Life was pretty different 100 years ago. There were a few Model T Fords around, but
with only 1 in every 50 people owning a car, most walked or travelled by horse. And life expectancy was a lot lower; you’d
be very lucky to live to 50 years old, and flushing toilets, bathtubs and hot water were
luxury amenities…How much the world has changed. Multiple forms of travel available to everyone,
convenience stores on every corner, and revolutions in technology have given us access to instant
chat and video calling around the globe. So what about 100 years into the future? Presumably people will look back at the way
we live today and chuckle at our old-fashioned ways and routines. That’s what we’ll be exploring, in this
episode of The Infographics Show, Things We Do Now that Will Seem Primitive In 100 Years. Today we are transporting ourselves into the
future, 100 years from now, so we can imagine how people will perceive 2018 when they look
back...what they might see as ancient, crazy or just downright primitive. At number 10 is Manual driving – We are
at the beginning of the driverless car revolution, spearheaded by Elon Musk and other forward
thinking entrepreneurs. There are now 52 different companies that
have been approved by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test autonomous vehicles
on the road. These include names such as Tesla, Ford, Waymo,
Uber, BWM, Apple and many more. There will no doubt be hiccups, and an unfortunate
recent fatality involving Uber dominated the headlines last week, but with a long-term
view, we can imagine roads with driverless cars will be far safer. Figures in 2016 and 2017 show that road related
fatalities in America topped 40,000 per year…driving a car to the office in 2118 will be likened
to riding a horse to work today. At 9 is The War on Drugs – The phrase war
on drugs was popularized by the media shortly after a press conference given in 1971 by
President Richard Nixon. With good intentions, the administration’s
agenda was directed toward eradication, interdiction, and incarceration. But 40 years on, and nearly 50 percent of
America’s current criminals in prison for drug-related crimes, the debate continues
about the effectiveness of this war. Since 2011, the Global Commission on Drug
Policy, which includes names such as Sir Richard Branson and Kofi Annan, have been promoting
an agenda to advocate for drug policies based on scientific evidence, human rights, public
health and safety. The future society will look back on this
era and wonder why we continued to push policies that were ineffective, and locked people up
instead of rehabilitating them. Number 8 is Gender Labeling – It has never
been easier to make a personal decision on gender beyond the physical attributes you
are born with, and as medical capability continues to advance and gene manipulation becomes more
accessible, this will only become easier. Societies around the world are currently in
disagreement about how to label or not label gender variations, with Canada leading the
way in 2017, after they placed gender identity and gender expression into both the country’s
Human Rights Code and the hate crime category of its Criminal Code. In the future, concepts such as male and female
will have less meaning as gender takes on a far wider variance. At number 7 is Manual Labor – Artificial
intelligence is a hot topic right now, particularly as people question whether it will increase
unemployment rates as robots continue to replace workers. A recent study by the Midwest Economic Policy
Institute (MEPI) estimates that by 2057 robots could replace or displace 2.7 million jobs
in construction. But is it really that terrible? Many business leaders argue that to balance
the onset of AI, developed countries will need to introduce universal basic income to
ensure citizens are not left high and dry. So maybe our 100-year future is more utopian
than we can yet imagine. Robots doing our jobs while we sit back and
drink Margaritas. At number 6, Traditional Education – Though
school facilities and skills of teachers have improved dramatically, the education system
itself has barely changed in the last 100 years. But new technologies like AI, machine learning,
and educational software are changing the shape of education for students, and disrupting
the role of educators, by creating philosophical shifts in teaching approaches. The future is likely to look very different
with systems catering to the large number of different learning styles. Instant access to information will mean that
many things do not need to be taught and there may even be a day when we have information
chips merged with our brains. Kids will look down from their classrooms
on Mars and ponder at our backwards existence in 2018. At number 5, World War – For decades people
felt world war 3 was coming and that it would be nuclear, ending our world. But a threat can sometimes be a deterrent. It hasn’t happened, and we’ve had nuclear
capabilities since 1945. The next war is likely to be cyber centralized,
as the economic damage that can be caused by taking down a nation’s communications
systems, is far greater than nuclear war. But can war ever end? Sci fi writer John Horgan argues in his 2012
book, The End of War, that war is an invention, like cooking, writing or marriage, and humanity
can abolish war, in part because we abolished slavery. Horgan says that to end war, we just have
to advocate for the unacceptability of it. In all countries, at all times, especially
when tensions rise. Even if there is another major world war,
it’s likely that 100 years from now we will have worked out how to live peacefully, without
it. At number 4 is Physical Money – Unless you’ve
been under a rock for the last 12 months, you will have heard the terms Bitcoin and
Cyrptocurrency thrown around. There is much hype about these decentralized
digital financial exchange systems. More will come and many more will disappear,
but as the Internet becomes more greatly entrenched within our everyday lives, it’s only a matter
of time before physical cash disappears forever. If a 10-dollar note exists 100 years from
now, it’s likely to be found hanging on the wall of a future museum. Number 3 is Plastic – Plastic has been around
for about 100 years but it was only in recent times that we have started to realize the
devastating side effects it has. A recent study showed that a patch of plastic
garbage in the Pacific Ocean amounts to twice the size of Texas, and newspaper The Guardian
states that for the past half century, plastic has infiltrated modern life to such an extent
that our oceans may have more of the stuff than fish by 2050! But things are already starting to change
with bans on single use plastic coming into effect, and continuing shifts in our habits
when it comes to recycling. In the future, it’s likely that much of
our energy will come from waste recycling and the things we use plastic for today, will
be replaced with materials that can either be consumed or that are biodegradable. At number 2 is Fossil Fuels – Our reliance
on fossil fuels began in the 1700’s when the industrial revolution kicked in, but as
electric cars become more affordable and charging stations more commonplace, gas-powered vehicles
will slowly disappear. Add to that the reduced cost of solar and
other alternative energies, and it’s hard to see a world in 100 years that has any necessity
to burn the heavy CO2 fuels we rely on today. And finally, number 1 is Processed Sugar – 100
years ago you could buy heroin, cannabis and cocaine over the pharmacy counter. Today one of the most addictive substances
on the planet is abundant in many foods and consumed by children. Last year The British Journal of Sports Medicine
wrote that sugar could act as a gateway to alcohol and other addictive substances. Like cocaine and opium, it is refined from
plants to yield pure white crystals. As more health related issues are realized
from the effects of over consuming refined sugar, it is certain that regulations will
be introduced to reduce how much is in the food we buy and eat. In 100 years, it’s not unimaginable that
people will question why there was no war on sugar when there was a war on drugs. So, what other current things will seem primitive
100 years from now? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! Also, be sure to check out our other video
called Do These Things to Survive If You’re Stranded on an Island! Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t
forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time!
