The New Normal Heading to 2030 and Beyond

America is being forced to change rapidly and embrace a ‘New Normal’ way of life in America - driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, racial and gender bias, global unrest, coupled with a wide range of new technologies.

We all find ourselves caught in the midst of a global pandemic that is impacting everyone on Earth. Millions have caught COVID-19 and hundreds of thousands are dying from it. For much of the year we have been self-isolating at home and millions of people have joined the ranks of the unemployed.

However, many of today’s knowledge workers who use computers in their jobs have been able to continue working out of their homes using telecommunications capabilities. Many student were sent home and are now attending classes online. For many, shopping online has replaced driving to stores to buy food and other needed items. The number of cars on the roads dropped significantly, resulting in extremely low demand for gasoline resulting in less pollution and fewer automobile fatalities.

Again, we are all being forced to change rapidly and embrace a ‘New Normal’ way of life in America - driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, racial and gender bias, global unrest, coupled with a wide range of new technologies.

Examples of Technological Advances Over the Coming Decades There will be another 1,000-fold increase in computer power, storage, data transmission rates, and software apps over the coming decade.Think 'Quantum Computing'. High speed Broadband, Satellite, and 5G Wireless Networks will be fully deployed and used across all parts of the globe. Trillions of 'Internet of Things (IoT)' sensors and Smart Home Appliances will be deployed and interconnected. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality, Big Data, and Data Analytics will play a dominant role in every business and in our everyday lives. Wearable, Implantable and Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technologies will begin to be deployed and used in healthcare, military, business, and many other domains. Robots will become a much more common feature in homes and businesses around the world. Widespread deployment of a range of renewable energy technologies will steadily replace fossil fuels, e.g. wind, solar, hydrogen fuel cells, small scale nuclear. Electric Vehicles (EV) and Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAV) will largely dominate the transportation industry by 2030, e.g. car, trucks, trains, airplanes, ships. Regenerative Medicine, Genetic Engineering, Stem Cell Research, 3D-Printed Human Organs, and 'Human Augmentation' technologies will dramatically alter people's life spans and capabilities.

The ‘New Normal’ way of life in America is not yet clearly defined. However, the following are examples of the ‘New Normal’ Life Styles and Behavior Changes taking place, often enabled by the wide range of new technologies all around us.

 

• Work – More and more workers that don’t need to be at a desk in a corporate office building need to be allowed to work from home. Essential workers that must show up for work in grocery stores, factories, hospitals and in many other jobs need to be paid a better wage and guaranteed safety and healthcare coverage.
• Retail Shopping - Until such time as vaccines are available and the current COVID-19 pandemic is eradicated, one of the ‘New Normals’ is that more and more shopping will be done online and many large store chains will be downsizing or will be going out of business.
• Education – More students need to be offered the alternative of going to school online, if the technology and telecommunications networks are in place. Teachers and students need to take public health protective measures as needed. Much of the world’s teachers, workers, researchers and students will increasingly have free and ‘open access’ to the growing repository of the world’s knowledge.
• Healthcare – The COVID-19 pandemic is helping to refocus and speed up the transition towards the use of Telehealth systems, Electronic Health Records (EHR), Personal Health Records (PHR), Health Information Exchange (HIE) Networks and the commitment to Open Access, Open Science, Preventive Medicine, Regenerative Medicine, Public Health, and DNA data driven solutions. There will be some significant impacts on our current configuration of hospitals, clinics, doctor’s offices, and the way we practice medicine across the country.
• Entertainment – Packed gatherings in huge stadiums to watch sports events, rock concerts, or political rallies may have run their course. Smaller face-to-face events are probably going to be replaced by televised events and eventually by spectators viewing these events using virtual reality technology. Attendance at movie theaters will continue to decline and visits to museums and other cultural exhibitions will continue to transition to online viewing – see Open Culture web site. However, expect many people to return to bars, nightclubs, and restaurants once the current pandemic passes. It’s just going to happen.
• Religion & Churches – Churches, religious organizations, and their faithful followers have been steadily embracing new technologies and online solutions. The next generation of young believers and church leaders have embraced and adjusted to the use of the Internet, Social Media, and Mobile Technology to create online communities, extend their global outreach, spread their faith, teach, learn… See Summerton ‘Open’ Religious Technology & Tools.
• Transportation Systems – The COVID-19 pandemic has people rethinking travel on crowded airplanes and cruise ships. Growing concerns over global climate change are boosting production and sales of Electronic Vehicles (EV). Other changes to transportation systems include industry investments in Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Vehicles and Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAV), High Speed Rail, and other solutions. Telecommuting is also leading to significantly less traffic on the roads. Also, Uber has provided an alternative to car ownership for many people living in cities that will bear watching closely.
• Energy & Environment – Both climate change and the current pandemic are speeding up the declining use of fossil fuels, while investments in alternative solar, wind, and hydro energy solutions are rapidly climbing. Hydrogen fuel cell technology and small modular nuclear reactors are also going to be coming online later this decade, further driving nails into the coffin of the dying fossil fuel industry. Climate change, pollution, rising sea levels and many other related issues depend on us now moving from ‘talk’ to ‘action’.We are well on our way transitioning from a Type 0 to a Type 1 Civilization to a more advanced Type 1 Civilization. Read about the Kardashev Scale
• Government & Society – America is in the midst of debating and pursuing many needed societal and government reforms. Racial justice and gender bias remain hot topics. Gun control, corporate tax reforms, voting suppression issues, universal healthcare, Rebuilding trust, setting Congressional term limits, addressing immigration, and many other topics will challenge us all for many decades to come. Expect a lot of hard fought battles on the streets and in the political arena. It’s the American way – and it all eventually works out. Read about Top Issues Facing America in 2020

[Since originally writing this article back in the mid-2020s, the Russian war on Ukraine has occurred, global climate change has picked up speed, and global unrest has grown in countries around the world.]

 

US Demographics by 2050 By 2050, the population of the US will climb to approximately 400 million people and Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and other racial minorities will make up a majority of the US population. By 2050, the female population will climb to over 200 million people and there will be 7.5 million more women than men in the US. Nearly nine-in-ten (87%) predict that a woman will be elected US President by 2050, and the number of women in Congress and state legislatures will finally equal the number of elected male officials.

These are just a few of the many changes that will be taking place as a ‘New Normal’ way of life emerges heading towards 2030 and beyond. For those who think there is no such thing as a ‘New Normal’, think again!

Other Selected Articles Top Issues and Challenges Facing American in 2020 What Do Women See Happening Over The Coming Decades? What Do Today’s Youth See Happening Over the Coming Decades? Overpopulation: Efforts to Reduce the World’s Population Next Generation Education 4.0 Systems Health 4.0 by 2040 Specific Technology Predictions for 2030 Transitioning from a Type 0 to a Type 1 Civilization Michio Kaku: Quantum Computing and Our Future

The Changing Online Church – Long After COVID-19 is History

The Church always keeps changing and adapting to the future. The message is the same, but our changing society and technology demands that we change how we do church – how we help spread God’s word.

“If you could do anything to help the church be more fruitful over the next 30 years, what would it be?” - Read The Great Opportunity: The American Church in 2050

We may be facing the largest missions opportunity ever in American history, and if we move quickly, we can help introduce tens of millions of young people to Jesus over the next 30 years. This holds true for pastors, ministry heads, lay people, funders, theologians, academics, missionaries... whether they be Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals, African American, post-denominational Charismatics, or many others.

The numbers show that the American church needs to plant more than 200,000 churches in the next 30 years to maintain status quo and even grow its membership. However, does that mean 200,000 physical church buildings or…? The church will need to find new models for lowering the cost of planting the churches of the future.

More specifically, the church must transform its approach to youth discipleship. The models that served us for the last fifty years are becoming increasingly less effective in this 21^st Century ‘Information Age’. Strangely, the current COVID-19 crisis is helping to show us new ways to move forward using innovative technologies and online social networking.

If you are interested in this topic, go online and do some research on how Religion and Churches will Change by 2050.

What Will Life Be Like In 2050

What will life be like for our children and grandchildren by 2050, as we continue our transition from a Type 0 into a Type 1 Civilization?
 

A Type 0 Civilization extracts its energy, information, raw-materials from crude organic-based sources (e.g. wood/fossil fuel); information is communicated by books, newspapers, oral tradition; natural and man-made disasters coupled with societal conflicts create extreme risk of extinction; it's capable of orbital spaceflight; limited medical and technological advancement; failure to improve social and environmental conditions often lead to their own extinction. A Type I Civilization extracts its energy and raw-materials from fusion power, hydrogen, solar, and other renewable resources; able to utilize and store energy available from its neighboring star, i.e. the sun; capable of inter-planetary spaceflight, colonization, and communication within its solar system; mega-scale global engineering and trade; regional and world governments; digital access to all known information and knowledge; achieves medical and technological singularity; still vulnerable to possible extinction. * See http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale

My grandparents grew up during the final transition from the 'Agriculture Age' into the 'Industrial Age' back in the early 1900's. They were there at the start-up of the automobile industry, the beginning of aviation, the introduction of home appliances like the washing machine and refrigerators. Long distance travel was largely by steam ships or locomotives. They were there when electricity and telephones were first introduced. My parents got to see these innovative new products and industries mature. They got to travel by jet airplanes and were there when black & white televisions were invented, when color TV sets came into being, and even saw the emergence of computer technology. They were there at the start of the 'Space Age' and when the first man walked on the moon.

I grew up in the 1960's and lived and worked during the transition from the 'Industrial Age' into the 'Information Age' of the 21^st Century. I was there to see the startup and rapid growth of the information technology (IT) industry, the transition from analog to digital communication networks, the birth of the Internet and world wide web (WWW), the emergence of regional and global governing entities, the start of inter-planetary flight, the commercialization of space travel, the emergence of mobile, wearable and implantable IT systems, the mapping of the human genome and the birth of regenerative medicine, in addition to the development and use of artificial intelligence, drone technology, laser beams, 3D printing, virtual reality, and so many other advancements rapidly leading up to the achievement of medical and technological singularity.

So try and imagine what advancements and massive changes our children and grandchildren will see and experience by 2050 and beyond. For example, will they witness:

• Rapid growth in predictive and regenerative medicine, coupled with advances in stem cell research genetic engineering, leading ultimately to the end of disease and death as we know it;
• Achievement of medical and technological singularity, leading to the transition of humans from our existing life forms into cyborg or android bodies;
• Development of transnational high-speed hyperloop rail and hypersonic air transportation systems on Earth;
• Development, deployment, and use of next generation inter-planetary transportation systems;
• Establishment of initial colonies on nearby planets within our solar system, i.e. Mars;
• Development and widespread use of 3D manufacturing, augmented eality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and teleportation technologies;
• Reduction in Earth's population to more manageable levels, e.g. 5-6 billion people.
• Development and deployment of brain interface technology and telepathic methods of communications between people and machines;
• Free and 'open access' to all the world's knowledge by human beings as needed; 
• Development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) interfaced to the Internet of Everything. 
• Exponential growth of innovative technologies and solutions to facilitate continued advancement of our civilization in order to transition from a Type I into a Type II Civilization in the 22^nd Century.

Some of the many characteristics of a Type II Civilization will include: the ability to harness and control the power of a star; mastery of faster-than-light travel; the capability of inter-stellar travel; the colonization of other solar systems in our galaxy; starships powered by the collision of matter and antimatter; the ability to communicate all knowledge in a short, massive burst; initial contact established with other civilizations in the universe; the extinction of our inter-stellar civilization will be highly unlikely.

What do you think our children and grandchildren will see and experience in their lifetimes? Share your thoughts with us.

 

Energy and the Environment in 2050

We all ought to take some time to consider what the world in which we live will look like in 2050 and beyond. I know I do, since my kids, grandkids, and great grandkids will hopefully be around then and well into the 22nd century.

The following is a brief collection of predictions about Energy and our Environment by 2050 that you might find interesting. These predictions were extracted from multiple reports and studies by groups around the world focused on the future of America and this planet. [I originally wrote this blog in 2015, but it turns out to still be spot on in 2020]

So here goes! Expect the following predictions and/or future scenarios to become a reality over the next few decades:

• The official end of the 'Oil Age' and use of fossil fuels on Earth will occur by 2050.
• There will be widespread emergence and use of a range of renewable energy sources, e.g. wind, solar, hydro.
• Renewable energy will probably provide up to 80% of U.S. needs by 2050.
• Nuclear 'fusion' power will become commercially available.
• Fuel cell technology will also be widely used to power homes, buildings, ships, cars, ...
• Continent-wide smart 'supergrids' will be used to help manage the world's energy needs.
• Both the high cost and scarcity of energy on Earth will be a thing of the past.
• Average global temperatures will have risen by more than 4°F by 2050.
• Continued climate change will make storms far more intense, e.g. hurricanes, tornados, cyclones.
• Sea levels across the globe will rise by a little over 3 feet, flooding many coastal cities and areas in the U.S. and around the world.
• Approximately 5 billion of the world's projected 10 billion people will live in water-stressed and food-scarce areas leading to the potential of mass migrations and regional conflicts.
• Nearly half of the world's rain forests and jungles will vanish by 2050, but global efforts to halt de-forestation will finally take hold.
• Deep ocean mining operations around the world will become widespread.
• Unfortunately, much of the world's fish stocks in the ocean could become extinct by 2050.
• Major extinctions of many other animals and plant life will have occurred.
• Cost-effective conservation technologies and solutions will be widely deployed and in use
• Use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) will be widespread on farms everywhere
• Wildfires will have tripled in many regions of the globe by 2050
• Hi-tech, self-driving 'non-polluting' electric cars will largely dominate the automobile industry by 2050 .
• High-speed rail routes between major cities across the U.S. and around the world will largely be in place.
• Many other technological breakthroughs will be developed just in time to solve many of the challenges and problems caused by a growing world population, rapid urbanization, climate change, space travel, ...e.g. AI, VR, IoT, Quantum Computing.
• Spaceflight technology will take a major leap forward allowing for Inter-Planetary travel across our Solar System.
• Public and private sector organizations will be aggressively moving forward to explore and exploit resources on nearby planets in outer-space
• There will be the first permanent human settlements on the moon and Mars by 2050.

What else do you think will happen by 2050?  Quantum Computing's Impact? What does all this mean for you?


* Read about America's Energy Future and go ahead and download a copy of the OECD Environmental Outlook for 2050.  Also, check out more detailed projections documented in 'Our Changing World by 2050'.