The world in the 2020s-2030s

climate change refugees. It's going to bring out the worst in us.

Iran is the country that will determine the future of the world. And by world, I mean the inevitable and guaranteed 3rd world WAR.

If attacked, Iran will push buttons that will set the world alight and on fire.

Never mind climate change.

This is an astrologer's prediction from 1997 re: the world from 2000-2020. It's a long read but I thought it was interesting because we can now see how accurate it was (or not). I was surprised to find that the economic downturn/crash was predicted (for the year 2010) with recovery starting in earnest in 2013 or so. There is also mention of possible war actions in 2001, 2003, and 2010/2012 as well as maybe 2019 although by that point my eyes had glazed over so I'm not sure. There are some big errors - he got the order of presidents entirely wrong, and he's too optimistic about humanity's willingness to work together and invest in green technology.

He has a followup article for 2020-2040 which is worth a skim as well.

I don't know why this only got 3 replies! Bump!

Climate change will cause world wide refugee crises, every continent severely affected.

Within 10 years, if not a lot sooner, there will be a global economic crisis fueled by excessive debt. This will lead to widespread famine, which in turn will cause epidemics. Treatment will only be available to the richest people in the richest countries - so advances in medical technology will save people, but only a few.

An authored sociology professor I knew quite well in the late 70s, who had made some predictions that have since come true, said somewhere between or around the years 2020-2025, the living will envy the dead. He wasn't quoting the Bible but I believe that it is mentioned there, although not the date or time period. He said that it will reach the point where people will be afraid to leave their houses and go out.

He said towns/cities we once loved will be economically depressed, or destroyed as in trashed, there will be endless hate rioting, looting, arson, increased natural disasters, pandemics, overcrowding, homelessness and famine like we've never seen, and at some point nowhere will be safe. And no, it was not like that back then (hate rioting, arson natural disasters everywhere, etc) in the 60s, 70s and 80s, and prior to the 60's. It wasn't nearly as prevalent. We never even heard of road-rage back then either and now it's everywhere. He also said the public school system would be more like indoctrination than education.

When I heard this well-respected sociologist say "the living will envy the dead" it sent chills up my spine. He said it would not be a better world, which is what I had thought it would be. I have witnessed the drastic changes over the past 40 years of my adult life. As anyone over age 60 will tell you, there is nothing about today's world that is anything like back then. I miss the way the world was pre-1990s.

What we really need is the world population do go down dramatically. Not something anyone wants to discuss but it would solve most of these issues.

In the future, most of us will be Morlocks and CHUDs, so we won't need to worry about what's happening topside..

People in Many third world countries have given up on building and improving their own societies.

There will be unremitting pressure of migrants pushing to get into Europe and the US. It has already begun, but will ramp up to epic proportions.

OP here - thanks for reviving the thread, r4.

I refuse to accept that it's time for us to give up. Doing so will ensure not just our doom (which I don't care about) but also that of the other creatures that share our planet. It is still possible to use our brains to figure out how to improve things. The will must be there. Humans have gotten better at thinking about the big picture but we haven't translated that into political or financial will or action on a large scale.

I think solar and wind becoming more profitable and desirable is a good sign. Some of the scientific predictions for future energy include biofuel from algae or perhaps some other technology we haven't yet discovered.

On the downside, I've no idea what will happen to all our 401ks. I assume they will be reinvested into green tech.

Wireless electricity will be found everywhere. Medicine will continue to advance and there will be cures for some diseases and the common cold. Population will increase another billion worldwide.

To add - I think energy independence is going to be a big theme. The middle east is not worth the bother. I wonder how Saudi Arabia and co will get on without incoming oil money and with 50C+ temperatures.

I see a revival of early 00s fashion, like Juicy Couture sweatsuits

A return to an 80s palette in home decor, lots of luscious coral and turquoise

Longer hair for men

Boot cut jeans

An acceptance of older men with larger bodies as "hot"

And an end to cellphones and social media so that everyone goes out to bars again socializes.

It's the end of world as we know it and I feel fine.

Any predictions on specific countries DL? Will Brexit work out? What happens to China? The Koreas? African countries? Does Canada remain irrelevant except for migration and exploitation? (Yes.)

Does Bob Mueller finally wrap up his investigation?

Oh and I think the 2019 war mentioned above will be Iran. The powers that be have wanted that for a long time.

The US has 19 nuclear attack carriers. Each one has enough military force to destroy a small country. If the onboard nuclear weapons are used, change “small” to “medium sized.”

Don’t count on the US bowing out of its hegemony anytime soon.

East Asia triumphant. They will own us. Oil irrelevant. Chaos in the Middle East. China will take care of it in a big way. Ruthless.

Well, I have to do SOMETHING to make sure I get re-elected, r18.

It’ll happen one way or another, r8.

I predict climate chg is going to spin out of control.........lets face it it just keeps getting hotter and hotter and in the agri belts world wide there is less and less rain............ There are 450 nuclear reactors/power plants world wide that need to be kept cool which is a massive undertaking with a cooking climate............... they will eventually spiral...............I dont think humans are going to be around much past 2030 and its going to be a very ugly way to go for billions of people. I think the thing many of the climatogists have gotten wrong is they are making predictions based on past data and are ignoring the feedback loops. My opinion. And I hope to hell Im wrong.

R7 what about the 1930s/1940s? Those were horrific times and he lived through those. Most people have a better quality of life now than they would have then.

The baby boomers will all be over 65 in 2030 and their die off will be from 2030-50. They are not going to go gently into that good night and there will be huge societal pressures when they start realizing they can't beat biology

R23 I wasn't alive in the 30 and 40s to be able to make any type of comparisons but from what I've heard, read and understand, especially about The Great Depression, it was hard life back then. Much harder than today.

Anyway, this presentation took place in the late 70s at the university I attended and this sociology professor wasn't comparing the 30s and 40s to anything. He was predicting 40-50 years into the future, specifically the 2020s.

R24 The majority of Baby Boomers are in their 60s. To be more exact, late 50s to early 70s. With the majority of Boomers being 60-something.

I don't watch Reality TV but from what little I've seen of it the GenXers and Millennials seem to be the ones who aren't going to go quietly. Check out any one of the dozen or so ridiculous Reality Housewives and you'll see women in their late 30's, and 40s and 50s dressing up like 20 yr olds (and acting like they are 12) and having all kinds of excessive cosmetic procedures at the sight of the first wrinkle. They seem overly obsessed with their appearances and terrified of aging. The cast members on those reality shows are Millennials and GenXers, not Boomers.

Many Boomers have lost their parents and with skyrocketing cancer rates many have also lost a sibling or more and cousins and close friends. That is not uncommon. A high percentage don't have family. Many have lost their 401K or other retirement or pension to the Banking Cabal. Bearing in mind that you can't miss something you never had, they are disappointed that places they loved to visit/vacation in the 70s, 80s and 90s are now overrun with trashy types and saddened that they are disrespected and hated by younger generations who have successfully been turned against them. I hear them talking about how they yearn for the way of life that no longer exists when they were growing up in the 50s and 60s and 80s. They say today's world is unrecognizable in many ways. I think they'll go more peacefully than you may think. The GenXers and Milennials on the other hand........

As far as climate change goes, that ship has sailed. There’s no turning back. I’m just hoping the worst happens after I die. I don’t think the true fallout will be known for another three or four decades. Then it’s every man for himself. Mother Nature is going to correct this little problem we’ve created, and she’s not going to be nice about it.

As far as nation conflicts go? Good luck. We may all be dead before Mother Nature does her work. I don’t have a lot of hope for the human race.

I agree we won’t see America completely fall within our lifetimes, not by another country, even China or Russia. We can simply do far too much damage to the world militarily, and that will be the very LAST thing we let go.

Thanks Thanos/R8.

I honestly don't think it will take centuries. More like a decade. 2030.

One of my classes In college, 1970's, we wrote about the future. Not one person wrote about a good future.

Does anyone remember the HBO doc about Nostradamus that was narrated by Orson Wells from 1981? The third antichrist part creeped me out then, but the effects are so cheesy and laughable now.

Our electric grid is outdated and compromised, not too mention vulnerable to hackers and then we have serious issues with crumbling infrastructure too; underground water pipes/drains bursting and many are cracked, sewer systems are outdated as are roads, bridges, tunnels, overpasses, etc., that are in dire need of repair and replacement, many well past their expiration date. Within 10 years water shortages are going to be more common. there is no "new water."

And after just reading these two current threads: "On Climate Change, It's Time To Start Panicking" and "Rates of Women Dying In Childbirth Skyrocketing" I'm not feeling too hopeful. All combined, I'd say recent technological improvements and medical advancements do not outweigh the serious issues, problems and dilemmas we are currently facing. The future is bleak. The world is not getting better or safer. Not so sure we'll even be here in 2030. IMO.

I will be hosting a relaunch of 20/20 in 2020.

There will be an orange time capsule dug up in the Kremlin, that has a vial of pee, a MAGA lapel pin and 3 half used Tic Tacs.

Will you remember that date R34?

Commercial Street in Ptown will be destroyed during a hurricane. Bradford Street will be fine, though what remains of the city after the hurricane will become an island.

I believe that global climate change will disrupt agriculture in the U.S. and will lead to food shortages.

Humans have survived periods of climate change in the past, so that doesn't worry me as much as global pollution. As a species, we have poisoned the air, soil, and ground. Kind of hard to tough out a couple hundred years of crazy weather when we've screwed up our natural resources.

Air, soil, and WATER!

MARY!

R7, I already envy the dead.

Or maybe there will be a nuclear war in 2020, caused in part by a Trump tweet.

^ Or caused by the termination of his Twitter account for continuing to use it as a platform to bully and violation of other rules.

If so, the headlines will read "If I can't tweet, I'll push the button."

Do you think we'll make it to 2030?

Well, it's going to be the collapse of everything we know. Natural catastrophes (massive fires, floods) on a gigantic scale, several times a year, every year. In the end, fight for access to clean water.

That's it!

Disease, sadly. Corrupt governments and fighting in the streets. Post-technological apocalyptic urban jungle, plenty of time to explore abandoned highways while scourging for food.

R7 I hear what you're saying. But the world now wasn't made out of the blue. We made the world into what it is today. And in fact, the people born in the 1950s made the world we have today. I was 12 in 1990, so while I remember the changes and saw the changes, I was too young to have any impact whatsoever.

Climate change is going to be extremely fast and what was dismissed as gloom talk only a few years ago will be happening before our very eyes within 2-3 years. The rest will be horrible. Enjoy what time you have with those you love. Treat others well, if you can. It will be horrible.

I remember when I first heard about climate change most scientists were predicting we wouldn't really starting seeing the effects until about 2050. That is the only thing they got wrong. It started a couple of years ago and it is accelerating at a much faster pace that the scientists first predicted.

Nominate anyone other than Pete, and all Hell’s gonna break loose.

Nominate Pete or Trump and Jr all through the 2020s.

China going into 2020 is somewhat between a rock and a very hard place. The Hong Kong thing here's what I think will happen. Hong Kong will become a Sovereign State. You cannot give people the freedom of the British crown and then expect they'll hew to the Chinese masters. It doesn't work. This will cause further fracturing in China you may just see Shanghai go next and even possibly Manchuria. Because whilst the cities in China are booming that house of cars if coming down before our very eyes. And the U.S. you do realize our Navy is for the most part a Nuclear Navy right? As in if it weren't for food they could stay at sea for 30+ years at a time.

Ok, R2. I'll have you know Iran is totally normal. My daughter plays with a little girl from Iran and they just got back from a trip visiting their family. Their house is normal, they are sweet and nice.

You hush now.

And regards Climate change - I saw it in my former state. In 2010 we had so much flooding that it destroyed bridges, homes etc. People have short memories. Then a few years later we had one snow incident that dropped close to 4 feet of snow in one shot.

Now I'm inland east in Georgia and I gotta say I do love it here. Are there thing I miss about the northeast? Sure. Being able to find a good Italian restaurant that isn't a chain for example. But we did find what we consider a good Japanese restaurant and I do love Sushi so that's a plus. There are also a few Indian restaurants I'd like to try too. And I did make a comment - part of the reason I'm so critical of restaurants is that most of them are doing the bare minimum to appease their customers. I know in my own home I've made dishes that are excellent. I know a few recipes by memory and there's no comparison to the restaurants.

The film “Soylent Green” is probably the most accurate depiction of what’s to come. Teeming masses of humanity living in stairwells and on the streets, scrambling for scraps, while rich men and their “furniture girls” live in relative luxury. Corporations in complete control. Oceans and wildlife, nothing but a memory.

What was considered “sci fi” in 1973 is becoming a reality.

Keep having those kids, people!

Artificial intelligence will start to take over significant aspects of our life.

“Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” – C.S. Lewis

The rich people of the world better keep paying those taxes to make everything nice if they know what's good for them.

If they don't, storm their castles.