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According to the data presented in the latest IPCC report, humanity expects four possible scenarios for the development of humanity and associated climate change, reports NewScientist magazine.

By 2100, the average annual temperature on Earth will rise by 0.3 - 4.8 °C compared to the last decade of the 20th century. The spread of predicted values ​​for the increase in global temperatures is quite large. How exactly the temperature will rise depends entirely on how many of us there will be on Earth; “services”, what kind of energy we will use; what we will eat; what houses we will live in and what we will drive.
Climatologists have used possible scenarios for human development to model climate change in the future.

1. Security ensured through geoengineering methods.
World population: 9 billion
8 × 10 20 joules
400 ppm, reduction

Humanity in beginning of XXI century has invested a lot of money in the development of alternative energy sources and other technologies that stabilize climate change.
It was not easy, but humanity managed to build systems that capture carbon dioxide from the planet's atmosphere and depositing it in underground storage facilities. Homo sapiens invested a large number of material resources in the development of alternative energy sources and got used to doing without fossil fuels. Humans actively use biofuels, the combustion products of which are also deposited in underground storage facilities. As a result, the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere stopped and began to decline.
The rise in global temperatures stopped and stabilized in 2050. The area covered by Arctic ice has stopped decreasing from year to year. Acidity ocean waters stopped increasing. The level of the World Ocean continues to rise, mainly due to heat accumulated in previous decades.

2. Slight delay.
World population: 8.5 billion
Global Energy Use: 1 × 10 21 joules
CO2 content in the planet's atmosphere: stabilization at 550 ppm

Humanity is lagging behind the transition to the use of renewable energy sources and the signing of international agreements regulating emissions greenhouse gases.
Overall, humanity is becoming a more efficient society than in 2013, using less energy and using fewer materials to produce a unit of output. Waste recycling technologies are being actively implemented. Most of the energy for human needs comes from installations alternative energy And nuclear power plants. Green technologies are rapidly spreading throughout the world. The world is witnessing a transition to a “low-carbon economy”. On Earth, the average person began to eat less meat, which helped reduce the flow of methane into the planet’s atmosphere. The area of ​​pastures is decreasing, Agriculture becomes more efficient. Forest areas on the planet are growing, sequestering more and more carbon. Humanity began to live in compact cities, using environmentally friendly public transport.
Despite the fact that global temperatures and sea levels continue to rise, humanity has managed to avoid extreme manifestations climate change.

3. Too slow. Too late.
World population: 9.5 billion
Global Energy Use: 8 × 10 20 joules
CO2 content in the planet's atmosphere: 650 ppm and slight increase

We have reduced emissions, but not until the end of the century.
For the first half of the century, we carried on business as usual, burning large amounts of carbon-based fuels. We had no idea reverse side our consumer lifestyle. By mid-century, climate change could no longer be ignored. As a result, the governments of the vast majority of countries around the world have introduced the necessary norms and regulations regulating the emission of greenhouse gases. Humanity began to gradually adapt to “green rails”. Hydrocarbon consumption has fallen over the past few decades, but we still get 75% of our energy needs from burning fossil fuels, down slightly from 82% in 2011.

4. “Sitting” on carbon.
World population: 12.5 billion
Global Energy Use: 1.75 × 10 21 joules
CO2 content in the planet's atmosphere: 950 ppm and rising

The world economy based on oil and coal continues to grow. The world's population continues to grow rapidly, increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
Welcome to a globalized consumer society firmly hooked on carbon fuels. Greenhouse gas emissions affect human health and the environment. Biodiversity is declining, affecting

The rapid development of technology, climatic metamorphoses and constant population growth in the next few decades will radically change life on our planet.

the site found out what awaits humanity in the near future. Before the end of the 21st century, people may face global changes, and their lives will become completely different,

2022: India will become the most populous country in the world

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For many years, the palm in the competition of the most populous countries belonged to China, but researchers claim that India will take over the leadership within five years. Previously it was believed that this would happen in 2028. But analysis of global demographic trends suggests that China will lose ground much faster.

2030: man will land on Mars

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Discussions about an expedition to Mars have been going on for many years. However, very concrete steps towards achieving this goal began to be taken not so long ago. In the summer of 2011, representatives of the world's 10 largest space agencies met as part of a meeting of the International coordination group on space exploration. Scientists mainly discussed the issues of colonization of Mars. A number of decisions were made and preparations for the expedition began.

It has already become clear that in a couple of decades the Red Planet may become a new home for people. It is planned that it will be colonized already in the 30s of the 21st century. Taking part in preparations for the expedition, which will change the course of history, is a talented engineer and entrepreneur who came up with a special rocket fuel, the components for which can be mined directly on Mars.

2037: Arctic ice will melt

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Climatologists different countries They agree that in just 20 years the Earth may lose its northern “ice cap.” According to 2009 research, arctic ice then covered about five million square kilometers surface of the North Arctic Ocean. The situation is changing every year - the ice has begun to actively melt.

According to the most optimistic forecasts, by 2037, only a million square kilometers of ice crust will remain in the Arctic. Some scientists believe that the ice will disappear completely by this time. As a result, the habitat of unique animals will be completely destroyed, and there will be much more water in the world’s oceans. These changes threaten to flood large parts of the land.

2040: artificial intelligence will crush the human mind

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But this prediction makes it somehow creepy. American scientists are confident that, taking into account Moore's Law(the observation that computer productivity doubles every two years), in 20 years, artificial intelligence will be able to make its own decisions and fully engage in creativity.

This process is fraught with many dangers (we all remember the famous science-fiction saga “Terminator”), but experts still believe that the computer mind will not be able to escape from human control.

2050: Africa and Asia will turn into a giant dump

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In most civilized countries, the garbage issue has been resolved, but in many African and Asian countries people simply drowned in household waste. Every year there is more and more garbage. Local authorities they cannot always organize its removal to a landfill, not to mention its proper recycling.

If experienced “cleanies” do not help third world countries in the near future, Africa and Asia are facing a real environmental disaster. In 30 years, it may well happen that due to poisoning of the soil and groundwater, animals will begin to die, and people will begin to move en masse from places that are no longer suitable for habitation - Europe and America will be overwhelmed by a new wave of migration. In this case, there may really not be enough space for everyone.

2075: The ozone layer will fully recover

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IN Lately The ozone layer is not often talked about, while in the 80s humanity was shocked by the news that chlorofluorocarbons contained in aerosol cans had “punched” a huge hole in our natural protective shield from ultraviolet radiation. A few years later, aerosol manufacturers were banned from using substances harmful to the ozone layer.

Some time passed, and the huge hole over the Arctic began to gradually “close up.” The process of regeneration of the ozone shield is slow, so its complete restoration will occur only after more than 50 years.

2100: Amazon forests will almost disappear

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Well, now to the sad part. The facts listed earlier can be attributed to positive changes. However, scientific and technological progress, overpopulation and human dependence on natural resources have caused a number of environmental disasters.

Scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research Wolfgang Kramer I am sure that in 80 years the Amazon jungle will practically disappear due to drought, which has begun to happen there more and more often due to global warming. In addition, these unique forests are being actively cut down, despite numerous protests from the “greens”. Scientists predict that by the next century only 83% of the Amazon jungle will remain.

Radical climate change is gradually destroying not only flora, but also fauna. If the overall temperature continues to rise, we will lose about 900 species of birds: birds of all animals are the most susceptible to environmental problems.

2100: Venice will go under water

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Over the past 100 years, one of the most beautiful European cities has sunk 23 centimeters into the sea. Residents of Venice have always suffered from floods, but now the situation is almost out of control. Nowadays, the famous St. Mark's Square is flooded with water almost a hundred times a year, whereas at the beginning of the 20th century this happened 10 times less often.

As the forecasts of many scientists show, in 15 years it will be almost impossible to live in Venice, and in 80 years the sea will swallow the city completely.

We invite you to explore a list of ten amazing and advanced technologies that should appear around the year 2100. Some of these technologies are almost there, but on the other hand, the same can be said about thermonuclear fusion, which was promised to us many years ago. And no matter how incredible the things described below may seem to you, they most of- if not all - are simply obliged to appear at the turn of the twenty-second century. The reason for this lies in an innovation that is not on this list: artificial superintelligence. As computer scientist I. J. Goode rightly said in the 1960s, “The first superintelligent machine will be the last invention man has to make.”

Once a machine gains intelligence that surpasses that of a human—and this could happen as early as the 2050s—the words “technically possible” will no longer make sense. People will replace such professions as designers and engineers with intelligent machines; they will begin to create technologies from any of our fantasies and fairy tales, and even more. So, here are 10 such technologies that could change almost everything.

Virtual reality connected to the brain

Wearable devices virtual reality, like the Oculus Rift - this is all very well, of course, but no matter how complex such devices are, the genuine feeling of being in parallel reality will always remain out of reach. We need something more… implementing. By 2100, we will undoubtedly find a way to make the virtual reality experience indistinguishable from this very reality. It is interesting that this experience will directly enter our brain, bypassing the usual senses and making everything that happens very reliable.

In order to get a material sense of what is happening, we need to get to the source of all experience: in human brain. Essentially, the brain is, to some extent, a device that processes feelings. Everything that we experience day after day, be it the smell of leaves or flowers or warm sunlight, a breath of wind or cold rain, all this passes through the brain. But what is real in reality? When we talk about what we feel or see, what we hear or taste, the “real” ones are actually the electrical signals that our brains read.

Futurist Ray Kurzweil, in his book The Singularity Is Near, explained how this could happen. He believes it will all start with nanorobots in our brains and bodies. Nanorobots will support our health, provide direct brain-to-brain communication via the Internet, provide full immersion into virtual reality directly from inside our nervous system and significantly increase a person’s mental capabilities. But we must not forget that non-biological intelligence “gets smarter” twice a year, while biological intelligence, in principle, stands in one place. By the 2030s, the non-biological part of our intelligence will begin to displace the biological part.

The time frame that Kurzweil gave is, of course, somewhat optimistic, but his words make sense; we will find new ways to break the blood-brain barrier and create microscopic machines that can travel anywhere human body. Work is also underway to create detailed map brain, which also includes areas that process incoming sensory information.

Kurzweil's nanorobots, once implanted in the brain, would be able to detect various sensory inputs in the brain and close them (i.e., prevent electrical signals from passing through the retina of the eye, ear, etc.), completely cutting off a person from the real environment. It would be the ultimate sensory deprivation chamber. Instead of these signals, nanorobots that receive wireless signals would send their own signals to the brain and feed the brain artificial senses. In this case, the person will feel like he is in a completely different world.

J. Storrs Hall, an innovator in the field of nanotechnology, imagines utility fog (or utility nanosmog) as a swarm of nanorobots, or "foglet", that can take the shape of almost any object and change its shape on the fly. Storrs came up with the idea while he was trying imagine what the seat belt of the future would look and function like: Instead of airbags and static belts, Hall envisioned a smart cloud of interconnected snowflake foglets that could move in accordance with any object nearby, including the passengers in the car.

Utilitarian Fog challenges the imagination in terms of technological sophistication. Each foglet will be only ten microns across (that is, the size of a human cell), equipped with a tiny, rudimentary on-board computer that will control its actions (and externally supported by an artificial intelligence system) and ten telescopic limbs that will extend outward in the form of dodecahedron. By connecting, two foglets will form a circuit that will allow energy and communication to be transferred across the network. These foglets will not be able to swim, but rather will form a lattice-like structure that stretches in all twelve directions.

The utilitarian fog will begin to work as programmable matter; it will be able to move, envelop and even transport a person or other object. Perhaps such fog could even be used to create virtual world around a person.

Space solar energy

As our civilization strives to mitigate the effects of climate change and transition to a more sustainable energy economy, it seems that we will never meet our insatiable energy needs. Space energy - this idea was proposed back in the 1960s - and it can solve this problem once and for all.

About sixty years ago, Peter Glaser introduced solar satellites that have the ability to transmit captured solar energy via microwaves to the Earth's surface. Since then, various schemes have been proposed to use this idea, and Japan even has an actual plan. The SBSP system is a Japanese orbital farm that will maintain a stationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above the equator and transmit energy to Earth using laser beams. Each satellite will be aimed at a 3-kilometer-wide receiving station that will generate a gigawatt of electricity. This is enough to power half a million homes. For security reasons, the receiving stations will be located away from human habitats, such as on an island or in the desert.

At the turn of the 22nd century, many people will prefer a purely digital existence, free from all biological restrictions. Mind uploading, or whole brain emulation, would make it possible to accurately replicate an existing biological brain. The scan will capture every detail down to the molecular level, not forgetting to include memories, associations and even a person's personal quirks and preferences.

Futurologists do not yet know the exact time when consciousness uploading will become available, but important step will make sure that all the most important parts of the brain, especially those tied to the human sense of identity (namely the parahippocampus and retrosplenial cortex), are copied. We will also have to resort to “destructive” copying when existing brain chopped up or removed altogether to record a person’s state and memories. Alternatively, one could use a brain scanner powerful enough to create impressions of the brain and then insert them into a computer that can transmit this information to a functioning consciousness. In order for a busy person to function normally, he will also need a virtual body and environment.

But there remains a very important philosophical and scientific question that needs to be asked, whether this process will be a genuine “transfer” of consciousness, and not just a copying of the human brain. Moreover, it is not very clear whether self-awareness can be recreated on a digital substrate. The frightening thing is that each download can produce, in some way, a zombie whose behavior will be similar to how a person behaved in the past, but in reality he will act like a program, according to a script.

It is very unlikely that we will be able to completely control the weather by the end of this century, but it is possible that we will be able to significantly influence it. We already seed clouds with particles to stimulate precipitation; they've been doing it in California for fifty years. During summer Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing, Chinese authorities fired 1,100 rockets into the clouds to trigger downpours before the storms reached the capital. Sometimes laser pulses are even fired into thunderclouds in the hope that it will cause lightning.

In the future, weather engineers will be able to build massive wall-like structures that will stop destructive tornadoes from forming, or build massive - very massive - turbines in the sea that will suck the energy out of hurricanes. A 2014 study demonstrated that a wind farm, which consists of tens of thousands of individual wind turbines, could reduce wind speeds by 148 km/h and reduce storm surges by 79%. Essentially, this means nullifying the hurricane.

What's more interesting is that we could eventually build a weather machine to create programmable weather. A particularly curious global plan requires a thin cloud of small transparent balls that rise into the atmosphere and can reflect incoming sunlight. Inside each ball there will be a mirror and a GPS module, a mechanism for controlling orientation and a small computer. The "programmable greenhouse gas" raised by hydrogen will be thirty kilometers above the Earth's surface. When millions of mirrors face away from Earth, they will be able to reflect sunlight back into space. This system, which will be controlled by artificial intelligence, will be able to change weather around the world and transform less habitable places into temperate areas.

Think 3D printers are cool? Then wait for the appearance of molecular assemblers (nanoassemblers), hypothetical machines that were described by one of the fathers of nanotechnology, Eric Drexler. Drexler describes a nanoassembler as a device that can manipulate individual atoms to create a desired product.

Drexler especially emphasized that biological assemblers already exist and produce complex and amazing structures, for example, bacteria, trees, people. Using the same logic, he believes that we will eventually be able to use mechanical properties ultra-small objects and use similar principles to create objects of any consistency or shape.

Nanoassemblers could bring the world into an era of “cardinal abundance,” allowing us to produce objects and materials that would otherwise be impossible to build, literally from scratch (or, more accurately, from molecules). Such devices could even cook food. To make a steak, the nanoassembler needs carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, from which it assembles amino acids and proteins, and then assembles them into the shape of a steak.

The consequences of climate change are most likely irreversible. No matter what we do between now and 2100, the levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere will continue to warm the planet.

To prevent the many environmental disasters that will inevitably follow climate change—from rising sea levels and super-droughts to superstorms and mass extinctions—we should start changing the planet through geoengineering.

Some notable geohacking proposals include injecting stratospheric particles to manipulate solar radiation, seeding cirrus clouds to reduce reflectivity, injecting sulfur aerosols to cause global dimming, and simple solutions such as recovery tropical forests to restore carbon balance. Other ideas include a giant space reflector (though exactly that may be beyond our technological capabilities by 2100), fertilizing the oceans to grow carbon-sucking algae, and increasing ocean alkalinity to make them less acidic. It is clear that there is no shortage of ideas.

The problem with geoengineering, of course, is that we can confidently destroy the planet if something goes wrong, and also become dependent on it. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and we will rely on sophisticated climate models and supercomputers.

Advances in neurobiology and communication technologies will turn humanity literally into a telepathic species.

The advent of direct mind-to-mind communication will further connect us as individuals and will likely lead to "swarm consciousness" - a vast network of interconnected minds that work together via the Internet. In such a future, we will begin to observe the dissolution of personality and the rise of collective mass consciousness.

Remarkably, such a future may be closer than we think. Back in 2014, an international team of researchers was the first to demonstrate a direct and completely non-invasive brain-to-brain communication system. During the experiments, participants were able to exchange mentally projected words, although they were separated by hundreds of kilometers. A year later, another team of scientists transmitted brain signals over the Internet to control the movements of another person's hand. These systems, now only in their infancy, hint at a future in which we use the power of thought to communicate with each other and telekinetically control smart devices in our environment.

The power of fusion

Earlier this year, physicists in Germany used a 2-megawatt microwave pulse to heat low-density hydrogen plasma to 80 million degrees. The experiment produced no energy and lasted only a quarter of a second, but was a major step forward in efforts to launch nuclear fusion, an extremely promising form of energy production.

Unlike nuclear fission, which breaks down the nuclei of an atom into smaller parts, nuclear fusion creates a single heavy nucleus from two light ones. As a result, the change in mass generates great amount energy, which, according to scientists, can be used as a working source of clean energy. Nuclear fusion can replace the burning of fossil fuels and traditional nuclear reactors.

But to do this, scientists need to figure out how to reliably and safely manage the conditions commonly encountered in the sun. The problem is that fusion plasma is very difficult to contain; freely flowing streams of protons and electrons are kicked out. Our sun holds plasma together with powerful gravity, but on Earth we have to rely on magnets and lasers to replicate this feat. Once a tiny piece of plasma escapes, it can ruin the wall of the machine, so the fusion reactor is shut down.

Artificial life forms

Not wanting to stop at genetic engineering, scientists of the future will probably want to create new organisms from scratch - from microscopic synthetic bacteria to new people. This burgeoning discipline artificial life began with an attempt to recreate a purely biological phenomenon, and in this it is helped by computers and other synthetic environments.

The quest to create synthetic life forms is already in full swing. Earlier this year, scientists at the Synthetic Genomics Institute successfully created an artificial bacterial genome that had a meager set of 473 genes - fewer than found in any organism in nature. Further breakthroughs in this field will help biologists study the basic functions of life and classify the essential genes in cells. Scientists can use the building blocks of cells to create organisms with abilities not found in nature - such as bacteria that can consume plastic and toxic waste, and microorganisms that act as medicine for our bodies.

Any of the technologies listed above can change our civilization. What is less clear is how these miracles will work among themselves; the crossover effects of technologies are often difficult to predict. For example, the connection between brain-connected virtual reality, mind uploading and artificial intelligence could lead to the creation of a computer civilization consisting of real people and artificial intelligences. Future geoengineering systems may include weather control systems. And so on.

The more predictions we make about future technologies, the harder it is to understand what the future might actually look like.

Futurologists promise terrible cataclysms for the Earth's population for the period from 2060 to 2100. Energy and Natural resources will be almost completely exhausted, and population growth, on the contrary, will reach its peak. As for climate, environmental changes will be so global that they will turn the life of mankind into a real hell. We have compiled a collection of the most interesting forecasts for the future

Turkish futurist Ugur Kochbaş believes that some countries will be under water or turn into a desert unsuitable for life. Congo, Uganda, Kenya and other countries located around the equator will disappear from the face of the earth as if they never existed. As a result, millions of residents will be forced to flee and look for a new refuge. The largest migration in human history will continue until 2080. In search of a new homeland, millions of people will lose their lives. And by 2100 the world will change beyond recognition. Kochbash is confident that this process will be the most tragic in terms of destruction, wars, misfortunes and natural disasters in the history of humanity after Noah's flood. But there are also those who will be lucky in this future apocalypse.

The Scandinavians will benefit

The Scandinavian countries, according to futuristic forecasts, will only benefit. The climate here will become much more moderate, which will have a beneficial effect on agriculture and the general well-being of people. A comfortable existence also awaits Russia, Iceland and Canada. And here island states will be divided into two categories.

Today this seems completely unrealistic, but the Turkish futurologist is absolutely convinced that the countries in the area Pacific Ocean by this time they will completely disappear. While Japan, Great Britain and New Zealand will be able to avoid disaster, but will switch to complete self-sufficiency, severing any connection with the continents. Instead of the United States, Canada will become a superpower, and South America, in turn, will simply receive a stream of refugees from those caught in ecological disaster countries As a result, the demographic structure of the young states will change completely. People will not have enough food, which will lead to real battles for a piece of bread. But India and especially China, on the contrary, will experience a demographic decline.

As for the political changes in the world community, the influx of migrants to Europe will continue. In a number of countries - Spain, Italy and Greece - nationalists will take over, as a result of which power will go to the extreme right political parties. The European Union, as is already predicted today, will order a long life, after which a global redistribution of agricultural and natural property will begin. And first of all – water. Most of the world's governments in this chaos will themselves give up power or lose it as a result popular uprisings. As a result, the “president” of most states will be anarchy.

Russia will become a superpower

For Russia, most futurologists, including Western ones, predict a happy future, which inspires optimism. Already in 2040, thanks to its vast territories, our country will become an agricultural superpower. In addition, Russia is the second largest in the world in terms of natural water reserves, and this was, is and will be the most valuable resource of humanity at all times. True, there is an opinion that by this time from Russian Federation SFO may come out. The loss of Siberia is traditionally associated with the participation of the Chinese, but not at all due to military conflicts. Everything is much more prosaic. In the territories of the Siberian Federal District and Far East Today there are only about twenty-five million Russians. It is natural that overpopulated China has long been eyeing neighboring territories that are comfortable for living. And the migration of Chinese – both legal and not – is already going on steadily today. So by 2040, the number of ethnic Chinese in these Russian territories may well exceed the critical figure. This means that ex-residents of the Middle Kingdom will be elected to government bodies local government, actively influence the way of life and life, introducing their national traditions. As a result, these territories, futurologists believe, will depend more on China than on the Russian Federation.

In 2050 our Russians spaceships will roam throughout the universe and it is during these years that they predict the flourishing of space tourism. Russia is projected to become a leader in this area of ​​interplanetary business.

Robots will serve in the army

In another twenty years, in 2070, not yesterday’s school graduates, but robot conscripts will join the army. First of all, this will affect the Air Force: aircraft will become completely autonomous and will be controlled by artificial intelligence. It is assumed that Russia will completely renew the army, replacing people with machines. Around the same time, Russia will face a final battle with Turkey, whose revanchist sentiments will make themselves felt by this time. As a result, Constantinople will go to Russia, and Turkey, as an independent state, will disappear with political map peace. And finally, in 2100, according to the forecasts of not only futurologists, but also a number of famous visionaries, Russia will reach its heyday. A fundamentally new fuel will appear, small towns will unite, the people will be strong and healthy - both physically and mentally. spiritual sense. There will be no need. In general, the golden age will finally come.