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2150 Interstellar
travel is becoming possible Most of these vessels are crewless, with only a handful of humans daring enough to attempt such a voyage. However, each craft is equipped with powerful AI, automated systems and robots which do a better job than any human could, in any case. Protection from incoming meteors is provided by cone-shaped force fields, projected from the front of each craft. This streamlined shape allows such debris to simply drift by without causing any damage. After several decades of interstellar travel, the majority of probes successfully rendezvous with their destinations. Each returns a treasure trove of data and visual information. Among the many discoveries is a planet similar in size to Earth, with over 90% of its surface covered in liquid water, though no life forms are detected. Another, much larger and rockier world is discovered in the same system, with a highly active geology and volcanism. A host of interesting and unique moons, asteroids, ring systems and other astronomical features are catalogued. The success of these missions acts as a catalyst, further accelerating the current boom in space travel.
Androids
physically indistinguishable from real humans The typical android of today would appear somewhat calm and subdued, however. They would rarely (if ever) express any strong emotions. Their cognitive abilities would be geared towards hard facts and objective data, rather than subjective views or emotional reasoning. For this reason, most are still regarded as servants at this point in history. However, advances will be made in the coming decades enabling them to replicate even the subtlest of human traits. With androids playing an increasingly prominent role in society, a civil rights movement begins to develop, mirroring that which dominated America nearly 200 years earlier.*
Hi-tech,
automated cities Lamp posts, telegraph poles, signs, bollards and other "clutter" that once festooned the streets have disappeared. Lighting is now achieved more discretely, using a combination of self-illuminating walls and surfaces, antigravity and other features designed to hide these eyesores, maximising pedestrian space and aesthetics. Electricity is passed wirelessly from building to building. Room temperature superconductors - implanted in the ground - allow the rapid movement of vehicles without the need for tracks, wheels, overhead cables or other bulky components. Cars and trains simply drift along silently, riding on electromagnetic currents. Sign posts are obsolete - all information is beamed electronically into a person's visual cortex. They merely have to "think" of a particular building, street or route to be given information about it. This observer would also notice their increased personal space, and the relative quiet of areas that, in earlier times, would have bustled with cars, people and movement. In some places, robots tending to manual duties might outnumber humans. This is partly as a result of the drastic reduction in the world's population. However, it is also because citizens of today spend the majority of their time in virtual environments. These wholly convincing, simulated realities offer practically everything a person needs in terms of knowledge, communication and interaction – often at speeds vastly greater than real time. Limited only by a person's imagination, they can provide richer and more stimulating experiences than just about anything in the physical world. On those rare occasions when a person ventures outside, they are likely to spend little time on foot. Almost all services and material needs can be obtained within the home, or practically on their doorstep - whether it be food, medical assistance, or even replacement body parts and physical upgrades. A "shop" in the developed world is likely to be run entirely by AI. It will know exactly what you need before you even set foot in it, and will have everything ready upon your arrival (if you even arrive at all, since robots can deliver most goods and services). The same goes for hospitals and other amenities. Social gatherings in the real world tend to be infrequent - usually reserved for "special" occasions such as funerals, for novelty value, or the small number of situations where VR is impractical. Crime is almost non-existent in these hi-tech cities. Surveillance is everywhere: recording every footstep of your journey in perfect detail and identifying who you are, from the moment you enter a public area. Even your internal biological state can be monitored - such as neural activity and pulse - giving clues as to your immediate intentions. Police can be summoned instantly, with robotic officers appearing to 'grow' out of the ground through the use of blended claytronics and nanobots, embedded into the buildings and roads. This is so much faster and more efficient that in most cities, having law enforcement drive or fly to a crime area (in physical vehicles) has become obsolete.
Although safe and clean, some of these hi-tech districts might appear rather sterile to an observer from the previous century. They would lack the grit, noise and character which defined cities in past times. One way that urban designers are overcoming this problem is through the use of dynamic surfaces. These create physical environments that are interactive. Certain building façades, for instance, can change their appearance to match the tastes of the observer. This can be achieved via augmented reality (which only the individual is aware of), claytronic surfaces and holographic projections (which everybody can see), or a combination of the two. A bland glass and steel building could suddenly morph into a classical style, with Corinthian columns and marble floors; or it could change to a red brick texture, depending on the mood or situation.
Total
solar eclipse in London
Mass
extinctions are levelling off The world's fauna is therefore dominated by rats, flies, cockroaches and canines, while plant life is composed largely of weeds, cacti and other wild desert plants. Throughout the world lie abandoned cities and decaying infrastructure surrounded by vast, polluted wastelands. Small pockets of "rich" biodiversity can still be found – but most of these are contained within artificial environments protected and sealed from the hellish conditions outside. What remains of humanity has fled to the high latitudes, where climates are favourable enough to sustain the hi-tech cities described earlier.
The
world's first bicentenarians However, the rate of increase itself had been accelerating, due to major breakthroughs in medicine and healthcare, combined with better education and lifestyle choices. This created a "stepping stone", allowing people to buy time for the treatments available later in the century - which included being able to halt the aging process altogether.*
The
first kilometre-sized space station is complete Several other large-scale space stations have been appearing in Earth orbit during the last few decades - but this is the largest, and represents a new generation. It contains an entire fusion power plant at its core, utilises a form of artificial gravity and is home to many hundreds of people and androids. The commercial space industry is booming during this time, with a regular flow of traffic between Earth, the Moon, Mars and the asteroids.*
Antimatter
power plants are coming online A new generation of power plants is becoming available, capable of harnessing the energy released in matter/antimatter collisions. The reactions involved are 1,000 times more powerful than the fission produced in nuclear power plants and over 300 times more powerful than nuclear fusion energy.*
Various colonies in the outer solar system are also being targetted. These are particularly vulnerable, since they tend to lack the orbital infrastructure and defences necessary to deflect these huge incoming objects. At least one major colony around Jupiter is devastated during this time. In addition to religious extremists, there is a growing anarcho-primitivist movement. This consists of small underground cults opposed to the increasing dominance of AI in the running of world affairs. They deplore what they see as forced, unnatural changes and technologies sweeping humanity - instead favouring a return to more traditional lifestyles and cultures. They are prepared to resort to whatever means necessary to achieve this.*
Matter
replication devices are available for the home Originally used in factories, science labs and corporate environments, the machines were big enough to fill entire rooms, and often required huge amounts of power. They worked well for large enterprises but were completely impractical for the consumer market. However, much like the IT industry, exponential progress in this field led to a rapidly shrinking form-factor. Combined with power conservation and heat dissipation techniques, a new generation of replicators began to evolve that were ultra-compact. Eventually they became small enough to fit on kitchen worktops. Today, these devices are as cheap and commonplace as microwave ovens were in the late 20th century. They are most commonly used as food synthesisers, but a variety of other household items can be reproduced. Raw mass resources - in the form of sterilised organic particulates - are stored in compartments within the machine. To save energy and computational power, these have been specially formulated to statistically require the least quantum manipulation. The user inputs their choice either via mind control, or voice activation. Molecular analysers then scan each and every subatomic particle, while trillions of Heisenberg compensators maintain cohesion as the object begins to materialise, held in place by micro force-fields. The process takes a matter of seconds and can be repeated indefinitely - resources are beamed in from an external supplier, like tap water. A vast database containing information on food, clothing and other objects is constantly maintained online. This is automatically downloaded into each machine, and contains many freely available programs. These devices will play a major role in eliminating poverty, disease and hunger throughout the world. Traditional agriculture, manufacturing and distribution will become obsolete, replaced by purely information-driven systems that are completely decentralised.*
Global
languages are becoming few in number now; education has been vastly
accelerated The spoken word has been relegated to a secondary function. Mind interfaces have become the preferred method for in-person communication. These are transparently embedded in clothing, or directly in the body. This form of digital telepathy has been available for over a century - but has now been perfected, so that colossal streams of audio-visual data can be sent and received in addition to basic thoughts and feelings. Practically all education and training is now achieved in this way. Schools have become obsolete, with teaching instead taking place in a home environment. The learning process has been accelerated to such an extent that a child of today could learn the entire curricula of a 20th century classroom in a microsecond - just by connecting to the "global brain" of the Internet. This process is facilitated by a combination of genetic engineering and neural upgrades - applied before birth - which extend the brain's capacity and throughput by many orders of magnitude. To an observer from the year 2000, a typical child of the late 22nd century would appear like a miniature Einstein: an expert on virtually any subject, capable of conversing fluently on everything from quantum mechanics to the inner workings of a spacecraft.
The
West Antarctic ice sheet is beginning to disintegrate Although CO2 emissions fell sharply in the mid-21st century, positive feedback loops had already been triggered, making it too late to prevent global warming. By the end of the 22nd century, a whole series of tipping points is being reached. Most significant is the West Antarctic ice sheet - containing 2.2 million cubic kilometres of ice - which is now beginning to disintegrate. Substantial melting is also being experienced in Greenland and Iceland, contributing vast quantities of additional water.* Sea levels have risen nearly 4m as a result of all this, radically altering the geopolitical map of the world.* Earth is becoming a desert planet, with a highly volatile climate and fluctuating extremes of weather. Most of civilisation is crammed into dense vertical cities around freshwater locations, far away from the coast - and highly dependent on advanced technology.
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References 1 This compares with around 40 thousand years for space probes of the early 21st century. 2 The Star Trek: TNG episode, The Measure of a Man, is an excellent portrayal of how this scenario may unfold. It features a trial involving the android Commander Data, in which his sentience is challenged. His status as the "property" of Star Fleet is brought into the debate. 3 Total Solar Eclipse of 2151 June 14, NASA: 4 See 2060. 5 Aubrey de Grey - In Pursuit of Longevity, YouTube: 6 Mining the Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets,
by John S Lewis (1997). 7 How Antimatter Spacecraft Will Work, HowStuffWorks: 8 Cosmic golf game could smash cities, Rumour Mill News (originally
posted in The Times): 9 Anarcho-primitivism, Wikipedia: 10 "Within this century it might be possible to use a thought-driven
apparatus to manipulate room-temperature superconductors and perform feats
that woud be indistinguishable from magic. And by the next century it
might be possible to rearrange the molecules in a macroscopic object." 11 The cost of losing too many tongues, Times Higher Education: 12 See 2095. 13 Greenland thaw among feared climate shifts by 2200, Reuters: 14 Climate experts call sea level rise inevitable, The Johns Hopkins
News-Letter:
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