DBWI: The seriously distant future year 2008, what will it be like?
- Thread starter Emperor Qianlong
- Start date
Hendryk
Banned
Hopefully by then the Algerian War will be over at last. It's been raging for 4 years and it's tearing France apart. There's even talk of de Gaulle coming back and deposing the Fourth Republic to put an end to the fighting.
Really, who would have thought that fighting an insurgency in a Arab country would be so difficult? The body count keeps rising but we're no closer to bringing the place back to a semblance of order. We've even resorted to torturing the terrorists we capture, but to what effect? It's like Indochina all over again: long, messy and a foregone conclusion no matter how much we pretend otherwise.
But at least I'm sure that the powers of 2008 will have learned the lesson and won't make the same mistake.
Really, who would have thought that fighting an insurgency in a Arab country would be so difficult? The body count keeps rising but we're no closer to bringing the place back to a semblance of order. We've even resorted to torturing the terrorists we capture, but to what effect? It's like Indochina all over again: long, messy and a foregone conclusion no matter how much we pretend otherwise.
But at least I'm sure that the powers of 2008 will have learned the lesson and won't make the same mistake.
Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy
Banned
The US? I don't see it. France definitely, Britain maybe, but why would the United States care about Israel?
Anyway, getting Jordan and Iraq in such a union would obviously require the overthrow of the Hashemite monarchies, which just so happen to be propped by Britain. Instant enmity!
OOC: Since Hendryk's established that De Gaulle's not in power yet, this is early '58.
PoorBoy, remember economic considerations and overall population. At current rates of population increase, there will be 4 billion people around 1970 and maybe 8 billion in 2008. Sounds crowded, but 3 mile towers seem a bit much even so - that's about 700 stories. Maybe a few skyscrapers will go that high, but I don't see cities full of them. half mile towers, yes, maybe mile towers like the one Frank Lloyd Wright came up with for Chicago. Instead, cities will grow outwards as well, with dense networks of roads, rail lines, and air corridors linking current cities into megalopolises - the DC-Boston corridor is going to be a web of city and suburb soon, probably the Los Angeles-San Bernardino-San Diego and San Francisco Bay-Sacramento areas as well.
As for trains, there are definite uses for them. Urban areas are going to be packed with cars - traffic will be nightmarish, even with superhighways (even if they're ); commuting distances will be large. High-speed rail may work out as longer-range commuting. Japan is very densely populated, especially on Honshu - I expect Tokyo to absorb its neighboring cities soon, for example.
Will rail lines like the Union Pacific end up dead? Yes. When you can fly from New York to Los Angeles in 2 or 3 hours, rail won't be able to compete. Maybe for bulk freight, though - probably the last long-distance rail lines will haul coal, iron, and limestone for steel mills. Bulk freight like that is much tougher to haul in aircraft or even trucks than a person.
On the contrary, roads will be very important. You have to understand that "flying cars" won't be "hovercars" like you see in comic books - they'll basically be miniature aeroplanes that can also drive on the road. And in that sense, they'll need runways in order to take off and land. When flying cars do become popular, people won't be flying off to the corner shop - flight would most likely only be used for long-distance trips (and short residential streets would probably be "no-fly zones", meaning you'd have to take off from the main road).
Indeed.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,937736,00.html
"No postwar industry has grown faster than electronics, and no electronic devices have paid off more handsomely than semiconductors—the tiny, spiderlike transistors, diodes, rectifiers that perform the functions of vacuum tubes. Though semiconductor technology is scarcely a decade old, industry sales have climbed from $15 million in 1954 to an estimated $195 million this year; electronics experts think they will be $350 million in 1960, more than $1 billion in 1967."
...
"New Customers. The growth has been stimulated by the opening of new markets. The first transistors replaced vacuum tubes in consumer devices—hearing aids, portable radios, etc. Now transistors and other semiconductor cousins are manufactured with such precision and close tolerances that a new generation of computers is being designed for them. The circuitry of new missile systems, where space and weight are at a premium, calls for millions of semiconductors. Industrial and military uses account for only one-third of semiconductor units manufactured, but two-thirds of dollar volume. Computer builders are expected to increase their purchase of semiconductors tenfold within the next two years.
Computer builders prefer semiconductors to vacuum tubes because they are 99.9% reliable, v. 80% to 95% in a comparable tube, have a much longer life, take far less space, and require less power. Since a single modern computer may have 25,000 tubes, the repair time saved is immense. "
Landing the troops is no problem we have a very large sealift capabability, along with the world's most powerful navy and airforce. Why we should care is another thing.
2008? Will be just like any other year in that decade, the previoud decade, and all following decades - we'll hang millions of capitalists! (and they will try to sell us the rope)
Well, I'm not sure how many will live ON Earth, but there should be 100,000 to 1 million OFF the earth. I'll admit that when von Braun published that spread in Colliers, what was it, about 5 or 6 years ago, I thought he was crazy. Yes, he made it seem reasonable, and you sure couldn't beat the pictures that went with it, but really! Well, now with the Sputniks going up right left and center, I can see I was wrong about that, and I guess he'll probably have that big space station up in 10 or 20 years, and then the sky's the limit - or rather isn't!
I have reports that if computers advance enough you might be able to do a good bit of stuff with them
Africa will become the most promising continent in the next 50 years. Once Kenya, Angola, Nigeria, and all of those other countries get out under the yoke of colonialiasm, I predict that they will surpass thier former masters and become some of the most prosperous nations on earth. Africa will attract investment and with it's large amount of resources, both natural and human it could be the center of growth by 2008.
Its populate or perish here in Australia for those who don't remember the Japanese bombed Darwin in the War and the damn red chinese pushed us back in Korea below the 38th.
We will build cities in the north to safe guard ourselves from the commie threat. Already we have the built the Woomera rocket range with the Brits. By the end of the century it will be the gateway to space for the Commonwealth. We have shown our engineering power with Snow Mountain Scheme in the future we will dam the northern rivers and pump the water south to irrigate the outback wastelands.Vaste fields of rice and wheat where once there was desert will feed the miners and the factory workers of the north. Electric trains powered by atomic generators will rapidly transport the products of the mines, farms and factories across this vaste land. When need they will also transport troops to defend all that we have created.
Australia after a series of drawn tests in the early 1960s will go on beat England for the next 2 decades until finally other countries are allow to join the Ashes Cricket Series to keep it interesting. By the end of the century it will be the 2nd largest sporting event after the Olympics with all the Commonwealth and most non communist countries sending teams.
We will build cities in the north to safe guard ourselves from the commie threat. Already we have the built the Woomera rocket range with the Brits. By the end of the century it will be the gateway to space for the Commonwealth. We have shown our engineering power with Snow Mountain Scheme in the future we will dam the northern rivers and pump the water south to irrigate the outback wastelands.Vaste fields of rice and wheat where once there was desert will feed the miners and the factory workers of the north. Electric trains powered by atomic generators will rapidly transport the products of the mines, farms and factories across this vaste land. When need they will also transport troops to defend all that we have created.
Australia after a series of drawn tests in the early 1960s will go on beat England for the next 2 decades until finally other countries are allow to join the Ashes Cricket Series to keep it interesting. By the end of the century it will be the 2nd largest sporting event after the Olympics with all the Commonwealth and most non communist countries sending teams.
You sure there's enough water to go around, mate? That's a LOT of outback wasteland we'll have to irrigate. Sure, it is possible to irrigate a whole lot of scrubland, but Australia almost certainly won't be completely green.
Harry, mate, we HAVE been populating! This last decade has been the biggest baby boom in history. Plus all the Greeks coming in as well.
Harry, mate, we HAVE been populating! This last decade has been the biggest baby boom in history. Plus all the Greeks coming in as well.
Gah, I hope not! The Ashes are a tradition, to keep between us and the Brits.finally other countries are allow to join the Ashes Cricket Series to keep it interesting. By the end of the century it will be the 2nd largest sporting event after the Olympics with all the Commonwealth and most non communist countries sending teams.
War clouds gather...
Every century or so, Europe is torn apart by a series of wars...usually after most of the people who fought in them are dead, or old enough to be ignored. Why should 208 be any different? I suspect that it will be the USSR that is part of the cause, but indirectly. While it's still there as a major power, there's a deadlock. But when the communists either collapse, or retrench their military, Germany and France won't need to be allies any more, and of course, the Balkans are still the Balkans.
I can't see Germany and France as good, peaceful neighbors in another 50 years.
And remember...Germany re-armed after Versailles, and with advanced weapons...who's to say they won't have atomic bombs..perhaps even on long range rockets...to face the French atomic rockets.
Marshal Plan again in the early 21st century? (This time, the war probably won't last long enough to get the US involved, if we stay true to our tendencies to stay out as long as we can...)
Every century or so, Europe is torn apart by a series of wars...usually after most of the people who fought in them are dead, or old enough to be ignored. Why should 208 be any different? I suspect that it will be the USSR that is part of the cause, but indirectly. While it's still there as a major power, there's a deadlock. But when the communists either collapse, or retrench their military, Germany and France won't need to be allies any more, and of course, the Balkans are still the Balkans.
I can't see Germany and France as good, peaceful neighbors in another 50 years.
And remember...Germany re-armed after Versailles, and with advanced weapons...who's to say they won't have atomic bombs..perhaps even on long range rockets...to face the French atomic rockets.
Marshal Plan again in the early 21st century? (This time, the war probably won't last long enough to get the US involved, if we stay true to our tendencies to stay out as long as we can...)
doesn't matter, overall once colonialism is overthrown it will be the end of african inferiority. Turning into a cold war battlegroundwould be good for africa, as it would encourage stability and growth on both sides.