About 70 thousand years ago, the homo sapiens was an insignificant animal that lived somewhere on the African continent. But in the millennia that followed, sapiens they became the rulers of the planet: we subjugate the environment, increase food production, build cities and connect them with trade networks.
But our achievements, no matter how beautiful they are seen from the outside, have a downside, because our civilization has endangered more than a million species of animals and plants, and rapid climate change has catastrophic consequences each year. But if other civilizations, now nonexistent, dominated the planet before us, does that mean that we are fast approaching sunset? No one knows the exact answers to these questions, but we will try to find out.
Great civilizations of the past
Humans have been around for hundreds of thousands of years, but until the last 7,000 years, we roamed the earth in small groups, hunting, harvesting edible plants and fearing threats from other people, animals and the climate. Everything changed after the development of tools, weapons and fire, and the first big step towards civilization was the domestication of animals for food, clothing, transportation and communication.
As William R. Nester writes in his work entitled “The Rise and Fall of Civilizations” domestication of plants followed, with small groups settling in river valleys, planting and harvesting. Over the centuries, some of these settlements have developed into complex civilizations that include most or all of the following components:
- Livestock and agriculture; complex, hierarchical political, social, economic, military and religious institutions, each with a division of labor;
- Use of metals, wheels and writing; clearly defined territories;
- Trade with other people.
The first “civilization” is believed to have originated in Mesopotamia around 5,000 BC, and over the next 6,500 years or so, great civilizations grew and appeared elsewhere, expanded their dominance and then perished for a variety of political causes interconnected, technological, economic, military and environmental.
At the height of its power, the Roman Empire ruled over a vast expanse of land and all modern Mediterranean countries were part of Ancient Rome.
Recently, scientists have finally solved the mystery of the death of the Mayan civilization – one of the most brilliant civilizations in the history of mankind, whose dawn arrived in approximately the 3rd-9th centuries. As the results of several scientific studies have shown, among the reasons for the death of the Maya, the researchers highlight several factors at the same time – droughts, wars, food shortages, etc.
Where is our civilization going?
According to the data obtained with the computer model ESCIMO, we have just passed the “point of no return” – the moment when humanity could prevent the most severe consequences of rapid climate change. In an article published in the magazine Nature Scientific Reports, the researchers write the following:
“Even if all emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere are reduced to zero now, this will not prevent global temperatures from rising.”
And yet, despite this worrying news, we hope that we can meet 2030 and all the decades to come, taking care of the environment and looking to the future with optimism. We do not want this, the passage of time is inexorable, and with it changes in all areas of daily life. Thus, many researchers consider the near future to be an even more technological time than ours.
What will our world be like in 10 years?
Most likely, in 2030, technology will help us to live better, morally and physically healthy lives. Jobs are also expected to undergo a series of major changes.
Today, many researchers have high hopes for the CRISPR method of genome editing, which can treat inherited diseases or significantly reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. There is even talk of the possibility of reversing the biological aging process.
But how far can we go in this war against disease? After all, most diseases are caused not by one gene, but by a combination of several genes and environmental factors. Some genes that predispose us to one disease protect us simultaneously from another.
The researchers point out that one of the main challenges today is the expensive availability of CRISPR. In addition, editing the human genome also raises ethical dilemmas – for example, a widely publicized act of a chinese scientist who used CRISPR-Cas9 technology in unborn babies, for which he is now serving time in prison.
Perhaps in the next 10 years, we will be able to resolve a number of difficult ethical issues. However, many scientists hope that in the future, doctors will be allowed to use this technique for the benefit of people, but the “more subtle details” have yet to be determined. It seems that different cultures will approach ethical issues differently. In this sense, the future is complex and difficult to predict.
The last time a human foot stepped on the lunar surface was in 1972. So few could have predicted that people would not return to Earth’s satellite for another 50 years. As for the most recent plans by global space agencies (private and public), plans for the next decade include not only the launch of robotic vehicles, but the Europa Clipper (scheduled to start in 2021), the James Webb Space Telescope, but also a return to the Moon and the human flight to Mars.
In general, speaking of space exploration, we would like to believe that studies of the solar system and the Universe observed over the next 10 years will bring long-awaited news and answers to questions that arouse the imagination.
Technologies of the future from 2020 to 2030
More than 800 experts, economists, entrepreneurs and executives interviewed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) predict that the following technologies will be trends. They will make a technological revolution in our world.
1. AI 2 IoT (Artificial Intelligence for the Internet of Things)
3. Blockchain
4. 3D printing
5. Mobile technologies
6. Autonomous cars (transport)
7. Mobile Internet
8 Robotics
9. VR / AR (Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality)
10. Wireless power
11. Quantum computing
12. 5G / 6G
13. Voice Assistant
14. Cybersecurity
15. Cloud (cloud computing)
Who knows, perhaps in 2030 humanity will know for sure that it is not alone in the immensity of the infinite universe.
What do you think the world will look like in the near future?
