2020 - The End of History

I've been interested in futurology for a while now and have written an extensive timeline/fictional history for my sci-fi setting and have decided to share the first century or so with you all on DA in the form of a series of maps with timelines, descriptions etc. This timeline is a much updated version of the one I wrote almost four years ago which some of my earlier maps depict. I have done a fair amount of research, hoping for a realistic-ish (or at least believable timeline) although I have made exceptions where realism is concerned for I also wish it to be interesting. I have tried to avoid millenialism (the title of this, the first installment of a future history, is intended to be ironic). I also feel I need to stress that the events are fictional, and are not intended to cause offense. Ok, intro over, enjoy and feel free to ask questions/correct me - information is valuable.

The year is 2020 and the world is benefitting from six years of uninterrupted, if unsteady, economic growth and much more rapid technological progress. Autonomous vehicles are increasingly common in the developed world, and the internet is essentially ubiquitous. Surveillance is equally widespread. 3D printers are common consumer products, a must-have for any respectable middle-class household. Oil is scarcer by the year.

The United States still retains its position of undisputed world power – whilst China’s economy has drawn level, it still lags behind America considerably in most areas, particularly its ability to project power globally. The American alliance system is global, including India, Japan and Turkey in particular.

To challenge America’s supremacy China has attempted to build a sphere of influence in the Far East. It cooperates increasingly with Russia which after years of international sanctions, aggressive foreign policy moves and decreasing political freedom is not far from being considered a rogue state - an ever more powerful rogue state with a colossal defence budget. The emerging Sino-Russian Axis is an alliance of convenience, but one that dominates continental Asia.

The European Union has managed to brush economic and structural problems under the carpet in the past few years and has since grown to include Iceland and the remainder of the Balkan Peninsula. Recent reforms have seen it split into a number of more localised groups with varying commitments.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, now a fully-fledged economic and customs union dominated by Saudi Arabia, is a fair-weather friend of the Americans. Attempts to diversify the economy away from increasingly scarce oil revenues are beginning to look desperate.

Brazil has emerged as a major regional power and its distance from the tensions between the two alliance systems enables it to retain a position of neutrality, trading with either bloc. Efforts to merge the Andean Community and MERCOSUR have stalled in recent years – turns out the other South American countries aren’t so keen to be part of an economic sphere inevitably dominated by Brazil.

The West’s and in particular America’s reluctance to play policeman in the past decade has resulted in widespread chaos in Africa and the Middle East although this is beginning to change as tensions once again build between America and its old foe, seeing defence budgets grow, most notably in Eastern Europe, Russia and Japan.

2015 – 10nm chips enter mass production. 3D printers are a mainstream consumer product. The Eurasian Union is formed, consisting of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. Belarus and Russia integrate further still.

2016 – India successfully completes its first manned space mission. The completion of dozens of major infrastructure projects sees the creation of the world’s largest city with a population of approximately 50 million, centred on the Pearl River Delta, China.

2017 – ePaper is widespread. The world’s first kilometre high skyscraper is completed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The European Union is expanded.

2018 – Polio is eradicated and a universal flu vaccine has been made available for public use. The internet is ubiquitous in the developed world – physical hard drives are increasingly rare – most data is saved to the Cloud.

2019 – The world’s top computers break the exaflop barrier. Yemen becomes the first state to collapse as a result of resource scarcity/overpopulation.

2020 – Internet use reaches five billion. UHDTV is widespread. A missile shield has been completed in Eastern Europe. Oil prices peak at a high of $200 per barrel before declining, but not by much – this was later to be used to mark the beginning of the global oil crisis.