Twenty Fifty-Six: What May Await Us in the Future

I recently finished reading George Orwell’s highly acclaimed dystopian fiction Nineteen Eighty-Four. Personally, I thought the story’s setting which Orwell ingeniously created––the world where England becomes part of a tremendous nation named ‘Oceania’ and is ruled by a totalitarian regime in 1984––was absolutely brilliant. With the benefits of hindsight, we know that Orwell’s prognostications turned out to be untrue as ‘Big Brother’ does not exist, surveillance technology with ‘telescreens’ is not as developed, and freedom of speech is still protected in western societies. Yet, his sheer imagination which crafted an entire futuristic setting and his bold message that preaches the danger of totalitarianism are surely impressive which may be the reason that the novel is one of the great English literary classics. Like such, I thought it would be interesting if I was able to literally predict what our world may look like in the far, yet not too distant future 36 years after 2020––which would be 2056. As a clarification, I intentionally chose 2056 because Orwell himself wrote the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1948 which was 36 years before his novel’s setting.

As long as you are exposed to any sorts of media, whether it be news articles, TV, social media, or books, you may have come across articles which say certain jobs may be on the rise, or on the other hand, may disappear 20 years later due to technological advances. While referring back to all of those similar sources I have read in the past, as well as using some of my own imagination, I believe such things may be present in our world in 2056. Please read just for fun and leave comments on what else we should be prepared to see by 2056!

• After continual decline in its remaining quantity, fossil fuel source is entirely gone in most parts of the world, excluding OPEC, USA, and Russia. As a result, automobiles which all have futuristic designs rely on the use of hydrogen gas, solar electricity, and other sustainable resources. At the same time, tremendous investments in automated, human-less driving has paid off its dues, as most public transportation become automated.
• Due to global warming, a large portion of land in Japan, as well as other archipelagos in the Pacific Ocean, has disappeared. The lifestyles of those regions’ residents adapt to better suit the high levels of ocean water. To better combat global warming, nations, corporations, and individuals across the world are more interested in sustainable lifestyle and consumption than ever.
• Due to the impact of global warming, weather has become more fluctuating and unpredictable than ever. Natural disasters occur more frequently which have led to an improvement in many countries’ coping strategies. Spring and fall have become significantly shorter and less observable in many regions.
• With the use of stronger antibiotics, antivirals, and vaccines, viruses have become stronger and harder to kill. Pandemics like COVID-19 occur more frequently (e.g. a disease with the magnitude comparable to COVID-19 happens once a decade). Cures for HIV have still not been discovered, although the costs to treat it have been significantly lowered.
• The number of jobs that deal with pure mathematics, finance, data analysis, hard labor, and meticulous operations has shrunken significantly compared to 30 years ago due to major takeover by AI and computers. Meanwhile, jobs that deal with either software-engineering or human interactions, such as psychiatrist and judge, have become more highly demanded and valuable as they are more difficult to be replaced by computers.
• Surveillance technology becomes so developed in many parts of the world, especially in China, where faces of any individual can be detected in less than a minute. Yet, at the same time, data protection technology has also improved. Insurance on data protection has become highly demanded for, and jobs that deal with telecommunication and its functions are in rise.
• The concept of haptic, rectangular smartphones have become a thing of the past; the mode of communication is now dominated by the use of holograms, wearable watches, glasses, and more wearable devices.
• Other than the use of cars for ground transportation, bullet trains or ‘hyperloops’ that connect cities to cities and provinces to provinces exist which allow the time and cost of transportation to be significantly lower.
• With the rise in concerns for human rights, homosexual love and marriages have become more conventionalized and legalized, although Asian countries are still trailing behind the American counterparts.

Despite every possible futuristic events that I listed above, the truth is that we can never predict what will happen in the future. The time span of 36 years is too great and so many inconceivable things can occur. For instance, 36 years ago from 2020 was 1984, the time that Orwell’s novel takes place in. In 1984, our parents would have never ever imagined the existence of smartphones, wireless internet, and GMO. Aside from these tangibles, they would have never imagined all the global events that took place, such as the unprecedented development of some of the previous developing nations, inauguration of first African-American US president, 2008-09 financial crisis, and COVID-19. With such ideas in mind, I personally think that my fear for the future is greater than hope, regarding what the world may look like in 36 years.

With that said, what other sights, objects, events, and inventions do you think we can expect 36 years later? Feel free to comment below on whether you agree or disagree with some of the things we may see in the future!