Friday Farsight

Replacing Plastic as the Dominant Material

We know plastic is bad. Great masses float on the oceans, tiny specks lodge in our brains. Why don't we just stop using it? Are we just too lazy? Or are there fundamental limits to what can be replaced, and when? Read the full prediction: Plastic Becoming Obsolete as the Dominant Material [https://www.strategicfarsight.com/prediction/695474c16954b8ee307efeb1]

Artificial Wombs

Will humanity choose to outsource the life process? Will that mean a new era of liberation, or of alienation? Does separating gestation from the female body resolve the ethical conflict between the sanctity of life and a woman's right to control her own biology? Or just complicate it? Read the two predictions covered in this episode: * Human Artificial Womb (8 wk+ ectogenesis) [https://www.strategicfarsight.com/prediction/69d5d8003ab6037961d45c91] * Complete Human Artificial Womb (ectogenesis from conception) [https://www.strategicfarsight.com/prediction/69d70b173ab6037961d45c94]

The End of Ecological Domination

Humans dominate most of the Earth's surface because our survival depends on it. Or does it? Will biofactories one day produce all the food we need? Does the land then return to wilderness? What is life like in a high-tech civilization that supports rather than exploits the ecosystems it inhabits? Read the two future scenarios covered in this episode: * Society Decoupled from Ecological Domination [https://www.strategicfarsight.com/scenario/69478881d6a1fe73bef9ad06] * Real Estate in the 2090s [https://www.strategicfarsight.com/scenario/69816bd56954b8ee307efec2]

Flying Carpets (and Other Personal Aerial Devices)

The dream of flight. It has captivated humanity for millennia. Missing from most of these dreams, though, is taking off your shoes and getting patted down by a TSA agent. Is the mythic vision of flying solo, free as a bird, at last almost upon us? Or will the laws of thermodynamics keep one foot planted firmly on a corner of your cape? Read the three predictions that contribute to this episode: * Mass-market Personal Aerial Vehicles [https://www.strategicfarsight.com/prediction/69d880d53ab6037961d45c9a] * Flying Carpets in 2045 [https://www.strategicfarsight.com/prediction/67f35bc0e3da949a11783653] * Flying Carpets Never [https://www.strategicfarsight.com/prediction/69d87c563ab6037961d45c97]

Global Warming Resolution

This is not a Biblical tale of the Second Flood. Nor is it a tale of our sun phase-shifting into a red giant that swells with the ejecta of helium fusion until it burns all the water off the face of the earth, thus... un-asking the question. Rather, we consider whether the most likely outcome is a thoroughly anti-climactic steady state achieved via green energy innovations, economies of scale, global cooperation, and/or some other plausible development. Read the full prediction: Global Warming Resolution [https://www.strategicfarsight.com/prediction/67d72be9b78a5218eac560fb]