It may be only a short while away, but the world in 2020 will be very different. Cosmos asked some of the world's leading scientists to forecast the future. Albert Einstein claimed he never thought about the future. "It comes soon enough," he would say. And you can see his point. What would have been the good of worrying about our destiny when it was not of our making? But life has changed since the great physicist's day. Sweeping changes of our own creation now beset our world: carbon emissions, soaring populations, cloning, rising extinction rates. We are changing our planet and its biosphere in ways that were once unimaginable. We are also developing lifesaving technologies that would have appeared equally incredible a few decades ago. Everywhere we witness change. But what will this bring and how will it affect our world? In this article, we address these questions in detail and explore the issues involved, concerns that will shape the existence and lifestyles of ourselves and our children. Some, notably those involved in medical research, look very hopeful. Others, especially those concerned with climate and biodiversity, look far less optimistic. Indeed, they appear downright disturbing. Overall, it is sobering stuff, though we should not be too downhearted about our prospects for life in 2020. As that other great guru of the 20th century, Charles M. Schulz, creator of the 'Peanuts' cartoon, once observed: "You needn't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia." Hot in the city: Whatever else we experience in 2020, the impact of climate change will be inescapable.

That's the clear message from virtually every scientist working in the field. Last century saw global atmospheric temperatures rising by 0.6¢ªC; in the next decade and a half, we can expect much the same. "Climate change will become particularly noticeable at the poles," says James Lovelock, the British scientist who developed the Gaia hypothesis, the idea that life itself makes existence tolerable on Earth.

View: Full Article | Source: Cosmos Magazine

Looks very bleak and dismal.

unless we finally get those flying cars!

Of course the climate is changing. it will be higher due to Global Warming.

Climate is due to the sun heating up not much can be done about that. Clean up carbon dioxide and ship it into space. However water is the top green house gas! (TRUE) Unless we are able to sprinkle reflective dust beyond our ionosphere. As far as tech goes we have been able to travel into deep space since around 1961. It has just been kept from us. Cancer: most cancers have had a cure since the early 50's or 40's. with the Royal Rife generator LINKY. The medical community just can't make money on something made so cheap. They would rather pump you full of expensive drugs with side effects sometimes worse than the desease. Perpetual money making machines drugs are. If greed hadn't been a factor after WWII, we could have eradicated warring factions and been a utopia by now. Not to mention they want to make slaves of every one.

The sun is not heating up.

Ship CO2 into space? Billions of tons of CO2? I am stunned that anybody would suggest such a thing.

Water is the most significant greenhouse gas. So what? Global climate change is not being driven by increasing amounts of water, it is being driven by increasing amounts of CO2.

The medical industries have enslaved us and murdered us by the billions for decades...? I won't bother to comment.

I agree... bring on the flying cars

Oh - and those pills for dinner. And the tinfoil suits

Mind you, by then we would surely have come to the crunch point with Oil usage, and found practical alternative energy sources, so we might have Peace in the Middle East. (no more reason for the West to interfere, less money to fund terrorists etc etc).

The climate in the UK will be much more pleasant (we would be benefiting from warmer winters, but would not yet be experiencing rising sea levels.. they come a bit later).

I may even have finished reading "A Brief History of Time" .. though that may be pushing things a little

Meow Purr.

It might not be so bad in 2020! That is if mother nature and the universe that this little planet resides in permits
all of us to survive that long.

sounds bleak but didn't they predicted some of these 50 years ago?

...and 2012.