What do you think society will be like 20 years from now?

Everyone will be rationing for food, water and fuel.

I think there will be wars fought over food and water, rather than oil. I think the gap between the rich and the rest of the society will be even greater than it is now.

Technology will be mind-boggling but I fear there will be more anti-social devices such as iPods, cell phones and computers.

The only positive thing I foresee is medical technology. Hopefully, medicine will be tailored to each person's genetic makeup and there will be cures for cancer, Alzheimer's, AIDS, and so on.

This question can be best answered after U.S. presidential elections, reason being one more president like Bush and we will not be there to answer this question.

My dream would be a gay pub on every high street corner, where we can go freely without persecution, oooooh Utopia!! Swimming pools with gay nights would be wonderfull, i already do similar parties in my back garden , but it is in the privacy of my residence of course. I hope all of us considered outside the "norm" can be treated equally and society will eb awright!!

I hope the society is more Liberal like Mike does , but in a different way.

I think woman going topless will be normal> Topless woman as swimming pools eh! Cushty!!

Mind you in 20 years time i won't be able to raise a smile let alone anythink else.

The US will probably not be the super power it used to be. We are seeing signs of this downfall beginning to happen right now. Which country will it be 20 years from now? China? India? Japan?

20 years from now,we will more globalised world. All products and services also will be globalised.

We are just starting at making small steps now for globalised world economy via googgle search engines/jet engines/electric engines/motor engines/many other engines.

We will truly have globalised engines for all work,whatever it may be. All nationalities will work together to solve problems whatever it may be. We are just in the begining stage now with a new 2008 cash crisis.

Right now,we have to get our economic engines right, this is first small step for man, but giant leap for mankind.

MikeBarrymore, DerekTrotter:

Yes, I wonder what AlfGarnett and George Roper have to say.

I'll tell you waht society will be like, blooming 20 times worse than it is now. eleven years of socialist filth from the Labour party has destroyed Britain. The world is collapsing becuase of greedy guts bankers, swines!! The poor old pensioners like me will be doing worser, you can guarantee that innit! I can only afford to watch the Hammers once a month, us older peopel tafford entertainment anymore, the government are too stingy wiv our pensions. i reckon in twenty years time old people will be starving, like the old days, nobody cares about us, bloody liberty it is, what wiv me being a war hero, and a bleeding patriotic one at that!!

I agree with Alf, strewth! I can hardly ever afford to go out these days. If i am still alive in twenty years i will ahve to stay indoors all day and eat Tesco economy, it's disgusting! I can only afford to go down the Feathers once a week now, tehy keep putting up beer prices, i have to drink Pale ale indoors with Jerry now, because it's cheaper than the pub. It's obvious that teh rich will get richer and us working class will get poorer, blimey its a poor look out when you can't even afford a pint!

Ask this question 20 years from now and you'll get the same set of responses. In other words things won't change much. At least as far as society goes.

S

Oh gawd! Listen to all the old timers moaning away. This is as bad as sitting indoors for an evening with my father.

The future is there for the taking for younger fellas like meself. I can see myself now in twenty years, running a successfull business. A luxury yacht, travelling to far off places whenever i desire, with dusky maidens at my beck and call.

Oh yes, the time has come for us working class fellas to fullfill our aspirations. Time for the priviledged few to make way for us hard working forward looking types.

Yes, once my father ceases to destroy all my plans, i shall be a force to be reckoned with in the business world. I can imagine all that lovely lolly now, oh yes i desertve it, io've always worked meself til i drop.

oooh harold, your dream sound lovely. You sound like a great young man, not too sure about the dusky maiden bit though.

Let's just hope we can all start being nicer and more tolerant, especially to people with mental problems, drink and drug problems and are gay.

If we are kind to each other the world will be awight!

i guess the world in 20 years will be better for most folks, down to good old fashioned capitalism and free markets. Communism will be as good as dead, as repressed folks demand their countries follow the American way. The US will remain the only super power and will be entrusted to police the world against the ever present threat of radical muslim fanatics.

This time in twenty years i'm gonna be a millionaire.

I always knew i would be a success, from when i started my first venture Eels on wheels with Jumbo Mills.

I know people like me who can find a gap in the market will succeed. In the future it is going to be easier i reckon.

I live to my motto to succeed, "He who dares wins".

Hopefully, in twenty years people will stop clinging to conservative, religious values. Common decency will prevail. Essential services will be controlled by the state. Affordable housing for low income families will increase. There will be tougher controls on banks and financial institutions. People will be allowed only one credit card, with stricter limitations on its use. Public transportation will be greatly increased and car use will decrease. An obesity tax will be introduced. The number of people who smoke will decrease dramatically after the Pope declares that Heaven has been designated as a smoke free environment. A cure for Alzheimers will be found and George Bush will remember how he messed up the world.

If things go well for us, more and more wealth will be concentrated in the hands of the top 1%. We will manage the world business and appoint politicians by funding those who will do what we want. 99% of humanity will earn enough to pay tribute and then have enough left over to survive until the next paycheck.

2028 will be a fine year where countries try to increase their economic standing while certain groups fight to be given rights that they deserve, all the while politicians will be telling people that they understand their plight, and all they need to do is follow their plan, (which has the support of about 40% of the general population) and everything will turn out hunky dorey. meanwhile, the cubs will be saying "This is our year!"

I'm hoping less consumption and more environmental awareness; more tolerance and less religion-based bigotry and intolerance; more technology and less exploitation of cheap labor. Less ideologically inspired wars and terrorism. That's what I'm hoping. Plus I'll second Bamboohat: 2028 will be the Cubs' year!

I'm guessing intolerance and nationalism and consumption will rise while everyone rushes to grab what is theirs 'By rights!' I think we're on the pendulum swing towards more xenophobia (G. W. and Aso being big pushers of that pendulum.)

Also, I think the US is slowly disintegrating: more states are agreeing to international agreements that the national gov't is refusing to sign (Calif. 'signed' the Kyoto protocol while Bush refused) and more states are making international trade agreements without the benefit of federal support - basically skirting around Bush's objections. Maybe the next president will be able to reverse the process. If the process (the break up of the US) is considered bad.

MORE SELFISH MORE VIOLENCE MORE CEO's stealing money from poor people. MORE HOMELESS And The President of The United States George Bush's face will be on the dollar bill.

More greed. More homeless for sure. More pressure on land as environmental and war refugees increase. Tension and possibly war over fresh water supplies. Incredible medical advances but unfortunately most poor will be excluded. Overall, not too good for most I guess.

Whose society is in question?

Society needs to prove its value to be considered a requirement to the future.

Globalization will have made labor a commodity and resulted in a global drop in worker income and the creation of a massive working poor population globally. Damage to then environment will have resulted in disastrous flooding of most coastal cities and the mass migration of millions to inland regions. The resulting economic catastrophe will leave billions under or unemployed and struggling for food. Warming will have caused broad desertfication of the central US and Europe causing more food shortages globally.

The political response to the above will be greater control by governments claiming to be democratic while practicing authoritarian violations of movement, privacy and once protected civil liberties. Peak oil will have forced moves to other energy forms, but global transportation costs will localize production of essential products and limite movement of people around the world other than the very wealthy.

The world has just started to rebuild after nuclear exchanges between super powers?

So what'll be different? Apart from technology and much less water, not much I'd say. Tribal warfare is what we excel at and have been doing since day one. Muslims will still be intolerant and Afghanistan will still be wracked violence, warlords blasting holes in each other from one side of the country to the other.

Pakistan will still be a basket case and Russia will be the new world power. So why's that Nuts? Because Putin said by 2010 they would be. They have the resources, a resurgent military and growing economy, intelligence and manpower. Europe will be intimidated by the bear like never before. Move over world power USA, Wall street brought you down. Russia is the new kid on the block. Scary times...

In the future, Korea, Japan & the U.S. will be controlled by China. Chinese will be the dominated language, English second. Probably half---if not more--of Canada & the States will become Chinese territories. The other half...territories of India. Throw some of that land to Russia too. Who knows what will happen to Europe? Possible the decendants of all those immigrants to the States/Canada will return. Isreal and some Middle Eastern countries will have killed each other off. There will be a new breed of humans: Arabic + Chinese, Russian + Chinese, Indian + Chinese etc. White people will probably cease to exist. Things will also start to get louder and louder b/c the ability to hear will slowly decrease. Maybe the last hope will be Africa. Meanwhile Australia & New Zea. will keep on having their beer and playing rugby like nothing has happened.

I think Wall Street is going to bounce back and the almighty U.S. dollar will reign supreme along with U.S. culture.

Either that or there will be a nuclear war and the cockroaches will reign supreme.

I guess you have to ask will society be here in 20 years before you can ask how it will be..

Maybe in 20 years, the LDP is going to manage the economy so bad, that people is going to riot, but is going to be to late for avoid really painful measures and then the ultra-rightwingers finally are going to make a coup de etat for keep peace on the streets. Then J change the constitution, expand the SDF, build 200 nukes and blame some minority/ies and/or foreigners for all the problems. BTW we are going to see robots become common here, but a social rejection to cibernetic implants because is not natural (just like low transplants donors and plastic surgery). But at the same time we are going to se more foreigners than before, the kind that build shanty towns and some people in black vans is going to say things like "Some day we need to sorround them and burn them all". Internet replace TVs like the main source of entertaiment and news with NHK nocking our doors asking for our donation and say that if we have internet we have to pay.

I predict that in 20 years none of the predictions made here will be true, including this one.

UnagiDon, that's some wacky paradox you got going there...=)