us spies see superhumans, instant cities by 2030

[bcbm]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/12/superhumans-instant-cities/

us intelligence agencies see different world in 2030:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-10/u-s-intelligence-agencies-see-a-different-world-in-2030.html

the water wars and urban sprawl of 2030:
http://gawker.com/5967548/the-water-wars-and-urban-sprawl-of-2030

[piet11111]

A doubling of the middle class ? :laugh:

[Raúl Duke]

A doubling of the middle class ? :laugh:

Well maybe abroad in certain "developing" countries...

But in the "Developed" countries expect a decline at this rate.

The report allegedly gave a sombre report about the US: they said the "super-power" status "Pax Americana" will degrade while reporting that China was poised to be a major world player especially if they played their cards right.

Talking about the future, even in sci-fi esque terms, I'm reminded of this video game called Dreamfall: The Longest Journey where they showed previously developing countries as very modern and clean while the developed world looked more like cyber-punk dystopias with large urban sprawls...

[Myrdin]

All the more reason to speed up the revolution in Europe and America. We must keep such a frightening reality from becoming as such!

This is not the world I want for my children, to leave them anything other than a clean and green world is, to me, absolutely unacceptable.

[Avanti]

the prophecy

of avanti

is unfolding

[Anarchocommunaltoad]

the prophecy

of avanti

is unfolding

Whoa whoa whoa... When did Avanti get banned?

[The Douche]

How can cities and middle classes grow while energy sources become more scarce?

[Anarchocommunaltoad]

How can cities and middle classes grow while energy sources become more scarce?

A substance could be developed that would quickly decontaminate a fallout area thus causing the public to accept nuclear power.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

A substance could be developed that would quickly decontaminate a fallout area thus causing the public to accept nuclear power.

Would that not just lead to a scarcity of uranium in the long run?

[piet11111]

Would that not just lead to a scarcity of uranium in the long run?

There are more kinds of nuclear fuel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fuel

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

Would that not just lead to a scarcity of uranium in the long run?

Thorium.

[GoddessCleoLover]

Thorium.

If nuclear fusion technology were realized would not that solve that particular problem?

[Anarchocommunaltoad]

If nuclear fusion technology were realized would not that solve that particular problem?

Nuclear fusion ain't never gonna happen.

[maskerade]

i read the most of the entire report, and it really seems like the people who wrote it are trying their very best to be optimistic. one of their basic premises is that international cooperation will only flourish if all of South Asia disintegrates and both the EU, USA and China will want to militarily intervene in order to secure their own interests, causing some sort of convergence. which is pretty pessimistic coming from people writing a report for congress or whoever their intended audience is.

I don't see much hope to be honest.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

In a tectonic shift, today's roughly 50-percent urban population (3.5 billion urban of the world's 7.1 billion people) will almost certainly climb to near 60 percent(4.9 billion of the world's projected 8.3 billion), a sharp contrast to the largely rural world of 1950, when roughly 30 percent (750 million) of the world's 2.5 billion were estimated to be urban residents
The next two decades' pattern of urban growth will look strikingly different from urban growth patterns of the late 20th century, dynamics that gave rise to most of today's 27 megacities (cities with a population greater than 10 million). Although UN demographers expect this count to continue to rise, these giants will, we believe, become further limited by physical land constraints and burdened by vehicular congestion and costly infrastructural legacies, entrenched criminal networks and political gridlock, and deteriorating sanitation and health conditions. The peri-urban or "rurban" areas will grow faster than city centers,as such areas provide cheaper land for housing and manufacturing. Metropolitan regions will spill over multiple jurisdictions creating mega-regions. By 2030, there will be at least 40 large bi-national and tri-national metro regions
The fucking nightmare. Cookie-cutter McMansions filling up the countrysides.

[cynicles]

Nuclear fusion ain't never gonna happen.
What do you base this on?

[#FF0000]

I thought that the trend right now was that people were leaving the cities to rural or suburban areas? Maybe these areas becoming more populated and urbanized is what leads to the growth of cities they're expecting?

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I thought that the trend right now was that people were leaving the cities to rural or suburban areas? Maybe these areas becoming more populated and urbanized is what leads to the growth of cities they're expecting?

That's funny, because I thought that recently it was reported (http://www.gizmag.com/go/7334/) that the number of urban dwellers now exceeded the number of rural dwellers. Which would indicate that more people are moving from rural to urban areas, rather than the other way round.

[piet11111]

That's funny, because I thought that recently it was reported (http://www.gizmag.com/go/7334/) that the number of urban dwellers now exceeded the number of rural dwellers. Which would indicate that more people are moving from rural to urban areas, rather than the other way round.

I have read that in China the workers that come from the rural parts are increasingly failing to find work in the city's and turning back home.

[Lord Daedra]

Yeah but China's interior is being urbanized at a rapid pace.