9.30.2005
(something to look forward to...)
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 03:52:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alan Sondheim
Subject: Our Future
Our Future
In 1973 I taught "The Year 3000" at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Most of the predictions described for the year 2000 have already occurred.
Now for the modest future of thirty years hence:
All megafauna in the wild will be extinct. The population of the earth
will be close to its carrying capacity. Disease will run rampant due to
pollution. Global warming will bring about fast-forward environmental
effects, including rising seas, increased desertification, and extremely
violent hurricanes. The life-span of humans will begin a temporarily
exponential decrease. The rich will live in highly defended enclaves.
Fundamentalisms will be the order of the day, since belief alone commands.
Terrorism will be increasing exponentially, since future paradise is all
there is. Capitalism will be bankrupt as national currencies collapse and
world-wide depression sets in. The information explosion will continue on
localized data-networks and stuttering global communication systems. The
global communications infrastructure will have reached its carrying
capacity as well. For the first time, information will begin to corrode,
decay, as structures can no longer be protected against the world-wide
environmental crisis. The smaller generalist flora and fauna will begin to
dominate the earth. Great portions of the globe will be uninhabitable. The
larger aquatic species will have gone extinct, and the oceans will be
dominated by off-shore algal blooms. Most urban drinking water supplies
will be polluted and rationed. Suburbs will be abandoned as gasoline
becomes an almost inaccessible commodity. The planet will seethe with
continuous war, no longer fought among nation-states, but among private
militias, guerilla groups, and individual cowboys. Religions and
extremisms will be intertwined. There will be heavily-defended holdouts in
the North American mountains, and relatively isolated land masses such as
New Zealand. Fluid urban structures will be composed of well-armed gangs
dealing with the major currency of drugs and weaponry. At least a third of
all births will result in deformed infants. Ozone depletion will be almost
complete and skin cancers will be exponentially increasing. Most hospitals
world-wide will have closed their doors to all but the extremely wealthy.
Knowledge-structures will have broken down as specialization and increased
mathematical difficulties result in the problematizing of any theoretical
work at hand. Computers will have reached a plateau of speed, complexity,
and miniaturization. They will not have achieved consciousness. Robotics
and nanotechnologies will not be the order of the day - plagues will.
Sports franchises will be local and heavily subsidized. The air will be
almost unbreathable, and asthma / allergic reactions will be one of the
primary causes of death. Most deaths however are the result of violence.
Local police will perform rearguard holding actions at best. Highway
systems will have fallen into disrepair as economies collapse. Air travel
will be almost non-existent; space travel will have disappeared. The space
station will be a rusted hulk, if it has not already plummeted to earth.
Literacy will be on the decline. There will be a world-wide energy crisis.
Child abuse will have become child use and child discard; a high
percentage of children will be proffered for labor and sexual slavery, in
return for food and goods. Informal economies and the barter system will
characterize most local trade. Transnational trade will be at a minimum.
The genetic revolution will result in new and uncontrollable pandemics as
viruses and bacteria become increasingly resistant. Highly modifiable
immune deficiency diseases will appear on an exponentially-increasing
basis. The greatest percentage of murder victims, per capita per age
level, will be the elderly. Despair will be transformed into religious
salvation. More than twenty nuclear weapons, most of them small and
poorly-constructed, will have been exploded in various urban areas. Most
of the countries of the world, such as they are, will have weapons
programs which will absorb a large proportion of the gross national
product. Political economy will be ad hoc. Political ideologies will be
fragmentary and situational. Electrical grids will be hard-put to maintain
even the most minimal of services. The arts will have reached the limits
of extremity, with suicidal art movements in the fields of theater,
performance, ballet, and installation. The new media 'movement' will have
become a thing of the past. Art history will have disappeared as museums
fall victim to gang warfare and destruction. Most national heritage
monuments will have been at least partially destroyed. Most populations
will be drugged...
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 03:52:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alan Sondheim
Subject: Our Future
Our Future
In 1973 I taught "The Year 3000" at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Most of the predictions described for the year 2000 have already occurred.
Now for the modest future of thirty years hence:
All megafauna in the wild will be extinct. The population of the earth
will be close to its carrying capacity. Disease will run rampant due to
pollution. Global warming will bring about fast-forward environmental
effects, including rising seas, increased desertification, and extremely
violent hurricanes. The life-span of humans will begin a temporarily
exponential decrease. The rich will live in highly defended enclaves.
Fundamentalisms will be the order of the day, since belief alone commands.
Terrorism will be increasing exponentially, since future paradise is all
there is. Capitalism will be bankrupt as national currencies collapse and
world-wide depression sets in. The information explosion will continue on
localized data-networks and stuttering global communication systems. The
global communications infrastructure will have reached its carrying
capacity as well. For the first time, information will begin to corrode,
decay, as structures can no longer be protected against the world-wide
environmental crisis. The smaller generalist flora and fauna will begin to
dominate the earth. Great portions of the globe will be uninhabitable. The
larger aquatic species will have gone extinct, and the oceans will be
dominated by off-shore algal blooms. Most urban drinking water supplies
will be polluted and rationed. Suburbs will be abandoned as gasoline
becomes an almost inaccessible commodity. The planet will seethe with
continuous war, no longer fought among nation-states, but among private
militias, guerilla groups, and individual cowboys. Religions and
extremisms will be intertwined. There will be heavily-defended holdouts in
the North American mountains, and relatively isolated land masses such as
New Zealand. Fluid urban structures will be composed of well-armed gangs
dealing with the major currency of drugs and weaponry. At least a third of
all births will result in deformed infants. Ozone depletion will be almost
complete and skin cancers will be exponentially increasing. Most hospitals
world-wide will have closed their doors to all but the extremely wealthy.
Knowledge-structures will have broken down as specialization and increased
mathematical difficulties result in the problematizing of any theoretical
work at hand. Computers will have reached a plateau of speed, complexity,
and miniaturization. They will not have achieved consciousness. Robotics
and nanotechnologies will not be the order of the day - plagues will.
Sports franchises will be local and heavily subsidized. The air will be
almost unbreathable, and asthma / allergic reactions will be one of the
primary causes of death. Most deaths however are the result of violence.
Local police will perform rearguard holding actions at best. Highway
systems will have fallen into disrepair as economies collapse. Air travel
will be almost non-existent; space travel will have disappeared. The space
station will be a rusted hulk, if it has not already plummeted to earth.
Literacy will be on the decline. There will be a world-wide energy crisis.
Child abuse will have become child use and child discard; a high
percentage of children will be proffered for labor and sexual slavery, in
return for food and goods. Informal economies and the barter system will
characterize most local trade. Transnational trade will be at a minimum.
The genetic revolution will result in new and uncontrollable pandemics as
viruses and bacteria become increasingly resistant. Highly modifiable
immune deficiency diseases will appear on an exponentially-increasing
basis. The greatest percentage of murder victims, per capita per age
level, will be the elderly. Despair will be transformed into religious
salvation. More than twenty nuclear weapons, most of them small and
poorly-constructed, will have been exploded in various urban areas. Most
of the countries of the world, such as they are, will have weapons
programs which will absorb a large proportion of the gross national
product. Political economy will be ad hoc. Political ideologies will be
fragmentary and situational. Electrical grids will be hard-put to maintain
even the most minimal of services. The arts will have reached the limits
of extremity, with suicidal art movements in the fields of theater,
performance, ballet, and installation. The new media 'movement' will have
become a thing of the past. Art history will have disappeared as museums
fall victim to gang warfare and destruction. Most national heritage
monuments will have been at least partially destroyed. Most populations
will be drugged...
