11 Surprising Things That Will Happen By 2050!

 

Which decades-old document will finally be revealed to the public?

 What does the future hold for robots?

 Find out as we look at 11 Surprising Things That Will Happen By 2050.

 #11 Elvis Unveiled

 The foundation of the entertainment industry was shook in August of 1977 when headlines everywhere announced The King of Rock and Roll’s passing.

 Elvis Presley had met his untimely end at the relatively young age of 42.

 While an initial report cited a heart attack as the cause, a toxicology report would later come out reporting high levels of multiple narcotics in his system.

 Upon this second report, Presley’s father Vernon had the autopsy sealed from the public.

 But in 2027, the full report will be unsealed and open to the public, granting the iconic rockstar’s fan base some sense of closure.

 #10 Robo Love

 Hundreds of romance novels in bookstores across the world feature science fictional tales of erotic encounters with androids, cyborgs, and robots.

 While this may sound like an unrealistic fantasy, modern technology is actually much closer to delivering this strange experience than you might realize.

 Engineers have been developing interactive robots purposed for romantic encounters for the past decade and the latest results are astounding...as well as a bit strange.

 Various manufacturers have created human-esque machines capable of casually conversing, memorization, and even philosophical discussion.

 These robots also serve a physical purpose, aiming to please adults in more ways than one.

 As artificial intelligence develops, so too will the level of intimacy between people and their high-tech love instruments.

 It’s only a matter of time until humans begin relationships reminiscent of the 2013 film “Her”, the film in which a lonely writer falls head over heels for his operating system.

 And when this occurs, it brings with it a whole new slew of moral questions and ethical dilemmas.

 #9 America Dethroned

 The future brings many changes, but not all of them are bound to be necessarily new.

 Afterall, history repeats itself.

 Such was the basis for author and historian Jacques Attali when he wrote the 2009 international best seller “A Brief History of the Future: A Brave and Controversial Look at the 21st Century”.

 In this book, Attali outlines a number of ways he believes the world will change based on the ways the world has evolved in the past.

 Chief among these predictions is the fall of the planet’s most powerful empire: the United States of America.

 Globalization, ecological threats, and the swelling financial and political strength of corporations are the main culprits he cites in eventually uprooting America from their seat of power.

 “Financially and politically exhausted, like all other empires before it, the United States will cease to run the world, “ Attali wrote.

 He’s not alone in thinking this as many financial experts believe the economies of China and India to quickly pass the US in coming years.

 Similarly, emerging technologies and changes in international expanse are predicted to challenge America’s military strength, eventually displacing it as the strongest on the planet.

 #8 Ten Billion

 More than 7.7 billion people currently populate the Earth.

 The modern size of the human race is cited often for being one of the major contributions to the planets degenerating ecosystem.

 High carbon emissions, natural habitat destruction, overconsumption, and growing waste problems have all come from a combination of a lack of oversight, irresponsible corporations, and overpopulation.

 The world has yet to reach its apex though as experts working with the United Nations have predicted that nearly 10 billion individuals will be roaming the globe by 2050!

 This expansion in our society is chiefly due to the gradual betterment of living conditions, health services and technology, and all around longer average lifespan of human beings.

 By that same year, life expectancy at birth is believed to have surpassed 76 years with 22 percent of individuals being over the age of 60.

 Perhaps with so much wisdom in the world, experts will have come up with a means of correcting these problematic issues facing our future.

 #7 Transcontinental Highway Separating the westernmost point of Alaska and the Chukotka Peninsula of Russia is the narrow water pass known as the Bering Strait.

 For more than a century, individuals and companies have proposed connecting the two landmasses by way of a bridge or tunnel in hopes that it would assist in growing both economies.

 The latest proposal came in 2015 when the president of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakutin, unveiled a plan to construct a trans-Siberian highway that would link Russia with the US.

 Titled the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development, this project would look to go past simply connecting the nations as part of the plan incorporates the construction of a road that would allow for a road trip from England to America!

 The proposed highway would stretch from London across Europe, through Russia and over the Bering Strait, into Alaska then Canada, and eventually leading all the way to New York City.

 The multi-trillion dollar project would require cooperation by many countries, thus its thought by many to only be a pipe dream.

 But with Yakutin potentially poised to take a position of leadership in Russia, it may just become a reality by 2050.

 #6 Automated Athletes Sports are one of the most popular, and profitable, forms of entertainment on the planet.

 Such highly physical competitions, especially when fueled to continuously outdo one another by monetary interests, often lead to physical degradation in athletes.

 Thousands sacrifice their bodies, or more, for glory, entertainment, and riches.

 But thanks to advancements in robot engineering, this way may become a thing of the past.

 For decades, engineers have been crafting robots to compete with one another and humans, whether they be automatons designed to play chess or weapon-loaded machines built for destruction like those seen on the television show “Battlebots.”

 Lately, though, some companies have begun building robots made for more traditional sports like hockey, skiing, ping pong, sumo wrestling, and even soccer.

 There’s even an annual RoboCup for these soccer playing droids!

 And some researchers think this could be the start of a whole new form of marketable entertainment, believing that in 2050 they will have reached a point of popularity comparable to human sports.

 #5 Message In A Shuttle Planet Earth is an anomaly in the universe due to the variables required for such a world to harbor life.

 Very few other planets meet these same life-sustaining requirements, but they do exist.

 The first Earth-like planet thought capable of meeting our same biological needs is Gliese 581c.

 This super-Earth, at nearly 5 and half times the size of ours, is over 20 light-years away, the equivalent of 119 trillion miles!

 With such a promising intergalactic settlement on the horizon, some researchers have thought it possible to be a possible location for intelligent, extraterrestrial life.

 So before we crash their party, a group of scientists decided it best to send out a greeting.

 And it’s already on the way.

 Broadcast in 2008, the high-powered digital signal called A Message From Earth hopes to deliver 501 messages to the planet by 2029.

 Should the signal reach the ears of intelligent life with similar technology, than we could hear back from the extraterrestrials by 2050, initiating the first actual conversation with alien life in history!

 #4 Faster Information Time is money, as the old saying goes, and in the digital age that means computer processing power can be the difference between millions and billions in revenue.

 In general, computers have come a long way from the slow operating systems of the past, and each persistent year seems to yield a further increase in the speed of modern technology.

 Interpretations of this growth by experts has led many to believe processing power limitations to double every 18 to 24 months, which would explain continuous exponential increases over the past 45 years.

 For example, the 1976 supercomputer Cray-1 was top of the line in its time with 8 megabytes of memory and capable of processing 160 million operations per second.

 But the 2008 Cray XT5 outshined it with a processing speed of more than 8.75 million times that of its ancestor.

 And since then, supercomputers have continued to grow even faster.

 Some researchers have predicted that computers will run up to a thousand times faster by 2050.

 And with so much money and economic stability riding on this development, this is one prediction that will be difficult to derail from coming to fruition.

 #3 Technological Singularity If movies like Terminator, The Matrix, and even Avengers: Age of Ultron are reliable indicators, then it’s safe to say people fear the advancement of artificial intelligence.

 But how justified are these fears?

 Well, according to some experts, this dread is righteously warranted.

 A hypothesis commonly referred to as Technological Singularity predicts that artificial superintelligence will open the gates to rapid technological growth outside the hands of human developers.

 The idea is that a computer being in control of its own advancements and development would lead to an exponentially fast, self-upgrading technological intelligence that would leave humanity in the dust.

 Some critics argue that computers can not attain true intelligence, motivation, or autonomy, making these predictions unrealistic.

 However, with minds like Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and active Technological Singularity proponent Raymond Kurzweil continuing to warn of the dangers in the past decade, the impending crisis seems real as ever.

 But not all look grim as researchers like Kurzweil believe the Singularity to result in not just advanced intelligence for machines but for people as well, resulting in the most prosperous society the universe has ever seen.

 #2 Controlled Aging

 Aging, as defined by successful computer-engineer and self-taught biologist Aubrey de Grey, is a “set of accumulated side effects from metabolism that eventually” ends in fatality.

 To that degree, de Grey has since made it a mission to fend off signs of physical and mental degradation which he believes will be the key to potentially infinite life.

 According to him, the first person to live to a thousand years old has already been born!

 But what are the chances these beliefs cross over from theory to reality?

 Many critics have been vocal with their doubt of de Grey’s research, however many more, including the twenty-plus scientists working on his SENS Research project, contest critiques due to a lack of understanding.

 Only time will tell if aging can truly be slowed by 2050.

 #1 Deteriorating Resources Global warming, overconsumption, and waste have been threatening our planet for decades and by 2050, the Earth will be at its worst point yet.

 It’s predicted that by this time, half of the global population will be unable to access clean drinking water.

 The Amazon will be more than halfway deforested and summers will pass with no ice in the Arctic.

 Many nations will have moved away from fossil fuels and coal, but these changes are nearly unavoidable given the current, and past, way of modern life.

 Which of these future events are you most looking forward to?

 Which ones do you fear?

 Let us know in the comments below!