21st century

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Centuries: 20th century - 21st century - 22nd century
Decades: 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s 2050s 2060s 2070s 2080s 2090s

The 21st century is the present century of the Anno Domini (common) era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1, 2001 and will end December 31, 2100. A common misconception is that it started in 2000 and will end in 2099. Technologically, so far the major difference from the 20th century are the changes brought about by the digital revolution of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

Contents

[edit] Pronouncing years of the 21st century

See also: Year pronunciation

Among experts and the general public, there is a debate as to how specific years of the 21st century should be pronounced in English. Although the majority of English-speakers say "two thousand (and) X" for any specific year post–1999, it is often suggested that the continuation of this type of pronunciation for the entire 21st century would be inappropriate or unnatural, given the alternative "twenty X" option.

Academics suggest that since former years such as 1805 and 1905 were commonly pronounced as "eighteen oh" or "nineteen oh" five, the year 2005 should naturally have been pronounced as "twenty oh-five".[1] Many experts agree that majority usage of "two thousand (and) X" is a result of influences from the Y2K hype, as well as the way "2001" was pronounced in the influential 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Many people, ranging from linguistic and academic experts to Internet bloggers, predict that the "twenty X" pronunciation method will eventually prevail, but a timeframe as to when this change will occur often differs. The year 2010 is suggested by many,[2][3] while 2011[1] and 2013 are popular as well. The latest timeframes for change are usually placed at 2020[1] or 2100.

According to a recent press release, David Crystal, author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, has predicted that the change of pronunciation to "twenty X" will occur in 2011, as "twenty eleven", explaining that the way people pronounce years depends on rhythm, rather than logic. Crystal claims that the rhythm or "flow" of "two thousand (and) ten", beats out that of "twenty ten", but the flow of "twenty eleven" beats out "two thousand (and) eleven".[1] Alternatively, Ian Brookes, editor-in-chief of Chambers Dictionary, suggests the change will occur in 2013. And finally, The Times of London has suggested 2020 as a final timeframe for the change, saying "If people can have “twenty-twenty” vision, then surely they should also live in the year “twenty twenty”.[1]

In addition, the Vancouver olympics, taking place in 2010, are being officially referred to by Vancouver 2010 as "the twenty-ten olympics", and the London olympics, taking place in 2012, are also being officially referred to by London 2012 as "the twenty-twelve olympics". Chicago 2016, which operates the official Chicago bid for the 2016 games, refers to the "twenty-sixteen games".

[edit] Important developments, events, achievements

[edit] Politics

[edit] Science and technology

Initial date of the 21st century
Initial date of the 21st century

[edit] Space Exploration

[edit] Medicine

[edit] Personal Technology

  • 2006 80% of world land surface has coverage by cellular networks for mobile phone use.
  • Mobile phone usage approaches 100% in developed countries. [4]

[edit] Other

[edit] Conflicts and civil unrest

[edit] Worldwide deaths from war and terror attacks

Furthermore, there are several wars and dictatorships continuing from the 20th century. In most cases, the death toll is unclear. See also [6].

[edit] Natural disasters

[edit] Sports

[edit] Issues and concerns

  • Note* Some of the following details are debatable, and must be considered accordingly.

Some of the things that have dominated discussion and debate so far in this century include:

  • Globalization. Advances in telecommunications and transportation, the expansion of capitalism and democracy, and free trade agreements have resulted in unprecedented global economic and cultural integration. This has caused (and is continuing to cause) huge economic and cultural shifts which have been the subject of considerable controversy. It is surmised* [7] that gradual ethical steps in three main areas (animals and the environment, employees, and consumers), are what will turn the tide in a favourable direction. The three stakeholders responsible for these changes are: governance, industry, and consumers.
  • Overpopulation. The United Nations estimates that world population will reach 9.1 billion by mid-century. Such growth raises questions of ecological sustainability and creates many economic and political disruptions. In response, many countries have adopted policies which either force or encourage their citizens to have fewer children, and others have limited immigration. Considerable debate exists over what the ultimate carrying capacity of the planet may be; whether or not population growth containment policies are necessary; to what degree growth can safely occur thanks to increased economic and ecological efficiency; and how markets should accommodate demographic shifts. Evidence suggests that developed countries (such as Japan) suffer population implosion, and the population debate is strongly tied with poverty.
  • Poverty. Poverty remains the root cause of many of the world's other ills, including famine, disease, and insufficient education. Poverty contains many self-reinforcing elements (for instance, poverty can make education an unaffordable luxury, which tends to result in continuing poverty) that various aid groups hope to rectify in this century. Microcredit lending has also started to gain a profile as a useful anti-poverty tool.
  • Global warming. The majority of climate scientists think that the earth is currently undergoing significant anthropogenic (human-induced) global warming. [8] The resulting economic and ecological costs are hard to predict, and by the end of the 21st century could be quite severe.
  • Other environmental changes. Trends such as increased pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss occurring in the 20th century are likely to continue into the 21st century.
  • Resource depletion may be a significant issue, with economic and environmental implications. Resources that could be depleted soon include oil and natural gas.
  • Global power. Issues surrounding the cultural, economic, and military dominance of the United States and its role in the world community have become even more pointed given its recent military activities, problematic relations with the United Nations, disagreement over several international treaties, and its economic policies with regard to globalization. Integration of the European Union and the African Union have proceeded.
  • Intellectual property. The increasing popularity of digital formats for entertainment media such as movies and music, and the ease of copying and distributing it via the Internet and peer-to-peer networks, has raised concerns in the media industry about copyright infringement. Much debate is proceeding about the proper bounds between protection of copyright, trademark and patent rights versus fair use and the public domain, where some argue that such laws have shifted greatly towards intellectual property owners and away from the interests of the general public in recent years, while others say that such legal change is needed to deal with the threat of new technologies against the rights of authors and artists (or, as others put it, against the outmoded business models of the current entertainment industry). Domain name "cybersquatting" and access to patented drugs to combat epidemics in third-world countries are other IP concerns.
  • Technology developments show no sign of ending. Communications and control technology continues to augment the intelligence of individual humans, collections of humans, and machines. Cultures are forced into the position of sharply defining humanity and determining boundaries on desire, thought, communication, behavior, and manufacturing. Some predict that by the middle of this century there will be a Technological Singularity if artificial intelligences are created that are smarter than humans. If these then create even smarter AI's technological change will accelerate in ways that are impossible for us to foresee.
  • Energy is becoming scarce and more expensive, due to the escalating demand for petroleum ("oil") and oil-based products such as gasoline and kerosene, unmatched by production. Discovery of new oil fields has not been sufficient to sustain current levels of production, and some fear that the earth may be running out of economically viable oil. While complete depletion will not happen in the near future, some fear that a peak in production will cause an end to the trend of economic expansion in modern society, perhaps resulting in a collapse of modern civilization itself. Economists argue that alternative sources of energy will prevent this disaster.

The United Nations lists global issues on its agenda here and lists a set of Millennium Goals to attempt to address some of these issues.

However, it is important to note that the current year is only 2007, which means we are only at the start of the century. Therefore, it is impossible to make detailed predictions about the future of this century.

[edit] Significant people

[edit] Influential people in politics as of 2007

(in alphabetical order)

[edit] Influential people in religion as of 2007

[edit] Influential people in technology as of 2007

[edit] Influential people in science as of 2007

[edit] Influential people in mathematics as of 2007

[edit] Influential people in the arts as of 2007

[edit] Astronomical events

[edit] Science fiction set in the remaining years of the 21st century

[edit] Television and film

[edit] Computer and video games

[edit] Novels

[edit] Decades and years

v • d • e
Decades and Years
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
2030s 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2037 2038 2039
2040s 2040 2041 2042 2043 2044 2045 2046 2047 2048 2049
2050s 2050 2051 2052 2053 2054 2055 2056 2057 2058 2059
2060s 2060 2061 2062 2063 2064 2065 2066 2067 2068 2069
2070s 2070 2071 2072 2073 2074 2075 2076 2077 2078 2079
2080s 2080 2081 2082 2083 2084 2085 2086 2087 2088 2089
2090s 2090 2091 2092 2093 2094 2095 2096 2097 2098 2099
2100s 2100 2101 2102 2103 2104 2105 2106 2107 2108 2109

[edit] See also

[edit] Reference

  1. ^ a b c d e Experts clash over millennium bugbear — UK Times
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ [2]

[edit] External links

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v • d • e
Centuries and Millennia
Millennium Century
Before Christ (BC)
4th: 40th 39th 38th 37th 36th 35th 34th 33rd 32nd 31st
3rd: 30th 29th 28th 27th 26th 25th 24th 23rd 22nd 21st
2nd: 20th 19th 18th 17th 16th 15th 14th 13th 12th 11th
1st: 10th   9th   8th   7th   6th   5th   4th   3rd   2nd   1st
Anno Domini (AD)
1st:   1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th 10th
2nd: 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th
3rd: 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th
4th: 31st 32nd
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