As part of my work, I am looking into trends or possible future advancements which may prove pivotal in the near future of mankind. To this end I would appreciate any ( and I mean any) ideas or guesses, any of you have, about the changing face of the world in the next 100 years.
This could include the trends/advancements themselves, their political, economic, scientific or social influence or anything else which could be considered a landmark in human development.
All responses, no matter how humble, would be gratefully received.

i think that a very very very major world event will happen by 2070, anyways not enough time to explain now, ill tell you later. i gots to go

I think the feild of science will advance greatly. Once life threatening diseases might have cures, but I think new diseases will also develop. I personly think that revolutionary new ways for space travel will be engineered.

Near future? Bush gets reelected and conquers the world in order to smash all meanaces to America. Shortly after, the world will be going to hell. About 2007 I figure. :cool:

No, later than that, I want to graduate first. :rolleyes:

Yeah, it is a random guess. But I think that power will shift and the US will play a great part. Bush´s war is not at an end as he said today, there a still many countries that contain threats to the US citizens yada yada...and he will not stop until those are erased...

Well, science will very likely make some big steps, by 2100 we might have colonies on Mars (seems very likely) and the earth climate will shift (either naturally or because of us). We might also life longer due to scientific progress.

But over the years, our society will degenerate, people will be corrupt, wicked and brutal. Or we will all be dumb sheep following our leaders and all live a happy and ignorant life...

That´s it for now, I have to consult with god for more visions :D

Wait, he tells me that there will be no more natural oil resources by 2080.

Genetics, Nanotechnology and Robotics will play a key role plus newly invented things that will appear along the way. The environment will be the biggest problem to overcome for pollution and global warming will cause havock upon the Earth in many unforseen ways if we don't help to stop polluting ourselves to death. The Earths animals are going extinct very rapidly and they are another criticle thing that must be helped .

the US will become increasingly fractioned as election time draws near. before the end of the year a second civil war will occur in the US

^ Have you been reading that stuff by John Titor?

Anyways, I predict that the hydrogen economy will not get get started until practical nuclear fusion is created and commercialized, and there is a need for mass hydrogen distrobution networks.

There will be riots/demonstrations by knee-jerk activists who know nothing against GM food, Cloning, Nanotechnology, you name it, they'll protest against it. Asteroid mining becomes a huge industry, as big as computers, or power.

There will be a global great depression as bad as the one in the 1930s. This Depression will take place sometime between 2007 and 2035. The depression will last about eight years.

The cause of the depression will be a drastic sudden reduction in American consumer spending. The world becomes more addicted to American spending every year; but America is already not credit worthy because of our trade deficit. When the foreigners stop lending the dollar will collapse. When the dollar collapses the cost of imports go up and the value of exports go down. America will not gain market share fast enough to stop the falling dollar from widening the trade deficit. A wider trade deficit sends the dollar even lower.

Many or most of the things we buy come from China and Opec. Their prices will rise. Just to make sure we do not escape the American Social security crunch is also comming. When Americans can't afford to buy the worlds trading patterns will collapse. It will take eight years to realign the worlds trading paterns.

Geez, doesn't anybody have any GOOD news for us??

Maybe we need to hear from NostraBLESSus!

Speaking of N America only, I think there will be a trend of population moving from major cities to smaller communities for three reasons.

First, living in a big city is expensive, high stress and difficult (you tend to spend more time getting from A to B than actually producing anything). Second, with an aging population the draw of "big lights, big city" tends to fade. Third, we can already do anything presently done in a cubicle or office tower virtually and from any location.

I think ultimately the most significant factor in the future of north america will be our aging population, simply because they will soon be the majority.

I'm hoping for a huge world war, preferably preceding nuclear holocaust, another, greater depression and the almsot destruction of the Earth, and, indeed, mankind. From the ashes will rise homo superius - the children of the dust. They will be albinos, perhaps furry, and will have telepathic abilities. They will give birth to a worldwide communist (traditional marxist - not neo-socialist) union and be doen with weapons, poverty and injustice. That's my dream and I hope it happens in the next hundred years. Maybe I should make a poem of it like Nostradamos did...maybe it will increase the probability of it coming to pass.

You're HOPING for a world war? Not good.

Yeah, you should be fearing a world war, not hoping for it. Anyway, why should those humans that survived the war be albinos and furry? Just cusious.

hehe wouldn't that be cool daydream

2007 to 2035 is a pretty long period, especially considering since the 1880s to 1940s there were global depressions occuring almost every decade.

Heres a random suggestion:
That oil will get more expensive, forcing the price up a bit.
That the world population will by the mid 21st century start stabilising, after some nasty damaging wars between various overpopulated countries.
yet most people posting on Sciforums today will probably live to see retirement.

that cloning will be found to not be worthwhile, and hard nanotechnology involving all those little robots, likewise.

maybe nothing will change. except for a few less AIDS infected people. :m:

The UN is going to do something bad.

oh, that's something new. :m:

There will be a global great depression as bad as the one in the 1930s. This Depression will take place sometime between 2007 and 2035. The depression will last about eight years.

The cause of the depression will be a drastic sudden reduction in American consumer spending. The world becomes more addicted to American spending every year; but America is already not credit worthy because of our trade deficit. When the foreigners stop lending the dollar will collapse. When the dollar collapses the cost of imports go up and the value of exports go down. America will not gain market share fast enough to stop the falling dollar from widening the trade deficit. A wider trade deficit sends the dollar even lower.

Many or most of the things we buy come from China and Opec. Their prices will rise. Just to make sure we do not escape the American Social security crunch is also comming. When Americans can't afford to buy the worlds trading patterns will collapse. It will take eight years to realign the worlds trading paterns.

Pretty much what nirakar said, but the European will be wealthy.

I was going to post this one tomorrow, but............

Due to open pit mining, a old disease will surface. It will mutate and form a disease much worse than mankind has ever seen. This disease will wipe out populations of many countries. There will be no way to stop it. Only a small portion of the world population will remain.

28 days later, the stand, what was that i heard? deja vu, it must be... :m:

I predict small-scale nuclear war in the next decade or so, instigated by a coalition of loosely united aggressors against the West. I'm not sure about the fallout (okay, I couldn't resist) of such a campaign, but I'm theorizing it will either:

A) Trigger a massive backlash by the US-led Western forces, resulting in a planet that resembles a cloudy, green-lit disco ball when viewed from space and a populace that suddenly has extra body parts to adorn with accessories.

or

B) The wealthiest among the survivors of the attack finally revealing their long-concealed estates on Mars, fleeing the planet in flying Humvees and giving the hoi polloi the finger as they cackle maniacally & zoom off in their SUVs (space utility vehicles).

Oh, and I also predict the simultaneous return of both Jesus and Quetzalcoatl, leading to some awkward "After you," "No, after you." "No, really, I must insist!" moments.

Unfortunately, as this will occur during the Pepsi Smashtacular Dorito-riffic SuperBowl LI HalfTime Orgastravaganza, only four people will notice, and three of them will be sufficiently wasted to say things like, "Dude, that glowing hippie has one weird-ass bird!"

Additionally, I think that the devil will come to claim the earth. Since the mark of the beast and all that crap is visible (yes, this is some obscure reference to some thread).
After he fights the heavenly host, he will crown me regent of earth and then my almighty lord will ascend to heaven to smite God. And you will all go to hell.

Muhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahaha, You will all bow down to me!

i personally like molecular production thats slowly advancing where they use molecules to produce tools or engines that are insanely small. This will create a whole new industry and inventions and re-inventions which wouldnt' have been possible before due to the extreme dimensions that would be able to be exploited.
Imagine that you might need a huge factory to produce a chemical of one sort by a specific process but then you make the factory the size of a can of soda or even smaller and now you could use the raw good directly as the chemical that was previously hard to get. etc...etc...etc...

imagine memmory metals in a turbine thats the size of a nail it could never break until its half-life kicks in... and would need maintenance when its changed or improved only or not for decades or longer.

Umm, memory metals in a turbine? Why would you do that? You mean NiTi?
Thats molecular manufacturing, also known as nanotechnology. I am not convinced its possible in the utopian way many portray it. Besides, if you can manufacture everything in a drinks can, what is to stop you making sarin?