It feels like the world is moving at a
faster rate than ever. Every day, smartphones are getting smarter, A.I. is becoming more inteligent and our environment seems to be
getting worse every year. If you were to travel 50 years into the the future,
what would the world look like? This is WHAT IF, and here's what would happen
if you lived 50 years into the future. Look down at your and phone think Look down at your and phone think
how far technology has
come in the last 10 years. how far technology has
come in the last 10 years. Have you ever imagined
what tech might look like in 50 years? What about your family and friends? What'll happen to them? In 50 years time we may actually look back and laugh at how we had to hold our phones. How primative! Instead, our smartphones will either be worn, or implanted in us through contact lenses. Imagine being able to have your
GPS embedded in your vision, instead of having to look down at your phone. But, although this all sounds nice,
there will be problems too. If you don't want to fast-forward
yourself into the future because you're worried that your
family might not be around, Well you can rest easy, knowing
that in 50 years, the average life expectancy will be
about 80 - 90 years. That's over 10 years longer than what it is today. Since the 1960s our population percentages
have always looked like a pyramid. But 50 years into the future that
pyramid will look like a rectangle. This means that there will be an equal
percentage of senior citizens to toddlers. This, will have a huge effect on the economy. Grandma and Grandpa will be
retiring much later, and when they do, those seniors'
homes are going to be packed. With more people in the work force,
jobs will be harder to find. Just graduated school? Expect to live at home with
mom and dad a bit longer. Especially since AI is expected to be working
over 800 million of our former jobs by 2030. The world's population will
be at an all time high. By this time, the Earth's population
will have reached a staggering 9 billion people. More people means more problems. There will be a much higher
probability of food shortages as we try to grow crops to feed everyone. Crops will be harder to grow as well,
with increasing temperatures. And with 70% of the world's
population living in cities, crowding will lead to more
diseases being spread, and faster. As for the environment, well that
doesn't look too good either. The Amazon rainforest will continue
to be deforested and in 50 years time, half of it will be gone.
Don't expect it to come back either increasing climate change will
render it a parched shrubland. Higher temperatures will cause polar ice
caps to less than 50% of what they are today. And the Dead Sea may actually live up to its
name, as its water will continue to evaporate. Thinking about visiting American cities like New Orleans, Miami, and Houston? Sorry, but you're out of luck. Hurricanes will get a lot worse
in the next 50 years, as well as higher water levels leading
to us abandoning the Gulf Coast. But don't worry, it isn't all bad! Although the world may be dying, it's not
the only place humans will have to live. In the next 50 years, humans will
have begun colonizing Mars. Private companies will even be attempting
to travel to the Alpha Centauri system, the closest star system to our Solar System. While there we'll visit the
Proxima-centauri B planet which has a good chance of housing alien life. If we don't find any little green men, we
might decide to colonize it ourselves. So, we've talked about the human race,
and the environment, but what about you? What's going to happen with
you 50 years into the future? Well first off, you won't have to go
to the doctor for your annual checkup. You'll have a device where you can
scan yourself for any diseases. Watch for body modifications
to rise in popularity. And we're not talking
about tattoos or piercings. You'll be able to get things like cybernetic
eyes that will allow you to see better, and to see things that are
invisible to us today like radiation. If you're rich from your Bitcoin
investment blowing up, then you can even get yourself a designer baby. These babies can be completely
customized from simply what they look like; to things like their behaviour
and intelligence. A.I. will be as smart as humans. They won't have taken over the world just yet, but they'll be well on their way. A.I. will constantly be
progressing in intellgence, soon being smarter than humans
could ever imagine ourselves. Expect them to be working with us, while
humans have more advanced roles in our jobs. So, are you ready for all the good
and bad that comes with the future? If not, that's okay! Just live in the present, and slowly
grow into it over the next 50 years. Who knows, in the future we may not
even talk about hypothetical scenarios anymore. Will there be any "What Ifs" or will every idea in the universe have
gone through a computer simulation? That sounds like a question for
another What IF.
