Compuer in New Technology 2025

Growth in Super Computer Power 1980-2050


The exponential growth of computer processing power has made it possible to form accurate models of every part of the human brain. Between 2000 and 2025, there is a million-fold increase in computational power, along with vastly improved scanning resolution and bandwidth.

Until recently, only separate regions of the brain had been modeled in any detail - but scientists are now able to combine them into one giant, complete simulation. Like the Human Genome Project, there were many in the scientific community who doubted the brain could be mapped so quickly. Once again, they failed to account for the exponential growth of information technology rather than linear.

The threat of bioterrorism is peaking :

Biotechnology is now sufficiently advanced, widespread and inexpensive that a small group of people – or even a single person – can threaten the survival of humanity. Desktop fabrication labs, genetic databases and AI software are becoming accessible to the public. These enable the rapid research and synthesis of DNA, for those with appropriate technical knowledge.

Criminals have already begun to exploit this – providing access to drugs and other substances without prescriptions, for example (like offshore Internet pharmacies of earlier decades) – and now terrorists are making use of them too.

In the past, government agencies were able to combat bioterrorism by restricting access to pathogens themselves. This was achieved by regulating the laboratory use of potentially deadly agents, such as the Ebola virus. However, the advent of DNA synthesis technology means that simply restricting access to the actual pathogen no longer provides the security it once did. Since the gene sequence is a "blueprint", i.e. a form of coded information, once an organism has been sequenced it can be synthesised without using culture samples or stock DNA.

As synthesis technology has continued to advance, it has become cheap, more accessible and far easier to utilise. Like the personal computer revolution of the early 1980s, biotechnology is diffusing into mainsteam society. At the same time, the ongoing need for medical breakthroughs has necessitated a gradual easing of database regulations. Furthermore, the DNA sequences for certain pathogens – such as anthrax, botulism and smallpox – have already been available on the Internet, for decades.

It's therefore become alarmingly easy to produce a new virus (possibly an even deadlier version of an existing one) using a relatively low level of knowledge and equipment. Another, more sinister consequence, is the ability to target specific races or genetic groups of people.

One such "home made" bioweapon is unleashed around this time, with devastating results. There are substantial casualties worldwide.

The threat begins to subside in the 2030s, as new defensive technologies – such as nanobots – become available to the general population. These tiny devices, injected into the bloodstream, can be programmed to easily identify and eliminate harmful pathogens.

Solid waste is reaching crisis levels

Solid waste has been accumulating in urban areas and landfills for many decades. Poor funding for waste disposal and lack of adequate recycling measures, together with population growth and associated consumption have ensured a never-ending rise in trash levels. By the mid-2020s, global output of solid waste has almost doubled to nearly 2.5 billion tons annually, compared to 1.4 billion in 2012. The cost of dealing with this quantity of garbage has nearly doubled as well,rising to $375 billion annually.

Developing nations, lacking the money and infrastructure to properly dispose of their trash, face the greatest crisis, with solid waste increasing five-fold in some regions. Public health is being seriously affected, since groundwater is becoming more and more polluted as a result. E-waste is proving to be even more damaging. In India, for example, discarded cellphones have increased eighteen-fold. Rapid advances in technology, ever-more frequent upgrades to electronic products, and the aspiration for Western lifestyles have only exacerbated this situation.

Developed nations are better able to handle the problem, but since only 30% of their waste is recycled it continues to build rapidly. Plastics are a particular problem, especially in oceans and rivers, since they require centuries to fully degrade. As well as direct environmental damage, this waste is releasing large amounts of the greenhouse gas methane, which contributes to global warming. Public activism, though increasing at this time, has little effect in halting the overall trend.