Do you think the world will be a better or worse place 100 years from now? Someone asked me this the other day, and I keep going back and forth on it. Please share your opinions.

On one hand i think it's bound to be worse, with the population increase, use of exhaustable resources, and violence on the rise throughout.
On the other hand, science is constantly discovering and seeking new ways to to fix the problems that we are facing. Perhaps it's just that I want so much for things to be better, that I catch myself believing it will be?



Edit:This is an attempt to start a more meaningful discussion, as it seems that a lot of people are looking for that kind of change here.

It depends on so many things. It could be a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and it could be the Jetson future we've all been waiting for. I guess your opinion is going to be a reflection of your impression of the current state of the world. Great topic.

Yes they are.

I hope you don't mind a suggestion. When a question is asked in a thread, I have found that more of a discussion on the subject will generate if the person starting the thread not only asks the question, but also gives an opinion on the matter.
This gives others more subjects to respond on.

This is a great question mandoline and I don't want to come off all preachy or anything, just giving an opinion...

fair enough. like i said i go back and forth a lot, so it may be all over the place. i'll edit my post accordingly. can we have your opinion too my friend?

I definitely think the world will be a 'better place' in 100 years, provided it still exists.

I think the world is a better place now compared to 1907. We have way better medical knowledge and techniques and we have taken {sometimes baby} steps towards complete equality amongst humans. In the industrialized world, women and people of colour may now vote, participate in politics and are respected throughout the workforce.

100 years ago I'd probably be pregnant, barefoot in the kitchen or helping my husband with barn chores. Today I'm sitting at a computer at work, my salary is greater than my SO's (and he's okay with that) and I can choose when to get pregnant (more or less). I think the world will definitely be a "better place" in 2107. I also believe that if we teach our children to be peaceful and respectful human beings, and they teach their children the same and so on, the world may eventually become populated with peaceful, respectful human beings.

I would find it hard to keep going if I didn't believe the world will be better in the future.

*I also agree with Hoosker. I think it's important to state what you think before asking for our opinions.*

Better for who?

Here's the thing--the world will still exist. It's existed for millions of years, it ain't going anywhere but round and round for a long, long time. So the real question is--will it be better for humans?

I'd hope that humans have wised up enough that we're no longer bent on ruining the planet for everything that isn't immediately profitable to us. I'm not optimistic, just hopeful.

This is a really valid point, but like you said it is in the industrialized world. Do you think in 100 years that other countries will have progressed their living standards and human rights as much as we have since 1907?

I try to be optimistic, but I'm more than a bit worried.

I think they will, but I think it's our duty to help them without being too overbearing and paternalistic. We have tremendous opportunity living in the industrialized world and I think that it is our responsibility to help the others obtain this standard of living. It's tough, since nearly every aspect of our lifestyle here requires part of the global population to live in poverty and work for almost free. I try my darndest to be a globally conscious consumer, but it's tricky sometimes.

I guess I don't think everyone needs to have the same life style, and it's a challenge to change their standard of living without also changing their life style. If it can be done, great. I'm just not optimistic that it can.

And I do think that most industrialized countries need to be pushing towards smaller footprints!

I see the world since the industrial revolution and secondarily the development of penecillin in 1939 as being on a LONG downhill slope... Why? Because diseases like syphillis and gonorrhea used to kill people, people who deserved to get them (and probably a few who didn't). I think this had a major emotional effect on the righteous, who saw social disease as God's punishment of the wicked. Many of those gifted and righteous people turned their backs on the effort of reforming society through example and became passive actors keeping cloister their hearts, good deeds, and piety. The industrial revolution sparked the hells of mechanized warfare, human flight, bombs, the concrete jungle, skyscrapers, cars, big oil, and the atom bomb. Medicine and industry perpetuated the world wide population explosion and the full scale assault on the finite resources of our planet. I am personally of the opinion that global warming can not and will not be reversed so long as it is mired in world politics. The problem is so big that a cooperative solution unlike any the world has seen in time of peace or war would need to be implemented tomorrow, and it may still fail. The combination of scarcity of resources, and crop failures due to climate change will no doubt increase poverty and hunger, inevitably leading to war and further depletion of resources. 100 years from now I see the EU and US being at odds over protectionist, tarrifs, subsidies and carbon taxes. I see China as new age wasteland with a population wracked with cancer and a military dictatorship even more heavy handed than todays. I see Austrailia as a dustbowl of a continent not far from the vision of the Mad Max movies.

I see EXTREMELY expensive gene based drugs and therapies available to less than 5% of the world population. I envision dating services which can match you to your best mating partner for more perfect offspring if not all out gene manipulation for those who can afford it. Real efforts will be in place to develop an ion pulse based engine for extra solar manned space flight. I think more than 2 countries will have failed missions to Mars. I see the world energy portfolio 30% powered by renewable resources, abandonment of corn based ethanol, 50% hybrid vehicles world wide, 20% straight electric, 300 dollar/barrel oil, full scale oil sands mining, and a 9ft rise in world sea levels.

Dystopia.

Dull, dirty, over-populated, under-resourced and many other things that make brilliant "bad future" science-fiction. I think humans will definitely exist, but our lives - perhaps our bodies (who knows with genetic advances what will happen?) - will be radically different.

Some of our biggest problems may have been solved like AIDs and other nasty diseases, but some will remain: poor countries (not necessarily the same ones as now, though), war, racism, religious disputes.

As you might be able to tell, I think the glass is half-empty. Or at least twice the size it needs to be.

I believe that as we find cures for AIDS and cancers, new horrid diseases will crop up. Disease is really an effective means of population control, and I'm sure new diseases will arise to replace the ones we're eradicating.
Old diseases coming back might occur, doing the same thing. Super-deadly strains of tuburculosis or polio or whooping cough might do the trick.

Hey TheStep - do you think grammar will die within 100 years, too?

It's a sad truth, but you're right, as we find new ways to cure diseases, we are also letting our population get wildly out of control.

I fear grammar as we know it will dissolve, giving way to a modified, "simpler" English language. It would be a shame if great works of modern writing were rendered unreadable to future people, like Shakespeare is regarded as by many today.

Shakespeare’s writings were not great master pieces, the stories were just well thought out, and intriguing.

Many people can't read Shakespeare because he uses archaic words that have fallen out of usage. Language changes. The English language is already a simplification of Middle English which is a simplification of Old English. For example, Old English words used to have gender.

The language can't be "simplified" much more than it already has. It will change though.

And Grammar can never die. Grammar is an irremovable element of language.

Hmmm...I think you may have to explain yourself.

Edit: To answer the topic at hand: the future will not be better or worse than now. Just different.

I saw this a while ago and I thought it might be relevant.

I read some good things here. Thoughts that are positive...with a bit of worry. My children may be dead in 100 yers, I'm hoping they make a change before it gets to that point. Smart children can make it a better world than it is now.

Your children are, and their children will be, smart. I think most of the other Plimates have/will have smart children. We're smart people on Plime.