[NoahsDove]

I always liked near future, sci-fi novels. I'm trying to imagine what America may look like in fifty years. Anyone care to guess?

Personally, I would imagine America becoming more decentralized as as some of the states like California go bankrupt. Each state will be forced to fend for themselves and operate more like a country, and they will develop more localized economies as long distance trades with countries like China begins to fade with the disappearance of cheap oil.

[sourgas]

Italy post Roman Empire, with city states, small fiefdoms, some low level conflicts...

[heroineworshipper]

Oob's 12th term. Legions of zombies wandering around groaning "OOOOOOOBS!" CNN headlines saying "This is the term Ooobs gets it right". So many dot com names have been taken, the latest tech boom stars have names like asdfsdfsd.com and qweroyxcvm.com. sadfkjafsdftube.com has an hourly video update from Oobs, to keep those zombies in line.

[zoidberg]

Whatever the outcome is, I'm sure everyone will be surprised.

[ReverseEngineer]

[Tanada]

image removed to save thread space

Very nice picture reminds me of the movie I Am Legend that came out last year

[Nickel]

They said 2058, not 1978.

[galacticsurfer]

Earth without humans:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5wP6m0d0xc

Imagine Earth without people
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225731.100

http://www.worldwithoutus.com/did_you_know.html

[Sixstrings]

Gasmon,

Her Most Awesome Brittanic Majesty may have her choice of three states:

Idado -- famous for potatoes, cranky backwoods survivalists, and closeted gay conservative Senators (a mixed bag indeed)

or

West Virgina -- now famous as having the fattest city in the fattest state in the fattest nation on Earth -- (Huntington, WV, over 50% are obese)

or

Florida -- you already own so many vacation homes here, you may as well step up and help run the place Seriously, if Her Most Superfluous Majesty chooses Florida, you must promise to institute a uniform system of voting by coquina shells, as we cannot be trusted to handle voting by paper, punch-cards, touch-screen, or carrier pigeon.

Also, you must promise to wear sunscreen, as it is unbearable to look upon your lobster-like, tourist sunburns. Oh, and please try to not look so lost, and also please, have enough sense to not ask for directions in certain areas of Miami.

[Sixstrings]

Argh, you replied before I was done with my laborious edits. I added the State of West Virginia to your selection of re-conquests.

Idaho spuds are pretty good. As for chips, it's not hard to find a British pub in Florida. We have three in my town, all Brit-owned I assume (the accents).

As for where we'll all be in fifty years.. I guess at the least, the writing is on the wall for the decline of US dominance in the world. The sun set on the British Empire, and so it must for us eventually.

But I think we do retain an advantage in our cohesion (even if we doubt it). Our 50 states really are a lot more homogonous than the diverse nations of Europe. You're united enough to be an economic power, but not a superpower.

Russia, India, and China are the real questions for the future. China and India don't concern me as much as some people -- they're so large, they have too much interest in stability to ever stomp around too aggressively on the world stage.

Russia is a different story. I'm very concerned about the fascist leanings of Putinsim. They have capitalism there for sure, but no freedom of the press. And Russia plays a lot of games you don't see the more cautious China doing -- Russia likes to manipulate and threaten other countries with energy supplies.

And that business with the radioactive stuff left everywhere in London was a real outrage. They are an oligarchy, sort of reminiscent of where we were in the late 19th century. But at least we've always had freedom of information, something Putin keeps a tight lid on.

If anything keeps the US propped up as a superpower, I'd guess it's the antagonism of Russia. At the end of the day, I don't think most of the world wants Russia to be the only world superpower (shudder).

[Sixstrings]

I really shouldn't pick on West Virginia, given that my family tree branches from there, and I still have a lot of family there.

I mentioned WV because the city of Huntington made the news recently, being statistically the most obese population in the nation:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/ ... 2428.story

Here's an interesting fact about WV that's not in the article.. the state has the only chain of drive-thru biscuits and sausage gravy restaurants, called "Tudor's Biscuit World." Very good food.. excellent gravy, country biscuits, country fried steaks. Yum. I can make a pretty good country gravy myself from scratch, though it still doesn't measure up to Tudor's.

So, it is true, there are a lot of very large people in WV. The state is also perennially picked on for being backward and hillbilly.

Now for the good news, not in the article. The people are very nice there. I've spent summers up there a number of times, and it's amazing how nice it is to interact with friendly people all day.. little interactions that add up to put one in a better mood.

Not everyone is provincial. There are some intelligent, deep thinkers to be found.

As for Huntington, it's really not a bad place. I like the architecture. The downtown has lovely brick streets. The city has a real sense of place, which is lacking in much of post-modern America.

[Pfish]

the US has now 52 states including Bushiraq and Obamairan. Not much come from these states except a trickle of oil and an occasional rugby championship.

[vaseline2008]

Contrary to Sixstrings, I believe that China will be the dominating global power in years to come. Here are my reasons:

1. China has Communist leaders and government.

2. China has been basically stealing US Tech over the past decade since the Clinton Administration. Businessweek magazine has been reporting a lot of stories on how the Chinese have been hacking into NASA's computers and how counterfeit chips are being bought by the Pentagon and used in our fighter jets and warships.

China Stealing U.S. Computer Data, Says Commission

A congressionally created commission has warned that China is stealing vast amounts of sensitive information from government and corporate computer networks in the U.S., including those of the nation's top defense contractors. This theft is part of China's preparation to outmaneuver the U.S. electronically in any future conflict, according to the bipartisan U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission.

Spying on NASA

In its report, the China security commission examined the implications of China's pursuit of dominance in cyberspace and outer space. The panel asserted that the Chinese have sought both military secrets from U.S. government networks and lucrative proprietary information from American corporations. The advantage that China has gained from this espionage could reduce current U.S. conventional military dominance in any future conflict, the commission said.

An example of Chinese espionage cited in the report involves an incident in 2005 in which Chinese cyber-burglars downloaded files about the propulsion system, fuel tanks, and solar panels of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, an incident with details similar to those described in the BusinessWeek story on secrets stolen from NASA.

The report accused China of "rationalizing" its behavior while "devising unique interpretations" of treaties. That development by China, the report said, "coupled with its military modernization, its development of impressive but disturbing capabilities for military use of space and cyber warfare, and its demonstrated employment of those capabilities, suggest China is intent on expanding its sphere of control even at the expense of its Asian neighbors and the United States."

Dangerous Fakes

The American military faces a growing threat of potentially fatal equipment failure—and even foreign espionage—because of counterfeit computer components used in warplanes, ships, and communication networks. Fake microchips flow from unruly bazaars in rural China to dubious kitchen-table brokers in the U.S. and into complex weapons. Senior Pentagon officials publicly play down the danger, but government documents, as well as interviews with insiders, suggest possible connections between phony parts and breakdowns.

3. China has more military personnel than any other nation in the world. Everyone knows from watching Wargames that a Nuclear War will not benefit anyone. Sure, everyone has a nuke but to really use it is another story.

4. China currently owns more foreign currency and gold than any other nation in the world.

5. Chinese government really doesn't give a damn about anything other than their own supremecy.

My suggestion, learn some Chinese...