Those predictions seem as dumb as what the people in the 40s would have predicted.

"In five years the penis will be obsolete," said the salesman.

"Research Center for Futures Studies"

Sounds legit.

None??

I think we have a ways to go.

eas81: None??

Infrequent and unsatisfying?

Alone?

Do you think the author might have done at least part of the research here on Fark?

Why not? It's a valid question. If people can legally change their gender and get away with it... why not? They track everything else, this is nothing.

Back in the 60s/70s, Mad Magazine predicted that the hippies would still be standing around their trashcans in the communes, making fun of their cueball offspring (cueball because they chose to be totally bald).

That was the only prediction of the future that's ever had value - because at least it was funny.

I remember when everyone bought in on the whole "Dean Kamen's IT is going to change the world" hype, and then it turned out to be a stupidly expensive scooter.

Haven't you ever had the desire to experience sex as a member of the opposite sex? I wouldn't because that is too ghey but if you went "woman" I would totally do you.

If I went "woman" I'd be a lesbian.

dmars: Those predictions seem as dumb as what the people in the 40s would have predicted.

came here to say THIS

By 2030 we will be pushing 9,000,000,000 people on the planet, 2050 10,000,000,000. Many places around the world wil be getting crushed by overpopulation. What kind of nasty bug comes from this is anyone's guess, but it is not going to be pretty.

Paging Lukket...

drinking water permission number?
LOLOLOOLOLOLOLOL

oh my god PANIC we are running out of drinking water.

bwhahahahahahaahhaa ahahhahaha hahahaha hahahah hahahahahaha

If only there were a number of trivial ways to turn saline water into drinking water.
dumbass "problem" created by the people who brought you global warming.

I predict that when global warming goes away as a "problem" there will be two or three new problems waiting in the wings to be the PROBLEM OF THE YEAR.

food (even though the world is fatter now than ever before)
mass-extinctions!!!
water

/getting so tired of the never ending we should panic people. god help me if they turn me to the dark side

Under water pyramid guy is making the rounds today.

pxsteel: By 2030 we will be pushing 9,000,000,000 people on the planet, 2050 10,000,000,000. Many places around the world wil be getting crushed by overpopulation. What kind of nasty bug comes from this is anyone's guess, but it is not going to be pretty.

I guess they should have named it 10 in 2050 (new window)

I'm surprised that everyone who changes sex only chooses between man or woman.
I'd have gone with hermaphrodite.

/It's good to have options.

"Infrequent"

Future equivalent of Rick Santorum: "In the Netherlands, 50% of the sex change surgeries are involuntary. In fact, people there wear bracelets saying 'Do not change my reproductive organs.'"

ZAZ:

"In five years the penis will be obsolete," said the salesman.

Came for the Varley reference, leaving satisfied.

namatad: drinking water permission number?
LOLOLOOLOLOLOLOL

oh my god PANIC we are running out of drinking water.

bwhahahahahahaahhaa ahahhahaha hahahaha hahahah hahahahahaha

If only there were a number of trivial ways to turn saline water into drinking water.
dumbass "problem" created by the people who brought you global warming.

I predict that when global warming goes away as a "problem" there will be two or three new problems waiting in the wings to be the PROBLEM OF THE YEAR.

food (even though the world is fatter now than ever before)
mass-extinctions!!!
water

/getting so tired of the never ending we should panic people. god help me if they turn me to the dark side

The problem isn't just water, its getting cheap water.
Making ocean water drinkable requires lots of power. Which means you'll have a hard time using that to maintain crops or clean city streets in the current energy crisis.
More expensive food, less sanatary conditions, becomes the primer for spreading diseases and civil unrest.

That could be a problem in many nations.

I would estimate between 75 and 80.

pxsteel: By 2030 we will be pushing 9,000,000,000 people on the planet, 2050 10,000,000,000. Many places around the world wil be getting crushed by overpopulation. What kind of nasty bug comes from this is anyone's guess, but it is not going to be pretty.

Birth rates will determine if this remains true.

ExperianScaresCthulhu: Why not? It's a valid question. If people can legally change their gender and get away with it... why not? They track everything else, this is nothing.

No it's not. It's would produce the exact same data as the question "what is your sex"? Why add the word "current"? Isn't that what we're already asking? Or for some reason are you getting confused and putting your past or future sex on current census forms?

The only reason you would add the word "current" to the question is to make a point for your article on the future, but it doesn't actually make any sense.

namatad: If only there were a number of trivial ways to turn saline water into drinking water.
dumbass "problem" created by the people who brought you global warming.

I'm not agreeing with the author that things with water will get that bad, but right now desal is very expensive and uses a lot of energy. Fine for desert islands like Aruba, but not a solution for growing corn in Nebraska. Maybe the tech gets better.

YEAAARRR TWENTY-EIGHTYYYYY!!!!

Uhh Negative I'm A Meat Popsicle.

Questions Asked on the 1940 Census

Many of the questions on the 1940 census are the standard ones: name, age, gender, and race, education, and place of birth. But the 1940 census also asks many new questions. The instructions ask the enumerator to enter an [a circled x] after the name of the person furnishing the information about the family; whether the person worked for the CCC, WPA, or NYA the week of March 24-30, 1940; and income for the 12 months ending December 31, 1939. The 1940 also has a supplemental schedule for two names on each page. The supplemental schedule asks the place of birth of the person's father and mother; the person's usual occupation, not just what they were doing the week of March 24-30, 1940; and for all women who are or have been married, has this woman been married more than once and age at first marriage.

I bet that information came in handy in 1941, when the government was having problems figuring out who the "real" Americans were. A more cynical, less enlightened being than myself might suspect an ulterior motive for collecting that information.

They seriously think that we'll have human colonies on Mars and the Moon in just 70 years? I'd imagine it'd be closer to 700 than 70.

"Check Box: How many people have died from Global Cooling > Warming > Climate Change > Manufactured Money/Fame-Grabbing Ploy?"

I don't know. I'll check.

still checking...


still checking...

mmm, still checking...

ooohhh, checking still...

hu-hu-hu, OH GOD, still ... ... checking...

I'll get back to you in a few minutes.

Haven't you ever had the desire to experience sex as a member of the opposite sex?

"Take a little trip back with father Tiresias. Listen to the old one speak of all he has lived through. `I have crossed between the poles, and to me it's no mystery. Once a man, like the sea I raged. Once a woman, like the earth I gave, and there is in fact more earth than sea.'" -- Peter Gabriel after T. S. Eliot after some dead Greek guy

My current sex? Solo, I reckon.

/Dancin' with myself, oh, oh, oh oh...

Well, it would have been nice to have sex, but we didn't have enough people...

hey, let's use the Orgasmatron!

And the answer will still be "please."

12349876: I'm not agreeing with the author that things with water will get that bad, but right now desal is very expensive and uses a lot of energy. Fine for desert islands like Aruba, but not a solution for growing corn in Nebraska. Maybe the tech gets better

Then stop growing so much corn.

And frankly, the bigger issue for corn will be the lack of cheap fertilizers which modern corn guzzles faster than an alcoholic does 3 for 1 beer specials.

Between genetic engineering, algae and who knows what else it's not really an insurmountable problem. Although I give 50/50 odds that the US will starve to death due to corn lobbying keeping them from shifting till it's too late.

Imbred

JMacPA: ExperianScaresCthulhu: Why not? It's a valid question. If people can legally change their gender and get away with it... why not? They track everything else, this is nothing.

No it's not. It's would produce the exact same data as the question "what is your sex"? Why add the word "current"? Isn't that what we're already asking? Or for some reason are you getting confused and putting your past or future sex on current census forms?

The only reason you would add the word "current" to the question is to make a point for your article on the future, but it doesn't actually make any sense.

If I spent last year as Y, but this year as X, what do I put down?

If I am in gender reassignment for Y, but have not fully converted, what do I put down?

If I was Y last year for three quarters, re-assigned to X for a quarter, and will be returning to Y in two quarters, what do I put down?

If I don't see myself as either Y or X, what do I put down?

That's where I was seeing the addition of 'current'. However, you're right. It may be redundant. How does one account for demographic changes in gender without accounting for who was born X or Y, versus who reassigned to X or Y?

The issues of born Xs and Ys are not and can never be the issues of reassigned Xs and Ys; what is a better way to track?

way south: The problem isn't just water, its getting cheap water.
Making ocean water drinkable requires lots of power.

no it does not. it is just a lot more expensive than our current "free" water.
There are already massive desalination plants around the world.
Link (new window)

Every study has shown that when the price of tap water goes up enough, people automatically conserve. (shorter showers, full loads, flush less, water less, run water for less time)

FFS, people currently buy bottled farking water to drink.
Water would have to become scarce for there to be a meaningful impact on pricing.
Long before that we would have massive desalination plant construction.

this is a complete and total non-problem.
but go ahead and panic

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find

In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do, or say
Is in the pill you took today

In the year 4545
Ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes
You won't find a thing to do
Nobody's gonna look at you

In the year 5555
Your arms are hanging limp at your sides
Your legs not nothing to do
Some machine is doing that for you

In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long black tube

In the year 7510
If God's a-comin' he ought to make it by then
Maybe he'll look around himself and say
Guess it's time for the Judgement day

In the year 8510
God's gonna shake his mighty head
He'll either say I'm pleased where man has been
Or tear it down and start again

In the year 9595
I'm kinda wondering if man's gonna be alive
He's taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain't put back nothing

Now it's been 10,000 years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what he never knew
Now man's reign is through
But through the eternal night
The twinkling of starlight
So very far away
Maybe it's only yesterday

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find

In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do or say
Is in the pill you took today ...

/also, mankind is enslaved by giraffes

And everyone will have hoverboots!

Why is this scary?

If you're afraid of other people changing their sex, your problem is you.

namatad: way south: The problem isn't just water, its getting cheap water.
Making ocean water drinkable requires lots of power.

no it does not. it is just a lot more expensive than our current "free" water.
There are already massive desalination plants around the world.
Link (new window)

Every study has shown that when the price of tap water goes up enough, people automatically conserve. (shorter showers, full loads, flush less, water less, run water for less time)

FFS, people currently buy bottled farking water to drink.
Water would have to become scarce for there to be a meaningful impact on pricing.
Long before that we would have massive desalination plant construction.

this is a complete and total non-problem.
but go ahead and panic

Way South is looking at the issue globally.
You are looking at the issue locally.

Just how many people globally have access to bottled water -- easy bottled water?
How many people globally have access to 'free' water?

You mention showers (!), full loads (!!), flushing (!!!) .............................. how many people in the world have access to enough water where they can worry about taking *too* many showers, having a machine wash their clothes for them, flushing *too* often? You know?

The cost of water makes a difference, and if it's going to be expensive .. particularly if it's going to be expensive globally instead of First World locally ... that matters. Water and food need to be looked at globally, not locally. Americans and other First Worlders can't sit in the middle of plenty and belch about how's there's enough for everyone, where there obviously is a problem with distribution and getting that plenty to everyone in the first place.

namatad: FFS, people currently buy bottled farking water to drink.
Water would have to become scarce for there to be a meaningful impact on pricing.
Long before that we would have massive desalination plant construction.

this is a complete and total non-problem.
but go ahead and panic

The problem isn't drinking water. Only 10% of the freshwater we draw goes to municipal water systems. The problem is the 70% that gives us food. But keep your head in the sand.

/the rest goes to industry

pxsteel: By 2030 we will be pushing 9,000,000,000 people on the planet, 2050 10,000,000,000. Many places around the world wil be getting crushed by overpopulation. What kind of nasty bug comes from this is anyone's guess, but it is not going to be pretty.

How many of the totals are going to be named "Duggar"?

Just another friendly reminder from thhhhhhaaaaaaa SpacePope!