2050

2050 Technology

2045.  The year when Raymond Kurzweil predicts computers will become more intelligent than humans and civilization will be irreversibly transformed.  “In his book, The Singularity is Near, Raymond Kurzweil predicts exponential growth in genetics, nanotech and robotics will drive an intelligence explosion by mid-century [2045]. In that year, he estimates, given the vast increases in computing power and the vast reductions in the cost of same, the quantity of artificial intelligence created will be about a billion times the sum of all the human intelligence that exists today [2011]. . .

Kurzweil believes that we're approaching a moment when computers will become intelligent, and not just intelligent but more intelligent than humans. When that happens, humanity — our bodies, our minds, our civilization — will be completely and irreversibly transformed. He believes that this moment is not only inevitable but imminent. According to his calculations, the end of human civilization as we know it is about 35 years away [2045].” (Lev Grossman, “2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal,” Time, Thursday, February 10, 2011)

View Kurzweill's TEDTalks' presentation, How Technology Will Transform Us.

2050 Food and Fisheries

2050.  Projection that all fisheries will have collapsed by 2050 if fishing continues at current rates.  “‘Seventy-five percent of fisheries are overfished,’ says marine biologist Enric Sala. ‘If nothing changes, all fisheries will have collapsed by 2050.’ The solution, says Sala—a National Geographic Society fellow—is involving all levels of society, from consumers to policy makers. ‘The solutions exist, we just need the political will to implement them at large scale,’ he adds.”  (National Geographic editors, “Cod Caught in a Net, Gulf of Maine,” National Geographic, undated, retrieved Saturday, June 12, 2010)  View Enric Sala's TEDTalks' presentation on the pristine ocean that we've lost and a way to bring it back.