Was inspired to post about what I think the world will be like in 500 years, assuming we have not blown ourselves up by then.

Assuming we as a species get through this awkward, self-destructive adolescent phase of ours, I predict:

• A smaller overall world population that lives more lightly on the earth, leaving vast tracts of nature completely alone and policing its reproduction rate in one way or another.

• Tall cities hooked together with sophisticated communication, set in the midst of jungles and forests.

• Robots doing a lot of the work, and people with lots of free time to garden, dance, do traditional crafts, tinker, play games, etc.

• Instead of nations, alliances of city-states, a la Renaissance Italy.

• Some city-states owned and operated by corporations; others by religions or other associations / groupings of people.

• Since this wanton shipping-everything-all-around-the-globe thing just can't continue, resources-wise, I predict more local, small-scale productions of goods, and the withering of worldwide brands on products, especially heavy products like wine or soft drinks. Branding on intellectual properties / ideas, however, could still flourish.

• Widespread mining of the landfills that we are currently creating. People of the future will develop sophisticated techniques for extracting value from the landfills we're creating today. They will have to!

• I predict the development of very disparate cities, culturally speaking, but a world in which it's easy to move from one city to another. Skycars! Pack up your life and move to Edenia, the City Without Shrimp!

What do y'all think the world will be like in 500 years?

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