2050

2050 (MML) will be a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar.

Predicted and scheduled events

• In July 2008, the G8 agreed to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.^[1]
• In November 2006, Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, “warned of a global collapse of all species being fished, if fishing continues at its current pace.”^[2]
• In October 2007, artificial intelligence researcher David Levy predicted that by 2050, human-robot marriages, human-robot sex, and human-robot pornography will become common.^[3]
• Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technologies could sequester 10 billion metric tons of industrial CO2 emissions annually worldwide.^[4]
• In March 2006, Professor Gerry Gilmore predicted that ground-based astronomy would become impossible by this year because of pollution from aircraft exhaust trails and climate change.^[5]
• By 2050, the price of PEM fuel cell is as low as 100 Euro/KWH compared to the present value of 8000 Euro/KWH. This is because most cars work on fuel cell technology and Hydrogen gas.^[6]

• Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission's Institute for Energy believes that solar power from North Africa can provide 100 GW to the entire continent of Europe.^[7]

World population

• In November 2001, the United Nations Population Fund reported that the world population is projected to be 9.3 billion in 2050 from 6.1 billion then with most of the increase in developing countries even as the population of industrialized countries will "remain stable".^[8] This figure was revised to 9.1 billion in 2005 and 9.2 billion in 2007. In 2008, the United States Census Bureau projected a world population of 9.5 billion.^[9]
• Another study done by the European Commission, community research said that the world population is expected to grow at a decreasing rate to 8.9 billions in 2050 and after 2030, the population in several countries including Europe and China will decrease. Stabilization in the population will happen in the second half of the century.^[6]
• In the rich industrialized countries, with the exception of the United States where immigrants enjoy a rise in population, generation replacement is no longer assured.
• It is calculated there will be 601,000 centenarians (people at least a hundred years old - born before 1950) in the USA by 2050.^[10]
• "The population continues to grow but at a slower pace", summarizes the demographer Thomas Buettner, author of UN report on "World population projections (1950-2050)", presented Thursday, February 24, 2005. According to this study, 9.075 billion people will inhabit Earth in 2050, against 7 billion today.
• This increase amounts to adding to the current world population combined populations of  People's Republic of China and  India, stresses the population division of the United Nations.
• The general trend is, however, a slowdown in population growth compared to gains of twenty to fifty years, this tends to confirm a gradual stabilization of the overall population.
• By 2050, India will overtake People's Republic of China to top the list of the most populous countries, and these two countries represent about 50% of world population (as against 37% today).
• Not surprisingly, population growth will be highest in poor countries already struggling to provide food security for its people. "Births planning and fertility decline explain this difference", stresses the UN report.
• The United Nations predicts that 2 out of every 9 people in the world will be 60 years or older. World life expectancy at birth is also expected to exceed 76 years.^[11]

In fiction

Literature

• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1948): The language Newspeak will become the official language of Oceania.
• Life in 2050 by Ulrich Eberl: The book illustrates what life may be like during this year.
• Short story "The Weed of Time" by Norman Spinrad: The first manned mission to Tau Ceti returns to Earth on September 8, bearing with it the timesense-expanding plant tempis ceti.

Television

• Immortal Grand Prix (2005): The second season takes place during the middle of this year.
• The start of events in the UK situation comedy Come Back Mrs. Noah.
• Children's television series Silversun starts on its 90-year journey to a livable planet 45 light years from Earth.

Film

• Love Story 2050 (2008, Hindi)
• Sunshine-The spaceship Icarus I heads on a journey to re-ignite the dying sun, only to fail.

Computer and video games

• Shadowrun (1993)
• Maelstrom (2007)
• Dropship: United Peace Force (2002)
• In Civilization V the game ends automatically if nobody wins by 2050.

References

• U.S. Census Bureau: Population Prediction (by country)
• Guardian article on Spains shrinking coastline

External links

• Imagining the tech world in 2050 at CNET