Introduction
Our planet, its population, environment, and societies change and develop rapidly nowadays. People were always interested in the topic of future events and generations because even the most stable countries, companies, and other structures might go bankrupt, whereas other considerably poor and unpopular places are likely to prosper and become the world’s leaders. The following paper will discuss and cover particular presumptions, expectations, and probabilities of what humanity will be obliged to face in the nearest future.
Civilization and Technological Progress
The first aspect implies new technologies, gadgets, civilization characteristics, and so on. Today, any person can buy a film that was released in the 1970’s and witness a wide variety of significant changes that have been happening to the entire world within the past thirty years. The progress is incredible – no one could have thought that every person might have an affordable and compact means of communication in one’s pocket in the twenty-first century (Spier, 2015). Today, almost all populations of civilized countries cannot imagine working, living, and communicating without their helpful and useful mobile phones with a plethora of options. Moreover, people start inventing and popularizing the movement of eco-products and vehicles due to Earth’s pollution at a critical level (Spier, 2015). For instance, wealthy families tend to buy electric cars because they are more powerful, efficient, economical, and cause less harm and damage to our environment.
There is no doubt that all of the features mentioned above will be less surprising and impressive in several decades because there will be new, more technological and convenient inventions that will make today’s best engineering achievements look insignificant. Perhaps, people will not be obliged to waste their time on such daily tasks as cleaning, taking a shower, dressing, and shopping due to the new smart systems that will reduce various time-consuming processes to the possible minimum. This tendency is widespread even today because people, who want to develop and build their careers, do not have any time to wash their dishes and clean their bedrooms. Busy individuals hire house personnel that might be replaced by electric robots in the future.
Changes in the Environment
The topic of environmental changes in the future is discussed in all parts of the world and remains essential for governments of leading countries. The first thing that concerns politicians the most is the possibility of global warming, which was detected by meteorologists due to the world’s climate’s increasing temperature within the past fifty years (Trenberth et al., 2013). Although these changes are not crucial at the present moment, they are expected to cause tremendous damage to maritime cities (floods) and highlands (fires and overheating) all over the world.
Another essential factor that every country might be involved in lies in a menace to world peace and to humanity’s safety that is expected to emerge due to World War Three (Spier, 2015). Although there are no presuppositions of this disaster, all people should always be ready to protect themselves because politicians and armies of different states are unlikely to share their top secret materials with regular citizens. However, in case of World War Three, residents of the most powerful Commonwealths might become vulnerable populations, whereas other countries may aim at occupying the places of the world’s leading states.
Many demographers claim that there will be no villages within the next one hundred years in Asia, Europe, and South America because the local populations’ numbers increase rapidly (Spier, 2015). Due to the problem of overpopulation, such issues as the lack of organic and natural food supplies might emerge in the parts of the world mentioned above because there would be no fields left for growing wheat, rice, corn, and other nutritious products. Indeed, these obstacles to a healthy lifestyle might negatively influence such factors as longevity and happiness of people who might be obliged to share small living areas with their relatives to survive.
It is a well-known fact that Elon Musk (a founder of Tesla, Space-X, and Pay-Pal) established the project that is intended to colonize Mars by sending a spaceship with prepared cosmonauts to the Red Planet. The first expedition will be required to create all the necessary conveniences and services on the neighboring planet to host more human beings (Spier, 2015). Although this project was not realized yet, many volunteers invested millions of dollars in it and will be given a chance to participate in this spectacular expedition. Therefore, a part of humanity might move to Mars within the next one hundred years.
Social Changes
Nowadays, people have less time for fellowship than our ancestors did because modern youth strives to develop and become successful. According to demographic statistics, the loneliest people live in Japan (Takagi & Saito, 2015). Moreover, this country remains a suicide leader among other Commonwealths because Japanese islands’ inhabitants do not have any spare time due to an accelerated life pace. Unfortunately, this problem is spreading all over the planet right now, and people become less communicative and are more reserved than previous generations.
Cultural Changes
The world’s modern population divides into many categories and social statuses, which influences the lack of fellowship among people of various origins, classes, and places. Therefore, individuals who live in different parts of the world might not know anything about cultures, traditions, and customs of other countries (Spier, 2015). However, there are several Commonwealths that everyone is interested in, and their life concepts and perceptions are forced and popularized with the help of mass media. For instance, immigrants to such countries as the United States of America or the United Kingdom struggle to understand the local culture, and as a result, have problems with grasping the precise meaning of common phrases.
Another cultural aspect that is likely to change within the next one hundred years is art because new styles in music, painting, and literature emerge almost every decade due to various social changes, mainstream influences, and other factors (Spier, 2015). For instance, such music genre as dubstep was at the peak of its popularity several years ago, but modern youth might not know such style, as everyone is interested in rap right now. The same situation is present among artists – they try to create something original and want their paintings to be unique, distinctive, and attractive at the same moment. Unfortunately, the culture of art is getting less popular day by day because people are more involved in photography today.
As humans pay less attention to historical origins and backgrounds of their countries, there is a possibility that all the world’s nations will become alike due to similar products, life philosophies, political strategies, and so on. For instance, inhabitants of Japan slowly forget their cultural backgrounds and become more like Americans or Europeans because they must work in offices to survive in the country of the highest standards (Takagi & Saito, 2015). The issue of forgetting cultural traditions diffuses all over the planet and remains prevalent even in the most developed countries. Perhaps, the World Wide Web influenced such changes because people did not have any chances to look and find interesting information about different cultures as easy as it is possible now. Moreover, internet users from distant parts of the world communicate with one another on a daily basis. Lately, it has become difficult to differentiate lifestyles of different nations. Gigantic international corporations even set dress-code and behavior standards that their employees are obliged to follow.
Another factor that has a major impact on cultural changes lies in people’s ability to travel and commute between different countries very fast. Therefore, office clerks who work for an extended period, take vacations to visit other attractive locations that have the most comfortable hotels with all possible conveniences. Moreover, employees of different corporations often travel to establish business partnerships or to discusss ome strategic aspects with foreign colleagues. Hence, all cultures have the same services and business standards, which bring people together and make their meetings less complicated (Spier, 2015). On the other hand, nations lose their ethnic values, forget their traditions, cuisines, and other customs that make them unique.
Conclusion
Nowadays, new technologies and social differences develop and change day by day. Due to an enormous number of toxic gases, automobiles with combustion engines, and other poisonous inventions, Earth might lose its plants, oceans, and other vital objects. Although all countries are getting more civilized and developed, their populations are usually lonely and do not have any emotional support from close people.
References
Spier, F. (2015). Big history and the future of humanity. Somerset, UK: Wiley.
Takagi, E., & Saito, Y. (2015). Older parents’ loneliness and family relationships in Japan. Ageing International, 40(4), 353-375. doi:10.1007/s12126-015-9219-1
Trenberth, K. E., Dai, A., Schrier, G. V., Jones, P. D., Barichivich, J., Briffa, K. R., & Sheffield, J. (2013). Global warming and changes in drought. Nature Climate Change, 4(1), 17-22. doi:10.1038/nclimate2067