Top 10 Craziest Things That Will Happen Before 2050

No, a super-villain isn’t planning to start up their own breakaway civilization, free of man’s pesky laws (as far as we know, at least). However, a referendum result could make Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville Island in the Pacific Ocean into a separate country. And as Britain knows: referendums are always smooth sailing, speedy processes (ahem). France is also at risk at losing a territory, as New Caledonia could also become its own entity. So much for a one world government; there could be more nations than ever! The Illuminati loses this round!

Well, here's a cheery forecast to ruminate over. Seven hundred thousand people a year currently die due to infections that are no longer responsive to the drugs that are used to fight them. That number is expected to skyrocket to a terrifying ten million by the time 2050 rolls around! This bio nightmare is being augmented by doctors who prescribe antibiotics freely. That might be good for the bottom lines of pharmaceutical companies, but not so good for everyone else, as the bugs grow tolerance to the medication due to their abundant use. If their usage isn’t dropped, bodies will be!

If that previous entry wasn’t morbid enough for you, then this should be! The area of the Arctic ice sheet has already dramatically decreased since the turn of the millennium. It is expected to lose another substantial amount of its mass by the year 2030, as the effects of climate change take their toll. Some cynical estimates even predict it’ll be melted entirely before the end of the 21st century. Renewable energy may not be as profitable as fossil fuels, but no one besides Aquaman will be able to enjoy the spoils when we’re all several feet below sea level!

A less depressing entry now, as devices similar to the ‘universal translators’ seen in “Star Trek” are likely be ever present in 2050, with inventor William Powell already at work on them. Via either a phone app or high tech goggles, we’ll be able to fluently engage in conversation with a speaker of a foreign language, as the handy bit of kit translates each word for us. That’s right, no more struggling to order a Big Mac abroad! Not so good for mail order brides however, who will now actually have to listen to what their husbands have to say.

For those young enough to remember 1999, the phrase ‘Y2K problem’ will remind you of fears that the new millennium would signify mass computer shut downs, global blackouts, and cats marrying dogs... or something. That obviously didn’t happen, but that hasn’t stopped fresh fear mongers anticipating the same thing for 2038, as there’s an overflow of the common computing representation of date and time... or something. Worst of all, this time round you can’t justify giving it a cool sounding name, like the Y2K problem, or the millennium bug, or two thousand and none: a ground based odyssey… or something.

In 2029, the Apophis asteroid will pass earth, with only 23,860 miles between us and annihilation. Fortunately however, an earlier estimate that suggested there was a risk of impact has since been ruled out, so no need to send up Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck to save the world just yet! Only once every 80,000 years is an asteroid equal in size to Apophis - being 370 metres - expected to collide with the earth. So when robots take over one day and dominate the planet, the joke will be on them! Skynet loses this round!

The global population will be at a staggering 9.6 billion by 2050, according to a U.N. report. That’s nearly two billion more than the world population as of 2019. The estimate of ten million people dying a year of superbugs suddenly doesn’t seem so large. Anyone who’s ever been on a train during rush hour, or caught in a traffic jam in L.A., London, Beijing, or any other major city, will know we’re becoming a little congested as it pertains to humans. Not ideal in a world reliant on finite resources; but again, that’s where renewable energy comes into play. Or Thanos.

The official narrative regarding the JFK assassination is that lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was the single culprit behind it. Physics tells us otherwise however, as bullets entered the former president from two directions, and chances are Oswald couldn’t curl bullets. His alleged ties to the CIA are also suspect. Was he just a patsy? Was there another shooter on the grassy knoll? JFK had no shortage of enemies at the time, including the Mafia, the Soviets and his nation’s own intelligence agencies. Information will be declassified in 2038, by which time anyone else involved will be long dead.

Ian Yeoman and Michelle Mars of a university in New Zealand produced the paper ‘Robots, men and sex tourism’ which claims prostitutes of the cybernetic variety will be common place in 2050. There are less amusing things you could study. The sexual robots aren’t imagined to come cheap, but will be available in a range of ethnicities, ages, and body shapes. Kind of like real prostitutes, but probably less robotic than those. The good thing is, no one will ever have to be alone; the bad thing is, men may never leave their homes again.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

Computers Will be 1,000 Times Faster

Quantum Teleportation Will Happen in Russia

By 2030, Saudi Arabia Will No Longer Have Oil to Export

Venice Might Become Uninhabitable

Elon Musk’s SpaceX company is hoping to send a cargo ship to Mars by 2024. At some point after, they’re planning to send the first people there. They face competition however, as the European Space Agency want to send their own manned mission to the red planet come 2033. But things may reach peak crazy by 2050, as the Mars One project might have allowed colonists to emigrate to the distant planet by then. Throw in a space hotel that may be ready as early as 2020, and the final frontier seems geared to play a prominent role in our future.