In the year...2112 (Part 2)

The second part to my opinions of this article about predictions people had submitted for potential advances by the year 2112. Again for attribution, note that the text highlighted in bold are the submissions themselves, which I have copied from the article. I went over ten of the predictions in my first post, and now I will be covering the remaining ten here:

11. Eighty per cent of the world will have gay marriage
I do not have any problems with this: however, some parts of the world are extremely hostile to gays and lesbians at the moment, and others are still wary of them, but that negative attitude is changing and I am sure the change will accelerate and spread.

12. California will lead the break-up of the US
I am opposed to these ideas of splitting up the United States, and think they are nothing more than jokes, or in some cases mere wishful thinking. By law, no state can declare its independence from the United States on its own accord (see the Supreme Court case Texas v. White), but even if that was not the case, I do not consider it to be in any state's interest to attempt to break up the Union. In the case of California, the only times I have seen its independence or its own splitting up be suggested are by people either with a grudge against the state or those who disagree with it politically (of which I think neither are good reasons for it to secede). I would also be very surprised if Congress ever approved a state's secession, now or in the future.

13. Space elevators will make space travel cheap and easy
I have always been unsure about space elevators: while I accept that technology does change and advance, I have wondered how such incredibly tall structures would even stand up, and get through the atmosphere...not to mention the danger of something hitting the elevator above the ground but below space, or of the elevator snapping outright from stress. I think I would prefer to travel to space on a ship.

14. Women will be routinely impregnated by artificial insemination rather than by a man
I respect and support that a woman should have control over her own reproductive rights, but I do not understand why pregnancy through artificial means would become commonplace just for the sake of itself. I can see why single women, older women, and women in relationships with other women would need to do this, but unless the world decides to enter an incredibly anti-sex period, I think most people will still choose to reproduce via sexual intercourse if they do not need any assistance with reproduction.

15. There will be museums for almost every aspect of nature, as so much of the world's natural habitat will have been destroyed
Actually, I hope that by then attitudes have changed so that everyone is doing their part to protect the environment...therefore ensuring that museums to honour the extinct wildlife and habitats do not come to be. Harming the environment does harm us in the long run, so it is in the best interests of all people to preserve nature.

16. Deserts will become tropical forests
I would support restoring forests that have been lost to expanding deserts, but I would oppose replacing the deserts altogether: places such as the Sahara, Mojave, and the Gobi all have their own ecosystems that should be preserved. By all means, recover places overrun by desertification, but still allow the deserts to remain.

17. Marriage will be replaced by an annual contract
I am a strong supporter of marriage: my parents are married, my father's parents are married, my mother's parents were married until one of them died, and I have friends whose parents are married; I have been fortunate to celebrate a couple's 50th wedding anniversary (twice!), and am looking forward to celebrating a couple's 50th anniversary this year. A couple here in the United Kingdom even recently celebrated their 86th wedding anniversary.

Marriage is about love and commitment, and I fear that replacing marriage with renewable contracts would turn it into a commodity and a convenience, rather than something genuinely treasured by both partners. I am aware that divorce can be painful, but changing marriage in this way would hurt people who do make their relationships work. While these are only predictions, this one does contradict 11. much further above: gays and lesbians want equal marriage rights, and I think that replacing/doing away with marriage would be a large step backwards for everyone.

18. Sovereign nation states will cease to exist and there will be one world government
I do not think this would be a bad thing as long as the said government is similar to the Federation government in the Star Trek universe rather than like the one in 1984. I think at the very least there will be much greater cooperation between governments in the future and much less prejudice among people overall.

19. War by the West will be fought totally by remote control
I think it would be infinitely more preferable if there were no wars fought at all, regardless of the means used to fights them. Again, I think there will be more cooperation in the world, and therefore no war.

20. Britain will have had a revolution
What can I really say about this one? Any nation could have a revolution between now at the year 2112, so I would not single any out.

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To be honest, I do not think the future can really be predicted that accurately: forty years ago it was predicted that we would have eliminated poverty and crime, built colonies on the Moon and developed warp drive by now, but sadly, these have not yet come true. We can give rough estimates based on current and past technology and human behaviour, but nothing exact. As for me, I merely hope for a more positive future for humanity and a more peaceful world: the advanced technologies will come when they come.

That concludes Part 2 of my posts on the Twenty top predictions for life 100 years from now article. I would again like to thank the people who submitted their predictions to the magazine, and I would also like to say that I hope I did not come across as dismissive to any that I disagreed with: I appreciate that the submissions were likely all done in good-faith. 

If anyone has any comments on what I have had to say, I welcome the input. I am open to discussing my opinions, and to changing my mind.