2050

Hello Steve,

I will leave the eco-topics and EoL scenarios to those who know better … instead I will offer my humble input on how I see the social and commercial world evolving in 2050 …

Population Control

· Sterilization will be strongly promoted, and financial incentives will be given to those volunteering for sterilization – there will be huge controversies about parents being paid to have their children sterilized at birth.

Electronic Implants

· Electronic implants for identification and geo-location will become mandatory.

· Entertainment electronic implants will be prominent, from 'gaming' to 'social communications'.

· Medical electronic implants will monitor health, and transmit data automatically to monitoring and recording centers. This will be largely promoted by health-maintenance groups, both private and governmental, and become a primary tool of life insurance agencies. Sort of "On Star" for humans.

· Medical electronics and their mechanical accessories will automatically administer medications.

· For all of these, there will emerge a huge underground market for 'fake' and manipulated data.

Connectivity

· Access to everything will be everywhere, and the only 'dark regions' will be ones we create to get 'off the grid'.

· Everything will be connected. Certainly personal transportation, but also your home appliances, heating and cooling, entertainment systems, etc. You can control almost everything from everywhere … also, any agency with the ability or permission to do so, can also know everything about you.

· Personal communication can be nearly as personal as one wants, from voice-only to life-like holographic images … plus, one can use an avatar instead of themselves

Personal Computers

· Personal Computers, as they were known in the early part of the century, will be largely extinct, replaced by 'terminals' linking users to services and applications in the cloud

Entertainment

· Theaters will become a hybrid of recorded and live entertainment, featuring either or both

· Recorded entertainment, once known as cinema, will become a multi-dimensional experience of immersion with sight and dimension, sound, smell, and physical sensations, giving the viewer the feeling of 'being there ' … sort of IMAX on steroids

· Personal entertainment will be from the cloud and personal systems will be a simple or elaborate as the user wants and can afford

Energy Control

· All fuels … gasoline, natural gas, electricity and others will be allocated … using more over of an energy commodity in a predetermined period of time will come at a greatly increased cost, pushing consumers to be more efficient

Transportation

· Personal transportation will be greatly restricted in large metropolitan areas, creating car-parks at cities' edge linked to public transportation

· Personal transportation statistics will determine which personal transportation best 'fits' your requirements, and incentives and penalties will push purchase decisions toward those 'best fits'

· Personal vehicle rentals outside of the 'best fit' category will increase as those limited 'short range vehicles' need to travel long distance for personal or business reasons

· Metropolitan areas will be pushed by federal and local governments to implement viable public transportation

· Rural and suburban areas will see little change mandated, but only by personal choice

· North America will regret having abandoned rail transportation, but cannot implement a new system because of cost

· The EU and neighboring areas will expand the Eurorail system, and successfully link to other mass transit systems for easier connections to more locations

Global and Air Travel

· Regional air travel will increase as a result of short-haul, highly efficient aircraft

· Global Air Travel will become prohibitive as the fines on fuel usage and 'carbon signature' greatly increase the cost per passenger

· Business travel will begin to be replaced by improved global communications tools

· Pleasure travel on a global scale will be a luxury, and air carriers will begin to cater directly to this social class with increased services and amenities

Migration

· 'Relocating' to other regions will become regulated in an effort to balance population densities with available resources

Health Care

· Health care agencies and institutions will implement a form of 'triage' with regards to major health issues and long-term health care, causing those who have been 'repeat offenders' of their own health maintenance to be not eligible for high-expense treatments

· Health care will become more commoditized. Most will never meet a physician, but only a heal-care practitioner whose diagnosis and treatments are from a database

· Euthanasia will become legal, and some will be "paid to pass" with monies going to survivors with a large impact on the elderly, critically diseased, and critically injured

Crime and Punishment

· 'Civilized' death sentences will become the norm for hard-core criminals

· 'Petty' crimes will fined without incarceration, but only mandatory monitoring of location and health stats … repeat petty offenders be elevated to 'hard-core' status frequently

· 'Petty' crimes will become commoditized and often be adjudicated by a database

· 'White collar' and 'cyber' crime will become the most prevalent … as said earlier, there will be a large underground network capable of manipulating automated data to erase crime, change identities, spy, steal … all for a price.

Agriculture

· 'Family farms' will be largely extinct except as novelty tourist attractions

· AG corporations will contract land from smaller plots, providing seed / livestock, chemicals / feed, equipment, and schedules to the contracted land-owners … land owners will received a monthly salary

· Most that is grown commercially will be genetically engineered for yield and disease resistance

· 'Natural Foods' and 'Free Range' meats will become only a marketing tool of the AG corporations, and also regulated

Money and Finance

· No more cash … all transactions will be electronic. Incomes will be immediately deposited, taxes will be immediately transferred to the appropriate government agencies, pre-determined debts will automatically be paid, and personal monies held in reserve. Purchases will automatically transfer funds from the buyer to the seller

· Applications for loans and financing will be made automatically by sellers based on database information

Scientific Exploration

· Scientific exploration of the planet will largely be driven by corporations for commercial gain, with spin-offs for entertainment and education

· Space exploration will largely not involve human explorers, but be more robotic … the space-station will remain, but it's viability will be questioned, as the public loses interest in space exploration

Personal Motivation, Artistry, and the Spirit of the Inventor and Entrepreneur

· Still alive and well and a significant part of human nature, but now within the framework of 2050 paradigms and resources

Okay, so my predictions are just the ramblings of one hooked on documentaries, books, and the geeky world of "what's new", but probably no better or worse than anyone else's predictions .

Kind regards …