The human life span has nearly doubled in the last few centuries. Improvements in food, medicine, and lifestyle have reduced infection-related mortality in children. As our lifespan increases, it is time to consider the issues that will affect humanity in the future.
Energy & Electricity
Energy will be a major consideration. Electricity will be constrained by a lack of oil and coal. The global consensus on the need to reduce CO2 emissions will result in the widespread use of solar energy, as well as wind power where feasible. To protect the environment, governments will collaborate on energy sharing. With the emphasis on “green” electricity, other alternatives will supplant the combustion engine.
Food & Agriculture
Vertical food production or Terra Firma management will be possible, as well as hydroponic farming for growing meat-like protein. Vegetarians will become more prevalent. This will be more cost-effective than slaughtering animals for food, as well as better for human health. The environment will benefit from large-scale afforestation. We will protect wildlife, control flooding, and create natural areas to filter water cycle nutrients. All of this should help to sustain the growing population.
Workplaces
Our workplaces will be transformed by new technology. Millions of knowledge workers will no longer be required to travel to factories and offices as they were previously. They will work from home and communicate with their coworkers, customers, and associates via email and teleconferencing rather than meeting in person. This decline in human contact may result in a general deterioration of interpersonal skills, obviating the need for tolerance and mutual adjustment. The demographic profile of society will continue to shift as the population ages. With falling birth rates and rising life spans, the world will see a rapidly moving society where more and more people will live up to the ages of 80-100 plus. It will cause new economic conflicts such as retirement age, outdated skills, and pension costs. It will also bring social conflicts between youth trained in fast-changing technology and a technologically outdated population. The generation gap will move from home to society.
Mobility
With new mobility, the world will become even smaller. International travel will become more affordable and convenient, and migration from less developed or disturbed areas to wealthier, more developed, and peaceful havens will increase. The trains will be faster, reaching speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour. Magnetic limitation technology will be used all over the world to connect Europe and Asia. It will travel from the Middle East to India and South Asia, then to Mongolia, China, and Japan. Undersea tunnels for trains to the United Kingdom and the Middle East will improve connectivity to Africa. It will connect Europe, Siberia, and the tip of East Asia, as well as Alaska, making it a destination for the United States. Passports will be nothing more than a certificate allowing citizens to travel by train, air, and waterways.
Electric vehicles will be environmentally friendly and will not require drivers. The destination will be provided by technology. The cluster of houses will serve as a community to which the roads will lead. People will use their cars to get home from there.
Ethnic demography & society
Ethnic demography will change, posing new challenges to political structures of governance as well as the nation or state as we know it today. The very concept of family may change in the modern era. Everyone will most likely be more self-centered. There will be less and less time for human interaction that is sensitive. People will be working for themselves in their positions, whether in business, the professions, or politics. The environment will become increasingly difficult.
