I am not a scientist nor a doomsayer, but rather an ordinary Internet user that reads much more news, journals, and books than the average person. And it has become clear to me that as a national and global civilization, we face two diverging futures that will be chosen in the 21st century.
The first is negative, and at the heart of it is entrenched corporate money in government. Vast subsidies to oil, food, and financial monopolies ensure that there is no interest in much needed social progress. America continues to spend almost half of its budget on its military, more than all of the over armed forces in the world combined. Fossil fuels will be burnt to the last drop, still used for everything from plastics to agriculture.
More corn than we can ever use is grown and then wasted because farmers are paid to grow so much of it; much of ends up in almost every food product we eat in the form of high fructose corn syrup, resulting in a third of the adult population being obese. This and other problems will continue to stress the most expensive healthcare systems in the world, and there is resistance to change for loss of insurance company profits. When insurance companies make money, so do their shareholders and the other financial institutions of Wall Street.
When the public reacts to this, their voices are ignored by those who can change things; why bother, the politicians getting more money from their corporate sponsors than their constituents.
All of this is connected. Fueling this spiral will lead to lack of meaningful social progress and decline.
There is another path, however, and its signs are intertwined in the headlines if you look carefully. Renewable energy technology is offering a path away from oil, and its not impossible to power the world with it; enough sunlight hits the Earth in an hour to power our world for an entire year. Social equality and new technologies will enable widespread housing, healthcare, and education. Even as the developing nations reach a standard of living with the West, population growth becomes more sustainable and industry finds ways to recycle and process materials to reduce our impact on the planet.
Fusion technology and space exploration lead to new economies and a space-fairing civilization. The drive to acquire new territory, resources, and explore will reap unlimited benefits. Getting off Earth will also serve as a safety net, as life is bound to end on this small planet eventually.
I think we will see a mixture of both paths. The part you take part in depends mainly on which nation you call home; powerhouses like the United States and China will continue to consume most of the world's resources will doing little to improve life. Smaller, socially progressive nations will have the foresight to invest in scientific advancement.
