Our third child (of four total) and her husband are giving birth to THEIR third child (our 6th grandchild) and it has caused me to imagine what their lives as individuals and as a family might look as THEY experience from now until reaching their own age of 77 as I have! How different will their frame of reference and perspective be in the year 2060 from my life as it exists in the year 2023? What about their children’s lives becoming that age in the year 2095??
Wow, just consider the potential evolution of a few broad categories like education, athletics, entertainment, global events, local and geo-political organization, science, climate change, global migration, entertainment, travel, religion, spirituality, marriage, artificial intelligence, time and space travel, longevity, population growth, energy production and a mind boggling myriad of things which my 77 years on the planet have given me little frame of reference to even contemplate.
My greatest hope would be that our questions about their future would be answered in a way that benefits the least advantaged child of the most disadvantaged population. I believe that that result (prior to some type of interstellar travel migration) will include dramatically reduced population growth, or dramatically increased resources to reduce poverty and foster sustainability. Of course population sustainability might also be the result of voluntary, individual decisions, perhaps stimulated by personal or governmental incentives to do so!
Undoubtedly entertainment, science, geopolitical influence and nearly every aspect of daily life will likely be integrated with AI input, as will be the case with news media in general. I believe that AI and new modes of transportation are likely to be two of the biggest influences that dramatically affect the calculus of any speculation about the future. In addition, nuclear fusion from the sun and the elimination of fossil fuels will likely provide an unlimited, affordable energy source that completely reshuffles the political landscape while having the potential to seriously reduce global poverty.
The most desired, habitable global locations will be increasingly affected by climate change, population migration, and geopolitical harmony as well as personal choice and resources. Unfortunately, geo-political disharmony, personal choice and individual amassing of resources are many of the elements that have created most of the global challenges we face today.
I believe that generally populations will become more spiritual and less religious. Education will be less institutional and focus will be on access to, and discernment of, information and truth. We will dramatically increase our attention to both time and space travel, and the potential of colonization off earth. Habitable planets and existing life forms will also likely be found and verified off earth as well. The children of mine and Susan’s children (our grandchildren) will have birthed their own children by then (our great grand children) who will then begin to birth and parent THEIR children, and so on!! Time is a marvel.
And, from our next embodiment, which we will both inhabit in the relatively near future, Susan and I will welcome them to the enlightenment that every being has the privilege of experiencing in their own extraordinarily brief human form.
I wish you Love.