Where will we be in 50 years?

[stui magpie]

Firstly, excuse for a gratuitous 80's music clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm5tsUjYVjk

So apart from the song, in 50 years I expect to be well dead, but where will Australian society be? Our kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews etc. What sort of world/country/society will they be living in?

I'm 54, grew up in the bush and I reckon I've seen a fair bit of change over the journey. I don't think it's going to slow down, I don't know how it's going to play out and perspective is totally relative. I think the future will be better and worse, I can't predict how the people living in it will compare it to now.

While the past 50 years have seen significant progress on social issues, I'd argue technology has shaped the current world more than social progress.

technology in the form of first personal computers, then the internet, then smart phones/portable devices have changed the nature of society and work . There's an argument that social reforms thru the 60's to 80's created the platform for tech to reshape the world, I'd probably buy into that.

I could go into a detailed comparison between then and now, but tempted as I am, I won't. there's just so many things have changed from retail hours, access to information, the internet and social media, attitudes toward religion etc.

I'm not putting caveats on this, it's open slather but i will post some priming questions:

What will be the next big thing that will shape society of the future, whether tech or societal or both?

What will the typical Australian family look like? Any and all demographics

What will school leavers have to look forward to in 50 years?

Will things be better or worse or both depending on perspective

I'm inclined to think that the tech that has driven much of the change will plateau unless something I can't foresee comes in, so much of the change will be social, for better and worse.

thoughts?

[think positive]

too tired to answer tonight,
but god i love this song, and Brian Mannox, and uncanny Xmen! takes me back 35 years to the pub music scene, love it! travelled far and wide to watch them!!

thanks for THAT memory!! great times

[David]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De1LCQvbqV4

In all seriousness, if the worst of climate change is averted, then I expect a real hardening of society and a turn away from liberal democracy and towards a Chinese-style authoritarian surveillance state (particularly here in Australia). Technology will keep evolving; it doesn't seem too far-fetched that, for instance, credit cards will be chips implanted into our bodies, and I expect VR to be a much bigger part of entertainment and popular culture (with, perhaps, some people being able to choose living most of their day-to-day lives in a virtual reality). I suspect that there will be a lot of global poverty and brutal border policing as population growth outstrips resources – probably even another major war as 20th century alliances and institutions break down. I think America will be a shell of its former self, kind of like what the UK is today compared to the British Empire, and that global power will be divided between it, China, India and maybe some of the EU states. People will generally be just as miserable then as they are now.

That's my glass-half-full outlook, anyway.

[stui magpie]

Interesting thoughts.

i can't see the Chinese style surveillance you mention happening here, although I do think CCTV cameras will be everywhere. I can't see Australians allowing a shift too far either left or right without some kind of trigger event.

I agree Tech will keep evolving, but I can't see what the next big leap can be unless it's AI.

Africa is a basket case and I can't see that changing unless there's some dramatic step change.

Interesting you mentioned climate change, i can see a real increased focus on renewable energy which could bring the middle eastern oil empires crashing down, meaning the whole middle east will be a basket case and that's where your next war will come from.

The dynamic between China and India could also be interesting

[Pies4shaw]

The trigger event will be a Chinese invasion. Not of the Pauline Hanson kind - your actual common or garden military invasion.

[stui magpie]

^

OK, since you mentioned ole red, please explain?

What would initiate Chine to invade Australia? They're already taking us over economically.