2031-2049

Physical Sciences | Biological Sciences | World Sociology
New World | Europe | Middle East | Africa | The East

Physical Sciences
     Large scale production of high-tensile strength plastics and perfect crystals in orbit developed. These are used in industries throughout the world, especially in the growing construction of fusion reactors, space stations and aquacities.
     Proliferation of satellites, stations and spacecraft in orbital space. By 2040, most major nations and hundreds of private companies have orbital facilities of some type. Orbital space is dominated by the Pan-Asians. By 2049, 200,000 humans live and work in space, over half from the Pan-Asian Union.
     Railgun/slingshot surface-to-orbit payload launch systems are perfected, though they are still unusable by passengers or fragile cargo unable to take 40 g acceleration. The first major launch facility is built in Borneo in 2038. Other facilities are constructed in Colombia, Australia, and Kenya (the latter owned and operated by a consortium of Pan-Asian and Arabian companies).
     In the 2040's, an ion spacecraft propulsion system is designed and tested by the Pan-Asian Union. The drive is insanely expensive to build and operate, and no commercial or military uses are available yet.
     Fusion power proliferates. By 2045, 40% of the world's energy needs are being met by fusion reactors. The orbital environment is still dominated by solar power, which remains cheaper than fusion outside the atmosphere. Despite the advent of the fusion era, petroleum continues to be a major world commodity both as a fuel source and as the base of most cheap modern plastics. World petroleum consumption actually increases, and reserves are expected to fail by 2070.
     As an offshoot of fusion technology, heavy-duty lasers become commonplace in industry. Weapons research produces orbital laser platforms and the free-electron laser rifle.

Biological Sciences
     Due to the decreasing use of fossil fuels and increasing reforestation projects in the Amazon and Indonesia, greenhouse effects begin to level off in the 2030's, but not before sea levels have risen another 4 meters and the world's deserts have grown to nearly twice their historical limits. By 2040 the Sahara encompasses all of North Africa; southern Europe has deserts; a desert belt runs across North America from central California to Georgia; and the central Asian deserts reach into southern Siberia, northern India and much of inland China. Mexico and Australia are mostly desert. Newly fertile lands, however, are opening up in Alaska, Canada and Siberia as the permafrost melts under the tundra. By a freak of the weather patterns, South Africa actually begins to get more rain, and the Kalahari and South African veldt lands begin to shrink.
     Desalinization plants spring up across the globe. Coastal deserts throughout the world being to bloom with extensive irrigation systems. Pipelines are laid to bring water to inland areas. Famine is wiped out by 2038.
     In 2046, genetically modified potatoes are grown in vacuum by Indonesian and Mongolian scientists. The possibility of agriculture on the moon is foreseen in the near future.
     Cloning techniques progress to the stage where whole body parts can be cloned, including limbs, sensory organs and gonads. Cloning of animals and plants becomes commonplace. With the advance of cloning and transplant technology, cosmetic surgery becomes cheap and incredibly powerful. Development of what is known as the "24-hour sex change;" the actual operation only takes 24-hours, though the preliminary cloning of new body parts takes six months to a year. This treatment is expensive at first, but rapidly drops in price. Cloning of entire human beings has been possible for some time now, but is forbidden by scientific ethics and most national governments.
     Development of true bionics, the implantation of artificial body parts into humans. The boundaries between living and non-living systems begin to blur. Radical bionic or genetic modifications to humans are illegal in most countries; replacement of damaged organs or limbs is usually the only acceptable form of bionics. The only truly major change accepted is that of human gills, first developed in 2043. Gill implants soon become popular in many aquacities.
     Advances in geriatrics, cloning and bionics extend the average human life span to well over 90 years with proper medical care. With the best medical treatment, unavailable to most people, life spans in excess of 120 are becoming common.
     Genetically modified plants which remove pollutants and toxic fumes from the air come into major use in aquacities, space stations and mines. Specially designed plants which remove odors and freshen or perfume the air become commonplace in homes throughout the world.
     Genetically altered farm animals increase in use, while custom designed pets become available to the rich. In the 2030's over 2500 new animal species are patented throughout the world. This number increases ten-fold in the 2040's.
     AIDS continues to run rampant in Africa and India until 2040 when an AIDS vaccine is developed. World-wide vaccinations, sponsored by the U.N., the ACC, the Pan-Asian Union, and the Red Cross, wipe out the disease within ten years, but not before an additional 10-20% of the African and Indian population succumbs to the epidemic.
     Mutant killer bees begin to propagate in the Great Lakes region of North America and soon become a critical problem. In 2045 alone, 21,000 people die from bee attacks.

World Sociology
     Aquacities burgeon throughout the world's oceans as sea farming becomes cheaper than landbound agriculture and deep sea oil drilling becomes financially feasible. By 2045, over 80 million people are living on or below the sea, most of them in the South Pacific, the Caribbean and Bangladesh.
     The traditional family structure dies throughout much of the world and is replaced by new social organizations. Government and company creches raise most children in Asia, while a host of new family systems spawn among the religions of the Americas. Neo-tribal social arrangements dominate in Africa. Only in Europe and South America is the nuclear family still alive and functioning. With the advent of new philosophies and the "24-hour sex change," bisexuality becomes the norm in the younger generation.
     Automation continues to take over more jobs and the gap between rich and poor continues to widen. Mega-corporations become more powerful. Many cities begin to decay into urban fiefdom, terrorized by gangs who use the maglev trains for mobility. Riots and terrorism increase dramatically. Both street crime and organized crime become endemic to most cities. William Gibson is seen as a prophet of the 21st century.
     The 2040's see the rise of computer terrorism. Computer hackers steal and delete data, alter financial records to their own advantage, and play havoc with the world media. Computer animation has advanced to the point where it is indistinguishable from live video, and media terrorists begin using computers to substitute their own fictitious programs for actual news on the world communications systems. The public begins to distrust all electronic information, and factionalism and regionalism grow as world communications are disrupted.
     In 2049, computer terrorists of unknown origin release a virus which sweeps through the world computer net in less than a day, erasing all data and programs from over 90% of the computers on Earth and in orbit. World trade, industry, food distribution, and communications are disrupted. Global panic ensues as the world economy comes to a crashing halt.

New World
     In 2032, the former U.S./Soviet space station is abandoned. This marks the beginnings of the ACC's gradual withdrawal from investment in space. In 2037, the American/Canadian/Caribbean station is sabotaged by Gaean terrorists, killing 31 people; the damaged hull is sold to the Pan-Asian Union.
     Churches begin to take over many of the social functions of government, including education, welfare, medicine, entertainment, and law enforcement. Organized religion becomes the major social control on the growing numbers of urban poor throughout the ACC. While most American religions are willing to cooperate among each other, they begin to look with a paranoid eye at the rest of the world, especially the Pan-Asian Union. Huge numbers of missionaries are sent to Asia and other areas to gain converts to Catholicism, Presleyterianism, and Limboism, but there are few gains, proof of the foreigners' godlessness. Religious repression by Pan-Asian authorities only serves to fuel these sentiments.
     Resentment against Asian-Americans grows. There are cases of riots in many areas. Asian-Americans begin to move to California where they are the majority and the populace retains reactionary beliefs in ideas like 20th century liberalism and separation of church and state.
     America is temporarily split by the Caribbean Civil War from 2040-2042 when CARICOM, led by Rastafarian factions, attempts to cede from the ACC. The war is long and bloody, marked by numerous island battles. Most Americans blame the war on Pan-Asian agitators and claim that the Rastafarians were financed and supplied by Asia, though there is no proof of this.
     Anti-war demonstrations in 2042 by conservatives leads to imposition of military law in California.
     Dan Quayle continues to be elected ACC president by large majorities for fifteen years until his assassination in 2043. Japanese ninja are blamed for his death. Thousands of Asian-Americans are killed by lynch mobs. Quayle becomes a martyr to most American religions and is canonized by the Catholic Church in 2046. Two days after Quayle's death, Vice-President Marilyn Quayle commits suicide out of grief for her husband's demise. With popular support, Pope Mary II forms an interim government until elections can be held. The ACC Congress amends the constitution, making Quayle the ACC President-in-absentia for all eternity and giving executive control to a five-man council of political/religious leaders. The council is dominated by David Brin, a founder of the Gaean church and political maverick, and Ralph Bakshi, a high priest of the conservative Limboists. Anti-Asian sentiment grows.

Europe
     The USE rebels succeed in toppling the French-dominated government in 2031. They set up a new, federal-style government ensuring certain rights to the member states, including a new Moslem dominated state in southern France.
     The German Civil War ends in 2032 with a victory for the West German separatists in Bavaria and the Rhineland. The West Germans retain close economic ties with the rest of Germany but are also closely allied with Switzerland and the USE.
     The industrial base of Europe is in tatters from years of war and stagnation. Most of continental Europe has fallen far behind world technological advancement and is seen as a backwards, only semi-industrialized region.
     The Soviet Union, keeping itself isolated from the petty politics in the rest of Europe, has developed a strong diversified economy and a conservative democratic political system and is rapidly becoming the world's leader in space research and other technology. The Soviets and the Swiss form close scientific, political and economic ties.
     At the Geneva Conference of 2035, the nations of Europe sit down to hammer out a comprehensive peace treaty and set borders acceptable to all parties. The Conference lasts almost three years, but finally manages to produce a workable document. The nations of Europe slowly begin to rebuild, supported by the still intact economies of Switzerland, the Soviet Union, and the Scandinavian League.
     By the Geneva Treaty, a new state of Carpathia is created in 2039 out of the Hungarian regions of Romania. Carpathia is not a sovereign territory but an autonomous codominion of both Hungary and Romania. Moldavia is incorporated into Romania.
     The North Sea oil wells start drying up in the early 2040's. Tensions rise between Britain and the Scandinavian League as they dispute ownership of the few remaining deposits. While the two nations remain at peace, armed ships from rival oil companies start fighting over the sea platforms.
     In 2044 Denmark is finally accepted into the Scandinavian League. In 2047 Estonia joins.
     Fighting finally dies down in Northern Ireland when the Catholics and Protestants find themselves both outnumbered by agnostics and atheists who are sick and tired of all the noise.
     In exchange for economic assistance treaties and a phenomenal sum of money, the Italians sell the Tirolean Alps and the north coast of the Adriatic Sea to Switzerland.
     Construction starts in 2044 on the world's first supersonic train system (running on maglev tracks through vacuum filled tunnels). The train will connect Zurich with Kiev, passing through Munich, Vienna and Budapest.

Middle East
     The economy of the Arabian peninsula continues to grow. Arabians enjoy the highest standard of living in the world. The Arabian states invest heavily in foreign desalinization plants and agriculture, mostly in the nations to the north and the former farmlands of Africa.
     The fertile crescent becomes fertile once again as Arabian-financed desalinization plants bring water to the deserts of Israel, Syria and Iraq.
     Iran continues to suffer political problems with Azerbaijan. The Iranians find themselves supporting the Kurd rebels. The Soviet Union steps in to support the Azerbaijanis diplomatically, but soon withdraws from the conflict.
     The Pan-Asian League begins to place pressure on the Middle Eastern nations to join in Pan-Asianism. Propaganda to the people, subtle threats, and not-so-subtle inducements are offered to the Middle East. Slowly, economic and diplomatic ties to the League begin to grow. At the request of the Pan-Asian League, in 2041 the Saudis withdraw Dan Quayle's visiting rights to Dislam.

Africa
     With desalinization plants funded by the Arabian states, Africa's food problems make a miraculous turnaround. By 2044, Africa is exporting food. The population, after steadily falling for thirty years, begins to grow once again. The initial Arabian investments are concentrated in the Mediterranean coast, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Ethiopia and Angola. As prosperity sweeps these nations, the citizens of many nearby states overthrow their governments and unite with the lucky countries. The military states fade away into obscurity, except in South Africa where the military remains in firm control. By 2050, pipelines are bringing fresh water to many inland sites, the Sahara is being pushed back, and the pyramids of Egypt are surrounded by lush vegetation.
     In 2042 the southern Mediterranean nations form the North African Economic Union, merging their economies. They are the major industrial nations of Africa and find a large market for the goods in the newly rich agricultural nations to the south.

The East
     By 2037, the ASEAN, India, Pakistan and Kashmir have all officially joined the Pan-Asian Union. Economic pressure is applied to Cambodia, Laos, Nepal and Bhutan in an attempt to force them to join the Union. All but Bhutan do so. The Union places a trade embargo on Bhutan, totally cutting off the small country from the rest of the world. The people of Bhutan don't care and go about their lives as always.
     By 2035, Chinese make up 40% of the population of Oceania, and their numbers continue to grow due to immigration. Racial violence occurs in Australia and New Zealand against Chinese.
     The growing world gap between the rich and the poor is felt hardest in the Pan-Asian Union which relies heavily on automation for its industry. The ruling technocrats begin to worry about increasing crime and unrest in the overcrowded cities, especially after a series of gang riots burns down half of Bangkok in 2033. The governments answer is to use the military as a form of public welfare and social control: in 2039, the Pan-Asian Union institutes a mandatory draft of all males ages 15 to 30 who are not "gainfully employed." The young men are kept busy training, participating in war games, and doing civil construction work. (Unfortunately, there are few manual jobs which cannot be done cheaper and better by a single, highly-trained man controlling a team of robots, so much of the men's work is of the nature of digging trenches and filling them back up.) By 2050 the Pan-Asian Union has an army of almost 400,000,000 men. The troops are purposefully not trained very well in actual military matters to reduce the risk of revolt.
     Civil war breaks out in Australia between whites and Asians in 2041 when a m.p. of Chinese descent is denied entrance to the Parliamentary chambers. The immigrants are backed by the Pan-Asian Union which sends them arms and supplies. The war remains at a stalemate for two years, the immigrants controlling the northern half of the country, the government the southern half. In 2044, the Pan-Asian Union begins to send troops into Australia; the war is ended within six months. A new government allied to the Pan-Asian Union is installed.
     After the Australian Civil War, the Pan-Asians begin to put pressure on the nations of Oceania to join the Union. Sri Lanka joins in 2049. Papua New Guinea and Australia join in 2050.
     The tide turns in India as AIDS is finally overcome and the Pan-Asian Union restores order to the beleaguered subcontinent.

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