[OT] Your visions of the future.

[dogscoff]

Inspired by some of the other off topic threads here (namely Plato's pub and the war ones) I'm interested to know where you all think the world is going, so I'm asking for predictions about the future of humankind.

Don't limit yourself to just these questions or feel you have to answer them all, but this is the kind of thing I'd like you to consider:

-Will we colonise the solar system? When?
-Will we ever travel beyond this solar system? When? How? How far?
-How long will humanity survive? Will we evolve into something else, be wiped out by war/ catastrophe or have we reached the point where we can overcome or avoid anything nature can throw at us?
-Will civilisation continue on its path or are we headed for a catastrophe and a new dark age?
-Will we meet intelligent ETs? Will they come here or will we have to go to them? How will we get on with them?
-Will we achieve AI? When? What will be the ramifications for humanity? Will we all become cyborgs?
-What about genetics? Will future generations of humans be improved (or maybe "improved") by gene-tweaking? Will people accept this?
-What about neural technology? Will our great-grandchildren have computers embedded in their brains and direct mental access to everyone else?
-Will communications technology fundamentally change society? Will government become obselete when we're all jacked into some gigantic global network? Will we become the Borg?
-Will the usa conquer the entire world? How long before the new empire crumbles?
-What art/ literature/ individuals from today will be remembered for centuries to come?
-Will humanity ever be united and war made a thing of the past, or is our tribalistic instinct too strong?
-Is national identity something that will come to an end or will expansion to other planets create more nations and more conflicts?
-What is the future of religion? Can it stand up to the advance of science? Will it evolve, die out or will it stay as it is?

I'm not going to post my own predictions just now, but I will do later. I tell you what though, I'd give my right eye for just a day spent browsing history books from 500 years in the future...

[Askan Nightbringer]

The real world will no longer have real meaning, as the distortion of language continues, and the gulf between intention and perception widens (think Ministry of Truth). Colonisation of other worlds will not happen as there is no financial gain, no point. There is no ET, intelligent life is based on probabalities too remote to occur anywhere within our boundries. Utopia will never be achieved, those who work will work harder and longer, those who don't work will be demonised to levels beyond my current comprehension. God is dead, long live superMan!

Askan

[Askan Nightbringer]

Bugger, I sound like a complete dreary pessimist (that how you spell?) there.
Well for a positive note the Australian Cricket Team will reign supreme for at least another 10 years. Muhahahah

Askan

[dogscoff]

Thanks for the downer Askan.

Seriously, I agree with you in that a combination of gov/ corporate spin and public apathy is leading the world to the point where Big Brother can get away with anything and tell us the opposite is true.

However I think everything comes and goes in cycles. I think this authoritarianism will trigger a libertarian backlash. With comms technology (ie the internet) making it easier and easier to distribute the truth and hegemony internationally and a concurrent trend back towards locally produced goods and government (a trend beginning now) there will come a kind of revolution where people simply begin to cut the gov/ corp out of their lives.

Authority will have to evolve out of these monolithic, top-down structures or find itself left out in the cold. Kind of like what is happening to the music industry right now with mp3s etc.

You could be right about colonisation, for a while at least. Eventually though it will become either so cheap that it would be silly not to, or utterly vital to our continued way of life.

[ March 26, 2003, 15:00: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

[Ward]

-Will we colonise the solar system? When?
o Yes. We will. There are lots of reasons why. Computer controlled mining stations and factories producing materials . Ships will be cheaper to build and run. New opportunities for commerce, military, research. The people will realise that we can live much more comfortably. Why should we want to colonize the system? Because our curiosity, greed and will to own are endless. I believe this is near future(20-100 years from now).

-Will we ever travel beyond this solar system? When? How? How far?
o Yes we will. Nowadays theories propose many ways how to accomplish it. The most important thing is how long is the voyage going to take. Research done in space will stimulate new theories. People born in a world where you can travel in space will have different views of world. New theories. New dangers.

-How long will humanity survive? Will we evolve into something else, be wiped out by war/ catastrophe or have we reached the point where we can overcome or avoid anything nature can throw at us?
o Here we come very close to the question of existence(or non-existence) of other life in the universe. For now I will omit it. We will master biology and nanotechnology. The difference between humans and machines will become more and more insignificant. Yesterday's curiosity becomes today's common thing. There is always a danger that we have to overcome and this will never change. So yes we will evolve into something diametrally different from the humans as we us. Given time, nothing can endanger us except ourselves.

-Will civilisation continue on its path or are we headed for a catastrophe and a new dark age?
o This is a race between curiosity and greed. We can only hope. My personal oppinion is that the curiosity will tightly win and the humankind will survive.

-Will we meet intelligent ETs? Will they come here or will we have to go to them? How will we get on with them?
o I believe they had come, seen and left. :-) Someone will surely open dicussion on this topic but I don't want to be that person. :-)

-Will we achieve AI? When? What will be the ramifications for humanity? Will we all become cyborgs?
o In a way we will become cyborgs. But we will not be the clumsy machines. Opposite is true. Does transplantation of a grown heart make you a cyborg? Does a transplantation of artificially created(disease reasistant, more endurance...) heart make you one? Where is the difference? You can easily call someone a cyborg when half of his body is metal, wires and batteries. But can you call someone a cyborg when you just encourage his natural regenerative ability or when you give him other organic replacement/enhancement. I believe the only way out of here will be a definition that cyborg is everyone who has an altered body (the result is different from natural dispozitions).

-What about genetics? Will future generations of humans be improved (or maybe "improved") by gene-tweaking? Will people accept this?
o See above. People will have to accept it.

-What about neural technology? Will our great-grandchildren have computers embedded in their brains and direct mental access to everyone else?
o In a way yes. I am not sure about the computer connection, but their brains will definitely work more efficiently.

-Will communications technology fundamentally change society? Will government become obselete when we're all jacked into some gigantic global network? Will we become the Borg?
o Yes the communication will change every society. No. Government is always needed. You can't make right decisions if you don't know all facts. If we ever evolove into a one-big-brain then there will probably be no need for specialized government.

-Will the usa conquer the entire world? How long before the new empire crumbles?
o No it will not. Now it is the only super-power but times change (and they often do as is their habit). New empire will be a mix of all countries(or nation). It can collapse but it will forever rise. The name and people can change but the purpose stays the same.

-What art/ literature/ individuals from today will be remembered for centuries to come?
o Hard to say. In 100 years Asimov can be admired, 50 years later resented and then again admired. It depends on attitude of people. And the attitude changes with almost every generation. The only one who I think will be remembered is Elvis(no, I am not a fanatic fan of him :-) ).

-Will humanity ever be united and war made a thing of the past, or is our tribalistic instinct too strong?
o For a time there can be peace. But there are always boundaries that make us fight. This can change with genetic manipulation but our current genetic equipment is built to fight and survive.

-Is national identity something that will come to an end or will expansion to other planets create more nations and more conflicts?
o There will always be a reason why the other are worse. How goes that saying? Curiosity becomes suspitions, suspitions become difference, difference becomes hatred. I believe this is true.

-What is the future of religion? Can it stand up to the advance of science? Will it evolve, die out or will it stay as it is?
o The religion will evolve and it will be here forever.

[Askan Nightbringer]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
Thanks for the downer Askan.

I think my problem at the moment is that I'm in the process of sobering up, and the fact is 2:45am here and I'm expected at work before 9 tomorrow means I'll have to post more of my delightful tidbits on the future tomorrow

Askan