[Image Source: Cosmosmagazine.com ]
2030 A TIME OF DISCOVERY AND AMAZING INVENTION!
“The World in 2030: How Science will Affect Computers, Medicine, Jobs, Our Lifestyles and the Wealth of our Nations”
Wednesday, October 28, 2009Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist and the Henry Semat Professor at the City College of New York and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he has taught for more than 30 years. He is a graduate of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and earned his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley.
Dr. Kaku is one of the founders of string field theory, a field of research within string theory. String theory seeks to provide a unified description for all matter and the fundamental forces of the universe.
His book The Physics of the Impossible addresses how science fiction technology may become possible in the future. His other books include Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the Tenth Dimension , selected as one of the best science books of 1994 by both the New York Times and The Washington Post, and Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos , a finalist for the Samuel Johnson Prize.”Source>>>>
11 Predictions for the World in 2030 – Source: ilookforwardto.com
“All futurism is speculation. It’s time someone made some claims. I’ve picked developments I honestly consider plausible. Here are my 11 predictions for the world of 2030. I’m backing these claims up with previous writings. To access the relevant article, just click the title of each point.
Alright, crystal ball time:
1. By 2030, learning a second language will no longer be necessary.A tiny computer that fits in your ear, and translates what you hear into your own language? It’s not farfetched at all. In fact, all the requisite technology exists today, and all that’s missing is for someone to connect the dots.
2. By 2030, thousands, perhaps millions, of people will have a life expectancy of 150 years.
Aubrey de Grey says: I think we have a 50% chance of achieving medicine capable of getting people to 200 in the decade 2030-2040. Presuming we do indeed do that, the actual achievement of 200 will probably be in the decade 2140-2150 – it will be someone who was about 85-90 at the time that the relevant therapies were developed.
3. By 2030, only 2% of the world’s population will live in extreme poverty.
The eradication of extreme poverty will happen in our lifetime. In 1990, 42% of the world’s population lived on less than $1.25 (constant 2000 dollars, PPP). In 2005, that number had fallen to 25%. The UN estimates that by 2020, only 10% of world citizens will live in absolute poverty. My bold estimate is that by 2030, only one in 50 will.
4. By 2030, the best food will be grown in skyscrapers.
Soil-based agriculture is so passé. Nothing short of an agricultural revolution is underway, spurred on by visionary Dr. Dickson Despommier of Columbia University. His plan is to build 30-story greenhouses in cities around the world, which will allow us to produce more food, for less money, in a healthier way, while freeing up arable land for nature.
5. By 2030, driverless cars will be commonplace.
I’m sure you’ve dreamed it: Getting into a car, kicking your shoes off and leaning back with a good movie and a cold beer while your self-driven car takes you safely to your destination, without your having to worry about directions or pedestrians. Well, the technology we need to make that car exists.
6. By 2030, 18 cities will have more than 20 million inhabitants, and New York City will be the 16th largest city in the world.
I actually think this is a conservative estimate. Although global population is increasing at a staggering pace, the world’s cities have an ever higher growth rate. At present, 50% of the world’s population live in urban areas, but by 2030 that figure is projected at 60%. And 93% of that urban growth will occur in developing countries.
7. By 2030, automated flying drones will transport humans.
Probably a lot sooner, actually. Developing a well functioning delivery drone network will pave the way for confidence in a practical network of drones delivering people. Humans have notoriously poor navigation skills in three-dimensional environments, so unmanned aerial vehicles seem a safer option than those prone to human error.
8. By 2030, space tourism will be common, and 40,000 humans will be working in orbit.
The Space Island Group, in cooperation with British Airways, is planning to build an international, multi-purpose, commercial space station which, to begin with, will include hotels, research facilities, gourmet restaurants, and sports arenas (for new zero-gravity sports) along with dozens of other uses which can’t be imagined today. SIG is but one of a handful of companies working on similar projects.
9. By 2030, most film actors will be out of work due to competition from cheap computer animated actors.
Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) technology will enable us to create movies with animated characters so lifelike that they become indistinguishable from humans, rendering actors (in film anyway) obsolete.
10. By 2030, China will have 250 cities with more than one million inhabitants.
Today, 90% of people in the UK and 80% of Americans live in cities, while in China only 46% do. The UK has five urban areas with more than one million inhabitants. The US has 37. China has 90. That’s today, and whereas the UK and the US have peaked in terms of urbanization, China is only half-way urbanized. The consultancy firm McKinsey predicts that China will have 220 cities with more than 1 million inhabitants by 2025.
11. By 2030, a large number of people will have robot lovers.
This is perhaps my boldest prediction.When I ask guys if they’d get a robot girlfriend, most of them intuitively say no. They think robot and they think metal, wires, awkward motions and an empty stare. I’d say no to that too, if those were my associations with the word robot. But what if your robot partner looked, felt, sounded and even talked like a human? Robots that are physically indistinguishable from humans are only 15-20 years away.
If you’d like to add a prediction of your own to this list, or you fervently disagree with specific claims, please let me know in the comments below.
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Love this site and love Dr. Michio Kaku. This was sooooo positive after reading such DIRE predictions about climate change on other blogs, books etc. I’d kind of forgotten to look at how the future could be. I esp. like the data on poverty. I had no idea about those stats.
The press would have you believe almost all of us is going to be living in poverty in the future. Thank you so much for that hopeful data. I love future predictions and look forward each day to a new one. Each one is interesting, very informative and usually quite stimulating for the mind. This one had me wanting to live to be 200!!! I want this kind of world to live in. Thank you Dr. Michio Kaku.
Thank You so much. It is much better to see the world like this, instead of all the wars and end of world. I wish there was a way to have most of the people see it this way. It would lead this to become true. Instead US leads us to an end
It would be madness to see life only as it is and not as it should be. Thanks for a great post!
Thank you, I’ve just been searching for info approximately this topic for ages and yours is the best I have found out till now. However, what in regards to the bottom line? Are you certain in regards to the supply?
The time frame for most of these predictions are just ridiculous!
18 years? Try another 50 years on top of that. it’s like people predicting flying cars by 2000 …. where are they now?
It is a good prediction that the weather will utlimatly be controlled. Technology is improving to stop hurricanes, soon rain will fall where it is most needed and droughts will be abolished. The human population will control the earth with this technology.
It was not so good to read that, people are already forgetting their own self and moreover how we are going to win against nature which just mighty how about the unanswered questions of universe, how about if some other race will come to see us and hopefully they will say that let’s move on its a dumb race, how about the nuclear wars. You are right in a way if everything will go smooth but did you consider all the risks involved. In my personal opinion we could easily achieve most of these thing today but the question is did we? Who is going to rule this planet? will there be a single nation or are we going to fight against each other and will leave no traces of this race in the future……..this article is only based on science and technology but think about the other factors as well.
Thanks
Congratulations, Cr. Michi Kaku! There are always quite a number of people against any prophet. by this I don’t mean that you are a prophet. I admire you for your care for the human race and optimism. Those who look forward to the future and see ruins and sorrows are the ones who couldn’t imagine beyond what is already visible. Is it not when it is darkest that we realise that dawn is approaching? All these wars, nuclear weapons, fightings, combats, insufficiencies etc. will someday end. Although your predictions may not be accurate as far as years are concerned, I believe that there will come a time when the whole human race will be a large single society and that, too, very soon…may be sooner than we could imagine. The Almighty reigns and who are we to know exactly when, how and what.
A person who predicate the future is a fool who has no future
Very optimistic predictions, based perhaps on a controlled environment, but one has to factor in the impact of war, middle east instability and struggles for control of energy and commodity supplies. While the figures on poverty are heartening, I get the impression that there is a global shift in the bell curve from middle to lower-middle income, the vast majority of whom are just one paycheck away from poverty. Longer lifespan has to be accompanied by improved quality of life, or else its pointless. Many elderly people become senile from 80yrs on… Just imagine trying to chat to a 150yr old!! Great work doc, but i think a prediction or 2 about how we are going to manage waste, or preserve our natural environment would have done more to halt the sense of complacency and rid the masses of the idea that the scientists will solve all our problems.
We live in a technical reality, so yes scientists can solve those types of problems. Others will focus on philosophy and still question the meaning of life in a highly technological, automated society, but lets not marginalize scientists because they’re making the world a better place.
Not trying to marginalize scientists, quite to the contrary. We should, now more than ever, be aware of the long term consequences of our actions.The scale and pace of scientific endeavours is mind boggling, and the effects are far-reaching and not always reversible… a bit like putting the genie back into the bottle…for example, the intended benefits of genetically modified crops have been hijacked by multinationals like Monsanto to obtain a stranglehold on the supply of food. Fracking sounds fantastic in theory until you start getting reports of widespread pollution from the various chemicals that are used in the process. Thalidomide was first used as a sedative and touted as a wonder drug until the birth defects started appearing. History is awash with examples of good intentions gone awry. I certainly dont advocate marginalizing scientists, we need to be more inclusive in the discussions that will affect our planet and our lives.
Okay, if so many robot replacements are going to take over for human jobs, where will the ones displaced go? Eventually, they will have to resort to poverty if they do not have a partner or children, which would adversely affect the poverty rate.
Other than that question, this is some great work! Its a refreshing change of pace to see someone talking about our optimistic future than one full of pollution, global warming, and billions of people dying of diseases. Thank you!
i love the future because it gives me hope to live .
i love this hope it comes true. it comes with a price through becuase robots might try to kill us so be carful
I predict by the year 2030 soccer will replace football as the favorite sport in America. It currently enjoys that status in the rest of the world. America will become a dominated Latino culture. Soccer will be the dominate sport in high schools, college, and professional leagues. Football will face extinction because of head traumas.
thank you DR, Kaku a lot of these predictions are amazing to think about and they make me wonder where they will lead the idea that people could live for a hundred plus years and there will be less poor in the world are things i can really hope for but the one I would like to see started today are the skyscraper farms I think it is time that humans share the world with the rest of the creatures on this planet and give back some of the land for nature to recover