We invite you to explore a list of ten amazing and advanced technologies that should appear around the year 2100. Some of these technologies are almost there, but on the other hand, the same can be said about thermonuclear fusion, which was promised to us many years ago. And no matter how incredible the things described below may seem to you, most of them - if not all - are simply bound to appear at the turn of the twenty-second century. The reason for this lies in an innovation that is not on this list: artificial superintelligence. As computer scientist I. J. Goode rightly said in the 1960s, “The first superintelligent machine will be the last invention man has to make.”

Once a machine gains intelligence that surpasses that of a human—and this could happen as early as the 2050s—the words “technically possible” will no longer make sense. People will replace such professions as designers and engineers with intelligent machines; they will begin to create technologies from any of our fantasies and fairy tales, and even more. So, here are 10 such technologies that could change almost everything.

Virtual reality connected to the brain

Wearable virtual reality devices like the Oculus Rift are all very well, of course, but no matter how sophisticated such devices may be, the true feeling of being in a parallel reality will always remain just out of reach. We need something more… implementing. By 2100, we will undoubtedly find a way to make the virtual reality experience indistinguishable from this very reality. It is interesting that this experience will directly enter our brain, bypassing the usual senses and making everything that happens very reliable.

In order to get a material sense of what is happening, we need to get to the source of all experience: the human brain. Essentially, the brain is, to some extent, a device that processes feelings. Everything we experience day after day, be it the smell of leaves or flowers or warm sunlight, a breath of wind or cold rain, it all passes through the brain. But what is real in reality? When we talk about what we feel or see, what we hear or taste, the “real” ones are actually the electrical signals that our brains read.

Futurist Ray Kurzweil, in his book The Singularity Is Near, explained how this could happen. He believes it will all start with nanorobots in our brains and bodies. Nanorobots will support our health, provide direct brain-to-brain communication via the Internet, provide complete immersion in virtual reality directly from inside our nervous system, and significantly increase human mental capabilities. But we must not forget that non-biological intelligence “gets smarter” twice a year, while biological intelligence, in principle, stands in one place. By the 2030s, the non-biological part of our intelligence will begin to displace the biological part.

The time frame that Kurzweil gave is, of course, somewhat optimistic, but his words make sense; We will find new ways to break the blood-brain barrier and create microscopic machines that can travel throughout the human body. Work is also underway to create a detailed map of the brain, which includes the areas that process incoming sensory information.

Kurzweil's nanorobots, once implanted in the brain, would be able to detect various sensory inputs in the brain and close them (i.e., prevent electrical signals from passing through the retina of the eye, ear, etc.), completely cutting off a person from the real environment. It would be the ultimate sensory deprivation chamber. Instead of these signals, nanorobots that receive wireless signals would send their own signals to the brain and feed the brain artificial senses. In this case, the person will feel like he is in a completely different world.

J. Storrs Hall, an innovator in the field of nanotechnology, imagines utility fog (or utility nanosmog) as a swarm of nanorobots, or "foglet", that can take the shape of almost any object and change its shape on the fly. Storrs came up with the idea while he was trying imagine what the seat belt of the future would look and function like: Instead of airbags and static belts, Hall envisioned a smart cloud of interconnected snowflake foglets that could move in accordance with any object nearby, including the passengers in the car.

Utilitarian Fog challenges the imagination in terms of technological sophistication. Each foglet will be only ten microns across (that is, the size of a human cell), equipped with a tiny, rudimentary on-board computer that will control its actions (and externally supported by an artificial intelligence system) and ten telescopic limbs that will extend outward in the form of dodecahedron. By connecting, two foglets will form a circuit that will allow energy and communication to be transferred across the network. These foglets will not be able to swim, but rather will form a lattice-like structure that stretches in all twelve directions.

The utilitarian fog will begin to work as programmable matter; it will be able to move, envelop and even transport a person or other object. Probably, such fog could even be used to create a virtual world around a person.

Space solar energy

As our civilization strives to mitigate the effects of climate change and transition to a more sustainable energy economy, it seems that we will never meet our insatiable energy needs. Space energy - this idea was proposed back in the 1960s - and it can solve this problem once and for all.

About sixty years ago, Peter Glaser introduced solar satellites that have the ability to transmit captured solar energy via microwaves to the Earth's surface. Since then, various schemes have been proposed to use this idea, and Japan even has an actual plan. The SBSP system is a Japanese orbital farm that will maintain a stationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above the equator and transmit energy to Earth using laser beams. Each satellite will be aimed at a 3-kilometer-wide receiving station that will generate a gigawatt of electricity. This is enough to power half a million homes. For security reasons, the receiving stations will be located away from human habitats, such as on an island or in the desert.

At the turn of the 22nd century, many people will prefer a purely digital existence, free from all biological restrictions. Mind uploading, or whole brain emulation, would make it possible to accurately replicate an existing biological brain. The scan will capture every detail down to the molecular level, not forgetting to include memories, associations and even a person's personal quirks and preferences.

Futurists do not yet know the exact time when consciousness uploading will become available, but an important step will be to ensure that all the most important parts of the brain, especially those tied to the human sense of identity (namely the parahippocampus and retrosplenial cortex), are copied. It will also be necessary to resort to "destructive" copying, where the existing brain is chopped up or removed altogether in order to record a person's state and memories. Alternatively, one could use a brain scanner powerful enough to create impressions of the brain and then insert them into a computer that can transmit this information to a functioning consciousness. In order for a busy person to function normally, he will also need a virtual body and environment.

But there remains a very important philosophical and scientific question that needs to be asked, whether this process will be a genuine “transfer” of consciousness, and not just a copying of the human brain. Moreover, it is not very clear whether self-awareness can be recreated on a digital substrate. The frightening thing is that each download can produce, in some way, a zombie whose behavior will be similar to how a person behaved in the past, but in reality he will act like a program, according to a script.

It is very unlikely that we will be able to completely control the weather by the end of this century, but it is possible that we will be able to significantly influence it. We already seed clouds with particles to stimulate precipitation; they've been doing it in California for fifty years. During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chinese authorities fired 1,100 rockets into the clouds to trigger downpours before the storms reached the capital. Sometimes laser pulses are even fired into thunderclouds in the hope that it will cause lightning.

In the future, weather engineers will be able to build massive wall-like structures that will stop destructive tornadoes from forming, or build massive - very massive - turbines in the sea that will suck the energy out of hurricanes. A 2014 study demonstrated that a wind farm, which consists of tens of thousands of individual wind turbines, could reduce wind speeds by 148 km/h and reduce storm surges by 79%. Essentially, this means nullifying the hurricane.

What's more interesting is that we could eventually build a weather machine to create programmable weather. A particularly curious global plan requires a thin cloud of small transparent balls that rise into the atmosphere and can reflect incoming sunlight. Inside each ball there will be a mirror and a GPS module, a mechanism for controlling orientation and a small computer. The "programmable greenhouse gas" raised by hydrogen will be thirty kilometers above the Earth's surface. When millions of mirrors face away from Earth, they will be able to reflect sunlight back into space. This system, which will be controlled by artificial intelligence, will be able to change weather patterns around the world and turn less habitable places into areas with a temperate climate.

Think 3D printers are cool? Then wait for the appearance of molecular assemblers (nanoassemblers), hypothetical machines that were described by one of the fathers of nanotechnology, Eric Drexler. Drexler describes a nanoassembler as a device that can manipulate individual atoms to create a desired product.

Drexler especially emphasized that biological assemblers already exist and produce complex and amazing structures, for example, bacteria, trees, people. Using the same logic, he believes that we will eventually be able to harness the mechanical properties of ultra-small objects and use similar principles to create objects of any consistency or shape.

Nanoassemblers could bring the world into an era of “cardinal abundance,” allowing us to produce objects and materials that would otherwise be impossible to build, literally from scratch (or, more accurately, from molecules). Such devices could even cook food. To make a steak, the nanoassembler needs carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, from which it assembles amino acids and proteins, and then assembles them into the shape of a steak.

The consequences of climate change are most likely irreversible. No matter what we do between now and 2100, the levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere will continue to warm the planet.

To prevent the many environmental disasters that will inevitably follow climate change—from rising sea levels and super-droughts to superstorms and mass extinctions—we should start changing the planet through geoengineering.

Some notable geohacking proposals include injecting stratospheric particles to manipulate solar radiation, seeding cirrus clouds to reduce reflectivity, injecting sulfur aerosols to cause global dimming, and simple solutions such as restoring tropical forests to restore the carbon balance. Other ideas include a giant space reflector (though exactly that may be beyond our technological capabilities by 2100), fertilizing the oceans to grow carbon-sucking algae, and increasing ocean alkalinity to make them less acidic. It is clear that there is no shortage of ideas.

The problem with geoengineering, of course, is that we can confidently destroy the planet if something goes wrong, and also become dependent on it. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and we will rely on sophisticated climate models and supercomputers.

Advances in neuroscience and communications technology will transform humanity into a literally telepathic species.

The advent of direct mind-to-mind communication will further connect us as individuals and will likely lead to "swarm consciousness" - a vast network of interconnected minds that work together via the Internet. In such a future, we will begin to observe the dissolution of personality and the rise of collective mass consciousness.

Remarkably, such a future may be closer than we think. Back in 2014, an international team of researchers was the first to demonstrate a direct and completely non-invasive brain-to-brain communication system. During the experiments, participants were able to exchange mentally projected words, although they were separated by hundreds of kilometers. A year later, another team of scientists transmitted brain signals over the Internet to control the movements of another person's hand. These systems, now only in their infancy, hint at a future in which we use the power of thought to communicate with each other and telekinetically control smart devices in our environment.

The power of fusion

Earlier this year, physicists in Germany used a 2-megawatt microwave pulse to heat low-density hydrogen plasma to 80 million degrees. The experiment produced no energy and lasted only a quarter of a second, but was a major step forward in efforts to launch nuclear fusion, an extremely promising form of energy production.

Unlike nuclear fission, which breaks down the nuclei of an atom into smaller parts, nuclear fusion creates a single heavy nucleus from two light ones. The resulting change in mass generates a huge amount of energy, which, according to scientists, can be used as a working source of clean energy. Nuclear fusion can replace the burning of fossil fuels and traditional nuclear reactors.

But to do this, scientists need to figure out how to reliably and safely manage the conditions commonly encountered in the sun. The problem is that fusion plasma is very difficult to contain; freely flowing streams of protons and electrons are kicked out. Our sun holds plasma together with powerful gravity, but on Earth we have to rely on magnets and lasers to replicate this feat. Once a tiny piece of plasma escapes, it can ruin the wall of the machine, so the fusion reactor is shut down.

Artificial life forms

Not wanting to stop at genetic engineering, scientists of the future will probably want to create new organisms from scratch - from microscopic synthetic bacteria to new people. This burgeoning discipline of artificial life began as an attempt to recreate a purely biological phenomenon, and is aided in this by computers and other synthetic environments.

The quest to create synthetic life forms is already in full swing. Earlier this year, scientists at the Synthetic Genomics Institute successfully created an artificial bacterial genome that had a meager set of 473 genes - fewer than found in any organism in nature. Further breakthroughs in this field will help biologists study the basic functions of life and classify the essential genes in cells. Scientists can use the building blocks of cells to create organisms with abilities not found in nature - such as bacteria that can consume plastic and toxic waste, and microorganisms that act as medicine for our bodies.

Any of the technologies listed above can change our civilization. What is less clear is how these miracles will work among themselves; the crossover effects of technologies are often difficult to predict. For example, the connection between brain-connected virtual reality, mind uploading and artificial intelligence could lead to the creation of a computer civilization consisting of real people and artificial intelligences. Future geoengineering systems may include weather control systems. And so on.

The more predictions we make about future technologies, the harder it is to understand what the future might actually look like.

People have always been interested in what will happen in the future.

Pictures from a hundred years ago from Germany, France and Russia about what life will be like in the 21st century.

And then - a modern futuristic forecast until 2100 from New York University professor Michio Kaku.

In 1900, the German chocolate factory Hildebrands released a series of postcards depicting people's lives in the year 2000.

Walking underwater.

Air tours on 2-seater and multi-seater airboats.

Moving sidewalks.

A roof over the city that protects from bad weather.

Pedal boats and water skis.

Possibility to watch the singer's performance from a distance.

And one more type of aircraft.

Installation for weather control. Well, or at least to disperse the clouds.

For some reason, with the help of “Cocoa”, as it is written on the pipe.

Not only are the sidewalks moving, but the houses are also moving.

* By the way, we have been able to move houses for a long time.

The policeman watches with interest through the wall to see if the intruders will be able to open the safe.

Steam locomotive. A kind of amphibian.

Excursion to the North

These are drawings by the Frenchman Jean-Marc Côté.

Flying firefighters.

The children are shown a huge rarity - a real live horse!

And here the conductor-operator controls the automated orchestra

Electric roller skates

Auto-hair salon. You sit like this, and the blades automatically shave you.

Beauty salon for ladies

This is the train

We are building a house

Automatic tailoring studio

Audio and video communication.

On the right, people are flying home after the theater.

Pilot refueling. Wine while driving?

Air rescuers

Aerial hunting

And this is a direct download of information from books into the brain. A very symbolic picture.

In 1914, the Moscow confectionery factory Einem released cards depicting Moscow 200 years later. That is, it turns out to be 2114. Let's see.

“Winter is the same as it was with us 200 years ago. The snow is just as white and cold. Central Station of Ground and Airways. Tens of thousands of people coming and going, everything goes extremely quickly, systematically and conveniently. Passengers have access to land and air. Those who wish can move at the speed of telegrams.”

“The Kremlin also decorates the ancient Belokamennaya and with its golden domes presents an enchanting spectacle. Right there, near the Moskvoretsky Bridge, we see new huge buildings of trading enterprises, trusts, societies, syndicates, etc. Against the background of the sky, carriages of the overhead airway glide gracefully..."

“Clear evening. Lubyanskaya Square. The blue sky is outlined by clear lines of luminous airplanes, airships and airway carriages. Long carriages of the Moscow Metro, which we were only talking about in 1914, fly out from under the bridge square. On the bridge over the Metropolitan we see a well-ordered detachment of the valiant Russian army, which has retained its uniform since our times. In the blue air we notice the cargo airship Einem flying to Tula with a supply of chocolate for retail stores."

“Busy, noisy banks of the large navigable Moscow River. Huge transport and commercial cruisers and multi-story passenger ships rush along the transparent deep waves of the wide commercial port. The entire fleet of the world is exclusively merchant. The military was abolished after the peace treaty of The Hague. In the noisy harbor one can see the diverse costumes of all the peoples of the globe, for the Moscow River has become a world trading port.”

“We are transported mentally to Petrovsky Park. The alleys have been expanded beyond recognition. The ancient Peter the Great Palace has been restored and houses the Museum of the Peter the Great era. Wonderful fountains gush out everywhere, sparkling. Devoid of germs and dust, the completely clean air is cut through by airships and airplanes. Crowds of people in bright costumes of the 23rd century are enjoying the marvelous nature in the same place where we, our great-great-great-grandfathers, used to walk.”

"Red Square. The noise of wings, the ringing of trams, the horns of cyclists, the sirens of cars, the crackling of engines, the screams of the public. Minin and Pozharsky. Shadows of airships. In the center is a policeman with a saber. Timid pedestrians flee to the execution site. This will be the case in 200 years.”

“Beautiful clear winter of 2259. A corner of the “old” merry Moscow, the ancient “Yar” still serves as a place of widespread fun for Muscovites, as it was with us more than 300 years ago. For the convenience and pleasantness of communication, the St. Petersburg Highway has been entirely turned into a crystal-ice mirror, along which graceful snowmobiles fly and glide. Traditional sbiten makers and sellers of hot aero skids are scurrying around on small aerial sleds. And in the 23rd century, Moscow is faithful to its customs.”

Hot air bikes :)

"Theatre square. The pace of life has increased a hundredfold. Everywhere there is lightning-fast movement of wheeled, winged, propeller-driven and other vehicles. The Muir and Merlise Trading House, which existed back in 1846, has now grown to fabulous proportions, with its main departments connected to the air railways. Numerous engines fly out from under the pavement. There is a fire somewhere in the distance. We see a car fire brigade that will end the disaster in a moment. Biplanes, monoplanes and many aerial overflights are rushing to the fire.”

For New York University professor Michio Kaku, there is no doubt that the introduction of revolutionary technologies, such as instantly moving a person to the desired location on the planet, is just around the corner.

By this year, earthly civilization will have won victory over many diseases that are now considered incurable. Kaku attributes these expectations to breakthroughs in diagnostics. Home appliances equipped with electronic chips will monitor human health around the clock. And even an ordinary trip to the toilet will be combined with a discreet procedure for a complete medical examination of the body.

— Imagine that DNA chips, in which the DNA of bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells are encrypted, are installed in your toilet. And then one day you go to the restroom again, the chip does an instant analysis and finds cancer cells in you long before the tumor appears.

Chips will be built into more than just plumbing fixtures. A microscopic video camera and chip can be embedded, for example, in an aspirin tablet. Once you swallow it, the camera films the stomach and transmits the information to a button-sized supercomputer that is implanted, for example, in your finger. And if the matter is serious, then this computer itself will call a doctor - but not from the clinic, but a virtual one. And he, using a special device, will launch a portion of nanoparticles at you - “smart bombs” that will fight your diseased cells.

Each person will have a flash drive with his own genome recorded on it - it will replace a medical card. Deciphering hundreds of thousands of DNA will become much cheaper. Compare: if in 2009 a complete DNA map cost a million dollars, in 2010 - 50 thousand dollars, then in 2025 it will cost only 200 dollars.

- Computers will become invisible, as they will be everywhere, like electricity today - millions of chips will be hidden in the wall, ceiling, floor. Disposable computing devices will appear. The necessary files will be recorded on portable microcircuits, possibly implanted directly into the body.

Contact lenses will provide access to the Internet. The image will be formed in front of the eyes using translucent LEDs that do not interfere with vision. The device will be able to recognize faces, perform automatic translation from foreign languages ​​and display other information in the field of view. Thanks to virtual programs, people will be able to watch films in which they themselves will play the main roles.

This year it is expected that various “spare parts” for the human body will appear on free sale.

“We can grow any organ from the patient’s own cells,” says Kaku’s colleague, Dr. Anthony Atala from Wake Forest University. — Cells taken from the patient’s body are seeded onto a sponge-like plastic base. After adding a growth catalyst, the cells begin to multiply, and the base gradually dissolves. This will be a real revolution in bioengineering: there is no need to wait for a donor and there will be no rejection.

The boldest prediction: people may master telepathy. But not magical, but technical.

“Already today, paralyzed patients are implanted with microcircuits in their brains, with the help of which they learn to write emails, play video games and surf the Internet with the effort of thought,” another of Kaku’s colleagues, Kendrick Kaye from the University of California at Berkeley, explains the essence of the forecast. — And Honda Corporation engineers have already begun to create a “dictionary of thinking”, thanks to which it will be possible to restore a picture of a person’s visual experience using only measurements of brain activity.

This year, scientists will bring extinct animals back to life using genetic manipulation.

“Specialists have already been able to clone an animal that died 25 years ago using DNA samples taken from its remains,” says Doctor of Biology Robert Lanza from Advanced Cell Technology Corporation, commenting on Kaku’s forecast. - You can revive mammoths too. In addition, the Neanderthal genome has already been deciphered, and geneticists plan to revive this species.

In order to travel to other planets, Kaku is betting on the creation of a solar sail - a spacecraft with an engine powered by pressure

on the mirror surface of sunlight. With its help, you can accelerate to half the speed of light - 150 thousand km/sec, and then you can reach Mars in just three months.

Around the same time, a breakthrough in space tourism should occur, associated with the creation of a space elevator. An elevator powered by solar panels will rise along a cable almost a hundred thousand kilometers long, consisting of ultra-strong carbon nanotubes. It is planned that the device will launch up to 100 tons of cargo into orbit once a week. People will also ascend into space along it.

45. 2055 - 2095. They will become different...

CARS: All cars will be equipped with a built-in navigation system, and they will be controlled by computers. Road accidents will practically disappear. Cars will become cheaper than places to park them.

...PLANES: Airplanes themselves will begin to warn pilots and dispatchers about any problems. In addition, if necessary, they will be able to turn into missiles.

...HOMES: Homes will be equipped with huge screens that will allow their inhabitants to communicate with their loved ones anywhere in the world. Virtual assistants will look after children, and robots will do household chores.

…WORK: Commuting will become meaningless. Employees will be able to communicate with colleagues anywhere in the world using special office programs

Scientists' dreams of “programmable matter” will come true, which will allow objects to change shape just as the robot did in the movie “Terminator 2”.

“Today, special microchips the size of a pinhead, the so-called catoms, have already been created,” says Professor Kaku. “By changing the electric charge, they can regroup, due to which they take the form of a sheet of paper, a cup, a fork, or a plate. And perhaps the time will come when entire cities will rise up in the desert at the press of a button.

And by this time man will merge with robots. According to another expert, Dr. Rodney Brooks of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the human body will be so radically changed by genetic modification that the development of homo sapiens will no longer be limited by Darwinian evolution.

The world is changing. Feel it in the water, in the earth and in the air. The world is changing, but how much joy comes from it? Will it change for the better or for the worse - that is the question. Take a look at these points, and then decide for yourself.

India will be more populous than China by 2022

China, time to lay down your laurels! You've been the most populous country on Earth for quite some time, but everything is coming to an end. A 2015 study on global population trends by the United Nations shows that by 2022, India will be the new undisputed champion in overpopulation. It was previously believed that India would take first place by 2028. Apparently, this did not suit the Indians, and they began to work much harder for first place.

In addition, the UN predicted that by 2050, the insidious Nigeria will displace the United States from its honorable third place. It must be said that in this magical year, Africa alone is responsible for the appearance of exactly half of the total number of new people this year. And while Europe is promoting childfree, valiant Africans are working on demography. In addition, the UN expects overall population growth to skyrocket to unprecedented levels, with 9.7 billion people expected worldwide by 2050, and a literal 11.2 billion by the end of the century. If we remember that in 1900 there were only 1.6 billion people living on Earth, then it becomes embarrassing for the reproductive rate of earthlings: 10 billion in 200 years! Faster than rabbits. It would be better if they tried to save the planet with the same zeal. Because the current 7 billion is already very, very much. 11 billion is the nail in the coffin. Lack of resources and accelerated depletion of the planet, wars and territorial conflicts - these are the immediate prospects for the planet. Of course, if the guys from big offices don’t start measuring rockets.

We'll be on Mars by the mid-2030s

We haven't been to the moon (if ever) since the 1970s, but we're already planning. It's a dream that could soon become a reality if one of the many organizations trying to make it happen follows through.

On August 30, 2011, ten space agencies from around the world met as the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) to discuss a visit to the Red Planet and a possible plan to take revenge on Marvin the Martian for his evil plans to destroy the Earth. We agreed to send people to Mars by the mid-2030s. But first you need to fly to the Moon or to the nearest asteroid in order to remember the completely forgotten technique of flying to other cosmic bodies. It is necessary to conquer these dead lumps of space in order to achieve the first fully robotic mission to Mars, and then eventually make manned missions a reality.

The ultimate goal is to focus on Mars as a possible new home for humans. With overpopulation looming and sparkling with hunger and lust, this is a must. The only thing left to do is to make the planet suitable for flight.

Arctic sea ice could disappear by 2037

When we think of the Arctic, we think of harsh snowy landscapes, blocks of ice and bearded men trying to tame the icy deserts. The trouble is that over the next decades the Arctic may say goodbye to ice altogether.

According to research published in the journal Geographical Research Letters in 2009, there has been a large loss of Arctic sea ice. Plus, climate research only confirms the fact that by 2037 we will lose almost all Arctic sea ice. According to these calculations, there were 4.6 million square kilometers of sea ice in 2009, and by 2037 there will be less than a million - as good as nothing.

In addition, the ice will likely be much thinner than it is today, further exacerbating the loss of the remaining millions of kilometers. Summer sea ice extent in the Arctic is declining by about 10% per decade. If the ice leaves the continent forever, we will have huge problems. It is not yet clear which ones exactly. But it will be a long and painful death. At first for animals, birds, fish, and then for people. Firstly, the level of the world's oceans will rise, and this means floods. Secondly, weather conditions around the world will worsen, leading to an inevitable increase in mortality. From lack of fresh water, food, from drought. And these are just preliminary forecasts.

AI will be as smart as humans by 2040, and smarter by 2060

Artificial intelligence has become noticeably smarter recently, but it still lags behind some of the humans. After all, he is nothing without the people who feed him information.

According to Ben Ross, technology expert at MYOB Technology, artificial intelligence will reach human level by 2040. He estimates this by averaging many expert predictions, as well as relying on Moore's Law - the idea that some parts of computers double in power every year. Therefore, by 2040, they will move to the point where they are as smart as we are. Ross also believes that by 2060, AI will actually surpass human-level intelligence. Perhaps then we leather bastards will have to obey the might of steel. As the same Ross said: “We have time to make sure that we improve it, providing a good result, not a bad one.” In short, Skynet is coming, send the T800 and Kyle Reese.

Rats, weasels and other invasive predators will disappear from New Zealand by 2050

How man has polluted nature defies comprehension. In addition to pollution, we have created many invasive species: species that have spread as a result of our activities and threaten biological diversity.

They appear in unnatural places, kill and eat local wildlife, spread diseases that the “natives” are not prepared to bear, and simply wreak havoc on the established system. That's why countries like New Zealand are taking steps to eradicate rats, weasels, possums, ferrets and creatures that other parts of the world take for granted. But the descendants of proud Maoris and colonists want nothing to do with the rest of the world. According to Prime Minister John Key, such animals kill more than 25 million native birds a year, including the islands' symbol, the kiwi. Apart from this bird and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, they have nothing. Therefore, they are ready to spend 11 billion a year on the war against vile beasts.

The ozone layer will be completely healed by 2075

We haven't heard much about the ozone layer lately, but in the 70s and 80s a giant hole appeared created by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), harmful chemicals immediately cited as one of the biggest threats to our civilization. They are used in aerosol cans, refrigerators, air conditioners, and it is difficult to imagine our lives without them. But it’s worse if the ultraviolet rays of the Sun freely penetrate the atmosphere and fry us alive.

Fortunately, once scientists understood and realized everything, numerous steps were taken to reduce the use of chemicals that cause the hole to grow. Since then, the ozone layer has been slowly but surely healing itself. In 2014, a report by a United Nations panel of 300 scientists reported the first significant increase in ozone since it began to heal. However, it's a slow process: the ozone layer won't grow to 80s levels until 2050, according to a UN report. Meanwhile, there is a version that in 2075 the most damaged part of the layer above Antarctica will be completely restored. In the worst case scenario, 20 million people will die and a show like Kevin Costner's Waterworld will begin.

Our workplaces will achieve full gender equality by 2095

Still, there are no jobs - that's a fact. Since 2006, the World Economic Forum has produced the Global Gender Gap Report, which looks at gender gaps in 142 countries across several different categories: health and survival, educational achievement, economic participation and opportunity, and political empowerment. According to the 2017 report, we now have 60 percent equality. And, compared to previous reports, there is an improvement.

While the first two categories have hardly any gap at all, the last two have huge differences that will require decades of roaring from feminists and all their sympathizers. The forum predicts that if upward trends continue, equality will arrive in 2095. Since most of us will be retired or dead by then, don't dwell on this news. Keep hating Nixelpixel; she, too, will not live, and therefore will scold men for being men. We hope that in 2095 women will have a conscience, and they will stop believing that men owe them: they must support, give gifts and amuse, as if they were clowns. After all, there will be equality. So far, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark are closest to equality. Russia is in an honorable 75th place.

83 percent of the Amazon rainforest will disappear by 2100

One of the most tragic losses of recent decades is the rainforest. The problem is that it is almost impossible to return it, and therefore our planet will lose more than hectares of impenetrable forests.

In 2009, the UK's National Meteorological Service published a report that predicted the world would become 4 degrees Celsius hotter by 2055. And this is on average: in some parts of the planet the temperature will rise by 16 degrees, and the world will turn into a hot boiling hellish brew.

To make matters worse, this means that by 2100 we will have virtually no Amazon rainforest. Wolfgang Kramer, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, predicts that at least 83 percent of tropical forests will disappear by the end of the century. The hope is that the atmosphere will release additional carbon dioxide and protect the rainforest from drought. If not, the Amazon will be lost.

Hundreds of bird species will become extinct by 2100

Everyone loves birds, unless it's a pigeon. , but the smartest crows, which may peck at corpses, are smarter than most people, parrots and penguins, are respected by many. The problem is that the coming extreme changes in weather - whether it gets warmer or colder - will begin to kill birds en masse. A bloody harvest will begin in the style of Conan the Barbarian.

The study estimates that if global temperatures rise by 3.5 degrees Celsius, between 600 and 900 bird species will disappear. The ones to be most wary of are those birds that live in places where the temperature rarely changes. If these places are suddenly shaken by cold or hellish heat, then the birds will not be able to adapt and survive. But the pigeons don’t care, these rats will adapt anywhere. But the problem is that half of the tropical birds will become extinct. Steppe birds will die out. Many birds will become extinct, and for at least 100 years we will have to collect feathers for hats and arrows from geese, chickens and ducks.

Hong Kong and Macau will lose independence from China around 2050

Hong Kong and Macau, despite being part of China, are special administrative regions with a high degree of autonomy. Thanks to the "one country, two systems" compromise, Hong Kong (which was a British territory until 1997) was a capitalist city in a socialist country, and Macau was almost completely autonomous, having adopted the culture of Portugal (which ruled the territory until 1999).

The thing is, these compromises have an expiration date. In both cases, they expire 50 years after they are signed, meaning Hong Kong is set to return to Chinese dominance in 2047, and Macau will join in 2049. For now, this means that both territories will become socialist. What this China will be like is another matter. Neither of the two administrative regions wants to reunite with its older brother. This is not beneficial to anyone.

The question arises: are we not expecting a wave of referendums after Catalonia? Definitely waiting. Catalonia is a consequence, a chain reaction. At the origins stood Kosovo. There are many countries in the world that are bursting at the seams and are afraid of losing a whole piece. Why go far - look at the map of your country. Another thing is that all this is a natural process. The history and borders of each state were redrawn many times; there are a lot of peoples vying for recognition. The next stage will be unification, as at the beginning of the 20th century. Although, at the end of the same century, more than 20 new countries appeared on the political map. All this is natural. In 1818, Hungary lost the territory that is now called Slovakia, Croatia, Romanian Transylvania and Ukrainian Uzhgorod. Now they are targeting the westernmost Ukrainian region.

Everything is cyclical, there is nothing to be afraid of. Empires will split into pieces, you just have to come to terms with it.

Lieselotte Lingso, founding partner of the consultancy Future Navigator, believes that due to the development of technology, human labor will be considered less efficient and accessible compared to the alternative from robots. As a result, people will switch to searching for creative solutions that are beyond the capabilities of a computer.

“Machines will do their machine work well for many years to come, but people will have to try harder,” Lingso said. “We will have to develop individual abilities to reach our full potential.”

According to Lingso, the current work environment is not very helpful in unlocking human potential, so this will change in the future. Those that will change the most are the typical nine-to-five work schedule, traditional offices, rigid corporate hierarchies, and the very concept of retirement.

“I don’t think we will work according to the usual schedule,” Lingso noted. “Pension will be replaced by periodic breaks for retraining, and a person’s lifestyle will change so as to extend their working life and prevent burnout.”

There will no longer be a standard retirement age - people will simply be able to take periodic career breaks. You can choose the type of work that best suits your lifestyle - for example, part-time or contract work.

Personnel will be selected taking into account the usefulness of the entire team

“The team should have a maximum of 8-10 people, in short, as many people as can be fed with two pizzas. This size is considered optimal for an innovative team, says Lingso. - Previously, we recruited people to perform specific tasks, like on an assembly line. Such a team can be managed very well, but you won’t get maximum productivity from your employees this way. In the future, hiring will be based on the value of the team as a whole.”

According to Lingso, advanced artificial intelligence and algorithms will help determine the optimal team size and composition depending on the personal qualities and skills of the employees.

Teams will also have collective benefits such as health and regular insurance, and team members will be able to live together or nearby for greater convenience.