Imagine the future.

Nix

Nix

Nix

Soldato
Joined
26 Dec 2005
Posts
19,841
Okay, very simple idea this. I'd like you to imagine the future, say 3-500 years in the future. Humanity is space-faring, we're looking to colonise other planets. Technology has advanced, cultural movements have happened.

How do you envision this future? What technology do you think would exist? How far out in space do you think we'll be? How do you think the space industry would operate? Do you think we'll have a united planet politically and economically? Would be have an overarching space-fleet like that in common sci-fi, or do you think we'd have something less romantic and grittier?

Culturally, what movements do you think are likely to happen? Would languages have merged, or become defunct? Will there have been any major conflict?

So in short, how do you imagine humanity - warts and all - in 3-500 years time?

Please share your thoughts. :)
 
I'd have over a billion post count by then and access to the fabled OcUK secret pr0n forum. It doesn't get better than that :D
 
I think we'll probably have achieved some form of confederation of nations. Nationalism would be dying off slowly due to having the common perception of looking outwards. However, I think as a response, cultural norms and traditions will become deeper routed and more prized as form of identity. I think economically, the trading blocs of the world would eventually have united under an eventual global trading bloc based around the exploitation of space material. In the early days of space travel, I think it will clearly be certain nations exploiting space-mining (as an example), allowing it to become profitable enough to launch a private sector economy around it.

I think we'd probably have a global space fleet and a merchantile fleet. I think this will arise through the combination of the navy and air force.

Technologically, I really don't have a clue where we'll be.
 
Well we will soon run out of oil, and other known resources do not give enough power for space travel so i think we're going to be stuck on earth for quite some time. I think during that time the world will have adapted and learned to live without oil and found new ways around the majority of things. Flight would take longer but get there eventually. space travel? well... I think we would be too caught up in advancing new things such as car engines that run on different resources to be too worried about space travel. All in all i see humans still being 99.9% on earth in 500 years time. We'd essentially be trying to get back up to today's standards, but using easily available, and renewable resources to do so.

This is assuming that a nuclear war does not break out at some point when we do run out of oil :D
 
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EdGey said:
Well we will soon run out of oil, and other known resources do not give enough power space travel so i think we're going to be stuck on earth for quite some time. I think during that time the world will have adapted and learned to live without oil and found new ways around the majority of things. Flight would take longer but get there eventually. space travel? well... I think we would be too caught up in advancing new things such as car engines that run on different resources to be too worried about space travel. All in all i see humans still being 99.9% on earth on 500 years time.
Click to expand...

Shuttles don't use oil. It uses hydrogen and oxygen and in orbit uses a solid mixture of powdered aluminum and ammonium perchlorate. And then there is a little thing called nuclear power.
 
OCUK would start selling hardware for making your own Terminator and also modding kits for the Terminator.

I'd also be a very senior OCUK member and OCUK would start giving me free monies and latest hardware for my very own Terminator...
 
As a biological race? English as the predominant global language, and mixing of the races as the world becomes a smaller place will likely result in less caucasians/blacks as we all mix together through future generations of children. That might take more than 500 years though.
Money & power will still exist which drives the space research & economy, so I'm siding with Bladerunner & Aliens over a Star Trek Utopian society.
If the human race can even make it that far...
 
In my opinion there would have been a major conflict which would result in the unity of Earth. I imagine the energy crises is a thing of the past. I envisage communication with extra terrestial life, but they would be too far to travel to.
 
Yeah, I'm with EdGey. Space / Star Trek has no chance at all. Our new challenges are all local, related to complexity and resources, population and environment. Read Jared Diamond and Joseph_Tainter for a more scientific study of what lies ahead.

The idea that the trajectory we've been on for the last couple hundred years can continue for another few is totally discredited - the limits are all around us.
 
I don't think humanity will survive long enough to properly explore other worlds. Self destruction triggered by an unsustainable population vs limited resources will see to that - long before we're floating around in starships.
 
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.(albert einstein).. Untill we can find peace on this earth we can't find peace on other planets.
 
I think we'll have successfully buggered ourselves up, and will have a small population trying to rebuild itself. Much more desert land and flooding - things such as food and water are much scarcer. Small martian colony from before the ravaged times living in relative prosperity but ran by scientists instead of politicians.
 
That Kardashev scale is most interesting...technologically developing so that we would master fusion, antimatter, then harness the power of the stars, then galaxies etc. I wonder if humans will develop technologies that would make them 'Gods', by todays standards. Perhaps an extremely advanced civilisation, 2300+ years from now, would have a completely different perspective on what God is. I am using God in the pantheistic sense.
 
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