Does anyone else ever wonder what the history books will say about this era 50 years from now?

[Brigid]

If this country is still around, and if there are any history books and people able to read them, that is?

[onehandle]

1. The books will be in Chinese and will not be kind. nt

[Gravitycollapse]

4. Why would history books be in Chinese 50 years from now?

The only reason the Chinese language is considered so popular is because China is so hugely populated. Outside of China, the languages spoken are overwhelmingly not Chinese.

[Gravitycollapse]

2. Why wouldn't there be people or history books in 50 years?

[Brigid]

5. You have to have a literate populace to publish and read books

[Gravitycollapse]

10. Ummm...global historical literacy rates are the highest they've ever been.

[RobertEarl]

18. That's what history books will say

"Global historical literacy rates were the highest they'd ever been."

So how did they all start acting so damn stupid? The reason is....

[fadedrose]

8. Watch History2 or the Weather Channel

Something is always on its way to hit us into another mass destruction, or the depleting ozone layer, or the seashores getting buried under the ocean, mile-wide tornadoes, extreme heat, cold, water water everywhere, except where there's drought, food additives, chemically altered seeds, the perpetual battle between left and right, religious wars, and George Bush is going to help build the Temple in Jerusalem (where a Mos lem Temple on a base that fell from heaven is now built) so that the Messiah could come. He can't come unless there's a temple.

It used to be that Christians and Jews for Jesus wanted Jesus to come back, but the Jews have caught the desire, and they are collecting funds too.

I forgot hurricanes and tsunamis, new diseases, I forgot most reasons, but these will have to do for now...
'

[Gravitycollapse]

11. Excepting the literal annhilation of the surface of the Earth, in 50 years...

There will be an unmeasurable number of books available and billions of literate people to read them.

50 years is not very far at all. I'll be in my mid 70s.

[fadedrose]

13. What, you are only 25!! You poor darling

Last edited Wed Nov 20, 2013, 10:08 PM - Edit history (1)

I wouldn't want to live thru what you and your contemporaries will live through. The only things I see on the horizon that's beneficial to people is the personal freedoms (marriages, racial equality, other rights), but mostly the law coming out that trans fats are being banned from foods and you have to go back to butter, good oils and lard.

Other than that - and tv programs get bigger, brighter, and lousier as time goes by, that's a nice song, As Time Goes By...

[RobertEarl]

26. +25

Poor darlings, is right.

[Gravitycollapse]

31. No, I'm 24.

And I certainly don't see any point in poo-pooing what essentially amounts to MY era or generation. It seems every past generation thinks the next generation is going to live their lives in some nuclear scorched hellscape devoid of reason or love. Even though it never actually happens.

[pscot]

40. That hasn't been true in this country.

Until recently the presumption has always been that the coming generation would have it better than the last. That seems like an increasingly dubious proposition. Our energy regimen is doing serios damage to our support systems. We need to change the way we're livin, but we show no sign of doing it.

[Warren DeMontague]

44. Heh heh.

Yeah, welcome to DU.

[RKP5637]

12. That's pretty accurate IMO. Also, the asshole factor seems to be increasing all of the

time. Humanity will devour itself ... IMO it's naive for one to believe humanity will go on Ad infinitum. Frankly, I think the only thing that will save humanity is some of intergalactic intervention of sorts.

[fadedrose]

32. I belief in ET's too. No sightings yet

[PETRUS]

33. Oh, they're here on DU.

But pointing them out would constitute a "personal attack."

[fadedrose]

34. Yep...

[RKP5637]

41. No, none yet, not via folded space, etc. With the billions of potential ..., IMO, there is

a lot that goes on that humans have little insight about ... yet.

[fadedrose]

48. Creative speculation

Trouble with that site is the "creative" part like the poster is making things up. Sometimes we do, but there are so many reputable people who do believe in ET influence on our planet.

Wish they had a website for History2 watchers. Lots of good things to talk about from that site about religions, the waves you mention, artifacts, and anything else you can think of that you can't put just anywhere on the site.

Many times when I watch an episode of Ancient Aliens I'm dying to say something to somebody about it, but not under "creative" anything.

[fadedrose]

3. Doesn't matter. The books won't print what happened

When I read my kids' history books years ago, they said that the Crusades were like an adventure to explore new lands.....never mentioned forced conversions or death, stolen lands, more rules about who to pray to, who was god, no more paganism or worshipping the gods they already had, etc.

[TBF]

6. It will undoubtedly be online

And while they will surely chronicle the decline of this country the real story will be the effects of global warming.

[RKP5637]

7. I see 3 options. 1) all is gone. 2) Idiocracy rules. 3) Intelligence has overcome stupidity.

If 1), wont matter. If 2) won't care or comprehend anything. And if 3) it will be WTF.

[MineralMan]

9. What do the history books say about 1963?

It depends on the book. Expect something similar in 2063, except there won't be books as we think of them. Just like the technology of 50 years ago is far different from today's.

[RKP5637]

16. Hey, my hyperbolic slide ruler still works! LOL

[MineralMan]

19. I still have my Pickett double log rule.

I like my

TI graphing calculator tons better. Truly.

[RKP5637]

21. Yep!!! You have to have pretty fast fingers on a slide ruler to keep up with a calculator! LOL n/t

[Blue_Tires]

14. They'll wonder why so many people were willfully ignorant in the so-called "Information Age"

Fundie science, Teabaggers, Creationists, Climate change deniers, Gay people "choose" to be that way, etc. etc....

[B Calm]

15. They'll call it the Mental Fart era

[RKP5637]

17. Yep, gaseous brains. n/t

[valerief]

20. They'll say whatever the Koch Brother clan will want them to say. nt

[Recursion]

22. Gilded Age 2.0, probably

At least that's my guess; we seem to be going through a party realignment right now which should take another decade or so.

[WinkyDink]

23. Do you regard "50 years" as very far into the future? Because it ain't.

[Brigid]

25. Not really.

But enough for some perspective, I think.

[CK_John]

24. It was the Cyber-era a transition time from the industrial age, which required

large machines and a high number of people to produce products to one of mini machines and very few people for product production.

[TlalocW]

27. "The one gleaming point of hope that people of all different walks of life latched onto..."

"... that inspired them to carry one with their lives was TlalocW."

TlalocW

[Brigid]

35. That works.

[AverageJoe90]

28. They might call this the Second Gilded Age, starting with the ascension of Dubya Bush......

and ending only goodness knows when. In any case, it won't speak too kindly of the right-wing here in the U.S.; they practically trashed this country beyond any reasonable hope of getting ourselves back on track without truly substantial changes to the system a la a 21st-century version of the New Deal.

But if you thought Bush's America will be criticized(and the Bushies deserve every bit of bashing they could get!), they will be just as hard, actually maybe more so, on Putin's Russia and the corporatist sham state that calls itself the "People's Republic" in China.....speaking of China, by the way, it's highly unlikely the government will be able to survive the coming economic bubble burst, without some truly serious economic reforms *and* democracy; hopefully, for the sakes of the Chinese people, this does happen, but if it doesn't.....well, let's just say the results won't be at all pretty.

Neither will they have many nice things to say about the Likudnik/Betar factions of Zionism, or Islamism, particularly that of the Muslim Brotherhood, or what is practiced in Iran or Saudi Arabia still. And certainly not for the Religious Right and the Teabaggers here in America. Though I would think that Obama will likely receive plenty of sympathy for trying to start to fix our broken system.....all his few faults aside.

And it's not just governments, eitther.

As for climate change, the history books, if they are unbiased, will also be quite damning of (actual) climate denialism, but they will also be highly critical, and rightly so, of certain actions of people such as Kevin Anderson, David Wasdell, and even James Lovelock in his waning years, of allowing "Chicken Little" speculation and fearmongering to overshadow the very real concerns of global warming & other climate-related problems, as well as the mainstream media for playing off both extremes. Though they will also commend people like Bill McKibben, Andrew Revkin, John Cook(the Skeptical Science guy. Did I get his name right?), and others for trying to help combat the problem.

Just my 2 cents, and yes, barring something truly catastrophic on a *cosmic* scale, such as a K/T re-run or a gamma ray burst, we'll still be here. So we don't need to worry about that, really, at least.

[cilla4progress]

29. I really don't wonder...

but I do think about it.

Screwed up times. Interested to read others' posts...

[Jamaal510]

30. These are the questions I'm expecting in history books:

-how did cable news lose its integrity?
-why did the U.S. go so long as one of the last remaining developed nations without guaranteed basic health care?
-why did the Drug War go on for decades?
-how did Obama experience the most filibusters out of any U.S. president in history?
-why did people who weren't wealthy or owned businesses/corporations oppose top tax hikes and environmental regulations?
-why did it take so long for some sports teams to change their names from racial slurs towards Indigenous people?
-what led to the GOP becoming irrelevant in national elections?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

36. "Decline", "Fall", and "Empire" will be popular words in book titles.

[Douglas Carpenter]

37. 50 years ago was 1963 - The President was going to be shot - the Beatles had not yet appeared

on Ed Sullivan - The Vietnam War was starting to escalate with almost no opposition in the United States, The whole "hippie, 60's thing had not really started yet. 30% of the labor force was unionized and factories were expanding, nobody had yet started talking about gay liberation, help wanted sections were carefully divided between "help wanted men" and "help wanted women" - almost no one in America questioned the righteousness of the cold war, the civil rights movement was taking a hold but lot of people didn't believe in it, most Americans went to church - any small town in America would have at least one train station and a bus station where you could catch a train or a bus to anywhere in North America - Every small town in America had its on lively downtown with locally owned stores, shops and diners, lots of people had their milk and even their bread delivered. there was always a neighborhood grocery store and the owner of that little store earned a middle class living and was a respected member of the community like the minister, the doctor or the school principle, the family farm and the locally owned factory was still very much alive

Was it the good old days? or Was it the dark ages?

[Chief D]

38. History is written by the Victors

Here's a mental exercise. According to http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/13/census.minorities/
Whites will be the minority in only 50 years. So, extrapolate that statistic (damn statistics), out to 100 years when, it is possible that a couple of generations will not have seen a straight White male President since the early 2000s. Our representative government will then look like the society at large, more women, more minorities, more LBGT, younger and yes more progressive. Yes, there will still be a sprinkling of straight White male conservative faces in the crowd but with less influence than in the past.

A phrase I often use is, "history is written by the victors". With that in mind, think about (up till now) how women, minorities and LBGT achievements in building this country have been glossed over or omitted entirely. That's because up until now, history has been largely written by straight White conservative men.

Now, 50 to 100 years from now, history will be written by non-White men and no, i don't think their contributions will be omitted but i do think the contributions by all others will be demanded by the faces of the new majority. Also, because it will be a more inclusive story of our past, written history will not be kind to those who stood ignorantly and arrogantly against change. It will be a more rich history and truer history than what is being told today. So, from an awareness standpoint, I think that this point in this country's existence will be seen as a tipping point.

Remember, this is a mental exercise. Nothing is guaranteed. We all need to become a part of that "history" that 50 to 100 years from now, the textbooks and documentaries will be talking about YOU AND I and how we were a catalyst to change in this country.

[Bonobo]

39. They SHOULD say that the US went crazy after 9/11

and turned into everything that Frank Zappa predicted and Osama Bin Laden suspected.

[Warren DeMontague]

43. And then the Republican Party ate itself and disappeared into demographic oblivion

powerful voices for civil liberties ensured internet freedom and put much needed checks on domestic spy agencies. Long-overdue sanity came to the drug war, particularly once the marijuana prohibition dam was broken.

The environment continued to be a massive, thorny problem for mankind, but slow progress was made which was abetted by the development in the late 2010s and early 2020s of scalable fusion power. A broad coalition of renewable energy sources and carbon sequestration technologies began to turn the tide on Global Warming. By the 2030s significant damage had been done but progress was beginning to become apparent as well.

Visionaries like Elon Musk revolutionized transportation while prodding slow-moving governments to get mankind back into space exploration and expansion. by the Middle Part of the 21st Century humans were beginning to have a permanent presence off Earth, and starting out into the solar system.

3D Printing revolutionized the world, as did stem cell technology and massive advancements in medicine.

A globally connected populace became increasingly unwilling to tolerate oppression anywhere, by anyone. The cameras that george orwell envisioned governments using to watch the populace, were instead turned by the populace onto the governments.

New generations, raised with the internet, began to reconfigure government institutions to be more responsive in real-time to the needs of the people. To demand change.

The global trends toward higher living standards and less violence continued.

Oh, yes, I know.

[Warren DeMontague]

42. DOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!!! DOOOOMED!!! WE ARE DOOOOOOMED, YOU FOOLS!!!!

DOOOOMED!

[dmosh42]

45. a population 'dumbed' down by media with a heavy percentage of ass-kissers and morons!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

46. Books? Where we're going, we don't need Books!

Google Implants supplanted Google Contact Lenses decades ago.

Google Glass is for museums, right next to something called an Eight-Track Player.

With Google Genome technology, people can surf the intertubes from the womb.

We will survive the WikiWars, all sides attacking and revising the Centralized Knowledge Base. But there will be blood. Or CPU Refrigerant. Something will be spilt.

Book? I'll have to Google that word.

[hobbit709]

47. The Crazy Years

Assuming we're still around.