The Future

We live in a particularly unpredictable and unstable world.

It's not surprising when you consider the extraordinary changes that have taken place over the last few hundred years. 500 years ago, different cultures were quite separate from each other, but the process of globalisation means we are suddenly living on top of each other in a "global village".

What's more, the accelerating speed of technological development is making the world a smaller place. What happens in another part of the world can have an immediate influence on us and vice versa.

All of which makes the future particularly uncertain. In the past, the future was quite predictable- it would be broadly similar to the present or the past. People lived according to the changing seasons and the rules of their religions, and, except for the occasional bad harvest or drought, life was fairly similar from one year to the next.

Nowadays, every year is different and no one can predict what the future will be like. That doesn't stop some people from trying, like Ray Kurzwiel- famous futurologist and inventor. He predicts that the speed of technological change will become so fast in the next 40 years, that humans will have to revolutionise their way of thinking in order to understand the new world in which we will find ourselves. He calls this a technological singularity. He is also convinced that computers will be used to re-design human beings, creating a new species of human/computer hybrids.

What about you- are you optimistic about the future? Do you think that technology will solve the major problems that humanity currently faces and we will enjoy a future of global harmony? Or do you see a dystopian future of ethnic violence, environmental degradation and diminishing resources?

Do you think we can influence the future or do we just have to wait passively and see what happens?

Please leave a comment, either long or short, to say what you think. Alternatively leave a video or picture or link. It can be something thought-provoking, funny, serious, jokey, as long as it is connected to this week’s theme of the future.