everyone access to this information. A UN “State of the Future Report” says currently, 13% of the world accesses the Internet; by 2020 half the world’s population will be on the net, and by 2030 nearly everyone will be connected to a terabyte-speed Internet. The report also describes the potential to erase the division between 1st world and 3rd world countries.
The only part of our future I see as negative is the slow speed in converting our science and technology dreams into reality.
For example this year, 55 million humans are predicted to die – most of whom could be saved with 2030s technologies, many with 2020s technologies; and some even with 2010 breakthroughs in nano-medicines and stem cell therapies.
Why doesn’t our world wake up and recognize that millions of people will die needlessly because of slow development of projected medical breakthroughs.
Technology will prevail though and death rates could fall on the following schedule:
• 2005, 55 million deaths
• 2020, 35 million deaths
• 2025, 20 million deaths
• 2030, 5 million deaths, most from accidents
• 2035, ½ million accident deaths
• 2040, 0 deaths
Some time between 2035 and 2040, the last human will suffer an unwanted death.
We don’t need to worry about overpopulation as nanotech experts predict this wonder technology could support more than 100 billion humans.
Our “magical future” will prevail, but sooner is better than later. Think of the millions of lives that could be saved.
This is my opinion, comments welcome. Dick
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Scifi military, Lab Grown Bug Meat and Child Free...I think Japan tried that one and got lots of old people and years of economic stagnation.
Why military institutions hires Comic Book Writers and SCI-FI Authors to tell them of future threats. - Interview with Prof. Brian David Johnson.
https://farsight.cifs.dk/how-futurists- … e-threats/
This Site Keeps Track of Elon Musk's Predictions About The Future
https://futurism.com/timeline-elon-musk-predictions
Musk makes a lot of predictions. This site is keeping track.
Humans on Mars
https://news.gatech.edu/archive/feature … mars.shtml
Will a major nuclear power plant in Germany be operational on June 1, 2023?
https://www.metaculus.com/questions/100 … ear-power/
A new book explores how Musk, Bezos, and China are rewriting the rules on space exploration
https://interestingengineering.com/inno … xploration
TikToker makes 5 predictions about how the world will change by 2050
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tik … 08504.html
The video begins with a shot of Orr looking into the camera with a smile on her face.
“5 predictions for 2050,” she writes in the caption. Then the TikToker dives into her fascinating projections for the future.
“Number one, you will not be eating factory-farmed meat,” she claims. “You will either be eating lab-grown meat or vegan meat. The economics of factory farming aren’t sustainable without our subsidies, and we are going to stop subsidizing them.”
The TikToker pauses for a moment to collect her thoughts, then launches into her second prediction: “Two, alcohol will be seen as the new tobacco, and you’ll see a sharp rise in alcohol-free living,” she states.
“Three, microdoses of Psilocybin are going to replace depression and anxiety medication for a whole lot of people,” she predicts next.
Then the TikToker begins moving into predictions about relationships.
“Four, you’re going to see a sharp rise in child-free living,” she says. “It’s going to be normalized, and people are going to stop asking you when you’re going to be having kids.”
Finally, Orr claims, “I think that the institution of marriage is going to go through a major overhaul.”
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