What Other Huge Events Do You Anticipate to See in Your Lifetime?

Zombie Apocalypse.

[quote] A tragic ending to the North Korean regime, possibly involving nuke strikes on South Korea or Japan or even the US.

I was thinking something like this. Maybe China invades NK to rein it in.

I expect this to be solved:

The stock market took 10 years to recover from the Great Recession. The current downturn will be worse. If we lose 2% of the population, imagine that we’ll have 2% excess housing, 2% excess used cars, and other consumer goods. The US, with its history of immigration, will fair better than more insular places, like Japan and Iceland.

We are lucky that places like China are waiting this out rather than capitalizing on Trump ‘s cowardice and incompetence.

I expect to see a devastating earthquake in California.

The British monarchy abolished.

Massive riots in the US following the 2020 election whatever the outcome.

I expect a major terrorist attack from right wing militias, far worse than Oklahoma City or Pulse.

We will discover that life exists elsewhere in the universe, as OP says, or maybe finding the building blocks on Mars or Saturn's moons.

In about 10 years, climate events will become life-altering and there will be mass migrations away from coastal areas.

One, last -she really means it this time, seriously- farewell tour from Cher

OP - there’s a division of NASA that monitors asteroids, so we’ll know if something’s coming (or at least we did a decade ago when I took astronomy)

No matter what the polls say, I expect to see Trump re-elected.

Some kind of territorial expansion by America. We will acquire something. I’m not sure how.

OP, one of your events may have happened ...

[quote] Some kind of territorial expansion by America. We will acquire something.

Greeniceland!

The public execution of Donald Trump would be a HUGE ratings getter.

I'm keeping it closer to home.

The only huge event I'm anticipating is a 12" cock up my ass. I kid you not!

[quote] R8: OP - there’s a division of NASA that monitors asteroids, so we’ll know if something’s coming (or at least we did a decade ago when I took astronomy)

Not necessarily. I recall at least two occurrences in the last twenty years where a large object passed by without our knowing if it, until after it passed. Bother were between the Earth and moon. One, at least, even passed below where our geosynchronous satellites are orbiting.

A loose nuke exploded in the West by a terrorist group.

Cali finally breaks off into the ocean like they terrified me with as a child.

When will a cat 3-5 hurricane strike a major city with skyscrapers? New Orleans excepting.

I think either Yellowstone will possibly turn into something ugly, or possibly a huge quake in WA/OR area. I automatically push out any ideas to do with a rogue nuke, or a strike from N.Korea... It's too horrifying to contemplate. Fukushima is bad enough what it is spewing out every day, we don't need any more radioactive waste.

How about an eruption of the Italian volcano that would require the entire city of Naples to be abandoned.

Water wars between India, China, and Pakistan.

R3 plunged me into a rabbit hole of Dyatlov expedition conspiracy theories. I have to admit it's a fascinating story and it reminds me of The Blair Witch Project

I expect to see at least a couple more economic crashes. Just based on history.

The Chinese government may fall if it can’t sustain the phenomenal growth rates it’s had over the last 20 years, or so.

The looming collapse of the planetary ecosystem.

“...buy analyzation.” Wow.

I have read...

If Greenland’s glaciers slide into the sea, not only will this raise sea level, it will also be a huge freshwater addition to the salty Atlantic. This could disrupt the Gulf Stream, shutting it down for a number of years. This will make New England and European Winters much colder and last longer.

.

An independent Scotland.

The moon landing hoax will be revealed

A string Eastern US earthquake. They are rare, it they do happen, and East Coast buildings aren’t generally built to withstand a large earthquake.

I’d like to see Puerto Rica;statehood, but it’ll never happen, unless there is an offsetting new Red state. Maybe an existing Red state will agree to split into two, for that purpose

I’d love to see a Marshall Plan for Puerto Rico: rebuild its electrical grid, cover the island with free WiFi internet, new drinking water pipes and sewage system. There’s no reason PR couldn’t be the East Coast version of Hawaii, if given a little TLC. We once did something similar for Appalachia, with the TVA. .

Civil war.

China invading Taiwan - probably next year whilst Biden is preoccupied cleaning up Trump's massive mess.

I don’t think China will attack Taiwan. They want it intact with all its wealth, rather than as a decimated dependency.

I think China will start bossing around its China Sea neighbors, though.

"buy analyzation if it’s atmosphere."

We will discover that ET has been with us for quite some time.

Migration as a result of climate collapse will require countries all over the world to abandon the concept of a nation state. I hope that I'll be alive to see this.

World War III

Trump explodes like a beached whale, blowing out half the White House down to the steel girders.

From your lips to the gods’ ears, R36. Sometime between November 3rd and January.

[quote] I expect an asteroid strike of tremendous proportion.

Hurry it up, asteroid!

" . . . Do You Anticipate to See . . ."

Oh, dear.

Anticipate Seeing . . .

But since you ask . . . the funeral of QEII, the greatly reduced in splendour of King Charles III, and Kate and William installed as Prince and Princess of Wales.

With any luck, I'll manage to hang on until Princess Charlotte's huge royal wedding to Prince Christian, heir to the throne of Denmark. Charlotte will be wearing the Cambridge Lover's Knot Tiara, Kate will be wearing the Fringe or the Kokoshnik and a red and white gown to honour Denmark's colours, Mary will be wearing Queen Ingrid's Foliate Ruby and Diamond parure, no one will give fuck all what William and Kate are wearing.

After that, the asteroid is welcome to remove the species that is clearly a scourge to the planet.

^*dear me, too many typos!

. . . greatly reduced in splendour coronation of King Charles III . . .

No one will give fuck all what William and Frederik are wearing.

[quote]The US, with its history of immigration, will fair better

Oh, dear!

I anticipate seeing the first time the US Military had to be used to remove a president from office.

The disappearance of Florida beneath the waves.

Madonna and Janet make a comeback, have a radio hit and go on tour - switching dates on who goes on first. Tour will implode by the second date because Madame X can never be on time and Janet won't lip synch past midnight.

Keith Richards' liver finally makes that trip to the British Museum.

I anticipate a destructive cyber attack that will shut down everything in the U.S. for a significant amount of time.

collapse of the dollar and adoption of some form of digital currency

I’m sure I will see the ‘Heaven’s Gate’ group flying by earth on a comet ☄️ waving and smiling!

Would it be too late to hitch a ride?

I expect to see Kamala Harris become the first women to hold the office of POTUS.

[quote] R33: “buy analyzation if it’s atmosphere“

I meant, “by analysis of its atmosphere”, lol.

I think that the United States will break up into at least two countries (not physically).

I think we will see a female president.

I think we will see a presidential assassination (train of thonot directly related to above).

Just please cure all STDs so I can be a whore without worrying.

I’m young enough to expect to see obvious signs of Climate Change. 50 years from now, we might look back at hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Sandy as the beginning of a series of extreme weather events related to Climate Change. It’s sad that we can’t get our act together on this. I’m reminded of similar problens we were able to mitigate:

Removal of lead from paint and gasoline because lead was poisoning the general population.

Switching to clean-coal or from coal to another source, so as to reduce acid rain in New England. I do genealogical research. I have a picture of a 150 year old marble tombstone in 1970, and the engraving on it was very clear, as if it was brand new. Today, the stone looks like a sponge, and the engrave is illegible, unless you already knew what it says. I’ve heard the Great Pyramids and Roman ruins are suffering, too. But we’ve acted to reduce acid rain.

We eliminated aerosol canisters that used that chemical that was creating an ozone hole. I’ve heard that hole has been shrinking, finally.

We’ve cleaned up a lot of the pollution in the US caused by the earlier century’s industrial revolution. Remember when that river in Ohio caught fire? Twice? There’s a lot more to do, but we have a better understanding of the significance of pollution. Smog in LA is greatly reduced compared to what it was like in the 1970s.

So, we know human actions can contaminate the environment, and we know we can act to mitigate that contamination. It’s unfortunate that we are waiting too long to head-off some serious Climate Change-related events, but I think I’ll live long enough to see it accepted as a fact by most people, including republicans.

[quote] R53: Just please cure all STDs so I can be a whore without worrying.

Sorry, Charlie. I expect to see a resurgence of superbugs, including syphilis, consumption, and gonorrhea, that are resistant to all antibiotics. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge’s 16 year old son got a blister playing tennis. It became infected and he died from it! My own Grandpa Otto died from Syphilis in 1927. I think we’re going to find that the bugs evolve faster than we can learn how to kill them.

The boomer generation has been incredibly fortunate‘ so far, when you look back historically. Since WWII, the West has been incredibly peaceful, disease has been suppressed, and economic crashes have been quickly reversed; but this is an anomaly when you just look at the history of the last 300 years or so.

The British monarchy dissolving itself. No way it continues much longer after the Queen.

I agree with R55. I think antimicrobial resistance is already a serious problem and could get much worse. I expect to see some kind of public health crisis, worse than Covid.

I’m reminded, Polio can only survive by infecting people. It can’t hide in other species, like Covid can. There were only 94 cases of Polio last year, limited to a small part of Africa and in the Afghanistan area. We can eliminate Polio, like we eliminated small pox, if we can get healthcare workers into those areas to vaccinate people. One problem is that the operatives who were surveying Osama bin Ladin used healthcare inoculations as a cover story. That has made the anti-vacciners in Afghanistan to not trust the real healthcare professionals. They also think the vaccines are a trick to make them sterile.

In any event, Polio type 2&3 have already been eliminated, leaving only Polio type 1. We can eliminate polio completely if we work at it, and I hope to see it in my lifetime.

Fun fact, small pox seems like ancient history, but it was only declared eliminated in 1980!

I have a friend from India who had a love match in the US. Most of my Indian coworkers had arranged marriages! Anyway, my friend couldn’t marry her fiancé until her older brother married, as the custom is that siblings marry in order. The problem was that her older brother had had polio and it’s outcome made him unable to find a bride. Eventually, my friend was allowed to marry out of order, but she waited years before she was allowed to do so.

A large solar flair that overwhelms the Earth’s natural magnetic field, and fries a lot of our electronic devices. We had a solar flair a few years ago that was so big that NASA programmed its satellites to be in defensive mode to protect them. In the 1800s, there was a flair that fried much of the telegraph infrastructure, at the time.

Nuclear weapons likewise fry electronic devices, even those beyond the blast radios.

Oh, Revolution in Russian and/or China.

As long as the Chinese standard of living keeps rising, the leadership will be supported, but a deep recession or other stresser in China might stir-up unrest. I think COVID-19 is going to result in worldwide political unrest.

[quote] The British monarchy dissolving itself. No way it continues much longer after the Queen.

Agree that the British monarchy is eroding in status. QE does provide a stabilizing factor. The monarchy has been a huge blind spot for the UK for a long time.

Accidental or intentional terrorist / rogue nuclear strike. Asteroid.

Major West Coast earthquake - though I honestly a, not sure how horrible that will be relative to many other types of horrors. Some bridges collapse, some buildings collapse - but there is some preparation of buildings and plans. I don’t think it’s anywhere near the scale of a nuclear bomb attack.

Cyber terror - killing the electric grid and/or immobilizing the government and military.

Since I have witnesses the Trump Zombie Cult Apocalypse there is nowhere to go but up now.

The Aliens will come forward but only if Biden is President

Are these aliens dreamers?

Same as R50, definitely.

A non-manned mission to Mars with a return trip back to earth with Martian soil. Some scientists are very excited about this idea, but I’m afraid it would bring back dormant Martian microbes that will end in tears,

The singularity. I really want to see how it turns out, although it will almost certainly not be good for humanity.

R69, what is that?

I love natural history and fantasize that after death, I will be sentient and able to watch how the universe evolved from the Big Bang to the present day. I have so many questions, I also like how the theory of the Big Bang is exactly like the Biblical myth that “In the beginning, there was a void, and God said “let there be light, and there was light.”,

Read all about it, R69. It's basically when computer/artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence. Now, it could mean that the intelligence improves humanity by figuring out disease eradication, etc. Of course, it will also probably be smart enough to figure out that humanity is destroying the planet and should be wiped out like an infestation of bugs.

This whole singularity thing is very 1990s. My computers, phones, etc. seem to get dumber and dumber now, albeit more and more complicated and mistake-prone.

R59 Please explain or are you in the wrong thread? I ask this question because you are we’d.

R73, I’ve written that I may live to see the eradication of polio. R59 is just a recollection I had about a modern family that was literally feeling the effect of polio, today.

We’ve managed to completely eliminate only a few diseases: small pox, cow pox, some other exotic disease that Bill gates funded, it would be a huge accomplishment to eradicate Polio, and it’s within our grasp.

If a disease affects both humans and another kind of animal, it is virtually impossible to eradicate, because we might eliminate all human cases of that disease, but it could still reside in that other animal, and then could reinfect humans. This is why we can’t eliminate the common cold or the flu.

Peace in the Middle East.

Just joking.

"A large solar flair " - R60.

Oh, dear.

I once took my car to the shop and gave my mechanic a list (on paper) of things I wanted him to check, including "breaks." He corrected me on my spelling of brakes.

What r60 said. It's already happened.

Democrats turning the U.S. into Venezuela seems an all too real possibility.

But of course r79 never thinks of Norway, Sweden, Canada, etc. It's always and forever Venezuela.

- Scottish independence.

- Catalan independence.

- Online radicalization will bring the US to its breaking point. Civil war, domestic terrorism, etc. (see: The Social Dilemma).

- China annexes Taiwan. This will happen one way or another around 2049 to mark the 100th anniversary of the PRC.

- The truth about JFK's assassination (a man can dream).

- Irrefutable proof of extraterrestrial life. Direct contact, declassified documents, etc.

r79, every time someone screams Socialist, they end up referring to DICTATORSHIPS.

I am dumbfucked over the fact that Cuban Americans cannot see Trump as another Castro power grab.

I agree - it will be an E.M.P. with millions of STRONG passwords lost forever and bank balances unavailable.because potato.

Ophra finally doesn't something about the very poor shape of her feet.

Craigslist reintroduced their personal section.

R70, it took at least a quarter of a million years for the first light to exist after the big bang.

The biblical story sounds like turning on a light switch, but physics requires a lot to happen before anything resembling light could exist.

I predict this man will get his cherry popped.

[quote] Ophra finally doesn't something about the very poor shape of her feet.

Uh, what?

[quote] Catalan independence.

I thought Dodge stopped making the caravan.

NYC will elect a competent mayor.

We claw our wealth back from the .01%.

California falling into the sea and becoming the Island of California

North and South Korea becoming a united Korea

A revolution in America, and it won't be pretty

[quote]I think that the United States will break up into at least two countries [bold](not physically).[/bold]

Good thing you added that qualifier.