The world in 50 years...

This week I had to think about what the world would look like in 50 years. Of course the first thing that comes to mind is technology: in 50 years we will probably have computer that can do anything, robots that will do everything for us, maybe technology will even be implemented in the human body, in the way that we will have a built-in mobile phone.

You might have your doubts about how positive these predicted changes are. Productive, sure. Easy, definitely. But just a little too easy maybe; everything will be done for us, so people might get extremely lazy, and, as a consequence, fat. However, in 50 years we might already have found a way to solve that problem.

So much for the obvious scenario. But what if it does not turn out to go this way? What if, between now and 2061, something goes extremely wrong? What if new technologies make it too easy to start a war, to kill thousands of people at the same time? And what if that happens? What if half of the world does not survive, and the other half blames technology for it? This might sound a bit theoretical and you might think it will never happen, but it could happen. And what if the world then decides that technology is evil and cannot be used extensively anymore? At that point, the whole world goes back to, say, the 1950’s.

Extreme politeness. Collectivism. Face-to-face conversations. Dishwashing by hand. Could that be our future? Could it go the exact opposite direction from what everyone is expecting? And if it does, will it last or will the world start developing itself again the same way it did 50 years ago? And will we end up in the same state as we are now in another 100 years? Is such a future possible at all? What do you think?