A Glimpse into the Future

Imagine having a crystal ball and having a glimpse of the future and how the world will be like in the next century. We can learn from the past through history and live in the present but the future remains an unknown to everyone. Like who could predict that Apple Inc. will revolutionise the whole technology sector and music industry? Who could see the rise of Google Inc. as a behemoth search engine that would be used globally today? And who could even imagine Microsoft helmed by Bill Gates would dominate the world using its Windows software? The list goes on and my point is that the world has changed and will continue to change due to the rapid improvements in human thoughts and aided by technology advances thus enabling us to come out with new ideas to explore unknown frontiers as well as space travel - Elon Musk is doing that now with SpaceX.

 

 

I was reading a book recently by George Friedman and was fascinated by his analysis on what could happen in the next 100 years. The book is as shown below:

 



 

He forecasts:

• By the middle of this century, Poland and Turkey will be major international players
• Russia will be a regional power – after emerging from a second cold war
• Space-based solar power will completely change the global energy dynamic
• The border areas between the US and Mexico are going to be in play again, like 150 years ago
• Shrinking labor pools will cause countries to compete for immigrants rather than fighting to keep them out

It would be absurd now in 2015 to think that Poland and Turkey would be major players in future but like most investors, many are myopic and would scoff at this forecast. However if one will to read into Polish and Turkish economies, there're tremendous growth opportunities there. Its the same as how Myanmar and Vietnam are opening their borders to foreign investments now.

Russia is an interesting topic nowadays due to its sanctions and annexation of Crimea as well as their reliance on their oil exports and falling rouble. But many have failed to note that Russia is a country with an abundance of natural resources and it supplies majority of Europe's oil and gas usage. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_in_the_European_energy_sector
-Sanctions in my view are just a formality to show that someone needs to do something yet it cant be too drastic to create fault lines and start WWIII hence its practically useless as we are more globalised now than before and are more interlinked that we know.

Space based solar power will change how the world views energy as a whole and changing from using coal. crude oil, natural gas to solar power is not impossible as we are constantly looking at cleaner and more efficient ways to utilise energy and prevent pollution that creates global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps that would in turn, create massive natural disasters that could wipe out entire countries.

I'm still in the midst of reading up on the US and Mexico borders and how the world will compete for immigrants issue and will probably finish it by next week hence for anyone who are keen for such genre of books, I would highly recommend this as it will change your perspective and maybe how you see yourself and the world in future.

Before I end my post, just an interesting article I picked up from Bloomberg yesterday and showing the biggest economies in 2030:

Of course, anything can happen and all of these are just forecasts - I wonder if my blog will still be around in 2030.