What the world will be like in two hundred years?

To guess what the world will be like in two hundred years, I think one should take a look at what the world was like in the past.

Pandemics

Tuberculosis was considered the mal-du-siècle in the 1800s. Variola (smallpox) devastated several empires and civilizations before eradication in 1980. Syphilis was a major killer in Europe during the Renaissance – an interesting account of its effects can be read in the tale "L'Homme aux quarante écus" by Voltaire.

None of these diseases concerns people that much nowadays. The virus that currently threatens us most is HIV (not to mention eventual viruses like H1A1, aka swine flu) that came on the scene by the end of 20th century. That makes me think that in a hundred years when our grand-grand-grand (…) children learn of HIV when reading their didactic books (Hum… will books still exist? Will people still manage to read?), the majority of them will have no idea what it was like fearing Aids.

The plagues of the future, what will they be like? My dear grand-grand-grand (…) children, I beg you to be careful about your health and listen to your mother and grandmother and maybe grand-grandmother advices! But I guess some things really never change, and you kids probably will never listen to us…


Social classes

Common wisdom has it (and History seems to confirm) that human beings will always be somehow divided. Be it by the color of the skin, the shape of the eyes, the family one was born into, the country one belongs to, the God one has faith in, the acquisitive power one has, the sexual orientation etc.

But basically the main division will always have to do with power - who has it and who does not. The old classes struggle between exploiters and exploited will always be.

Unfortunately, I do not believe we are running towards more democracy, even in the so called “modern” western world. I believe we are being led to more subtle forms of servitude (not to say slavery), that is all. There will always be people who spend their entire lives and health working hard and trying to survive whereas others will simply benefit from the work of the formers not doing so much themselves.

Technology

So far everything in this text must have sounded very pessimistic. Nonetheless, I believe there will be extreme advancements in terms of technologies for improving life.

(Of course it will only benefit the ones who can afford it. Somebody stop me, please!).

Maybe in two hundred years it will not be necessary to take a plane to visit other continents. Trains under water might connect Europe and America, for example, or Latin American and Asia through the Pacific Ocean. Does it sound unreasonable? I know, but come on, it is just a composition posted in a blog… let me wonder a little bit.

Geopolitics
In two hundred years the international geopolitics will probably be completely changed. Maybe the world will be more Orient-oriented, since China has been growing strong despite all the frowning faces at her from America and the European Western nations.

Hum… if my predications are right, I guess my grand-grand-grand (...) children will not be able to read this text, for they no longer will be interested in studying English – Mandarin will be the second language everybody will struggle to command (actually, when it comes to languages, I tend to believe that we will be talking very similar all around the world, sooner than we think).