21st
century...
2040-2049
timeline contents
2040
- Fusion power is nearing commercial
availability | "Energy
islands" are widespread in coastal regions | Less than two-thirds of the original Congo jungle remains standing | Virtual telepathy is dominating personal communications | Biorepository and genomic information systems are transforming healthcare | Pollen counts have more than doubled | Tobacco
has been largely eradicated | Claytronics
are revolutionising consumer products | Breakthroughs
in carbon nanotube production | China's HSR network has been greatly expanded | Completion of the Northeast Corridor high-speed rail route
2041
- Global average temperatures have risen by 2°C | Orbital solar power is commercially feasible
2042 - Global population reaches 9 billion | White people are a minority in the USA
2043
- Slovenia closes down its only nuclear power plant
2044
- A tipping point for permafrost melting | The last veterans of WW2 are passing
away | A transglobal highway and rail network has emerged | Five-year survival rates for bowel cancer are approaching 100%
2045
- Humans are becoming intimately
merged with machines | The Chūō Shinkansen high speed maglev route is complete | Gulf Coast cities are being abandoned due to super hurricanes
2045-2049
- China transitions towards a
democracy | Major extinctions
of animal and plant life
2046
- The UK state pension age has risen to 70
2047
- Fully autonomous, intelligent military aircraft | Unmanned probe to 2060 Chiron
2048
- The Antarctic Treaty comes
up for review | Reversible biostasis
is available | The near-Earth
asteroid 2007 VK184 makes a close pass
2049
- Robots are a common feature of homes
and workplaces | The Dead Sea is
drying up | The effects of heat stress on labour capacity have doubled
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