We asked some of the boldest thinkers what the world will be like in 50 years. Here’s what their answers tell us about the future.
Nadifa Mohamed
AuthorNadifa Mohamed studied history and politics at Oxford. Her first novel, "Black Mamba Boy" won the Betty Trask Prize and was shortlisted for many others. In 2013, her second novel, "The Orchard of Lost Souls", was published, and Mohamed was selected as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. Nadifa lives in London and is working on her third novel, "The World to Come."
Who will run the world?
Probably the same coterie of wealthy men in the US, Europe and China who control it now.
More responses to Who will run the world?Which country will have the most powerful economy?
This is a tricky one as economic expansion is subject to so many factors. Let me gamble and say China. The next technological leap will happen there, I think.
More responses to Which country will have the most powerful economy?What kinds of companies will be the most important?
Surveillance? Detention centers? The security apparatus needed to keep climate refugees away from wealthy states?
More responses to What kinds of companies will be the most important?What will cause the biggest conflicts?
Migration. Already people in countries with comfortable standards of living are making strange noises about the threat that migration poses to them. What will happen when more regions have turned to desert or been flooded?
More responses to What will cause the biggest conflicts?How will people earn a living?
There will still be lots of passive income for people or corporations that own things—land, resources, digital networks—but for those who work with their hands, the future looks bleak. Even for writers and other creatives, it will be harder to make a living, and with universities and publishers closing they will have to set up tables at tube stations and bridges, offering to write up people’s life stories (I would like to do this).
More responses to How will people earn a living?How will we communicate with each other?
Through telepathic head implants installed at around 10 years of age.
More responses to How will we communicate with each other?How will we entertain one another?
Through music and dance but also by hacking into each other’s minds so we know what we really think of each other. It will get ugly quickly.
More responses to How will we entertain one another?What will we eat?
A more limited diet, meat and fish for the wealthy, rationing for the less wealthy. More homegrown food as climate change hits large agriculture.
More responses to What will we eat?How will we die?
More suicides, more heat-related deaths, more euthanasia.
More responses to How will we die?What will we wear?
Dashing boiler suits that reflect the sun and maintain a cool body temperature. Hats, too, and Wellington boots that mold to our feet.
More responses to What will we wear?How will we find love?
At public love markets and through kidnap.
More responses to How will we find love?What kinds of stories will we tell?
Ones of regret and genocide.
More responses to What kinds of stories will we tell?How will we get information?
Depends who we are: the elite will meet face-to-face with specialists, politicians, and decision-makers, but the rest of us will be subject to a barrage of deepfakes, troll farms, and detention if we try to spread alternative narratives.
More responses to How will we get information?What forms of transportation will we use?
Solar-powered hovercrafts would be nice.
More responses to What forms of transportation will we use?What will cities be like?
Some will be abandoned, some will be eco-paradises, some will be nostalgic for times past. But the issue of how their citizens can live without the choice and waste they had grown accustomed to will be a challenge everywhere.
More responses to What will cities be like?What will our borders be like?
They will be very difficult to cross. Biometrics and all-encompassing surveillance will make travel without visas or passports incredibly difficult and perilous.
More responses to What will our borders be like?Will we have ventured to other planets?
We will have trashed the moon and started a small colony of robots on Mars.
More responses to Will we have ventured to other planets?What will our most valuable resource be?
Water.
More responses to What will our most valuable resource be?What will the biggest change to our natural world be?
Us, especially the fascists and despoilers amongst us.
More responses to What will the biggest change to our natural world be?Will our world be more equal or less equal?
Less equal, as the next technological leap might create too much of a gulf for the world’s poor to bridge.
More responses to Will our world be more equal or less equal?What technology will bring about the biggest change in society?
Genetic engineering that will change how we understand aging, fertility, and mortality.
More responses to What technology will bring about the biggest change in society?What’s your best prediction for the world in 50 years?
I will give one positive one: that most of the world’s democracies will be in Africa.
More responses to What’s your best prediction for the world in 50 years?
