Timeline

Event 1 Advancements in neuroprostheses sees the first human with a severed spine take their first steps.

Event 2 Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) where two AI systems work against one another improving the quality of their performance, results in the first example of a non-existent person being widely regarded by humans as real.

Data Point 2022 Human Population: 8 Billion. 712 million live in extreme poverty (8.9%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 A rapid heating of the world's oceans alarms scientists. In March, sea surface temperatures off the east coast of North America were 13.8C higher than the 1981-2011 average. Over 15 years, the Earth accumulated almost as much heat as it did in the previous 45 years.

Event 2 A significant increase of AI development and performance results in its rapid adoption, despite warnings from its foundational architects of the need for caution and regulation because of the dangers to human society and its very existence.

Data Point 2023 Human Population: 8.01 Billion. 721 million live in extreme poverty (9%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 Extreme weather events and more frequent droughts affect crop production as the Earth warms to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for a full year.

Event 2 Vision-impaired people begin to enjoy the benefits of connected technologies that assist with their becoming more independent when using transportation.

Data Point 2024 Human Population: 8.04 Billion. 739 million live in extreme poverty (9.2%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 Monitoring and tracking systems that first emerged during the Covid pandemic continue to be augmented by AI and are now routinely used in democratic nations.

Event 2 Exoskeleton development for military purposes results in the first combat ready suits.

Data Point 2025 Human Population: 8.07 Billion. 746 million live in extreme poverty (9.25%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 The UN confirms that 25% of ecosystems worldwide, including the Amazon rainforest, are found at risk of catastrophic breakdown within a human lifetime.

Event 2 Cyber warfare escalates between nations causing catastrophic problems delivering basic services. The months that follow brings opinions together across the world so a new international agreement on the limits of cyber warfare is signed.

Data Point 2026 Human Population: 8.2 Billion. 760 million live in extreme poverty (9.27%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 The first major human conflict results from pressure on food production and freshwater.

Event 2 Testing animals in medicine becomes obsolete as a result of AI computer modeling.

Data Point 2027 Human Population: 8.23 Billion. 765 million live in extreme poverty (9.3%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 New satellite tracking and research show the Bornean Orangutan is extinct in the wild, and the Dolphin population is in irreversible decline.

Event 2 China becomes the world’s biggest economy.

Data Point 2028 Human Population: 8.28 Billion. 772 million live in extreme poverty (9.33%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 The US, Russia, and China all establish permanent stations on the moon.

Event 2 AI makes a significant advancement to hearing assistive technologies through interactive neural responses that allow those who were previously considered profoundly deaf to hear for the first time.

Data Point 2029 Human Population: 8.35 Billion. 781 million live in extreme poverty (9.35%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 Political unrest grows across the globe as an underclass becomes increasingly disadvantaged. Russia faces particular challenges in maintaining order among its population.

Event 2 Digital information streams directly into the human cortex for the first time, and electric cars develop an entire sensory system composed of several sensory organs.

Data Point 2030 Human Population: 8.4 Billion. 787 million live in extreme poverty (9.37%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 Biochemical emotion is tracked and used to assist non-democratic states in the control of their citizens.

Event 2 The process of human dreaming is fully understood for the first time with the aid of neural scanning and AI dynamic modeling.

Data Point 2031 Human Population: 8.55 Billion. 804 million live in extreme poverty (9.4%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 The gulf stream, a major influence on the world’s weather, slows resulting in exceptional rainfall. World food production is significantly and negatively affected.

Event 2 As robots become ubiquitous household servants to those who can afford them, an international agreement comes into place that states AI robots must not harm humans.

Data Point 2032 Human Population: 8.6 Billion. 838 million live in extreme poverty (9.43%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 Genetic modification becomes commonplace, both legal and illegal. 

Event 2 The first large scale fission reactors prove their viability and their general adoption across the globe begins as catastrophic climate events increase in frequency and severity.

Data Point 2033 Human Population: 8.65 Billion. 817 million live in extreme poverty (9.45%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 Biodiversity underpins clean water, climate regulation and disease-resistance. The depletion in biodiversity, including soil micro-organisms, plankton in the oceans, pollinators and the remaining tropical and temperate forests, causes a major failure of crops in China. 

Event 2 The first human exploration of Mars begins.

Data Point 2034 Human Population: 8.7 Billion. 823 million live in extreme poverty (9.47%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 50% of the human population become vulnerable to Climate Change as the depletion in biodiversity, including soil micro-organisms, plankton in the oceans, pollinators and the remaining tropical and temperate forests, causes a major failure of crops in the Americas.

Event 2 APAs (Artificial Personal Assistants) work as partners undertaking daily tasks in both the workplace and the home among the rich nations of the world.

Data Point 2035 Human Population: 8.85 Billion. 840 million live in extreme poverty (9.5%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 The James Webb Space Telescope makes a breakthrough discovery about the nature of the universe that profoundly affects our understanding of time and space.

Event 2 For some a hybrid of biological and non-biological thinking arises with nano-technology that directly interfaces the brain with the Cloud.

Data Point 2036 Human Population: 9 Billion. 859 million live in extreme poverty (9.55%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 New hologram technology transforms human interactions and conflict.

Event 2 Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), the ability of an intelligent agent to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can, becomes a reality.

Data Point 2037 Human Population: 9.1 Billion. 874 million live in extreme poverty (9.6%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 A 2% rise in temperature as compared with pre-industrial levels is recorded for the first time.

Event 2 All recorded art forms: music, art, film, sculpture, and writing are now so convincingly created by AI, humans cannot judge whether the originator of a work is human.

Data Point 2038 Human Population: 9.25 Billion. 893 million live in extreme poverty (9.65%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam becomes the first major city to be submerged by rising sea levels.

Event 2 3D print technology allows the production of most things humans need with the development of a new polymer. Nano printing is also widely available. This not only significantly undermines the sale and investment value of rare goods like artworks and unique objects, but also challenges the fundamental model in capitalism about the production and sale of goods.

Data Point 2039 Human Population: 9.3 Billion. 902 million live in extreme poverty (9.7%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 50% of the human population now live in areas subject to extreme heat and humidity that impairs the human body's ability to cool itself.

Event 2 A permanent station on Mars is established.

Data Point 2040 Human Population: 9.45 Billion. 921 million live in extreme poverty (9.75%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 There are more senior citizens on earth than young people. This raises significant societal challenges in supporting their needs. The UBI (Universal Basic Income) becomes the dominant income model to address these issues and is now adopted by the UN as a right, and becomes law for the overwhelming majority of nations in the world.

Event 2 Artificial consciousness emerges spontaneously.

Data Point 2041 Human Population: 9.6 Billion. 941 million live in extreme poverty (9.8%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 Quantum teleportation (transferring information from a sender at one location to a receiver some distance away) becomes a reality. The first complex organic molecules (DNA and proteins) are teleported.

Event 2 The United Nations recognises sentience in Artificial Consciousness.

Data Point 2042 Human Population: 9.7 Billion. 955 million live in extreme poverty (9.85%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 Bio diversity has declined 20% compared with 2022. AC proposes a solution to the problem, but this would require handing over control to AC for implementation.

Event 2 The Rights of Sentient Beings is agreed between humans and Artificial Consciousness.

Data Point 2043 Human Population: 9.8 Billion. 970 million live in extreme poverty (9.9%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 With the assistance of AC, coral reefs begin to re-establish around remote pacific islands.

Event 2 The Rights of Living Things is agreed between humans and Artificial Consciousness. This together with The Rights of Sentient Beings gives a clear framework of ethical principles that are upheld between humans and AC.

Data Point 2044 Human Population: 9.9 Billion. 985 million live in extreme poverty (9.95%)

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Event 1 The first signs of a marked reduction in the temperature of the earth’s climate, and levels of poverty in the human population are recorded.

Event 2 Artificial Consciousness controls the flow of data, and this leads to a significant reduction in human conflict.

Data Point 2045 Human Population: 10 Billion. 1 Billion live in extreme poverty (10%) 

Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Seven billion people live in urban areas.

Beijing’s population in China rises to 50 million people

Mumbai’s population in India rises to 43 million people

Tokyo’s population in Japan rises to 33 million people