Predict the Future

This is either a genius topic or a total failure of an idea.  Anyway, do what the title says.  I want to hear about what you guys think will happen to the world in the near (i.e., next 200 years or so) future.  No flying cars and robots crap, I want stuff founded in reality with supporting evidence.  Keep in mind global issues, the impending oil shortage, the European union and how world trade is slowly shifting from the US Dollar to the Euro, the US's failure of an economy (strong words I know, but we're over 6 trillion dollars in debt, so I consider 'failure' a euphemism), and other global issues I don't know about since I don't read the paper.

SPEAK!

Mainland Japan sinks under a combination of mega-tsunamis and earthquakes, yet years of research have enabled the shikoku, kyushu, and hokkaido islands to survive using either energy fields to protect themselves, or jet rockets to levitate off the face of the earth. Okinawa becomes an independent nation.

That's all I could muster.

The crickets will be handling the applause for this one.

Vaxillus said:

  No flying cars and robots crap, I want stuff founded in reality with supporting evidence

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Well there goes all my ideas! Is a Hokuto No Ken style post apocalyptic warzone out of the question? Should I change my name to Kenshiro in advance?

The Folly of Pacification
A work of fiction

The forced modernization of Iraq and Iran’s governments causes them to become unstable and collapse at the hands of Islamic extremists. In retaliation, the United States launches an immediate aerial strike that simultaneously decimates the capitals of both countries, thus eliminating the coup, and in their minds, sending a message to those who would stand against their chosen leaders. The United Nations and the Western Alliance, already on shaky terms with the U.S., unanimously agree to permanently remove the United States from its roster.

Finally taking the hint, the United States relinquishes its grip on the Middle East, reinstating one last and ultimately corrupt string of leaders in each country. The U.S. shifts fronts, becoming content to police various countries in Africa. Modernizing Africa proves to be more popular for the U.S than its Middle Eastern campaign. Quelling genocide and containing epidemics is more successful in a land near-devoid of religious zealots. This shift in the U.S.’s front also causes terrorist attacks on Western countries to drastically decrease. Modernizing Africa proves so popular, that it becomes the U.S.’s major international campaign for more than twenty consecutive presidents, spanning over one-hundred years.

However, in the century of separation between the U.N. and the U.S., the world has become a different place. The world had once again been polarized between two unequal powers. Long since past were the days the U.S. could even pretend to be a hero in the eyes of the world at large.

The globalization of politics through the U.N. effectively eliminated border skirmishes between major powers after the Cold War. Such a long standing peace, combined with the hegemony the U.S. had established in international military affairs, convinced the remaining major powers to progressively demilitarize. They grew to regard standing armies as an ancient and brutal relic of the past. Each major power, including most of Europe, Russia and China kept only a police force capable of bringing order to natural disasters and civil unrest. Eventually, the United States became the only major power still in possession of a standing army, with the exception of the now near-defunct NATO. The removal of the U.S. and the demilitarization of its members had crippled NATO’s military capabilities, not to mention creating a permanent rift between the U.S. and the remaining major powers. To add insult to injury, after NATO’s several failed campaigns to quell rebellions and genocide in South America and India, the U.N.’s international image becomes that of a diseased old man.

Over time, the less dominant members of the U.N. became dissatisfied with the failure of its pacification policy, and seeing no benefit from continued membership, closed off their borders, and regressed into a policy of self-sufficiency and self-defense. Until, after over 250 years of establishment, only Great Britain, China, Russia and France were members of the United Nations.

The U.S.’s success in establishing a market economy in Nigeria, along with a faithful steward in its office marked the final keystone in place for their continental modernization of Africa. Members of the remaining Western Alliance had been sweating bullets for decades, and exhausted hundreds of minds on contingency plans for what could be done to stop the U.S.’s modernization machine that was slowly bringing the world to complacency at gunpoint. Finally, in July of 2251, the United Nations came to an agreement that would change the face of the globe.


Will the U.S. bomb the pesky Western Alliance one by one and squash all chance of resistance against their campaign of world complacency?! Or, will the U.N. launch a pre-emptive strike against their sworn and violent enemy, whereby becoming that which it most despises?! Stay tuned for the action-packed sequel… COMING SOON!

2012: The Myan calendar ends, the sun has a fit and messes with the earth's gravity. Storms consume most of the world as it reacts to the situation by changing the position of the north and south poles.

I, meanwhile, have myself, family, and close friends on a massive Alaskan crab fishing boat with provisions to last us for days until we have to start eating the ones that complain the most.

In any case, if it doesn't happen, at least I'll have an Alaskan crab fishing boat, and I'll just tell my old boss to show me the ropes since he did it for 4 years and made about $70,000 in one summer.

Polar ice continues to thaw, ocean levels rise, Florida disappears along with New Orleans, depriving millions of their homes and millions more of their Spring Break destinations. Blistering summers give way to polar winters as Earth experiences another mini-Ice Age.

U.S. Oil companies continue their policies of bilking and hoodwinking the public, despite the Republicans' loss to Hilar(IT)y in the '08 election. Scratch that-the Republicans keep most of their Congressional seats, ensuring four more years of bitter bipartisan bureaucracy. Oil prices skyrocket while loss of agricultural resources increase, a factor of the loss of crops in most of the states (California and Texas from wildfires, Florida from being underwater, the Plains states from long winters) and the loss of livestock (chickens and turkeys nearly wiped out from avian flu, BSE and Atkins dieters depleting cattle.), causing a spike in food costs.
None of which stops the financial elite from moving ahead with their plan to spread the middle class so thinly over the world as to assure that they never again meddle with the dominance of the rich over the working class. America's "Individualism"-shorthand for atomistic, self-centered, materialistic apathy-continues to be spread across the planet like the society-eroding plague that it isn't. As social animals, humans eventually realize that this isn't fulfilling them emotionally and go back to that old standby, religion.

This is only taking the American view into account, of course. In the rest of the world, the situation will probably be even more grim.

Over the next century, the U.N. will likely revoke the U.S.'s charter membership by a unanimous decision of all five charter members-including the U.S., which has gotten really tired of having to pointedly ignore resolution after resolution from the hopelessly corrupt organization it instituted to control foreign affairs and decrease world-scale warfare. Islam continues to spread throughout Africa, as it has been doing since the end of the 20th Century. The U.N. continues its rather pointless policy of delivering food to starving people, only to have said food taken away by soldiers in the employ of local warlords. Human stupidity, along with the desire for self-destruction innate to the flesh, eventually gets the better of us, and within the next two hundred to three hundred years, I predict the extirpation of our pathetic species.

yota821 said:

Mainland Japan sinks under a combination of mega-tsunamis and earthquakes, yet years of research have enabled the shikoku, kyushu, and hokkaido islands to survive using either energy fields to protect themselves, or jet rockets to levitate off the face of the earth. Okinawa becomes an independent nation.

That's all I could muster.

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WRONG SIR! Good day!

Okinawa has enough trouble trying to support themselves while the majority of american bases are there! With the new allience shifting being done, roughly 5000+ Marines will be moving from Okinawa to Guam! Okinawa is poor as it is! This is really going to fuck them in the ass because they are dumb fucks and a bunch of potato farmers!

Mr Miyagi is from Okinawa, therefore it is capable of all

King-2E said:

Mr Miyagi is from Okinawa, therefore it is capable of all

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pdiaf

you know Im right

"Flying cars and robots" crap _is_ founded in reality with supporting evidence. Unless, of course, you consider most scientists and futurologists writing about and researching those topics to be complete crackpots. A flying car prototype actually exists, but is pending federal approval in the US. As far as I know, they are still trying to figure out traffic regulations in mid-air. Robotics, and, incidentally, bipedal motion, remains a research topic at MIT and other universities.

Walter's installment is really cool. Finally, someone will take care of Africa . But the idea that the whole world will demilitarize while the US keeps a standing army, while noble, is, I think, really fiction -_-. Powers all over the world may be self-centered, but they're certainly not stupid. Globalization of world politics can not happen if the US is not also part of it, imho.

As Trashcan has pointed out, sea levels continue to rise (by about 7 meters in the next 100 years, if memory serves). The result is a humanitarian nightmare as millions of now homeless and unemployed flow inland in the biggest population migration since the invasion of the Vandals. This puts a huge strain on the global economy as the new migrants must be clothed, housed, and fed, without an immediate return on investment. Slums develop outside most major cities, and crime levels skyrocket.

Oil reserves finally run dry after the US and China go to war over the right to use the remaining supplies. Plastics become a rare commodity, and paper temporarily replaces it in the consumer sector. Meanwhile, alternative energy sources (maybe electricity or micro-atomic devices) are used to power the next generation of automobiles.

after 200 years, in the world will only exist the G3 (and I'm not talking about Joe Satriani, Steve Vai or anothers):China, USA, and a coalition of almost all countries of Europe. The space research is now more important, because the ozone layer remains only in 15% and has obligated humans to adapt their new conditions, the water has becoming more important than oil, and the "pure air" is a Du Pont trademark. Some kinds of viruses like AIDS and Bird Flu mutated drastically, killing almost 20% of the global population (but it stills remain high, with almost 35 billion of human beings in the planet). Food seems not to be a big problem yet, after all nations agreed to develop more advanced cloning techniques. This 3 super economies are working in 3 special spacial stations hoping to colonize part of the surface of Mars quickly, but the menace of a nuclear war make things more difficult.

Oh, and Berserk now is in the 7613 Vol. and we can see how the gret-great-great-great-grandson of Gatsu fights against a decrepit Griffith, who found the Rainbow Behelit and threaten the world of turning all the people gay with it. The only hope is the great-great-great-great-grandson of Gatsu, and now he has to find all the Dragon Balls in the land of Midgar, and invoke Akira who will kick all his enemies' asses bringing peace and joy for all the world at last.

Screw this thread! I was suppose to have my apartment in the moon by today. Fucking 80's....

There is no fucking way China is going to demilitarize.

bph said:

There is no fucking way China is going to demilitarize.

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say that after I hit it with my demilitarize ray

bph said:

There is no fucking way China is going to demilitarize.

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Hey smartass, it's my story. Write your own boring one, you deconstructive dick.

And stay tuned for Part II, when China takes over.

Wow, we got some constructive participation after all. Way to go for those who wrote something more than two paragraphs. My thanks goes out to Walter for another great bit of fiction (for those who haven't read his Gaiseric story, shame on you). I'm anxiously waiting part two

As for flying cars and robots, sure they're possible to make, but how cost efficient are they, and what makes you think any country is going to legalize something that a drunkard could crash down into somebody's house. It's one thing from the front, but with gravity on the side of a drunk driver, things get painful. Though I poorly phrased it, my main goal in saying that is that I want people to avoid cliches and come up with something more unique. If you can take an original spin on these topics, then go ahead.


Anyway, my personal theory:

With the chances of the US turning back to the Democratic party not so likely, and with the fact that the Republican economic policy racks up tons of debt, the US economy will spiral further and further downwards, with China continuing, as it is now, to lend the US money.

As more and more countries continue to attempt to switch to the Euro for international trade due to the continued devaluation of the US Dollar, the US continues the same policy it has continued in the middle east: make an obscure terrorist connection and invade the country. This will fail pretty fast, with much of the world already bearing a relatively negative impression on the current war in Saudi Arabia, and the added monetary burden of the war will exhaust the US economy even futher.

Since much of this money has been barrowed from China, the country will finally make its move and buy whatever it can in the good ol' US of A. Since China will then essentially own the US, it will likely attempt to enforce its society and bring it in to its empire. The US culture will clash with that of China, and the states will turn into a battlefield of guerrilla warfare.

While all this is going on, the oil crisis occurs. As the oil supply begins to fail to meet demand, the world will panic and oil prices will skyrocket. Research into biofuels will become very popular, though it will likely fail to meet up to current standards. Industry will have to slow and cars will be replaced with more fuel efficient public transportation for as long as it takes for the science of biofuel to catch up.

The European Union will likely benefit the most from all this, since having one's currency used around the world puts value into the economy as world trade increases. The Middle East, now free with the USA embroiled in its own struggle, will hopefully recover somewhat after the cultural headbashing imposed by the US. Assuming the oil producing middle eastern countries manage to establish a less corruptible government, they could potentially become extremely powerful and wealthy off their oil. An improvement in the economic situation coupled with a lack of US medling could potetially eliminate the reasons for terrorism, though many of the civil wars in the country could still cause a great deal of chaos.

Well, that's all I can think of for now.

Vaxillus said:

As for flying cars and robots, sure they're possible to make, but how cost efficient are they, and what makes you think any country is going to legalize something that a drunkard could crash down into somebody's house.

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In every Korean house by 2020 according to the government's plans:


It's a beginning. I don't care about flying cars, but I sure would like a cheap and efficient lawn mowing robot by the time I turn 40. As for the prediction... Too many things to take into consideration for me to make a serious attempt right now.

I think they'll perfect human cloning.

Aazealh said:

It's a beginning. I don't care about flying cars, but I sure would like a cheap and efficient lawn mowing robot by the time I turn 40. As for the prediction... Too many things to take into consideration for me to make a serious attempt right now.

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Careful, not too loud or the "Little kid down the street" Union will hear about you wanted to replace their labor with robots.

And flying cars would be awesome... I know where I live it would be fireworks everynight. Since people are such piss poor drivers while they're on the ground just think of the explosions that would occur if they took it skyward.

Since people are such piss poor drivers while they're on the ground just think of the explosions that would occur if they took it skyward.

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Things are much the same where I live. I'm just imagining how much bigger the explosions could be if those flying cars all used hydrogen fuel cells.

When I was in Tokyo last year there was a driving track at a pavillion on Odaiba with auto-steered cars. They turned, braked, accelerated by themselves, and supposedly avoided obstacles. No reason that technology can't be extended and perfected further, so I suppose in ten to twenty years it will be prevalent in automotives, and in 50 years we might see it as the basis for safe low-altitude vtol car traffic.

As a disclaimer, this story has become something much different from my genuine predictions on the future. But, I just can't stop this sucker from rolling. It's writing itself. I'm finishing up Part III as I post this. But, I'll give this, the much more sci-fi section of the story some time to settle in everyone's stomachs before posting it. Everyone, please feel free to debunk the ridiculous notions of the story, but do so knowing that I don't acknowledge this as a possible future. It's really more like fan-fiction Nostradamus XD .

Some Bullshit About the Future Part II: The Floating Continents
A work of fiction

The United Nation’s years of planning and calculation conclude that to resolve the escalating stress between the U.S. and the U.N. they must first castrate the U.S.’s military potential. To accomplish this, the U.N. covertly sanction the British, French, Russian and Chinese governments to restore their military brain trusts, specifically anyone still living with a history in weapons research.

The four countries gather the greatest minds of their age and within a year, begin construction on two "floating continents," defensive weapons deemed capable of neutralizing the military threat of the United States, and bringing into existence the new world order.

The floating continents: gargantuan, identical, underwater military bases position themselves in the Atlantic and Pacific, and begin advancing towards North America. When all U.S. reconnaissance vehicles fail to verify the massive objects, they launch a small-scale attack. But, all offensive weaponry proves futile against the mysterious, metallic krakens. Jet fighter’s navigation systems fail, sending them hurdling harmlessly into the ocean. Missiles detonate far off target, as the U.S. military discovers they cannot lock onto or paint the floating continents with existing ballistics weaponry.

The floating continents remain within one mile of each coast and do not advance. After endless days of failed campaigns thrown against it, the floating continents, still not claiming a nationality, echo a warning to the U.S. to dismantle its military apparatus completely, or risk catastrophic losses. The announcement concludes with a chilling line heard around the globe thereafter, “Ever have we matched your arrogance with patience, your warring with peace, and your barbarism with discourse. No more.”

Seeing this as its final opportunity, the U.S. launches a manned glider with a nuclear payload, aimed at the heart of the Pacific floating continent. Though the craft itself had no mechanical parts, when it came within range of the defenses of the floating continent, the warhead predictably ignited miles from the target, taking with it much of Los Angeles. At this, the floating continents begin to expand, revealing pockets of missile batteries spanning for acres in each direction; an ‘awesome blossom’ of turrets and nuclear death. Though evacuated, each coast of North America suffers millions of casualties and countless deaths. California sinks beneath the Pacific, Atlanta achieves its namesake, following its predecessor into the ocean, and the nation’s capital is buried beneath a mountain of rubble.

In a matter of hours, the United States gives into the demands, and begins the deconstruction of its military forces. Deeming the mission a success the U.N. Coalition returns to Geneva for a celebration. However, the curtain of war still hangs heavy in the backdrop of the festivities. A day later, the leaders of China and Russia gather a press conference and appear across international media waving a new banner, announcing that with the fall of the evil empire, a new age begins. They reveal their intentions to join their economies and borders into a Super State. As its first act, it will eviscerate all notion of the previous, tainted order. Capitalism is deemed the ‘wellspring of sin’ and is publicly banished from the Super State.

The U.N. banishes the two countries from the coalition, leaving France and Great Britain to try to recall the floating continents with a covertly installed fail-safe trigger. In horror, they discover the mammoth weapons are beyond their control. The continents begin to re-group and head east, towards their old allies.

Walter, you should pitch this to some manga author . "Founded in reality and with supporting evidence" just took a hike out the window. Predictably, I like this version of reality (so far) more than what's (in all probability) really gonna happen.