2010s

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events.
It may contain information of a tentative nature and the content may change dramatically as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

The 2010s decade comprises the years from 2010 to 2019, inclusive. Informally, it may also include a few years at the end of the preceding decade or the beginning of the following decade.

This decade is expected to be called the tens or the twenty-tens, possibly the twenty-teens. It may be called the "two-thousand-tens" or "two-thousand-teens", similar to how the previous decade is sometimes referred to as the "two thousands". "Tweenz" is a rare, but occasionally used, word to refer to the decade, a merge between the words "twenty" and "teen".

Millennium: 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium - 4th millennium
Centuries: 20th century - 21st century - 22nd century
Decades: 1980s 1990s 2000s - 2010s - 2020s 2030s 2040s
Years: 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Contents

[edit] Trends

  • The baby boomer generation (which "officially" includes babies born after the end of World War II in 1945) reaches the age of retirement in North America and Europe. A rapid expansion of the number of retired persons due to the aging Baby Boomers is expected to have a drastic effect on the economies of these countries. For example, in the USA, Social Security and Medicare may be under strain. This expected surge in the distribution of retirement benefits has been dubbed the pension bomb.
  • Those people born in the 1960s and 1970s will most likely be in positions of power (the so-called Generation X in the United States).
  • It is likely that by the end of the decade, there will be under a handful, if any, surviving veterans from World War I. Equally, it is likely that the last people born in the Nineteenth Century will die during this decade.
  • Global population is likely to reach around 7.5 billion by the end of the decade, representing a significant slowdown in growth. In Europe, the population is expected to fall during the decade. [1]

[edit] Science

  • Both the International Linear Collider and ITER may be completed during the latter half of the decade.
  • Climate Change is likely to continue, with global temperatures steadily rising. It is not predicted, however, that temperatures will increase by more than 1 degree celsius before 2020.[2] Although no serious disruption is predicted, some affects of warmer global temperatures will be noticeable[3] In 2012, the Kyoto Agreement in its current form will end. Whatever measures come out of attempts to extend, revamp or replace the agreement will likely decide how the problem is tackled on a global scale

[edit] Technology

  • Around this time, the Hubbert peak of global oil production predicts widespread disruptions to conventional energy supplies of oil and natural gas. Some academic and business research into hydrocarbon deposits has concluded that the continued usage of this form of energy source will inevitably create widespread reductions in its supply during the 2010s, resulting in a sudden need to switch to alternative energy sources such as nuclear energy and "green" sources such as solar and wind power. Similar predictions about the "end of the age of oil" have been made almost since oil first became a major commodity, and so far no such predictions have borne out. However, Marion Hubbert's 1954 prediction that U.S. oil production would peak in 1970 proved to be accurate, so it is possible that the prediction of the same methodology applied to world oil production may be equally accurate. See also future energy development.
  • In the year 2012, conventional CPUs are expected to reach their maximum computing potential, according to Moore's Law. Moore's Law states that roughly every 18 months the computing power of processing units will double. Reaching the maximum potential would have devastating consequences on the technological industry, and possibly the global economy. It is hoped that this could open up the door for true quantum computing development, though this is likely to be advantageous only to certain programming routines.
  • It is likely that many new technological developments that occur during the 2010s are the result over the concerns of latter half of the 2000s with global warming.

[edit] Sporting events

[edit] Predicted events

[edit] Fictional references

[edit] References

  1. ^ United Nations, based on 2004 figures
  2. ^ Report of the NIC
  3. ^ By 2020, kiss the snows Kilimanjaro goodbye CNET News.com