Future history of the world?

[sooey]

That's a good point.
With a severely limited population think of all the wonderful inventors who might never have been born. Or all the great discoveries that may never have been made.

 

[joe-90]

All discoveries are made when the time is ready. TV and the motor car were both invented unbeknown to the other inventor.

 

[libby lou lou]

That's a good point.
With a severely limited population think of all the wonderful inventors who might never have been born. Or all the great discoveries that may never have been made.

And all those rich bankers............

 

[sooey]

All discoveries are made when the time is ready. TV and the motor car were both invented unbeknown to the other inventor.

Penicillin for one thing was discovered by chance. So were a lot of other things. Less people, less chance of that happening.
You could also argue that with less people the time window for discoveries would be pushed into the future, so we might still be listening to records on gramaphones etc.

 

[Space cat]

Here's another potential medical advance that might not be so far off: the artificial womb. We already know how to make an artificial kidney. In simple terms, it's a very large membrane through which the right fluids can pass. But that's not so different from what a womb does. The placenta latches onto the side, grows into it and starts to feed.

So here's the scenario. You take the embryo before it implants and put it into some sort of incubator - let's call it Bob - with a surface onto which it can attach itself. The growing embryo will then start to feed itself because it's a parasite that will take what it needs even if the mother starves. All you need now is the correct mix of nutrients, oxygen, etc on the other side of that surface and Bob's your mother!

So here's a question to all you female readers. You rent a time slot in one of these things, park your embryonic offspring in it - whether fertilized the old fashioned way or not - then collect your baby nine months later. Is that something you'd be interested in?

 

[joe-90]

It sounds like the average council estate to me.

 

[sooey]

No one's mentioned nuclear fusion yet. If the scientists ever crack that it would be pretty world changing.

 

[joe-90]

They'd have done it by now if it were possible.

 

[sooey]

They'd have done it by now if it were possible.

This thread is about what may have happened 1000 years into the future.
By that time people will be able to do things which would seem like magic to us.
Just as Harold would have thought you were a god if you'd turned up at Hastings wtih a machine gun before he got the arrow in his eye.

 

[joe-90]

Just as Harold would have thought you were a god if you'd turned up at Hastings

He'd have been right.

 

[sooey]

If you'd have been on Williams side he'd have thought you were a ****.
He'd have been right there too.

 

[pred]

They'd have done it by now if it were possible.

Do you mean like the Chineese, how they should have discovered glass before porcelain, but they didn't! and it set them back thousands of years.

 

[Space cat]

No one's mentioned nuclear fusion yet. If the scientists ever crack that it would be pretty world changing.

I sort of took that as a given. It does work. There are many practical problems to be overcome but 1000 years is a very long time. In terms of energy production, it's the Get Out of Jail Free card with the added advantage that nobody has a monopoly on the fuel supply.

Sadly, what it won't solve is the population problem. On the contrary, it will facilitate a massive increase because we'll be able to make food in factories; no photosynthesis required. But, if we go down that route, we'll eventually run out of key elements like nitrogen and phosphorous. So now we're in the business of making those from our plentiful supplies of oxygen and silicon, except that the energy requirements are off the scale by today's standards and our fusion power stations will struggle to cope.

I guess that'll put us right back where we are today - all 8,000,000,000,000,000 of us!

 

[wobs]

I sort of took that as a given. It does work. There are many practical problems to be overcome but 1000 years is a very long time. In terms of energy production, it's the Get Out of Jail Free card with the added advantage that nobody has a monopoly on the fuel supply.

IF we can get a viable method sorted

Sadly, what it won't solve is the population problem. On the contrary, it will facilitate a massive increase because we'll be able to make food in factories; no photosynthesis required.

Where is the evidence for this? Urbanisation, education, access to contraception, etc lead to a drop in birth rate. Poverty often leads to an increase in birthrate. It's a paradox, but generally holds true.

With access to these, most countries have quite a stable population. Its only when religion gets out of control, or their country goes to wall that it increases.

Some believe that world population will level out at 9-10billion. With improvements in agriculture, this should not be a problem.

With worldwide improvements in education, and prosperity, we will have more people to solve problems, even if the population levels out.

The only rub is that it is the increase in prosperity that will increase carbon emissions.

But, if we go down that route, we'll eventually run out of key elements like nitrogen and phosphorous. So now we're in the business of making those from our plentiful supplies of oxygen and silicon, except that the energy requirements are off the scale by today's standards and our fusion power stations will struggle to cope.

Don't think we'll run short of nitrogen anytime soon.

 

[heroes2013]

Historic visions of the future

A set of 19th century postcards has revealed that's just what French artists thought we'd be doing at the turn of the 21st century. The set of postcards, produced between 1899 and 1910, predict what life would be like in Paris in the year 2000 - and there are some fairly bizarre scenes. The year 2000 may have been and gone - but no one has yet invented a flying fireman, or started playing croquet underwater. And while Parisians haven't as yet replaced the fireplace in their homes with sticks of glowing radium, as one portrait shows, there are some portraits which aren't too far off the mark.