TRENDS FOR THE NEW CENTURY

by Peter P. (ptp@primenet.com)

This file contains a list of predicted trends and events to watch for in the new century (2000-2099). All were determined using the "scientific prophecy" method (see http://www.m-m.org/jz/petriskob.html), which combines two or more past events/trends to extrapolate a third, probable future occurrence. To this point, this method has averaged an accuracy of sixty-percent.

As this list will be expanded from time to time, each prediction will be followed by a symbol to show which date it was first posted on.

(+) = Dec. 2, 1999. (Determined during a 90-min. session on 11/28/99.)

(#) = Feb. 15, 2001. (Determined during multiple sessions in Sept.'00.)

All predictions are placed into one of three categories. Those to occur within the first decade (between 1/1/00 - 12/31/09); those with shorter and/or more specific timetables; those occurring more gradually, perhaps decades-long.

* TRENDS & EVENTS DURING THE 00's (1/1/00-12/31/09)

1. First human clone; "It's a girl!" +

2. First computer with true A.I. (artificial intelligence); this self-aware machine may be nicknamed - most likely by the media - "Hal", after the computer in the movie '2001'.+

3. Major technological breakthroughs in the developed world, which will have the greatest (& most immediate) impact in two fields:

- A. Computers. The biggest development will be the replacement of the current (1990s) computer data storage method with a synthesized DNA-based system. Instead of genetic code, encoded data will be imprinted onto these microscopic strands - increasing storage capacity thousandfold while decreasing hardware size as greatly. +

- B. Medical. The growth of made-to-order replacement internal organs will become a reality, revolutionizing the transplant field. Also, the miniaturization of surgical tools will change procedure(s), vastly improving existing ones and making new ones possible. The rate of success will increase dramatically, while both patient post-op recovery time and surgical scars will decrease greatly. +

4. While the murder rate(s), especially in large metropolitan cities, will continue to decline, expect the opposite to occur when it comes to suicide rates in the next ten years. +

5. Invention of UBA (underwater breathing apparatus) replaces SCUBA gear. No more oxygen tanks & hoses. Instead, a filtering device (about the size of a small watermelon, at first) will be mounted/built-in to fit over the nose/mouth area, on a lightweight helmet. It'll draw oxygen out of the water, effectively letting the diver "breathe" as he/she swims under the sea. (#)

6. Miniaturization of the home/office computer will continue, with a palm-size hard drive and mini-CDs. The biggest advance, however, will be the elimination of the sometimes bulky computer monitor. Instead, the user will wear special contact lenses. Projected from these lenses, a few feet in front of the user, will be the "screen". (In fact, small, thin rectangular pieces of plastic - or similar material - will be available to be mounted on a room wall, so when the user looks toward it, he/she will have a solid, white backdrop for easier "screen" reading.) In addition to text/images, as per today's Internet but much more detailed/defined, these lenses will also show the broadcast (television) medium. Both new shows & old will be seen in a 3-dimensional view. And, just as old movies were colorized in the 1980s, so, too, will old TV-shows & films be 3D'ed - with quality improving as the technology does over a few years' time. Audio will be available through speakers attached to the hard drive unit, for those wanting "poorer-quality sound", while "superior quality" sound will come in the form of tiny earphones (slipped into the ear, much like hearing-aids today) that give the user "internal surround-sound". Meaning, it won't be the you-know-its-external sound (like that heard via Walkman headphones, or somesuch) of today, but actually heard *inside* one's head, made possible using electromagnetic principles - for true "internal" stereo sound. (#)

* TRENDS & EVENTS WITH SHORTER OR MORE SPECIFIC TIMETABLES

7. More record high temperatures and drought in many parts of the world through the summer of 2002, with the distinct possibility of another El Nino event as early as 2004. +

8. Life elsewhere in our solar system discovered by early 2005. +

9. Expect the social & political meltdown in Russia to boil over, perhaps as early as mid-2001 but certainly before the close of 2005, with drastic changes sweeping that country. The effects of which may be a destabilizing "ripple" felt around the world. +

10. The biggest potential "flashpoints", both politically & militarily speaking, in the next five years include: North Korea, Pakistan (and, by association, India), and Eastern Europe in general.+

11. A slow but steady increase in violence worldwide, especially acts of depraved indifference by individuals, will continue to be seen in the first third of the first decade (2000-2003), followed by a gradual "leveling off", and possibly a slight decrease, in the remainder of the 00's (2004-09). +

12. Between the turn of the century and 2025, the spectre of a global pandemic will rear its head, echoing the 'spanish flu' event that decimated millions in the first quarter of the 20th century. Origins of this new epidemic will most likely be traced to a "species jumping" mutated virus. Due to the availability & ease of cross-continent air travel, the potential for devastation, with hundreds of thousands being infected & dying quickly in the months it'll take health organizations (WHO, CDC, etc.) to develop an arresting treatment, may mean less technological approaches employed to stop the spread. From wholesale slaughter of any infected animal species, to human populations being subject to quarantined die-offs. +

13. By 2020, the fact of our being at the beginning of a "sixth mass extinction" will be accepted as fact by the scientific community at large, and by a majority of the general public. +

* DECADES-LONG TRENDS TO WATCH FOR

14. The genesis, and growth, of what will become a major religious movement - with believers worldwide - before the end of 2099. +

15. A variety of diseases will make unexpected in-roads in the developed world, with more incidences of ailments spreading to areas where not seen previously. Also, a general rise in mosquito-borne diseases in current endemic regions will occur. +

16. An alarming trend of parents abandoning their young children, as seen to a small degree in South Korea in the late 1990s, will happen in a number of countries, especially those in economic turmoil. Results will include a burgeoning generation of "street children", whose existence will affect their homeland economically, socially (crime, etc.), etc. as they grow up and eventually reach adulthood. +

17. An unusual number of hermaphroditic human babies will be born, most likely to occur as "cluster births" (i.e., born within the same geographical region) in or near a coastal area. The first such "cluster(s)" will shock, making big headlines within the first quarter of the new century. As the century progresses, however, and such incidents happen from time to time, media attention will wane. +

18. Global "Earth Changes" - Floods & Ice Expect a very different world by 2035 (+/- 10 years), by which time up to 90% of the polar ice will have melted.

This gradual melting, especially that of the Antarctic region, over the next two-to-four decades, will first have as its most obvious outcome the wholesale flooding of coastlands & islands. A world map, while not appearing shockingly different from that at the end of the 20th century will, upon closer inspection, be fundamentally different.

While extremes seen in "earth changes" maps, as viewed/determined via psychic means, published by some won't, in the "scientific prophecy" model, pan-out, sustained changes caused by rising sea levels of at least 20 feet will occur.

See our model map by clicking HERE.

The secondary, and more long-term, result of this melting will be the negative consequences on global temperatures - most notably in the northern hemisphere.

While the first half of the 21st century will see the aforementioned temperature increase, the arctic meltdown will trigger a global cooling in the decades that follow.

Warm water from the tropics, which now merges with the North Atlantic current (keeping the European continent warmer than other land areas along comparable latitudes), will become a thing of the past, largely due to the Arctic meltdown. The cause is simple: With the glacial meltdown, more fresh water is introduced into the current than can be compensated for, effectively stopping what's called "salt flushing", which usually carries tropically heated water into the heart of northern Europe's seas.

The effects will be as such: The northern part of Europe (approx. 49degrees North and higher) will be submerged into a Siberian-like deep freeze during the winter months - a period of time extended, as much as a month earlier & continuing a month longer, beyond the typical winter season seen in the late 20th century. In areas south of 49dN, as far south as Italy, temperatures will drop enough so that winter-weather across much of Europe will resemble that of present-day (year2000) northernmost U.S. or southern Canada. Cold, snow-driven winters will be the norm.

This cooling, once started, will spread globally over the course of only a few seasons, as the cooled North Atlantic current slowly moves through the oceans of the southern hemisphere.

The now-bountiful European "breadbasket" will quickly fall into ruin, as crops are devastated and vast areas of land no longer ripe for planting. In turn, the American "breadbasket", caught unawares, will break as it tries to compensate for Europe's loss, by trying to feed more people than it can produce for. The global cooling will soon hit the American fields too, but, by that time, the effects are almost like an after-thought, as the U.S. "breadbasket" will have already crippled itself via over-harvesting.

During these tumultuous decades, at least one-third of the human population will perish. First, flooding & disease, followed by exposure to cold & famine. During the second half of the 21st century, those who survive will begin a mass migration to (relatively) warmer climates. Central & South America (north of approx. 30degrees South), the coastlands of north Africa, the northern half of Australia, and remaining areas of Indonesia/Malaysia, will all become centers of population growth.

While the melt-off & breaking of Antarctic ice-shelves will certainly contribute to the cooling, when compared to the catastrophic results of the Arctic meltdown, it is almost like "adding drops of water to the ocean", as both events dovetail to create a "little ice age".

This "little ice age", affecting much of the northern hemisphere & the southernmost part of the southern hemisphere will be fully evident by the last half of this century, continuing well into the 22nd. (#)

For more on "scientific prophecy" and how this method was used to out-predict the major professional prognosticators in 1998, click on    http://www.m-m.org/jz/98hitsmisses.html

For other articles by the author, see links at http://www.ufomind.com/people/p/petrisko