2025 is still the future
Weird dream thoughts that came to me last night while I was thinking about how different things may get this decade, it's not meant as a prediction, just plausibly very different. Or is it me channelling myself from the fuuuuuutuuure
Technology
Quantum Computing: Quantum supremacy, the point at which quantum computers could achieve things no digital computer can, was reached in 2021. By now the Quantum computing market is worth $100 billion and is a quiet revolution changing how we do business. You probably won't see one though, unless you work in IT or a university.
AI: Procedurally generated content is getting pretty popular online. In 2023, FriendlyRobot.ai was a novelty as the first 100% AI written magazine. It sold to Google for a billion dollars this year, the data on what works is pretty useful. Since the News Consortium bought The Sun its become the first newspaper in the UK to regularly publish AI generated content. Of course you'll mostly see AI in more mundane places. On your phone, in your glasses, on websites, at work, etc.
Internet: About 75% of the world's population are now online although how and to what extend varies greatly. The Pandemic created a greater demand for internet connectivity and pushed us towards simple, cheaper, technologies in the third world. In the UK the percentage of people not online in a fraction of 1%. 6G is being released to the usual outcry. People are worried about it pushing malicious AI into our devices or something. But we need the technology. Modern boilers all have the internet and it's getting hard to find new ovens and fridges that don't.
Wearable Technology: Smartglasses aren't about to replace mobile phones, but we're at the stage where most twenty somethings have them. The new models are trying to push the technology as stable, everyday technology. We'll probably all need one by 2030.
Crypto-Currencies: Are now banned in the US, China, the EU, Russia, and the UK, and in general aren't long for this world. The world's most volatile market is really winding down, with bitcoins now selling on the black market for under a dollar each. Not sure who is buying them, though.
Cars: It is now impossible to buy a new petrol car, even though the ban on selling them won't come in for five years. The sad fact is this means that only poorer people have petrol cars, and the price of fuel just keeps going up. Self-driving cars were meant to be a hard sell but they really haven't been. It's still a new technology but it'll likely be ubiquitous in the next generation of cars.
Space: The Artemis Mission is getting a lot of attention and we're expecting "boots on the moon" by the end of the year. It's a bit of a stretch but I don't think anyone realised how close China was until very recently. It looks like China is quietly pulling back and refocusing on getting to Mars by 2033, which the US will struggle to beat.
Fusion Power: Okay, so this was a surprise. We have fusion power now. I don't like it. It still generates irradiated lithium and its not the best form of the technology. Fusion power I am okay with will always be twenty years away.
Medicine: The universal flu vaccine is a big improvement. Though it's being rolled out hideously slowly. It's unlikely that I'll have a permanent immunity to the flu until 2027, and even the most ambitious plans don't include us wiping out the virus globally before 2050.
Science/Environment
Xenobiology: Is a thing now! We've found evidence of photosynthesis on an exo-planet. The weird thing is, its a super Earth with a venus like temperature on the hot side. So if we went to visit we'd burn to death while being unable to move. General consensus is the planet is probably covered in black, monocellular slime, but you know. So finally we have an answer to the Great Question "Are we Alone?" No, there's some hot slime about 50 light years away. Great.
Astronomy: We're now detecting about five interstellar objects heading through the solar system every year. People are still trying to work out if Chronos counts as an outer-
outer planet or an interstellar object. Of course when it was discovered it somehow reignited the Pluto Controversy in the commentariat. We also know about like two dozen exo-moons now. They're cool.
Climate Change: The ice caps finally melted this year, so, we're onto the next stage.
Particle Physics: Goodbye Standard Model is trending on BBC iPlayer. It's almost worth buying a subscription for. And it almost explains the ongoing paradigm shift in a way that makes any fucking sense at all.
Discourse
Outrage Culture: Is the new enemy on the left, and it's no longer acceptable to throw shade on bigots unless they're actually doing something to you. I guess this sort of started with minority groups complaining about "allies" sharing too many examples of hateful behaviour. But now it's kind of a general social taboo.
LGBTQ+: The debate is still rumbling on in the UK but it feels like the grounds for it have changed since bathroom bills were banned in the states. This is good and bad - it's nice that trans kids are growing up seeing themselves in US media but there's a general assumption that it's a settled issue we keep dragging up again, despite nothing really changing here in the 20s. The new conversion therapy laws actually help, though. So there's that.
Black Lives Matter: Boris flying a BLM banner over Downing Street was weird, but weird in a way that seems completely normal at this stage.
Kink: A growing clusterfuck of an issue - with slave dynamics being derided as racist and people getting shunned for having "bimbo/himbo/thembo" in their bios back in 2021. Mind you,
Dropped is doing well on Netflix and is about a hypno sub in the pandemic and that's changing minds but can we talk about how
weird it is that we
already have early 20s nostalgia?
Disability: Took a long time to enter the conversation but the Pandemic really pushed it to the fore. Our attitudes to disability have changed a lot since then and even the government is taking notice. I guess it's easier to get companies to make sweeping changes than reform fitness to work requirements.
Environment: Taking long distance cheap flights is really frowned on now. The protests outside of Gatwick last year seem to have even put people off. Middle Class people anyway. If you can afford to fly 1st class the protestors can't touch you.
Bright Greens: They're pro-nuclear power and pro-HS2 - both of which are looking sensible. They're also anti-vegetarianism and pro-flight. It's a weird mix of things, basically along the lines of "tech will solve our problems" meshed in with a whole lot of "murder, literally murder, protestors". We're still kind of sorting the radical fringes from the legitimate concerns.
The Free Peoples: A lot easier to sort out than the other lot, these people are pretty openly evil. Anti-vaxxers, anti 6G, anti-wearable tech. The kind of people who get worried because their phone can carry on a conversation with them. I guess they really emerged in the pandemic, but a lot of things led to this weird concoction of views. There's climate change deniers, zero-point energy believers, freemen-on-the-land. It's pretty wild.
Gender Critical Feminism: In academic circles there's a new generation of trans inclusive gender critical scholars. They're only just starting to come through but Prof. Kathleen Stock and her ilk are piiiiised. The thing is, there's money in gender critical academics in the UK, a lot more than in any other section of gender studies. And a lot more young scholars interested in taking that research money than there are people who want to bang on about trans people being awful all day. The Outrage addicts and other mumsnet exiles are furious and increasingly radicalised and also increasingly ignored. All this is good and bad - it's funny to see Stock and the rest argue for more GICs and shorter waiting lists because they know the alternative is informed consent. But it's kind of sad that radical TERFs regularly car horn protest trans prides and raid changing rooms and we're not supposed to mention it because they're probably mentally ill.
Social Media
Facebook: Still the king of Social Media mainly because it's where mum, gran, and your kids can all hang out together. The disadvantages remain as obvious as the advantages with this.
Instagram: Quick, easy, light touch. Instagram is a bit more of a playful environment than Facebook.
TikTok: Since virtual avatars got good its really taken off as a way to communicate. Though not as much as you'd guess from the media - they do a lot of product placement and influencer advertising.
Twitter: RIP. I know its technically still in existence but since it was bought up for the third time in two years it's clear it's meant as a historical record and data mine rather than a profitable business. Oh well.
Discord: Google's answer to Twitter, TikTok, and increasingly, Facebook. It used to be cool. I remember when it was cool. Now it's just successful.
Portal: Trying to replace how people interact with video calls - no more waiting to call people, just drop into a shared area when you want and out when you want. It was designed for family but it also works quite well in politics. Have a few party activists staffing an online stall and people can come to you. It's kind of still experimental but I imagine every major constituency election campaign will have a stall by the next election.
Pop Culture
Doctor Who: We finally have a black Doctor! Is anyone still watching?
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is getting another series in 2026 but after that, that's... it? There's talk about new projects, but they'll apparently be utterly unconnected to the whole DIS/PIC/LD/SNW sequence, and the Kelvin Timeline, and the TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT sequence. It's all rumours at this stage and I'm expecting another hiatus
Eurovision: Finland won in 2022 and put on a stand out show in 2023 with all the stars you don't care about yet and probably still don't. 2024 was notable as The Year Australia Won Eurovision but thankfully they didn't host this year. This was the year that Britain entered Ed Sheeran, and also the year Ed Sheeran proved that he's no longer a star. Apparently we're going to have a selection show next year like a civilised country.
The Archers: The 2020s TV reboot got criticised a lot for being very... American. Hot and diverse cast of characters, ensemble comedy, a social conscience but no edge, blah blah. The point is, it's British comedy that is actually watchable and that's why it's managed two series and has a fandom overseas and Blackadder 5 doesn't.
Countries
USA: Four more years of Trump and the rioting has been pretty constant. It's all looking a bit precarious.
EU: The referendums are in and it seem to be settled. In 2031 the EU will elect its first directly elected President. Integration has been pretty rapid since the Baltic crisis, but maybe it really started with COVID. Either way, what do you call a group of states with a shared army, an elected executive and legislature, a shared currency, and no internal borders?
Russia: Returning to a conciliatory tone post-Putin. Moscow Pride was pretty big this year. But we will wait and see how long this lasts.
China: The 21st National Conference of the Communist Party is two years away but it kind of feels like we're seeing the early maneuvering of campaign season. It's kind of a weird battle between sixth and seventh generation figures. Millennials are killing the traditional system of patronage within Chinese Communism. Like we killed the music industry, the property industry, avocados, and the acceptability of wearing your hair in a side parting.
Fashion
Packers and Binders: are never going to be not weird to me when cis people wear them. But... whatever, whatever.
The Queer Undercut: is meant to be homophobic now because... something something something.
Ties: are increasingly just banned from offices but you still see them in parliament. It's, like, a weird outcrop of the culture wars that just appeared one day and nobody is quite sure why.
Puffed sleeves: Seem to be de rigour. Everything got a little bit more fancy after lockdown, it's been a good decade to look like a princess. But also,
Pyjamas: And onesies, basically comfort clothes. You're seeing them out and about more and more these days. It's kind of replace atheleisure and that's fine. That's good.
Face-masks: were exotic and oriental until 2020, suddenly became necessary, then a bit of a culture wars thing, then just kind of stuck around. They're not common, but like 20% of people would wear them if they have a cold and it would be surprising to go a day without seeing one but at the same time that depends on your neighbourhood and how acceptable beating up The Woke is there.