Note: My stories may be disrupted for a few days.
The huge snowfall has collapsed one of our barns which is loaded with our ancient machines.
We will be saving what we can while we can. Life always catches ua just when things seem to be getting better. The pandemic is less
threatening and the long winter is winding down. The truck convoy is over. We expected relief. We should have kept our guard up. Nothing goes smoothly all the time.
Maybe I can make a story out of the disaster.
alan
EPISODE 538 PREDICTIONS of WHAT WORLD WOULD BE LIKKE IN 50 YEARS.. BY GRADE TEN STUDENTS IN YEAR 2000…Alan skeochFeb. 17, 2022
To celebrate the end of the second millennium in year 2000, the Toronto Board of Education
asked me to gather some Grade Ten students together to construct a special Millennial book
titled “A DAY IN THE LIFE….” In Part of the book these students their thoughts on what the world would be
like 50 years from the year 2000.
Below are their thoughts. Some of the things they forecast have already happened less
that 25 years into the future. Some happenings they produce are joyful. Some are frightening.
Some are ridiculous (done so deliberately as 15 year olds are prone to do).
Fear of climate change, global pandemics, massive pollution, species extinctions, etc. …negative
feelings about the future are present.in the predictions. But there are also predictions that are
comforting, particularly the prediction of a future where we will take care of our planet much better
than the past.
WHAT WAS CANADA LIKE IN 1950? FIFTY YEARS IN THE PAST.
WHAT would I hav written if a teacher asked me to look into the future. What would you have written.
I think our outlook on life is the result of the times in which we live. For most of friends the times were good
Initially I felt my Grade Ten experiences were all joyful…school dances, football, basketball, drama club
Yearbook, etc. But there was a dark place in my mind back in 1954 that was underscored every afternoon
as I watched the vapour trails of B52 NORAD bombers fly North Westerly from Maine to North Dakota.
I was scared and even constructed a silly bomb shelter in our cellar and gave mom instructions to fill
the laundry tubs with water the moment a nuclear attack was imminent. My shelter food was basically
a dozen cans of tomato soup and some pork and beans. Quaker Oats in a tin so mice would not get it.
Some dried fruit and a few chocolate bars which were soon eaten before any attack.
No stove. One bed which was an old sofa.
The cellar windows were boarded up because we had no bricks. And I did not tell anyone because
there was only room for mom, dad, Eric and me. Selfishness…the dark cloud. IF an atom bomb
was dropped on Toronto City Hall then our house would be outside the area of total annihilation hence
the air raid shelter might help us survive. That was not true. The Hydrogen nuclear bomb, if dropped
on Toronto City Hall would annihilate us along with our school and friends. So the ir raid shelter
was forgotten except for the cans of tomato soup. I do not remember if I put a can opener in the
supply chest.
But really that fear was pushed to the back of my brain…so far back that by the 1960’s the fear was gone.
THERE was a lot of joy in the 1950’s and 60’s…outweighed the fears. They really were Happy Days.
As you read these predictions try to do two things. One: Are the students overwhelmingly optimistic
or pessimistic? Two: What was on your mind when you were in Grade Ten. Do you remember?
alan
PREDICTIONS: WHAT WILL THE WORLD BE LIKE 50 YEARS FROM NOW (YEAR 2000)?
Below are the predictions of Toronto 15 year old students
Microchips imbedded in flesh would replace need for money on TTC.Cleaner energy sources will replace fossil fuels in cars because there isno way to survive without cars.There will be petroleum shortages and cars will be forced to use solar power or electricity.The air will be filled with flying vehicles. Transportation on the ground by car wouldonly be used by poor people.Cold fusion will be used to power our vehiclesCars will operate on voice command.Vehicles will travel underground in tunnels.Hydrogen will power cars.Human beings will go to the farthest reaches of space only to fine that we are, in Fact, alone.The world wil be united under a single currencyTechnology will replace people in jobs resulting in massive unemploymentIn 50 years we will no longer carry cash but use a card instead.In 2050 Kuwait’s oil will be gone plunging the world into extreme povertyPeople will start to prefer ‘no name’ brands amid a general distrust of corporationsThe rich will get richer and the poor wil get poorer…ghettoes will get larger.The Canadian dollar will be replaced by U.S. currencyThe world economy will falter and another world war will break outToronto will continue to sprawl swallowing up cities Markham and Durham.Toronto will in 50 years look like a huge piece of ice…glass and aluminumskyscrapers.Vacant land on waterfront will be hard to find.Work hours will be cut to five hours per day ro reduce unemploymentThe aging population will move back to cities and suburban houses will be abandonedPollution will be terrible….air quality reduced and garbage floating and sinking on andinto Lake Ontario.Three hundred storey apartment buildings for those who can affordpoorer housing, poorer food, poor people,No school blackboards. Big screens operated by push buttonsIn 50 years schools will no longer be necessary because children will be schooledat home on computers. As a result children will lack the skills needed to interact with each other.’Every student will have his or her own computer in the classroomNo need for schools. In the future children will swallow a knowledge pill which will transferall necessary information to their brains.Fewerr students will enter university because of increasing difficulty learning the latesttechnologies.There will be teachers in the classrooms but their role will be to explain computers.Computerized classrooms will have around 200 students.Books will become electronicCanada will become a world leaderFace recognition and retinal scanning will be the way we are identifiedWomen may go back to being housewives with large familiesHousehold chores will be done by computers.Democracy will be abolished and fascist governments will rule the world.New laws will limit peoples’ freedomThe human population will exceed 15 billionWomen will be considered the dominant sex.50 years from now there will be perfect pace.Colonies will be built on other planetsGene therapy will become widespread enhancing immune systems, intelligenceand strength.There will be more need for psychiatrists and psychologists as technologytyrannizes our lives and replaces human contact.There will be cures for every disease including AIDS and cancer.There will be much more mixed race breedingMen will be able to give birthScientists will come up with a method to control overpopulation.New diseases will appear and wipe out legions of living things.Public nudity will be legalizedCommon cold will become much more infectiousMaybe there will be no world at all. Maybe it will have ended by the apocalypse of a third world war.On the other hand disease might wipe out whole populations within days or even hours.Medical science will have difficulty catching up with new diseases.People will live longerMutations will change human beings.Cryogenic freezing will successfully prevent death.Animal lovers will present thousands of species from becoming extinct.In the near future a human will be cloned, sparking a huge mortal and ethical debate.In just 25 years, not 50 years, our environment will be in horrendous shape. Manyanimals will become extinct. There will be far fewer trees due to deforestation, a lackof raw materials and fuels such as natural gas and oil, and an even larger hole in the ozone layer.The world will toon be overpopulated, and this will lead to drought, mass disease, lack of foodand squalid living conditions.Severe climate change is going to alter our food production
Scientists will figure a way to live comfortably in the Arctic regions.
Rapid urbanization of the world will cause cities to not have enough food and
farms will need to triple their production.
New power plants will provide cleaner energy
There will be a nuclear disaster that will create deformities in plants and animals
Concern over increasing pollution will startle world government into massive and successful
efforts to clean up our planet.
Solar energy will be our main power source
The Great Lakes will dry up…disaster.
The theory of continental drift will be proven correct because Britain wil be 30 km off the coast
of Newfoundland.
Biologicsl weapons could destroy most of the earth’s wild and human populations.
A detonated nuclear bomb will act as a warning
Z00s wil become essential for preserving and protecting growing numbers of
endangered species.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will win two Stanley Cups in next 50 years.
The moon will become a retirement resort with golfing. Many golf balls will
be lost in space.
Due tp danger of sports injuries all sports will be simulated by computer with no human
players allowed.
AND SO THEY SPOKE…REMEMBER THESE PREDICTIONS WERE MADE IN YEAR 2000…
MANY ARE ACCEPTED AS NORMAL TODAY.
alan