What is the Nostradamus prediction for 2012?
Nice to hear from you again. I, too, have heard that something is afoot for 2012.
By the way, believe it or not: the ancient Mayans had already attached something of sigificance to that year.
Regarding predictions for 2012 (ex Clarke), recall my post in
Message 10952541.
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2012 Aerospace-planes enter service. The history of space travel has repeated that of aeronautics, although more slowly, because the technical problems are so much greater. From Yuri Gagarin to commercial space flight has taken twice as long as from the Wright Brothers to the DC-3.
2013 On a flight sponsored by Bandar Seri Begawan, a Brunei prince becomes the first member of a royal family to fly in space.
2014 Construction of Hilton Orbiter Hotel begins, by assembling and converting the giant Shuttle tanks which had previously been allowed to fall back to Earth.
2015 An inevitable byproduct of the Quantum Generator is complete control of matter at the atomic level. Thus the old dream of alchemy is realized on a commercial scale, often with surprising results. Within a few years, since they are more useful, lead and copper cost twice as much as gold.
2016 All existing currencies are abolished. The megawatt-hour becomes the unit of exchange.
2017 December 16. On his 100th birthday, Sir Arthur Clarke is one of the first guests in the Hilton Orbiter.
- China holds the first nationwide popular elections to its parliament.
2019 A major meteor impact occurs on the North Polar icecap. There is no loss of human life, but the resulting tsunamis cause considerable damage along the coasts of Greenland and Canada. The long-discussed Project Spaceguard, to identify and deflect any potentially dangerous comets or asteroids, is finally activated
2020 Artificial Intelligence (AI) reaches the human level. From now onward there are two intelligent species on Planet Earth, one evolving far more rapidly than biology would ever permit. Interstellar probes carrying AIs are launched toward the nearer stars.
2021 The first humans land on Mars, and have some unpleasant surprises.
2023 Dinosaur facsimiles are cloned from computer-generated DNA. Disney's Triassic Zoo opens in Florida. Despite some unfortunate initial accidents, mini-raptors start replacing guard dogs.
2024 Infra-red signals are detected coming from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. They are obviously the product of a technologically advanced civilization, but all attempts to decipher them fail.
2025 Neurological research finally leads to an understanding of all the senses, and direct inputs become possible, bypassing eyes, ears, skin, etc. The inevitable result is the metal "Braincap" of which the 20th century's Walkman was a primitive precursor. Anyone wearing this helmet, fitting tightly over the skull, can enter a whole universe of experience real or imaginary - and even merge in real-time with other minds. Apart from its use for entertainment and vicarious adventure, the Braincap is a boon to doctors, who can now experience their patients symptoms (suitably attenuated). It also revolutionizes the legal profession; deliberate lying is impossible. As the Braincap can only function properly on a completely bald head, wig-making becomes a major industry.
2026 Singapore becomes the world's first country to enforce Truth in Advertising.
2036 China overtakes the U.S. in gross national product to become the world's largest economy.
2040 The "Universal Replicator," based on nano-technology, is perfected: any object, however complex, can be created - given the necessary raw material and the appropriate information matrix. Diamonds or gourmet meals can, literally, be made from dirt. As a result, agriculture and industry are phased out, ending that recent invention in human history - work! There is an explosion in arts, entertainment and education. Hunter-gathering societies are deliberately recreated; huge areas of the planet, no longer needed for food production, are allowed to revert to their original state. Young people can now discharge their aggressive instincts by using cross-bows to stalk big game, which is robotic and frequently dangerous.
2045 The totally self-contained, recycling, mobile home (envisaged almost a century earlier by Buckminster Fuller) is perfected. Any additional carbon needed for food synthesis is obtained by extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
2047 Hong Kong celebrates its 50th year as an SAR by completely eliminating border controls and barriers between itself and the rest of China.
2050 "Escape from Utopia." Bored by life in this peaceful and unexciting era, millions decided to use cryonic suspension to emigrate into the future in search of adventure. Vast "hibernacula" are established in the Antarctic and in the regions of perpetual night at the lunar poles.
2051 Ground is broken on the moon for self-sustaining, robotized colonies, where the elderly will survive longer, thanks to the low lunar gravity.
2057 October 4. Centennial of Sputnik 1. The dawn of the space age is celebrated by humans not only on Earth, but on the Moon, Mars, Europa, Ganymede and Titan - and in orbit round Venus, Neptune and Pluto.
2061 The return of Halley's Comet; first landing on nucleus by humans. The sensational discovery of both dormant and active lifeforms vindicates Hoyle and Wickramasinghe's century-old hypothesis that life is omnipresent throughout space.
2090 Large-scale burning of fossil fuels is resumed to replace the carbon dioxide "mined" from the air and postpone the next Ice Age by promoting global warming.
2095 The development of a true "space drive" - a propulsion system reacting against the structure of space time - makes the rocket obsolete and permits velocities close to that of light. The first human explorers set off to nearby star systems that robot probes have already found promising.
2100 History beginsÖ..
Clarke is a futurist and science fiction writer. Copyright Arthur C. Clarke 1999 |
