Future Intelligence

This book delves into the future of the world in 2050, covering various sectors such as healthcare, energy, transportation, communication, entertainment, and climate change from the perspectives of global leaders and visionaries from diverse backgrounds. It draws on open crowdsourced research and incorporates insights from the Covid-19 pandemic, appealing to not only businesses and governments but also the general public. The book includes 19 chapters, with 17 addressing the future of specific sectors and the last discussing the World 50.0 movement and how to participate. The topics of Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, and singularity are integrated throughout the book, considering the potential benefits and risks of new technologies. The authors acknowledge that predicting the future is impossible for any single expert but propose that practical conclusions can be drawn by correlating opinions from various experts (noting that contributions from interviewees reflect their own views). The book seeks to engage and inspire a diverse audience and is designed to be accessible across generations.

The current pandemic and the accelerating future require a new type of leadership to emerge. The Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum (WEF) interviewed in this book envision an emerging era of humanity and empathy as we transition towards a more digital existence where global institutions will be significantly redesigned. Future leaders shall be role models, representing a new set of values that inspire new generations to lead with heart, compassion, emotional intelligence, care, education and kindness. Authentic leadership traits such as adaptability, collaboration, creativity, emotional intelligence, entrepreneurship, ethics, resilience, self-awareness and social awareness will be crucial for future-generation leaders. Eight traits responsible for the development of early leadership abilities of Young Global Leaders included evolutionary traits, early exposure to significant responsibility, high expectations, enabling environments, important crucible moments and the pursuit of passion. The concept of leadership is changing, and the right mix of authenticity and Machiavellianism is necessary to make an impact in an increasingly complex world.

This chapter discusses the decline of democracy and trust in political institutions worldwide, as well as the role of technology and AI in improving infrastructure, public services and policymaking. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index has measured the quality of political processes, civil liberties, the functioning of government, public participation and political culture every year since 2006, providing a ranking of nearly every country in the world on a 10-point scale. In 2020, the global average score fell to its lowest point since 2006, with the pandemic contributing to this decline. The Edelman Trust Barometer shows that people have fears about the future and how it may impact them, leading to a lack of trust in governmental institutions, businesses, NGOs and media. The European Union launched a project to explore the future of government beyond 2030, combining citizen engagement, foresight and design. Four scenarios emerged: DIY Democracy, Private Algocracy, Super Collaborative Government and Over Regulatocracy. The chapter concludes with predictions for democracy’s future in the new digital age and how technology can both weaken and strengthen democracy.

This chapter discusses the potential transformation of geopolitics over the next 30 years and the global challenges humanity may face. The world is undergoing a historical transition, with economic and political power rebalancing, and as a result future politics will be moving towards more openness or resistance to change. China is predicted to become the world’s largest economy and a more significant political actor, and the proportion of economies with a high degree of state ownership and control is expected to increase sharply. Emerging power hubs by 2050 may include Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam. Furthermore, future conflicts will likely be more about spheres of influence, water, resources and supply lines and less about territory. The chapter concludes with a discussion on how international trade impacts global poverty and the potential impact of policy decisions on globalization and climate change on a global scale.

Future medicine will focus on preventing new diseases and monitoring a person’s pre-nosological state, which is perfectly evidenced by the current situation with the coronavirus epidemic. The medicine of the future is not about treating the sick, but making sure that you do not get sick in principle. The boom of innovations, gadgets, and technological solutions cannot but affect medicine. The traditional healthcare system is a highly fragmented structure. Technology can offer an interconnected solution to the individual. Sensory wearable technologies will likely become the basis for future disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. The new generation of doctors is interested in innovation and making better decisions rather than in traditions and centuries-long working SOPs.

The energy sector accounts for three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions presently, and consequently, efforts to mitigate the consequences of climate change rely massively on improving the condition of our energy consumption, production and transportation. Some of the broad trends that are predicted to realize by 2050 include the global energy demand to continue rising at an average annual growth rate to 2% with most of the increased demand coming from South Asian and African countries which experience significant economic growth during these three decades. Most of the increased demand of energy will be in the form of electricity, and efficiency in electricity production, storage and transportation will become absolutely crucial. Almost 77% of new energy demand is predicted to be met using solar and wind energy production, with some help from biofuels and nuclear energy. The realization of a net-zero future requires the adding capacity for 630 GW of solar power and 390 GW of wind power generation every year, mass electrification of vehicles to increase electric vehicles’ share of global sales from around 5% presently to 60% by 2050, and significant improvement in energy storage and transmission.

Climate change and global warming are civilizational threats to human existence on Earth and need to be addressed immediately. The impacts of climate change are bound to be widespread, impacting every part of human life and the planet’s functioning. Climate change disbalances global climate systems by altering pressure areas, temperatures and wind patterns which has many knock-on effects for climactic conditions and weather patterns across the world. In this book, we are predicting that global warming will most likely be limited to 1.5 °C with a less than 30% chance of overshooting this target. The warming will continue at 0.1–0.3 °C per decade in the next three decades, with the optimum target being 1 °C. The pathway to 1.5 °C warming is one of net-zero emissions by 2050–2055. This makes it necessary for widespread adoption of clean energy through electricity, much higher adoption of electrical vehicles, massive progress in clean energy technology like storage and transportation and mass adoption of carbon capture and use systems. However, 6% of insects, 8% of plants and 4% of vertebrates are predicted to lose their ecosystems and possibly go extinct or have to evolve rapidly. Large-scale climate migration is quite likely with an estimated 216 million people across the world becoming internal climate migrants. The worst affected regions will be North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Pacific.

What will the transport of the future look like? If we think about it, several pictures from science fantasy and Hollywood films appear in our minds. The ideas like flying taxis, uncrewed cars, and flights to other planets are some, but what fantastic ideas may become a reality?

Over the next three decades technological improvements will radically transform the way we are transported today. More people will be living in urban areas, demanding clean energy. Electric vehicles using clean energy for charging will be widespread; we will be driving on smart highways and road systems. Hyperloops and high-speed trains will provide viable alternatives to the current airplane flights. For intercontinental travel we will see the development of point-to-point suborbital flights.

The effects of digitization can now be seen in almost all life areas—from avatars to mixed reality. Communication will continue to change in the future. Telephones, smartphones, and the Internet are changing human interaction. With chatbots and artificial intelligence, modern ways of establishing contact are possible. One thing is for sure, 20 years from now, using a cell phone to chat with friends will be as outdated as using a landline phone today. By then, mixed reality technology will allow people to see virtual copies of their friends in the real world and see the world through friends’ eyes and help them accomplish real-world tasks.

Today’s VR and AR systems show only a fraction of what is possible with mixed reality. MR systems can share many communication signals and allow people to communicate in ways that have never been possible.

The sex tech industry is set to experience significant changes as it grows in value and attracts more users. The industry is often divided into five main branches: remote sex, robots, immersive entertainment, virtual sex, and augmentation. Virtual reality (VR) technology has the potential to transform sexual experiences, allowing people to explore different identities and experiment with new sensations. Haptic and multisensory experiences will revolutionize virtual sex, and virtual sexology will enhance people's sexual skills. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on sexual lives, with people turning to sexting and sex toys. The article explores the possibility of humans falling in love, marrying, having sex with robots, and merging with machines. VR contact lenses may even enable dream-based sex. However, the article notes that human touch and contact remain crucial in sexual experiences and technology cannot fully replace them. Despite new technological developments the future of sex will continue to be about the pursuit of pleasure, while genuine human relationships will remain essential.

The development of the Internet and the ubiquitous technologization of retail have become one of the fundamental driving forces transforming the whole picture of the world. Changing the essence of the product—changing retail and changing end users’ expectations and novel comprehensive real world are affecting customers online behavior, where and exactly how they choose and buy, and the very concept of a product. The new paradigm of the customer journey, that very “relationship” with the customer, provides a wealth of opportunities to justify the value of their product. Technology will not only facilitate convenient and fast shopping but increasingly satisfy the customer’s curiosity inclined to experiment with new products. The source of these metamorphoses will be the solutions of the future: predictive analysis, processing, and collection of big data, virtual, and augmented reality; machine vision; cashless experience; intelligent loyalty programs; a unified shopping experience in all channels; possible content distribution; built ecosystems; speech technologies; blockchain; and many other solutions that seem to us still a curiosity, but this is already a wonderful present, which is actively used by many.

The world is facing significant challenges in providing food and water security to a growing population without harming the environment. To address these challenges, the production of bioproducts and healthy, high-quality foods will become more critical, with protein coming from synthetic processes and insects. Agricultural production will move closer to where people live, using technologies such as horizontal agriculture, rooftops, synthetic biology, and genetically modified plants. Governments need to facilitate the dialogue surrounding the societal impacts of new technologies related to food, such as nanotechnology and biotechnology. The business-as-usual approach is no longer viable, and all countries must commit to sharing responsibility in implementing fundamental changes, including raising consumer awareness, proper regulations, and more equitable income distribution. The future of food requires innovation and entrepreneurship, supported by a community of researchers, entrepreneurs, and governments to achieve a sustainable, healthy, and equitable food supply chain. This includes reducing food waste through innovative technologies, sustainable agriculture, and significant dietary shifts. Microorganisms will be used to produce carbs, proteins, and fats, with lab-grown meat replacing animal farming. With smart cities impacting food consumption and waste reduction, personalized food products and better food packaging will be developed.

The generally accepted standard conception of the family today tends to look like this: a man and a woman (greater acceptance if same race, same religion, and similar age), hopefully with a sound mind and a strong body, are getting married (mainly in a publicly staged spectacle called wedding). How will the family change in the future? What about multigenerational families or families without children? How will the concept of family change? Are marriages with robots and the artificial upbringing of children the future? Will traditional values still exist, and how will the perception of “family” change in the foreseeable future? And what about marriages of love and marriages of convenience?

By 2050, technology will turn homes into collectors, and electricity from nonfossil power sources will likely heat our homes and water. Electric vehicles will be widely available, and each habitat will have a charging station. At the end of the twenty-first century, many smart devices will actively enter our homes and everyday lives. Robotic vacuums, multifunctional electric stoves, multimedia televisions, programmable refrigerators, and computers—a variety of devices are already in our homes, which was unthinkable 30 years ago. Walls, floors, and ceilings will change depending on the residents’ moods. Kitchen 3D printers with commercial cartridges of edible pastes and powders will be a standard built-in option in kitchen appliances. The robot au pair can do many monotonous tasks, from washing up to cutting salads. The living room will become a digital portal for communication. The bedrooms will be a resting place with a programmable sleep module. High technology gives architects and designers new possibilities and groundbreaking ideas for creativity. How our apartments look in the future will strongly depend on how we can use the new and advanced technology.

Our professional lives are tightly integrated to the overall future of humanity on several dynamics including family, social identity, physical and mental health, and economy. In 2050, there would be sweeping transformation of the way we work. Europe and the United States will face a decline in population and a shortage of manpower, whereas population in Africa and Asia would continue to grow and act as a source of manpower for these regions. However, Africa and South Asia would continue to be plagued by the absence of infrastructure and capital. Labor force from these regions would migrate to the developed regions in search of better opportunities and improved livelihood. Across the world, unemployment among the youth would increase multifold, leading to severe political and social unrests, resulting in disintegration and implosion of many nation states. From a micro perspective, from an organizational point of view, by 2050, many of them would revert to social capital—trust and goodwill between individuals and their communities—to coordinate business activities compared to the current formal systems like business contracts, management policies, hierarchies, and bureaucratic rules. There would also be sprouting of micro-multinationals that would replace large multinationals of today. Business decisions being driven by real-time data analysis and predictive and actionable data would help them thrive.

According to “A Scorecard for Humanity,” a report from the Copenhagen Consensus Center, our world gains every time an individual is educated, and our world pays a price when people go illiterate. In the future, those regions and nations of the world that manage to educate its people would gain, whereas those that do not pay much attention to this crucial aspect would continue to suffer losses, hidden in plain sight. Hence, by 2050, we suggest that though the world would have made tremendous progress in basic education, illiteracy would persist with almost 500 million uneducated in the world. Illiteracy shall be most concentrated in the regions of Africa and South Asia, whereas most other nations would move toward a total eradication. However, there would also be a systemic change in the higher education sector across the globe, as the age cohort of 18 to 24 years in Europe would shrink, but in South Asia and Africa, this would continue to grow. There would also be a disruption of the current pedagogic and regimental learning systems toward flatter, flexible, and open systems based on research in learning sciences. Technology would also come by to play a larger role, where education would be driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and big data—resulting in complete personalization of curriculum and methodology focusing on each individual's minute needs.

The belief in God and religion is no longer considered essential for societal functioning in many parts of the world. The future of religion is the topic of many debates, and while some believe religion will die out, others believe that it will evolve to accommodate social changes. People are increasingly turning to spirituality, and there is a growing trend toward the “spiritual but not religious” label. The rise of secularism and multiculturalism and increasing understanding and shaping of the world through science has led some to believe that the future of religion may be that it has no future. Others argue that religion still has a role in society, and a universal religion based on morals will prevail. The current trend shows that some countries with a high proportion of atheists also exhibit a well-balanced society, raising the question of whether a robust economy, the rule of law, and quality education can replace the need for a religious foundation. The Internet could be a potential source for gathering followers, and virtual movements are gaining popularity at rates never seen before. As artificial intelligence (AI) blurs the boundaries between humans and machines, it is argued that the concept of “singularity” has become mainstream, leading some to believe that a superhuman AI will be created that could conceive of ideas and invent technological tools more advanced than anything we have today.

Entertainment of the future is a bright embodiment of science and inventions and fantasy and reality, which will plunge humanity into a new life. The global entertainment and entertainment industry are impossible without immersion in virtual reality. The Concert of the Future is a high-quality HD hologram that can be sent from anywhere in the world to a concert hall due to high-speed data transmission. In the future, people will be able to travel mentally to visit the places they want, so buying tickets and booking hotels will no longer be necessary. Also, the music, television, and cinema industry will change immensely. New technologies with an incredible rate of change in the culture and entertainment industry are coming into our lives.

The pandemic has presented an opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset the world. The ancient Greeks referred to time using two different concepts: “chronos” and “kairos.” Whereas the former refers to traditional time measured by a ticking clock, the latter refers to “deep time,” when everything is possible. This book is a journey to create a community for building a better future. The WORLD 50.0 movement is working toward building a better, more inclusive, and sustainable future. Concurrently, initiatives like the United Planet (UP), Futurian, and Regenopolis are working toward a bluer, greener future by catalyzing actions needed to realize that future. The book shares the dreams of the world's top scientists, thinkers, and innovators who are continuously working on inventing the future, including transitioning to become a multi-planetary species, brain-human interfaces combined with exoskeletons, and nanomedicine reforming health care. The aim of the WORLD 50.0 movement is to build a better future together faster by crowdsourcing inputs on a global scale and engaging and scaling a community of contributors.