Theoretically, the year is 2076 (wordbuilding help)

Either the Really Great Pandemic will have hit and reduced population to about a billion, or they will be introducing Soylent Green that year.

Easy and inexpensive time travel will be introduced in the 2020's, a few years after the Pandemic.

The average life expectancy at birth will be 300, but there will be predictions that some people will make it to 1200 to 1500 years of age.

Trip F. said:

What do you guys think the world will be like around that time, assuming some sort of near apocalypse goes down circa ~2036 that changes everything that starts off a global (non nuclear) decade long chain of wars?

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The stuff you've listed is all technological advancements - largely window dressing from a story/worldbuilding point of view. The bigger question, in my mind, is what are the *cultural* changes that happen?

Consider the lasting impact of recent large-scale wars to western culture. How different is western culture today versus the 1900's or 1930's or 1950's? War goes in lockstep with social changes, so I would expect the decade of global war you reference to have changed societies worldwide into barely recognizable reflections of what they are today.

Aerial

I think you're being too conservative.

Trip F. said:

So far what I've got for the level of tech in that year is a laundry list like so-

1.Neural interface chips that allow the brain to interact directly with computers

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This will happen within the next couple of decades or so (if you look at FMRI and a few other techniques, it's arguably happening now), though at first these "interface" chips will only have the computing power of current smartphones or PCs. The "interface" part means they have high-speed (meaning faster than Google Fiber) Internet access. You'll still be able to play 4D Tetris and all other currently-known games on an "interface" chip if for some unlikely and extreme reason you can't connect to the Net.

2.Internal muscle enhancements that run off biofeedback power supply (limited cyborgs)

3.Thoughtsync (self explanatory) using said neural interface chips

4.Fairly sophisticated AIs (including one Turing passable)

5.electric cars that drive themselves

6.holographic tablets and communication devices

7. ultra thin conventional phones still in widespread use

8.nanotube based micro maintenance devices for aforementioned cyborgs

9.limited quantum computing.

As far as weapons go, I'm still thinking conventional ballistics, but I'm unsure if caseless rifles will rule the day by then. For artillery, maybe vehicle mounted rail weapons?

What do you guys think the world will be like around that time, assuming some sort of near apocalypse goes down circa ~2036 that changes everything that starts off a global (non nuclear) decade long chain of wars?

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I'm thinking you're looking too far out (as in your year, not your predictions). We already have 5 and 9, they're just not made in commercial quantities yet.

And a decade-long war could help ACCELERATE many developments (also, think space-based stuff: not just reconnaissance, but weapons, treaties be damned). Historically, a lot of technology was developed for military applications, as this demonstrates:
http://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?catref=mfln2838

King Neptune said:

Either the Really Great Pandemic will have hit and reduced population to about a billion, or they will be introducing Soylent Green that year.

Easy and inexpensive time travel will be introduced in the 2020's, a few years after the Pandemic.

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I'd believe commercial fusion power before I believe time travel, and I'm not holding my breath waiting for commercial fusion power which has been "only ten years away" for literally all my life.

The average life expectancy at birth will be 300, but there will be predictions that some people will make it to 1200 to 1500 years of age.

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If you believe current "bold" claims, the first person to live to 150 years old has already been born. Personally, I'm hoping they're already well over 50 years old. But 2076 is only 60 years away, so a currently living person would have to be 90 now to be 150 by then.

And of course that 300-year-average-lifetime prediction would have to exclude military troops and similar cannon fodder who would bring down the average. This also shows the problem with evaluating such life extension, we'll have the technology for many decades before it's shown without a doubt to be effective to extend maximum lifetime for that many decades.

Trip F. said:

Those are some bold claims... but I must admit I didn't consider the life expectancy thing. I should probably have some oldsters about.

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The life expectancy is even more likely than the other two predictions.

benbradley said:

If you believe current "bold" claims, the first person to live to 150 years old has already been born. Personally, I'm hoping they're already well over 50 years old. But 2076 is only 60 years away, so a currently living person would have to be 90 now to be 150 by then.

And of course that 300-year-average-lifetime prediction would have to exclude military troops and similar cannon fodder who would bring down the average. This also shows the problem with evaluating such life extension, we'll have the technology for many decades before it's shown without a doubt to be effective to extend maximum lifetime for that many decades.

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If I believe current bold claims, then the first person who will live 1000 years was alive several years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey_de_Grey

The 300 year average would be in some countries where they do not use people to feed the artillery of others. Countries that will still use people for that will have shorter life expectancies.

I should blog on this. There is reason to wonder whether there will still be luny fringe armies like the Lord's Resistance Army and ISIS operating, or if such things will become more common. If they become more common, then the world may not be pleasant, so we will start moving off to preserve our 1000 year life spans.

You might take a look at some of Michio Kaku's books for ideas on how technology might develop over the 21st century. From there, you'll want to extrapolate how such technological developments would impact society. Don't ignore political, social, and economic developments either.

I haven't read Kaku's books on the future, but this other guy also wrote a book "The Singularity Is Near." Some people think he's over the top, but here it is:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0143037889/?tag=absowrit-20

King Neptune said:

If I believe current bold claims, the the first person who will live 1000 years was alive several years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey_de_Grey

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I was thinking about Aubrey reading this thread. When I saw him on a show a few years ago, I contacted him. Told him I'd be a guinea pig and I meant it.

Write yer story. Make it work in the world in which it is set. DO NOT hit me, the reader, with an encyclopedia of how that world works.

caw

Gringa said:

I was thinking about Aubrey reading this thread. When I saw him on a show a few years ago, I contacted him. Told him I'd be a guinea pig and I meant it.

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From what I have heard the researchers are using themselves as guinea pigs, at least with treatments they think actually work.

King Neptune said:

From what I have heard the researchers are using themselves as guinea pigs, at least with treatments they think actually work.

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"Heard" as in rumor? Or cyberspace talk? How? I'm curious. When I saw him on 20/20, or something similar, a few years ago, he fascinated me. I plan to live to at least 125. Maybe even 150.

My gut tells me he'll come up with something.

Gringa said:

"Heard" as in rumor? Or cyberspace talk? How? I'm curious. When I saw him on 20/20, or something similar, a few years ago, he fascinated me. I plan to live to at least 125. Maybe even 150.

My gut tells me he'll come up with something.

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Rumor has it that. . . The rumor may have a good source, but I don't recall where I heard it.

So you'll be giving up early.

Telomere repair is an obvious direction for research, and I heard of that long before I every heard of de Grey or SENS, and I understand that research in the direction has been going on for decades, but no one has gotten anywhere.

King Neptune said:

Rumor has it that. . . The rumor may have a good source, but I don't recall where I heard it.

So you'll be giving up early.

Telomere repair is an obvious direction for research, and I heard of that long before I every heard of de Grey or SENS, and I understand that research in the direction has been going on for decades, but no one has gotten anywhere.

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Thanks– and sorry for the derail OP. I find this fascinating.

King Neptune- What do you mean "giving up early?"

Gringa said:

Thanks– and sorry for the derail OP. I find this fascinating.

King Neptune- What do you mean "giving up early?"

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After only 125 or 150 years.

Gringa said:

"Heard" as in rumor? Or cyberspace talk? How? I'm curious. When I saw him on 20/20, or something similar, a few years ago, he fascinated me. I plan to live to at least 125. Maybe even 150.

My gut tells me he'll come up with something.

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Well, there's CR, there's quite a few people doing it. I'm going to start on it Real Soon Now.

Here's some of these people - doing CR should get you to near 120, and by then there should be plenty of other things that will get you further:
http://www.crsociety.org/

I strongly suspect that de Grey and Kurzweil (he wrote a chapter on CR in "The 10 Percent Solution") are doing CR.

King Neptune said:

After only 125 or 150 years.

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So 300 it is....thanks King Neptune

benbradley said:

Well, there's CR, there's quite a few people doing it. I'm going to start on it Real Soon Now.

Here's some of these people - doing CR should get you to near 120, and by then there should be plenty of other things that will get you further:
http://www.crsociety.org/

I strongly suspect that de Grey and Kurzweil (he wrote a chapter on CR in "The 10 Percent Solution") are doing CR.

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Will take a look at this site. Thanks BenBradley

(And I just remembered this earlier today. When I emailed Aubrey, I sent him a video. Just thinking about this cracks me up.)

I would think nanobots in the bloodstream would be common by then, but...

...but I think a lot of the world's biggest problems will have snowballed around mid-century to the point where you might see generalized governmental collapse. Rising ocean levels leading to refugees, lack of potable drinking water, pandemic, lower classes finally striking back against insane economic inequalities after being pushed much too far. Of course some of these can be overcome if there are innovations in, say, clean water production, but we are seeing such polarization of politics that I have trouble seeing how we can stop the bigger problems.

One thing I think people tend to get wrong is they change things too much in the future. From looking at history, it seems pretty clear to me that no matter how huge certain changes are, many other aspects of life remain substantially unchanged.

King Neptune said:

Either the Really Great Pandemic will have hit and reduced population to about a billion, or they will be introducing Soylent Green that year.

Easy and inexpensive time travel will be introduced in the 2020's, a few years after the Pandemic.

The average life expectancy at birth will be 300, but there will be predictions that some people will make it to 1200 to 1500 years of age.

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time travel in 10 years? 0.o

I'd echo the population point. We're currently at a world population of 7 billion and we are adding an extra billion every 12 years or so. If that rate of population growth holds up (if!) then we will have added another 5 billion population by 2076.

Think overcrowding and a lot of old people around.

This begs several questions. More old people mean more expensive health costs, because as we live longer we survive to experience more of the diseases of old age. It means a pensions crisis. Effectively, the people of working age need to work harder and for longer to pay for the extra costs of an ageing population.

The big tech missing from your list is 3d printing. If this develops at the current pace it will have a huge difference on our lives. The good news is that we will be able to print more or less anything that we want. The bad news is the impact this will have on manufacturing jobs. So what exactly will we all do for jobs in 2076?

On mobile phones and computers, I think the big advances will be connectivity, the internet of things and big data. Our phones, cars, homes will predict what we want and give it to us before we realise that we want it.

And then there's the environment ...

Scary stuff. I wrote a short story set in this sort of a world. If you're interested PM me your email address and I'll send you a mobi file free copy. Or it's on Amazon for peanuts - called "Hero" under my pen name of Will Once.

cutecontinent said:

time travel in 10 years? 0.o

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Just wait. You'll see.

Once! said:

I'd echo the population point. We're currently at a world population of 7 billion and we are adding an extra billion every 12 years or so. If that rate of population growth holds up (if!) then we will have added another 5 billion population by 2076.

Think overcrowding and a lot of old people around.

This begs several questions. More old people mean more expensive health costs, because as we live longer we survive to experience more of the diseases of old age. It means a pensions crisis. Effectively, the people of working age need to work harder and for longer to pay for the extra costs of an ageing population.

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That assumes that the older people will be in poor health. A small change in the attitude of the medical types would result in the older people being the healthiest. They may have no choice.

King Neptune said:

That assumes that the older people will be in poor health. A small change in the attitude of the medical types would result in the older people being the healthiest. They may have no choice.

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Not really - at least not unless medical science advances extremely rapidly.

What has been happening over the last few decades is that average life expectancy has been increasing. Around 100 years ago, the average life expectancy for a man in the UK was somewhere in his 50s. Now it's into the 80s. And still rising.

What this means is that a large proportion of our ancestors would have fallen over from a fatal heart at around retirement age. Because we are mostly surviving that phase we are then having to deal with the medical problems of old age - things like dementia and cancer.

Fr' instance it has recently been announced that 1 in 2 people in the UK will get cancer at some point in their lives. It used to be 1 in 3. Cancer hasn't become more common - it is simply that we are living longer to get to the point where we might die of cancer.

I can't remember the exact figures, but it costs something like three times more to look after someone in their eighties as it does for someone in their sixties.

So I am afraid that this isn't about a change in attitude of the medical profession. It's a simple fact of life. We are living longer and it is costing more to look after us in old age.

Now if we in the realms of science fiction, we can invent cures for cancer, dementia and other diseases that might tackle this problem. But then we get into other problems, such as hyper population and the cost of pensions.

I strongly suspect that 2076 won't be about technology and the latest gizmo. We will be more worried about over-population, environment, ageing and jobs.

And lurking in the wings is the property paradox. If we start to live indefinitely, does it make sense to allow us to buy property effectively for all time? Where is the next generation going to find the spare land to build their homes?