2010-01-01
My Expectations and Predictions For The 2010s
I was listening to ESPN Chicago on the radio yesterday and the host of a local show asked, "What professional sports team will be our pride and joy in the 2010s?" Personally, I think it's going to be the Blackhawks, but that's not really what this is about. It got me wondering, "What are we going to be looking back on come 2020?" Here are my expectations for this upcoming decades, some serious and some goofy.
US Politics:
2010: Republicans take back the both houses of Congress with a large majority in the House and narrow Senate Majority
2012: Re-Election of President Barack Obama (you truly don't appreciate Chicago politics if you think otherwise). Majorities in both houses of Congress are too slim to accomplish anything major. Huckabee won't run to avoid the controversy over his pardons. Mitt Romney (and maybe Newt Gingrich) will all have a chance at surviving the 2012 Demolition Derby Primary, but whoever is nominated will lose to Obama.
2014: Republicans will have small majorities in both Houses of Congress
2016: A new Republican none of us will have seen coming will win the Presidency
2018: A scandal in the White House will spell doom for Republicans in the mid-term election
Foreign Politics
- Vladimir Putin will consolidate power once again in Russia and Dimitry Medvedev will be largely relegated to cheerleader
- Inspired by Democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, and agitated by unemployment, citizens will start massive protests across the middle east. Only the most brutal or wealthy of regimes will stay in power
- Ukraine will be denied entry into NATO.
- Greece will be strong armed (probably because of their debt) into accepting Turkey into the European Union, but the move will come to embarrass the EU as Turkey slips increasingly into authoritarianism.
- Terrorists will begin to focus on US-supported dictatorships in countries like Egypt, putting the US in an awkward position
- Climate Change debate will fade away and turn into a debate about poisons we breathe and drink because of pollution... it will be more successful.
- The US Dollar will continue to weaken (which isn't all bad) and people will turn increasingly towards the Euro or other alternatives.
- The immigrant Islamic minority will continue to grow in Europe, creating increased social strife in France, Germany, and Italy. The end result of which will be increased political access for the immigrants in France, but a loss of European identity.
- As much as critics knocked the 2008 "Speed Racer" film's style, you're going to see more action/adventure movies done in that style.
- Conservative activist actors will face increased scrutiny from liberal producers, resulting in conservative production companies being created (possibly as Christian films).
- "Lost" fans are going to be REALLY pissed off.
- Globalism will be a dominant force in the direction our entertainment trends go, especially as Hollywood tries to enter massive Chinese markets.
- Hollywood is going to spend 3 years making live action films out of successful Japanese and Korean manga (comics) and anime (cartoons)... some will be more successful than others.
- American Idol is going to begin accepting international applicants... I still won't be watching the show.
- Foreign music and films from Russia and former Iron Curtain states will explode in international popularity.
- Unfortunately for India, the quality of Bollywood films isn't going to improve much. Bollywood will have two or three international hits at most, but otherwise miss the wave.
- Missile Defense System technology will improve tremendously but unless they're included, Russia and China will exploit a really stupid flaw in the technology's design that American scientists failed to consider. Not unlike Sony's multi-billion dollar investment to copy-protect CDs that could be worked around by scribbling on the top of the disc with a Sharpie.
- Smoking bans will become more widespread. In Indiana, a state-wide public smoking ban will go into effect, citing newly discovered health risks. '
- Externally worn mechanical devices will help the elderly and disabled with mobility issues. In 2030, we'll look back at how bulky these devices were and laugh... not unlike cell phones in the 1980s and 1990s.
- Environmentalists and leftists are going to make an enormous deal out of the radiation emitted by cell phones and other wireless devices. Using a wired internet connection is going to become the new carbon offset.
- There will be increased evidence that life begins sooner, rather than later in a pregnancy but Roe v. Wade won't be overturned before 2020.
- We're going to realize we made a really bad mistake abandoning the multi-use spacecraft design with our return to the capsule design.
- NASA is going to start working with Russian scientists to figure out how to blow up an asteroid. They'll say they figured it out, but they're really not going to have any clue.
- Assuming medicine is not socialized, pharmaceuticals will continue to abandon important research into fighting disease in order invest more heavily in cosmetic and sexual drug research. If it is socialized, pharmaceuticals will go out of business. Either way, we're still going to be suffering with cancer, HIV/AIDS, autism, and the flu come 2020.
- Cell phones will contain digital cameras that would today sell for $300. We'll probably be able to shoot HD video, but it's going to be pointless because nobody holds camera phones still enough to take advantage of it.
- Nintendo is going to regret not making an HD gaming system earlier, but they'll make a HD version of the Wii in the early part of the decade. Sony's investment in making a more powerful gaming system will pay off in the long term, mostly at Microsoft's expense.
- Foreign language domain names are coming very soon. Expect to be able to find USB 3.0 keyboard devices with foreign characters on them by the end of the decade.
- What's USB 3.0? I have no freaking clue, but I know it's going to be fast.
