World of the future:

v

Scientists are taking a hand at crystal- gazing. A recent study conducted by Dr. Olaf Helmer and T. J. Gorden of the Rand Corporation, with the assistance of 82 ex- perts in the United States and Europe, sought to apply scientific methods to fore- casting what the future of the world will

be like.

Listed below, for what they are worth, are their predictions and a list of the inven- tions and breakthroughs in science these experts believe are likely to take place.

If you want to check their accuracy put them in an envelope marked “Do Not Open Until 1984” (or 2000 or 2100) and file away

in a safe place.

developments.

lization as we

thought and

children and

In any case,

_ One obvious flaw in this study is that it is based on a so-called “purely scientific” ap- proach and therefore does not take into account the likely social and political changes in the world and their effects on scientific

The predictions depend a

great deal, of course, on whether or not civi-

know it survives at all, which

in turn depends on whether mankind will be able to preserve peace.

they provide a lot of food for much scope for imagination

about what an exciting world awaits our

grandchildren once mankind

gets rid of the scourge of war.

The world of The world of The world of

1984

The world’s population will have increased by about 40 per- cent to 4.3 billion. To provide the increased quantities of food needed, agriculture will be aided by automation and desalinated sea water. Effective fertility con- trol will be practiced, with the result that the birth rate will continue to drop.

In medicine, transplantation of natural organs and implantation of artificial (plastic and electro- nic) organs will be common practice. The use of personality- control durgs will be widespread and widely accepted.

Sophisticated teaching ma- chines will be in general use. Automated libraries which look up and reproduce relevant ma- terial will greatly aid research. World-wide communication will be enhanced by a universal satel- lite relay system and by auto- matic translating machines.

A permanent lunar base will have been established. Manned Mars and Venus fly-bys_ will have been accomplished. Deep- space laboratories will be in operation. Propulsion by solid- core nuclear reactor and ionic engines will be coming avail- able.

When we continue our projec- tion to the year 2000 the follow- ing major additional features emerge as descriptive of the world at the beginning of the 21st century:

‘artificial

2000

The - population size will be up to 5.1 billion (65 percent more than in 1963).

New food sources will have been opened up through large-

scale ocean farming and the

fabrication of synthetic protein.

Controlled thermonuclear power will be a source of new energy. New mineral raw ma- terials will be derived from the oceans. Regional weather con- trol will be past the experimen- tal stage.

General immunization against bacterial and viral diseases will be available. Primitive forms of life will have been generated ‘in the laboratory. The correction of hereditary defects through molecular engineering will be possible.

Automation will have. ad- vanced further, from many men- tal robot services to sophisticat- ed, high-IQ machines.

On the Moon, mining and manufacture of propellant ma- terials will be in progress. Men will have landed on Mars and permanent unmanned research stations will have been estab- lished, while on Earth commer- cial global ballistic transport will have been instituted.

The following is recorded, not as a prediction of the-state of the world at that time, but as an indication of what a number of thoughtful people regard as con- ceivable during the next few generations to come:

By the year 2100 the world population may be of the order of eight billion. Chemical con. trol of the aging process may have been achieved, raising a person’s life expectancy to over 100 years.

2100

Man-machine sybiosis, enab- ling a person to raise his intel- ligence through electromechan- ical tie-in of his brain with a computing machine, is a distant possibility. Automation will like- ly lead to household robots, re- mote facsimile reproduction of newspapers and magazines in the home, completely automated

highway transportation.

It is even possible that elabo- rate differential mining process- es will have been abandoned in favor of commercially efficient transmutation of elements.

A permanent lunar colony may well have been established with regularly scheduled commercial traffic between Earth and Moon.

Or a barbecue

dates:.;. 2”

listening.

door to a useful discussion?

down...

“Hurray!”

the fire.”

JES; Wallace

Boiling little babies

Will never, never do

They’re better in a batter (Their mother doesn’t matter) Better in a batter

I’ve got a hangover from the R. B. Bennett-DuPl Senator McCarthy days. I haven’t wakened up t0 that professors are writing, students are marching, are active everywhere and their numbers swelliNB: yj voices are speaking out; it may well be that soon raise such a shout the walls of Jericho will come ™

It may well be that I’ll only arrive in tim

*—Senator Dirksen is the Republican leader ine U.S. Senate. Speaking of the Viet Cong (National ’ tion Front) he said: “It is necessary to hold t

Better in a batter

Or a.napalm stew. = i (Dedicated to the late Adolph HIN and to Senator Dirksen”)

“ND that’s not all,” I said. “Seated alongside a la@y, a bus we compared notes and so we discover we had both been born on the exact, self-same

Oct. 29, 1890. When you consider that only a few were 10

on that day in Canada, how fewer still have survive ‘i

. Slight the chance they would not only meet but woul

“My-y-y!”” said the Cashier, politely, while only

I walked away with the mild uplift that you ge *you have told a successful story. Then I began to feel like a sneak. What was wrong? I hadn’t told 4 hadn’t even exaggerated. Then it came home to me suppressed the fact that all this had happened when it were travelling on a peace delegation to Ottawa. back and restored the self-censored sentence. But good enough. What’s wrong with me that I deliberately, h pressed a reference to peace which might have ope?

1 that

the wo!

¢»

e 10

in

heir fe

A permanent base on Mars, land- ings on Jupiter’s moons, and manned fly-bys past Pluto are likely accomplishments. Possibly even a multi-generation mission to other solar systems may be

on its way, aided - artifici nducy by’ artificially 1 wal

duration coma. te munication with ext@ a intelligent beings § possibility.

La UB feat Re Or We tae We he eee PO ee le

© ofa. eV Ere ete 44. > 9 oy 90. 9. 8 re . 2 © oe © oe 6 2 0 08 0%

a

Fide f ee ce se © 61450 Bi ete De eto 0.0

ae v8 $e Biisie ets Vipie aS erm teae be 0. sep in 9,

es wap * 00.0 0 910

See ee he ace ey 0 2 ere 6 ee ey . ere:

Sita _9 0.000 0 659.8 9.2) 0: > 0 0. peke(e ia) eee, ook ee ek ec see eee eee eee ee ee

‘ . o's F Wxelese 9 0S 1s 00 O20 0 0: 018 6 o che lt e © 54.0 we

Predicted breakthroughs and their dates —

Manned Mars and Venus fly-by Artificial plastic and electronic organs for humans .........-.-.seseeeee tt 49 Drugs to produce personality changes “ie Primitive forms of life created in the laboratory Commercial ocean-bottom mining Regional weather control Synthetic protein food commercially feasible Commercial global ballistic transport Automated voting (legislation by plebiscite) : Heredity defects controlled-by altering genes ...............00 0s se eee ttt 0 Facsimile newspapers printed in the home Biochemicals to aid growth of new organs and limbs Drugs to raise the level of intelligence Brain-computer link to enlarge man’s intellect Long-duration coma to permit time travel Control of aging process (extend life 50 years)

Breeding intelligent animals for low-grade labor Limited control over force of gravity

. . . . ai @. 2:0 050 6 6 2 e900 See