Future history

[Traitorfish]

The Conservatives win the next general election, despite the perverse dislike half the population have for anything they say (before even listening to it).

But you're not biased, right?

Apart from that one little detail, pretty good post.

 

[Brighteye]

I'm not biased. In the same way that the American media isn't biased in its reporting on Obama and Hillary.
Nonetheless, I do find it silly that I meet a lot of people who will automatically vote Labour, with no thought at all, and dismiss Conservative policies or ideas as either populist gimmicks if they actually sound good, talk but no substance (as if a party not in power can actually have much substance) or evil Conservatives up their usual tricks if the policy sounds unpleasant, even if it makes sense.
When it comes to the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats, I'm torn. Maybe it's because Labour is the one party for whom I have so much less sympathy that I find people's lack of criticism so disturbing.

 

[DNK]

Obama wins the US presidency and subsequently shows that despite all...and the rest of it...

I just realized something very important reading that post:

I'm probably the most pessimistic person alive. Because I thought that was a rather rosy and desirable future in comparison to what I'm expecting.

Here goes a more upbeat version of what I would have said, to keep us all happy.

2008 McCain wins the national election, and continues most of Bush's foreign and national security policies.

2010 Another major terrorist attack takes place on American soil, prompting an offensive against Iran, again directly violating UN resolutions. America becomes hopelessly bogged down in the Middle East, all the while being coaxed on by a mass media that in a rabid scramble for ratings disregards any sort of reason and understands the power of another war story. The dissidents across the world and in America are derided moreso by the media and a society now set on the nationalistic path for almost a decade.

2011 New security protocols are put into place directly targeting Americans. Following numerous press leaks of sensitive information concerning covert intelligence operations, the White House puts more pressure on major media outlets that air such material. In a news environment where margins are quickly shrinking and populist nonsense is now a necessity for survival, the few remaining decent businesses are forced to "adjust their approach."

2012 After further crisis in the public school system, new tests are created to judge schools' performance. The tests are designed in such a way as to allow for quick improvement as the information covered is limited and a decent percentage of the questions are on facts not usually learned. In a few years these new facts can quickly be learned, and scores begin improving, and the crisis cools off.

2015 Online blogging and opinionated mainstream outlets are the only remaining news sources, save PBS, which no one watches due to its lack of pure opinion pieces and entertainment value. The White House has increasing control over what is found in the media, and the mainstream sources run increasingly polarized and entertainment/ratings-oriented material, derived from a pool of shrinking journalists, the remnants of which lack the courage or ethics to do proper reporting in the first place.

2016 McCain leaves office, and is replaced by Hillary Clinton, who effectively starts where he left off. She begins by outlawing half the things in the world, as they aren't pro-family or are bad for one's health or aren't sensitive enough to some small demographic of overly-sensitive people, or because she just doesn't like X. Then she declares war on Pakistan, for the latter reason.

2024 Elections are effectively formalities at this point. The education system continues its gradual march into sheer idiocy, as does the "news" media. Most people simply turn off from it all and delve into pure entertainment, save those that hang on to it so as to boost their egos and pretend like they are more knowledgeable/smart/realistic than their less cosmopolitan and more barbaric neighbors. Many people start to turn to religious and private schools for their children when they realize the true state of the public school system. Most do not, though. The media has become so adept at gaining ratings and manipulating opinion that real debate simply no longer exists in the public realm. Generations brought up on this form of discourse no longer even recognize the basic principles of democracy, free speech, or intellectual argument, save a highly educated elite.

2030 Generation Y moves into power, slowly supplanting Generation X. (that's scary enough, I don't need to add anything, you get the picture)

2040 The US government takes a different tact than Europe, whose central government has turned into a monstrous bureaucracy with strong fascist leanings. Privatization begins in earnest to deal with massive inabilities of public administration. Further scapegoating by the populace, not able to understand its own ignorance and apathy as the true cause, and raised and coddled by media that no longer bothers to take introspective approaches to anything, as it is bad for ratings. At the same time the population looks solely to the government to enforce everything considered "right" by the majority. Being wrong is outlawed by President Chelsea Clinton. First Lady, Jenna Bush, declares a new state of prohibition, after dealing with alcoholism herself.

2050 Terrorists acquire self-replicating nanotechnology and put humanity out of its misery, save a few colonies trapped underground in deep bunkers. It is expected that it will take 1,000 years for the nanobots to completely decompose.

2550 The nanobots begin evolving, creating a new planet based on the technology. The process begins slowly, but soon new structures and designs are created by random chance.

2950 All human colonies are wiped out by mass suicide, starvation, earthquakes, nano invasions, or sheer incompetence.

10,000,000 Nanoplants evolve as do highly complex nano insects.

100,000,000 nano mammals evolve.

1,000,000,000 Nano homo erectus is found standing upright on what was once Moscow.



There, I added in a nice happy ending and didn't bother mentioning anything about resource depletion, world wars, deadly superviruses, non-islamic terrorism, global warming, hyper capitalism, economic collapse, the rise of China, the rise of Russia, pan-African war, the implosion of India, or super technologies that allow for monitoring and control beyond anything seen before, as well as warfare on an even more destructive scale.

My best shot at being optimistic.

 

[Brighteye]

I think that you're pushing the timescale a little bit. The bit about the education system seems highly likely, but I doubt that things will change quickly.

Our countries are stuck in a rut, or, more accurately, are like giant oil tankers at top speed. If we want to change direction it'll take a sustained and powerful force. We both know the current heading though.

 

[DNK]

Well, it was also a bit humorous. I doubt there will be lesbians in the oval office in the next 50 years. And perhaps I'm being overly pessimistic and rushing the time scale. Such is my outlook.

 

[Sharwood]

I doubt there will be lesbians in the oval office in the next 50 years..

Are you kidding me? There were probably dozens of them in there under Clinton.

 

[Traitorfish]

2040 The US government takes a different tact than Europe, whose central government has turned into a monstrous bureaucracy with strong fascist leanings.

It seems unlikely that Europe, in the space of 32 years, somehow abandons it's millenia-old nations in favour of a European pan-nationalism so intense as to allow an ultranationalistic ideology such as fascism to emerge from it (aside from the fact that ultranationlism does not necessarily equate to fascism).

 

[Dodge_272]

Sunday, 11 May 2008 - Portsmouth 0-1 Fulham, Fulham avoid relegation from the Premiership.

 

[Dodge_272]

Sunday, 11 May 2008 - Portsmouth 0-1 Fulham, Fulham avoid relegation from the Premiership.

OK, was that a good preciction or was that a good prediction!??

 

[TheLastOne36]

lucky

so any updates concerning the topic?

 

[scy12]

lucky

so any updates concerning the topic?

2012 .... The next game of the Civilization series named Civilization Armageddon is rumored to have over 100 Civilizations for one to choose for , including Poland.

The Months pass by and the community is flourished with happiness.

Suddenlly SI announce a new mode named campaign where historically scripted events happen and there are several computer graphics scenes. The most exiting new addition is a new Alien civilization that invades in the Game at 2100l. After one beats the campaign at any difficulty , he could be able to control it.

However due to some ineefective programming they had to remove a civilization from the Game to make place for the Cluts(The name of the aliens). That civilization was Poland.

However , SI came to realize that was a mistake they would pay in blood ....
(Continue the story ....)

 

[bestrfcplayer]

Here's my predictions

September-Novermber 2009

NATO and Russian forcers have a mini-battle at the border lines of Georgia. Quick peace treaty.

2010

Jan. Microsoft goes bankrupt. World goes into the second Great Depression.

that's all I got well for now.

 

[civ_king]

2020-2030
almost apocalyptic depression
people turn to religion for support
2030-2040
The Pope issues a declaration uniting the Catholic countries under the banner of the papacy
The Catholic World Peace Organization (CWPO) arises
South America settles most of it's internal squabbles in large part due to the Pope and the CWPO
Industrialization has begin full scale in South America

Homosexuality is declared a crime in both Catholic and Islam Blocs

Islam is on the rise
countries begin to join Islam
2040-2050
Massive clashes between Islam and Christianity
Other Christian countries join Catholic bloc for protection

 

[Quackers]

2100 Islam is now the largest religion on Earth. Stretching from the Scottish Hebrides to to the borders of sub-saharan Africa and permeating into China's Western Borders. Only Italy and Russia retain their cultural identity.

USA is transformed from an Anglo-Saxon protestant "white" republic and resembles the rest of the Americas heavily catholicised the Pope is eventually an American.

The short-term concentration of Power in the West over the past 500 years is passed over to its previous torch-bearers: Asia. India and China after a few centuries gap are now the largest economies in the world. Australia has become a Republic and its population now having more in common with Beijng than London.

Africa's long-term reliance on the West for feeding its exponential population growth is punished as Europe's new masters don't have the guilt of being their former colonial overlords. Africa reeling from starvation and tough love reaches its full potential and Nigeria becomes a great power.

But the most saddest thing of all is that mighty Britain has been balkanised...

Under the pressure of the EU the United Kingdom is split up into special "regional zones" Northen Ireland rejoins its republican brothers to the south, Scotland becomes an independent state, Wales forms a union with the olde English west country, London now the largest metropolis in the world its surburban sprawl reaching the south coast - with an estimated 100 million people living within its borders becomes a country in its own right. Northen England descends into anarchy as it's people try to find a job after years living off the southern middle class.

The dominance of the West is thoroughly missed as the Arab slavers once again descend upon the miserable peoples of the world. A greater-China flexes its muscles by grabbing South-East asia and offloading 250 million Chinese pioneers into the Siberian wilderness, Russia powerless to stop it.

Hmm writing all this down makes me feel pretty damn miserable lol! It is the death of the West....

 

[Traitorfish]

Y'know, not that Quackers is a paranoid, xenophobic ultrareactionary or anything, of couse not! He just thinks that the world will be destroyed by Muslims and Catholics and the Chinese and vicious Tykies wielding sharpened black puddings because that's what any reasonable Englisman can see is simply inevitable. Also, that "most saddest" is not completely redunant.

 

[Dumanios]

2010:Japan begins making an army
2011:Little Kim invades S. Korea
2012:Japan allies with S. Korea while Russia allies with N. Korea
2014:Russia invades Ukraine
2017:India annexes Bangladesh and invades Pakistan
2020:Japan invents Mechagodzilla
2021utin remakes USSR and invades Central Europe,causing WWIII while N. Korea takes over S. Korea and becomes the People's Republic of Korea
2022:Saudi Arabia annexes Yemen,Oman and Kuwait while Iraq nukes Ankara causing Turkey and Israel to join the allies
2025:USSR invades USA,nukes LA,Chicago,Miami and Seattle while razing farms.
2026:US defeats Soviet Invasion
2030:WWIII ends with Korea split between PRC and Japan while Poland,Germany and Czechslovakia had many of there cities razed
2032:Widespread riots plunge USA into Civil War causing many factions to form.
2035:The USA is split between the new Confederacy,Republic of Gilead and American Empire as the main belligerents
2040:American Empire falls to the New Confederacy and Republic of Gilead while Japan and the PRC join togethor
2042:An accident in New Mexico causes the Combine to invade.
2043:Combine is defeated by Gordon Freeman
2050:Warp Drive invented by Zephram Cochrane

 

[DroopyTofu]

THis thread looks interesting. It's too late in the weekend for me to think of anything, so I'll just make something totally random, yet still likely to happen... I mean this totally out of humor, so don't get mad, I'm just using my bad, sarcastic sense of humor.

2009: Barack Obama becomes president.
2010: Economy ran into ground by new presidency
2011: Barack Obama goes back in time to shoot JFK. Accidently destroys moon in the process. Government sets up projection of moon in the nighttime sky to stop suspicion. No one expects anything...
June 2012: Barack Obama launches invasion of Canada, then declares himself dictator for life. He renames the USA the United American Socialist Republic, days later, the USSR is recreated by its president, Michelle Obama.
December 2012: Due to the lack of a moon, all life on Earth ceases and then the planet explodes. A few days later, a black hole eats the Sun, then grows larger and eats the whole universe.
2000000000012: Out of the total emptiness of nothingness, Barack Obama appears and defeats the black hole. He declares the universe a communist country, then is assinated by the black holes nephew.



I'll try to come up with something a little more serious later...

 

[Quackers]

Y'know, not that Quackers is a paranoid, xenophobic ultrareactionary or anything, of couse not! He just thinks that the world will be destroyed by Muslims and Catholics and the Chinese and vicious Tykies wielding sharpened black puddings because that's what any reasonable Englisman can see is simply inevitable. Also, that "most saddest" is not completely redunant.

I just callz it as I seez it

 

[Plotinus]

I'd like to know how you seez the United States going Catholic. I'm sure all those Bible Belters would have had a few things to say about that.

 

[Evie]

I assume he's thinking of Latin American immigration mostly.