explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

887: Future Timeline

2014-12-25T21:03:35Z

Rob Hooft: /* The predictions */

{{comic
| number = 887
| date = April 18, 2011
| title = Future Timeline
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = future timeline.png
| titletext = Not shown: the approximately 30,000 identical, vaguely hysterical articles titled "WHITE PEOPLE IN [THE US/BRITAIN] TO BECOME MINORITY BY [YEAR]!", which came up for basically any year I put in.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Predictions table needs filling out.}}
This comic uses the same strategy as comic [[715: Numbers]], in which Randall uses Google to search for phrases and then charts the results. This one is charted as a timeline, whereas 715 was charted as line graphs.

"2101 - War Was Beginning" is a reference to the opening narration of video game ''Zero Wing''; the same narration is famous for the internet meme "{{w|All your base are belong to us}}". As there are not any other out and out references in the comic, and the rest are actually results that you can find if you search using Randall's methods, we're pretty sure "War Was Beginning" came up when he googled 2101 as well.

Another point of this comic is that certain event, e.g. "Social Security stops running surplus", are repeated multiple times. Also, certain bizarre events, like "Apocalypse occurs", or "Flying cars reach market", happen before rather plausible things, like "HTML 5 Finished". Certain events, like "Japan is a robot-only country", may be related to a recurring theme in xkcd comics, including [[605: Extrapolating]]. This may also refer to the large amount of research being done to develop viable robots in Japan as compared with other countries.

The title text is borne of a recurring "white people panic"; scaremongers will put in years of the very near future in order to get the panicked racist people to pay attention to them (without actually using valid or accepted scientific measurements to back up these claims; panicked racist people don't exactly fact-check very much), while level-headed sociologists will usually come up with more distant dates from their extrapolations.

As for how accurate the Internet has been: The ONLY prediction to have come true as of January 2014 is the world population hitting the 7 billion mark. The United States has now returned to Afghanistan, making that prediction unlikely to occur even by the end of 2014. And unless you count the Android phone platform, Linux shows absolutely no signs of winning back 50% of the operating system market by the end of 2014.

This comic has similar features to [[1413: Suddenly Popular]], [[1093: Forget]], and [[891: Movie Ages]].

==The predictions==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Prediction
! Further Details
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2012
| World population
| Ever since the advent of modern medicine and the more efficient agricultural processes developed suit the Industrial Revolution, the human population had been growing at an unprecedented rate. This has caused some people to worry about overpopulation, which would cause a scarcity of resources and overcrowding, and propose various solutions, most of which involve some form of eugenics. 7 billion is a landmark number because it is a multiple of 1 billion.
|-
| Flying cars
| For decades, flying cars have been a staple of futuristic sci-fi and technological predictions. So far none of these predictions, which to tend to hover around 5–10 years from whatever the current date is, have come true.
|-
| Canada cuts greenhouse emissions
| Currently, the Earth is experiencing an unprecedented period of warming we call global warming, caused in part by greenhouse emissions, which are gases that help trap heat in the atmosphere. Countries have repeatedly gotten together and promised to stop emitting greenhouse gases, but so far they have failed to meet their targets.
|-
| Apocalypse occurs
| This is in reference to the popular film 2012, which portrays the world ending December 22, 2012, using the end of a cycle of the Mayan calendar as a basis for predicting the end of the world. Some people took this rather more seriously, and actually believed that the world would end on this date. It didn't.
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2013
| National debt paid off
| For years, the subject of national debt has been a political point of contention, with the Republicans typically favoring paying it all off, and the Democrats more willing to spend to pull the country out of recessions in the economy. Clinton, a Democrat, at one point proposed [http://money.cnn.com/1999/06/28/economy/clinton/ paying off the debt by 2015].
|-
| Microchipping Americans
| Microchips are small computer chips, typically embedded in pets in case they get lost, that contain information about the pet. Some, more irrational, people worry about the government microchipping everyone in an effort to monitor their activities.
|-
| Homelessness ended in MA
| Homelessness has been a persistent problem in societies all over the world for centuries. It is unclear why Massachusetts specifically would end homelessness — Massachusetts is a more Democratic and wealthier state than others, but no particular initiatives have been started there to end homelessness.
|-
| Health care reform law repealed
| A health care reform law, popularly known as Obamacare, was signed into law in 2010. Ever since, many Republicans have tried (in vain) to repeal it, disliking the idea that government should provide and require healthcare.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2014
| US leaves Afghanistan
| After the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan, home of the Taliban, the terrorist organization behind the attacks. The war has gone on since then, with the public growing increasingly tired of it. Public support now favors a withdrawal, but for military and logistical reasons, the government cannot simply move all the troops currently in Afghanistan home right now. For one, that would cause immediate chaos in the country. Therefore, the government instead promises to eventually withdraw all troops, planning on doing so by the end of 2014.
|-
| GNU/Linux dominant OS
| An operating system, or OS, is the software that forms the structure in which applications on you computer function. Some typical OSs include Mac OSX, Windows 8, and Linux. The first two of those three are commercial products, sold as a copy by a company. The last is an open-source OS, one that anyone can download and modify free. Typically, open-source software is used by a small number of socially conscious people. It is therefore unrealistic to predict that it will become mainstream in the near future.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2015
| New Horizon reaches Pluto
| The New Horizon spacecraft is a U.S. space mission designed to go to Pluto and take photographs, collect samples, etc. It is scheduled to reach Pluto in 2015.
|-
| Healthcare law causes hyperinflation
| Possibly a reference to the {{w|Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act|Affordable Care Act}} (a.k.a. Obamacare)
|-
| Millennium development goals achieved
| {{w|Millennium Development Goals}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2016
| Baby boomers begin turning 65
| {{w|Baby boomers}} are individuals conceived in the years following World War Two, roughly defined as those born from 1946-1959. This isn't so much a prediction as basic math; if you were born in 1946, you turned 65 in 2011.
|-
| Android takes 38%/45% of market share
| {{w|Android (operating system|Android}} is a popular operating system for smartphones and tablets, created by Google. Market share is the percentage of all devices that use the product, in this case the Android operating system. These entries together are humorous because they cannot both happen at the same time.
|-
| Windows phone overtakes iOS
| {{w|iOS}} is the operating system used by Apple iPhones. At the time of the comic, Apple's mobile OS is much more popular than Microsoft's. The article Randall found predicts that the tables will turn.
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2017
| China completes lunar mission
| The {{w|Chinese space program}} has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| US budget balanced
| The {{w|United States federal budget}} outlines how much the US government spends on what in a given fiscal year. The budget is not required to be balanced, and so often more money is spent than is earned in revenue, causing the national debt to rise.
|-
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
| The increasing popularity of internet media and mobile devices has caused a steady decline in the popularity of print media.
|-
| Cosmetic surgery doubles
| {{w|Cosmetic Surgery}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2018
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| Jesus returns to Earth
| A number of Christians have attempted to predict the return of Christ (a.k.a. the second coming, the rapture) using clues from The Bible, even though the Bible itself says that "no man can know the date". Several predicted dates have come and gone.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2019
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| Every baby has genes mapped at birth
| {{w|Gene Mapping}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2020
| Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels
| Scientists estimate that more than half of the {{w|fossil fuels}} in existance have already been found and that fossil fuel production will begin to decline due to the scarcity, causing prices to increase. At the same time, improvements in {{w|Solar Power|solar technology}} are causing the prices for solar energy to steadily decrease.
|-
| Keyboards and mice become obsolete
| {{w|Computer input device}} are beginning to adopt other methods of input, such as voice commands, touch screens, and eye tracking. While the use of touch screens in particular is gaining widespread use, as of 2014 none has come close to making keyboards and mice obsolete.
|-
| New Tappan Zee bridge constructed
| A {{w|Tappan_Zee_Bridge#Replacement_bridge|replacement bridge}} was anounced in 2008 and is expected to be completed in 2018.
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2021
| US debt reaches 97% of GDP
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| US unemployment falls to 2.8%
| {{w|Unemployment in the United States}}
|-
| Restored caliphate unifies Middle East
| A {{w|caliphate}} is a form of {{w|Islam|Islamic}} political-religious leadership, centred around a Caliph, or successor to the prophet {{w|Muhammad}}.
|-
| Lake Mead evaporates
| Formed by the {{w|Hoover Dam}} on the {{w|Colorado River}}, {{w|Lake Mead}} is the largest reservoir in the United States (measured by maximum capacity). It hasn't reached its capacity since 1983, due to drought and increased demand for water. This could be linked to {{w|global warming}}.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2022
| Kilimanjaro snow-free
| At 5,895 metres, {{w|Kilimanjaro}} is the highest mountain in {{w|Africa}}, and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Around 85% of its ice cover disappeared between 1912 and 2011, and it continues to recede.
|-
| HTML 5 finished
| {{w|HTML 5}}
|-
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
| This is the second time this prediction has appeared.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2023
| Jesus returns to Earth (again)
| A number of Christians have attempted to predict the return of Christ (a.k.a. the second coming, the rapture) using clues from The Bible, even though the Bible itself says that "no man can know the date". Several predicted dates have come and gone.
|-
| US debt passes 100% of GDP
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest
| Likely due to a combination of wildfire and {{w|deforestation}}
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2024
| Atlantis begins to reappear
| {{w|Atlantis}} is the name of a fictional island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea.
|-
| Orangutans extinct in wild
| {{w|Orangutan|Orangutans}} are a species of great ape, currently classed as an {{w|endangered species}}, and found only in the {{w|Rainforest|rainforests}} of {{w|Borneo}} and {{w|Sumatra}}.
|-
| China lands men and women on the moon
| The {{w|Chinese space program}} has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.
|-
| NASA sets up permanent moon base
| There is a a lot of hype recently about finally returning to the moon, vis-a-vis Orion.
|-
| Female professionals pass males in pay
| There are two possible explanations for this entry: Either it's fear-mongering from misogynists or, more probably, an erroneous extrapolation from the current rate at which female incomes are catching up to male incomes.
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2025
| World population reaches 8 billion
| Given current rates, it seems unlikely it will take this long to hit 8 billion, but advances in birth control options and especially their availability in developing nations may slow the current rate considerably.
|-
| Two billion people face water shortages
| http://english.pravda.ru/science/earth/28-01-2008/103693-water_crisis-0/
|-
| 62 MPG cars introduced
| Miles per gallon. 62 MPG is a very good mileage rate at today's standard.
|-
| US power fades
| http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-us-power-will-fade-by-2025/
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2026
| Atlantis emerges completely
| {{w|Atlantis}} is the name of a fictional island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea. It seems that it has taken 2 years for it to emerge completely.
|-
| Rock Bands die out
| https://bestbands.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/rock-bands-to-die-out-by-2026/
|-
| US debt paid off
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| Car accidents cease
| Presumably, cars will be fully automated and able to pilot themselves at this point and will have fail-safes that prevent collisions currently attributed to user error. Car accidents will always be possible, however, due to mechanical and electrical failures.
|-
| West coast falls into ocean
| Most likely due to {{w|San_Andreas_Fault#The_next_.22Big_One.22|a significant seismic event}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2027
| Japan introduces new fastest Maglev train
| Japan's railway systems are famous for their "bullet trains", or {{w|Shinkansen}}.
|-
| Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony is established
| http://totse.mattfast1.com/en/technology/space_astronomy_nasa/moonmars.html
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2028
| Tobacco outlawed
| Tobacco products (cigarettes and chewing tobacco) have become more and more taboo in modern culture, with most public places and private businesses forbidding their use indoors and near places children congregate.
|-
| 40% of coral reefs gone
| Many factors have been attributed to the decline of {{w|Coral_reef#Threats|coral reefs}}, including mining, over fishing, and rising ocean tempteratures.
|-
| US debt paid off
| {{w|US Debt}} nytimes.com It’s 2026, and the Debt Is Due By N. GREGORY MANKIW
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2029
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| Computers pass the Turing test
| Computers already clear the Turing Test about 30% of the time. Also, it is no coincidence that 2029 is the timeline for Terminator Movies.
|-
| Aging reversed
| Manhattan Beach Project to reverse aging by 2029
|-
| Wikipedia reaches 30 Million articles
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2030
| Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging
|
|-
| Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels
|
|-
| Arctic ice-free in summer
| http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091015-arctic-ice-free-gone-video-ap.html
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2031
| Computers controlled by thought
| http://www.gizmag.com/future-mobile-technology/17554/
|-
| Realtors replaced by technology
| http://agbeat.com/editorials/will-realtors-be-replaced-by-technology-by-the-year-2031/
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| http://crfb.org/blogs/cbo-95-percent-confident-social-security-trust-fund-runs-out-25-years
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2032
| "Big One" hits San Francisco
| http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Quake-scientists-predict-Big-One-likely-by-2032-2653745.php {{w|San Franscisco}} is located on the {{w|San Andreas Fault}}, which is predicted to produce a magnitude 7+ earthquake in the 'near future'. This event is referred to as {{w|San_Andreas_Fault#The_next_.22Big_One.22|"The Big One"}}.
|-
| US elects first married lesbian President
| http://4chandata.org/g/In-what-major-ways-do-you-think-the-world-of-2032-will-be-different-from-that-of-today-a20155
|-
| Entire world converted to Christianity
| http://www.goddiscussion.com/38920/christian-domininionsts-to-take-over-the-world-by-2032/
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2033
| Kilimanjaro ice disappears
| http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/02/idUSL2210825
|-
| India becomes superpower
| https://www.facebook.com/pages/India-A-SuperPower-by-2033/151177191568098 ?
|-
| Europe reaches Mars
| http://www.spacedaily.com/news/esa-general-03zb.html
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2034
| US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple
|
|-
| US builds autonomous robot army
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2035
| 80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources
|
|-
| Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size
|
|-
| Arctic sea lane opens
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2036
| 80% of US has access to high-speed rail
|
|-
| Asteroid Apophis misses/hits Earth
| http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/ http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/ 99942 Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a probability of up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on April 13, 2029.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2037
| Arctic ice-free in September
|
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2038
| 32-bit timestamps roll over, causing Y2K-level chaos
| 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038, the value of time_t rolls over, that is it will return to zero. time_t is the computing standard measurement of time, it is a count of the number of seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970. time_t us used by most computer systems to store date and time information. It is recommended that new software should convert to a 64 bit time_t, indeed most operating systems designed to run on 64-bit hardware already use signed 64-bit time_t integers. This would give an epoch of 15:30:08 UTC on 4 December 292,277,026,596 (292 billion years away). Of cause legacy systems may not be upgradable so action taken now should prevent this becoming a problem closer to 2038...
|-
| "Big One" hits California
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2039
| US population hits 400 Million
|
|-
| Severe heat waves become commonplace
|
|-
| Scientology becomes majority religion in US
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2040
| Arctic summers ice-free
|
|-
| Nanotechnology makes humans immortal
|
|-
| 2041
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| 2043
| World population passes 9 Billion
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2044
| Mankind genetically engineered to be happy
|
|-
| Childhood obesity reaches 100%
|
|-
| 2045
| Humans and machines merge
| Ray Kurzweil predicts of 'singularity' which will lead to race of super intelligent beings
|-
| 2046
| World's natural resources depleted
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2047
| World ruled by banks and corporations
|
|-
| Tobacco industry fails
|
|-
| US begins using autonomous attack drones
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2048
| Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing
|
|-
| Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle
|
|-
| Entire US population overweight
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2049
| $1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity
|
|-
| Singularity occurs
|
|-
| Fishing industry collapses
|
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2050
| 80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers
|
|-
| China controls space
|
|-
| Sex with robots possible
|
|-
| Cars banned from European cities
|
|-
| One million species extinct from climate change
|
|-
| 2051
| Atmosphere escapes into space
|
|-
| 2052
| Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2053
| US budget balanced
|
|-
| Majority of Americans in prison
|
|-
| Cars driven by dogs
| This has already occured!
|-
| 2054
| Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2055
| Atmospheric CO2 doubled
|
|-
| Oil runs out
|
|-
| Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2056
| RFID-tagged driverless cars
|
|-
| Robots given same rights as humans
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2057
| 150 Japanese settlers on Mars
|
|-
| Colorado River runs dry
|
|-
| 2058
| Smoking ends in New Zealand
|
|-
| 2059
| Humans have domesticated robots
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2060
| Human race lives in peace
|
|-
| Extreme droughts across much of Earth
|
|-
| Global temperature rise reaches 4 °C
|
|-
| Oil runs out again
|
|-
| 2061
| Halley's comet returns
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2062
| Uganda hosts World Cup
|
|-
| The Jetsons
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2063
| First human clones reach adulthood
|
|-
| Population of Moon reaches 100,000
|
|-
| Population of Mars reaches 10,000
|
|-
| Spacecraft exceed speed of light
| Physics as currently understood states that it is impossible to exceed the speed of light. A monumental shift in our physics would have had to have occurred for this to come true. This is a reference to the 8th Star Trek feature Film: "Star Trek: First Contact" where Zefram Cochrane performs the first human Warp Flight on April 5, 2063.
|-
| 2064
| Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2065
| Last coral reefs die out
|
|-
| Chernobyl cleanup complete
|
|-
| 2066
| Cyprus achieves its goal
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2067
| Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV
|
|-
| Redheads go extinct
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2068
| Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering
|
|-
| Lord Jesus rules Earth from throne in Jerusalem
|
|-
| Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water
|
|-
| 2069
| Public masturbation legalized
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2070
| World population peaks
|
|-
| City-scale flooding disasters
|
|-
| 60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2071
| Europe's temperatures rise by 3 °C
|
|-
| World summer temperatures rise by 5 °C
|
|-
| 2072
| US retirement age is set to 75
|
|-
| 2073
| Oceans do not rise one foot
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2074
| Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million
|
|-
| Supertyphoons hit Japan
|
|-
| 2075
| US retirement age set to 69
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2076
| Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors
|
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| 2078
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2079
| US debt reaches 716% of GDP
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest
|
|-
| Floods commonplace
|
|-
| Religion marginalized
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2080
| Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP
|
|-
| UK population doubles
|
|-
| 2082
| World population declines to one billion
|
|-
| 2084
| Robot policemen introduced
|
|-
| 2085
| US deficit reaches 62% of GDP
|
|-
| 2088
| Japan becomes all-robot country
|
|-
| 2089
| World halts fossil fuel use
| {{w|Fossil Fuels}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2090
| Global warming hits 7 °C
|
|-
| Global warming hits 4 °C
|
|-
| rowspan="11"| 2100
| Global warming around 5-7 °C
|
|-
| Sea levels have risen by a meter or more
|
|-
| Joshua trees nearly extinct
|
|-
| Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous
|
|-
| Germany tropical
|
|-
| Emperor penguins extinct
|
|-
| Arctic permafrost thaws
|
|-
| Rising seas flood coastal cities
|
|-
| Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts
|
|-
| All coral reefs gone
|
|-
| Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor
| Each iteration of the Gillette line or safety razors has one more blade than the previous one. MadTV has also [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FAP8o5ZEo0 parodied] this.
|-
| 2101
| WAR WAS BEGINNING
| References {{w|Zero Wing}}, a 1981 Japanese computer game set in 2101, famous for poorly translated English and the source for "All your base are belong to us".
|}

==Transcript==
:<big>'''THE FUTURE'''</big>
:'''According to Google search results'''
:Events for each year determined by the first page of Google search results for the phrases:
::{|
|-
|"By <year>"
|"In year"
|-
|"By the year <year>"
|"In the year <year>"
|-
|"Will * by the year <year>"
|"Will * in the year <year>"
|-
|"In <year>, * will"
|"By <year>, * will"
|}

:{|
|-
|rowspan="4" width="50px" valign="top"|2012
|World population reaches 7 billion
|-
|Flying cars reach market
|-
|Canada cuts greenhouse emissions to 6% below 1990 levels as per Kyoto
|-
|Apocalypse occurs
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2013
|National debt paid off through President Clinton's plans
|-
|Microchipping of all Americans begins
|-
|Homelessness ended in Massachusetts
|-
|Health care reform law repealed
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2014
|US leaves Afghanistan
|-
|GNU/Linux becomes dominant OS
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2015
|New Horizons reaches Pluto
|-
|Health care law causes hyperinflation
|-
|192 UN member nations achieve millennium development goals:
*Extreme poverty and hunger eradicated
*Universal primary education implemented
*Women empowered, gender equality reached
*Environmental stability ensured
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2016
|Baby boomers begin turning 65
|-
|Android takes 38% of the smartphone market
|-
|Android takes 45% of the smartphone market
|-
|Windows Phone overtakes iOS in smartphones
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2017
|China completes unmanned Lunar sample-return mission
|-
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|US budget balanced
|-
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|-
|Cosmetic surgery doubles
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2018
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|Jesus returns to Earth
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2019
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|Every baby has genes mapped at birth
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2020
|Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels
|-
|Keyboards and mice become obsolete
|-
|New Tappan Zee bridge constructed
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2021
|US debt reaches 97% of GDP
|-
|US unemployment falls to 2.8%
|-
|Restored caliphate unifies Middle East
|-
|Lake Mead evaporates
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2022
|Kilimanjaro snow-free
|-
|HTML 5 finished
|-
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2023
|Jesus returns to Earth (again)
|-
|US debt passes 100% of GDP
|-
|All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2024
|Atlantis begins to reappear
|-
|Orangutans extinct in wild
|-
|China lands men and women on the moon
|-
|NASA sets up permanent moon base
|-
|Female professionals pass males in pay
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2025
|World population reaches 8 billion
|-
|Two billion people face water shortages
|-
|62 MPG cars introduced
|-
|US power fades
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2026
|Atlantis emerges completely
|-
|Rock Bands die out
|-
|US debt paid off
|-
|Car accidents cease
|-
|West coast falls into ocean
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2027
|Japan introduces new fastest Maglev train
|-
|Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony is established
|-
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2028
|Tobacco outlawed
|-
|40% of coral reefs gone
|-
|US debt paid off
|-
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2029
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|Computers pass the Turing test
|-
|Aging reversed
|-
|Wikipedia reaches 30 Million articles
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2030
|Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging
|-
|Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels
|-
|Arctic ice-free in summer
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2031
|Computers controlled by thought
|-
|Realtors replaced by technology
|-
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2032
|"Big One" hits San Francisco
|-
|US elects first married lesbian President
|-
|Entire world converted to Christianity
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2033
|Kilimanjaro ice disappears
|-
|India becomes superpower
|-
|Europe reaches Mars
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2034
|US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple
|-
|US builds autonomous robot army
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2035
|80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources
|-
|Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size
|-
|Arctic sea lane opens
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2036
|80% of US has access to high-speed rail
|-
|Asteroid Apophis misses/hits Earth
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2037
|Arctic ice-free in September
|-
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2038
|32-bit timestamps roll over, causing Y2K-level chaos
|-
|"Big One" hits California
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2039
|US population hits 400 Million
|-
|Severe heat waves become commonplace
|-
|Scientology becomes majority religion in US
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2040
|Arctic summers ice-free
|-
|Nanotechnology makes humans immortal
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2041
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2042
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2043
|World population passes 9 Billion
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2044
|Mankind genetically engineered to be happy
|-
|Childhood obesity reaches 100%
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2045
|Humans and machines merge
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2046
|World's natural resources depleted
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2047
|World ruled by banks and corporations
|-
|Tobacco industry fails
|-
|US begins using autonomous attack drones
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2048
|Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing
|-
|Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle
|-
|Entire US population overweight
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2049
|$1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity
|-
|Singularity occurs
|-
|Fishing industry collapses
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2050
|80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers
|-
|China controls space
|-
|Sex with robots possible
|-
|Cars banned from European cities
|-
|One million species extinct from climate change
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2051
|Atmosphere escapes into space
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2052
|Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2053
|US budget balanced
|-
|Majority of Americans in prison
|-
|Cars driven by dogs
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2054
|Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2055
|Atmospheric CO2 doubled
|-
|Oil runs out
|-
|Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2056
|RFID-tagged driverless cars
|-
|Robots given same rights as humans
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2057
|150 Japanese settlers on Mars
|-
|Colorado River runs dry
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2058
|Smoking ends in New Zealand
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2059
|Humans have domesticated robots
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2060
|Human race lives in peace
|-
|Extreme droughts across much of Earth
|-
|Global temperature rise reaches 4 °C
|-
|Oil runs out again
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2061
|Halley's comet returns
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2062
|Uganda hosts World Cup
|-
|The Jetsons
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2063
|First human clones reach adulthood
|-
|Population of Moon reaches 100,000
|-
|Population of Mars reaches 10,000
|-
|Spacecraft exceed speed of light
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2064
|Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2065
|Last coral reefs die out
|-
|Chernobyl cleanup complete
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2066
|Cyprus achieves its goal
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2067
|Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV
|-
|Redheads go extinct
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2068
|Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering
|-
|Lord Jesus rules Earth from throne in Jerusalem
|-
|Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2069
|Public masturbation legalized
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2070
|World population peaks
|-
|City-scale flooding disasters
|-
|60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2071
|Europe's temperatures rise by 3 °C
|-
|World summer temperatures rise by 5 °C
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2072
|US retirement age is set to 75
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2073
|Oceans do not rise one foot
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2074
|Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million
|-
|Supertyphoons hit Japan
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2075
|US retirement age set to 69
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2076
|Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors
|-
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2077
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2078
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2079
|US debt reaches 716% of GDP
|-
|Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest
|-
|Floods commonplace
|-
|Religion marginalized
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2080
|Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP
|-
|UK population doubles
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2081
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2082
|World population declines to one billion
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2083
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2084
|Robot policemen introduced
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2085
|US deficit reaches 62% of GDP
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2086
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2087
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2088
|Japan becomes all-robot country
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2089
|World halts fossil fuel use
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2090
|Global warming hits 7 °C
|-
|Global warming hits 4 °C
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2091
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2092
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2093
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2094
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2095
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2096
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2097
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2098
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2099
|
|-
|rowspan="11" valign="top"|2100
|Global warming around 5-7 °C
|-
|Sea levels have risen by a meter or more
|-
|Joshua trees nearly extinct
|-
|Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous
|-
|Germany tropical
|-
|Emperor penguins extinct
|-
|Arctic permafrost thaws
|-
|Rising seas flood coastal cities
|-
|Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts
|-
|All coral reefs gone
|-
|Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2101
|WAR WAS BEGINNING
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Google Search]]

887: Future Timeline

2014-12-25T21:02:36Z

Rob Hooft: /* The predictions */

{{comic
| number = 887
| date = April 18, 2011
| title = Future Timeline
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = future timeline.png
| titletext = Not shown: the approximately 30,000 identical, vaguely hysterical articles titled "WHITE PEOPLE IN [THE US/BRITAIN] TO BECOME MINORITY BY [YEAR]!", which came up for basically any year I put in.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Predictions table needs filling out.}}
This comic uses the same strategy as comic [[715: Numbers]], in which Randall uses Google to search for phrases and then charts the results. This one is charted as a timeline, whereas 715 was charted as line graphs.

"2101 - War Was Beginning" is a reference to the opening narration of video game ''Zero Wing''; the same narration is famous for the internet meme "{{w|All your base are belong to us}}". As there are not any other out and out references in the comic, and the rest are actually results that you can find if you search using Randall's methods, we're pretty sure "War Was Beginning" came up when he googled 2101 as well.

Another point of this comic is that certain event, e.g. "Social Security stops running surplus", are repeated multiple times. Also, certain bizarre events, like "Apocalypse occurs", or "Flying cars reach market", happen before rather plausible things, like "HTML 5 Finished". Certain events, like "Japan is a robot-only country", may be related to a recurring theme in xkcd comics, including [[605: Extrapolating]]. This may also refer to the large amount of research being done to develop viable robots in Japan as compared with other countries.

The title text is borne of a recurring "white people panic"; scaremongers will put in years of the very near future in order to get the panicked racist people to pay attention to them (without actually using valid or accepted scientific measurements to back up these claims; panicked racist people don't exactly fact-check very much), while level-headed sociologists will usually come up with more distant dates from their extrapolations.

As for how accurate the Internet has been: The ONLY prediction to have come true as of January 2014 is the world population hitting the 7 billion mark. The United States has now returned to Afghanistan, making that prediction unlikely to occur even by the end of 2014. And unless you count the Android phone platform, Linux shows absolutely no signs of winning back 50% of the operating system market by the end of 2014.

This comic has similar features to [[1413: Suddenly Popular]], [[1093: Forget]], and [[891: Movie Ages]].

==The predictions==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Prediction
! Further Details
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2012
| World population
| Ever since the advent of modern medicine and the more efficient agricultural processes developed suit the Industrial Revolution, the human population had been growing at an unprecedented rate. This has caused some people to worry about overpopulation, which would cause a scarcity of resources and overcrowding, and propose various solutions, most of which involve some form of eugenics. 7 billion is a landmark number because it is a multiple of 1 billion.
|-
| Flying cars
| For decades, flying cars have been a staple of futuristic sci-fi and technological predictions. So far none of these predictions, which to tend to hover around 5–10 years from whatever the current date is, have come true.
|-
| Canada cuts greenhouse emissions
| Currently, the Earth is experiencing an unprecedented period of warming we call global warming, caused in part by greenhouse emissions, which are gases that help trap heat in the atmosphere. Countries have repeatedly gotten together and promised to stop emitting greenhouse gases, but so far they have failed to meet their targets.
|-
| Apocalypse occurs
| This is in reference to the popular film 2012, which portrays the world ending December 22, 2012, using the end of a cycle of the Mayan calendar as a basis for predicting the end of the world. Some people took this rather more seriously, and actually believed that the world would end on this date. It didn't.
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2013
| National debt paid off
| For years, the subject of national debt has been a political point of contention, with the Republicans typically favoring paying it all off, and the Democrats more willing to spend to pull the country out of recessions in the economy. Clinton, a Democrat, at one point proposed [http://money.cnn.com/1999/06/28/economy/clinton/ paying off the debt by 2015].
|-
| Microchipping Americans
| Microchips are small computer chips, typically embedded in pets in case they get lost, that contain information about the pet. Some, more irrational, people worry about the government microchipping everyone in an effort to monitor their activities.
|-
| Homelessness ended in MA
| Homelessness has been a persistent problem in societies all over the world for centuries. It is unclear why Massachusetts specifically would end homelessness — Massachusetts is a more Democratic and wealthier state than others, but no particular initiatives have been started there to end homelessness.
|-
| Health care reform law repealed
| A health care reform law, popularly known as Obamacare, was signed into law in 2010. Ever since, many Republicans have tried (in vain) to repeal it, disliking the idea that government should provide and require healthcare.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2014
| US leaves Afghanistan
| After the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan, home of the Taliban, the terrorist organization behind the attacks. The war has gone on since then, with the public growing increasingly tired of it. Public support now favors a withdrawal, but for military and logistical reasons, the government cannot simply move all the troops currently in Afghanistan home right now. For one, that would cause immediate chaos in the country. Therefore, the government instead promises to eventually withdraw all troops, planning on doing so by the end of 2014.
|-
| GNU/Linux dominant OS
| An operating system, or OS, is the software that forms the structure in which applications on you computer function. Some typical OSs include Mac OSX, Windows 8, and Linux. The first two of those three are commercial products, sold as a copy by a company. The last is an open-source OS, one that anyone can download and modify free. Typically, open-source software is used by a small number of socially conscious people. It is therefore unrealistic to predict that it will become mainstream in the near future.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2015
| New Horizon reaches Pluto
| The New Horizon spacecraft is a U.S. space mission designed to go to Pluto and take photographs, collect samples, etc. It is scheduled to reach Pluto in 2015.
|-
| Healthcare law causes hyperinflation
| Possibly a reference to the {{w|Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act|Affordable Care Act}} (a.k.a. Obamacare)
|-
| Millennium development goals achieved
| {{w|Millennium Development Goals}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2016
| Baby boomers begin turning 65
| {{w|Baby boomers}} are individuals conceived in the years following World War Two, roughly defined as those born from 1946-1959. This isn't so much a prediction as basic math; if you were born in 1946, you turned 65 in 2011.
|-
| Android takes 38%/45% of market share
| {{w|Android (operating system|Android}} is a popular operating system for smartphones and tablets, created by Google. Market share is the percentage of all devices that use the product, in this case the Android operating system. These entries together are humorous because they cannot both happen at the same time.
|-
| Windows phone overtakes iOS
| {{w|iOS}} is the operating system used by Apple iPhones. At the time of the comic, Apple's mobile OS is much more popular than Microsoft's. The article Randall found predicts that the tables will turn.
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2017
| China completes lunar mission
| The {{w|Chinese space program}} has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| US budget balanced
| The {{w|United States federal budget}} outlines how much the US government spends on what in a given fiscal year. The budget is not required to be balanced, and so often more money is spent than is earned in revenue, causing the national debt to rise.
|-
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
| The increasing popularity of internet media and mobile devices has caused a steady decline in the popularity of print media.
|-
| Cosmetic surgery doubles
| {{w|Cosmetic Surgery}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2018
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| Jesus returns to Earth
| A number of Christians have attempted to predict the return of Christ (a.k.a. the second coming, the rapture) using clues from The Bible, even though the Bible itself says that "no man can know the date". Several predicted dates have come and gone.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2019
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| Every baby has genes mapped at birth
| {{w|Gene Mapping}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2020
| Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels
| Scientists estimate that more than half of the {{w|fossil fuels}} in existance have already been found and that fossil fuel production will begin to decline due to the scarcity, causing prices to increase. At the same time, improvements in {{w|Solar Power|solar technology}} are causing the prices for solar energy to steadily decrease.
|-
| Keyboards and mice become obsolete
| {{w|Computer input device}} are beginning to adopt other methods of input, such as voice commands, touch screens, and eye tracking. While the use of touch screens in particular is gaining widespread use, as of 2014 none has come close to making keyboards and mice obsolete.
|-
| New Tappan Zee bridge constructed
| A {{w|Tappan_Zee_Bridge#Replacement_bridge|replacement bridge}} was anounced in 2008 and is expected to be completed in 2018.
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2021
| US debt reaches 97% of GDP
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| US unemployment falls to 2.8%
| {{w|Unemployment in the United States}}
|-
| Restored caliphate unifies Middle East
| A {{w|caliphate}} is a form of {{w|Islam|Islamic}} political-religious leadership, centred around a Caliph, or successor to the prophet {{w|Muhammad}}.
|-
| Lake Mead evaporates
| Formed by the {{w|Hoover Dam}} on the {{w|Colorado River}}, {{w|Lake Mead}} is the largest reservoir in the United States (measured by maximum capacity). It hasn't reached its capacity since 1983, due to drought and increased demand for water. This could be linked to {{w|global warming}}.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2022
| Kilimanjaro snow-free
| At 5,895 metres, {{w|Kilimanjaro}} is the highest mountain in {{w|Africa}}, and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Around 85% of its ice cover disappeared between 1912 and 2011, and it continues to recede.
|-
| HTML 5 finished
| {{w|HTML 5}}
|-
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
| This is the second time this prediction has appeared.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2023
| Jesus returns to Earth (again)
| A number of Christians have attempted to predict the return of Christ (a.k.a. the second coming, the rapture) using clues from The Bible, even though the Bible itself says that "no man can know the date". Several predicted dates have come and gone.
|-
| US debt passes 100% of GDP
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest
| Likely due to a combination of wildfire and {{w|deforestation}}
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2024
| Atlantis begins to reappear
| {{w|Atlantis}} is the name of a fictional island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea.
|-
| Orangutans extinct in wild
| {{w|Orangutan|Orangutans}} are a species of great ape, currently classed as an {{w|endangered species}}, and found only in the {{w|Rainforest|rainforests}} of {{w|Borneo}} and {{w|Sumatra}}.
|-
| China lands men and women on the moon
| The {{w|Chinese space program}} has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.
|-
| NASA sets up permanent moon base
| There is a a lot of hype recently about finally returning to the moon, vis-a-vis Orion.
|-
| Female professionals pass males in pay
| There are two possible explanations for this entry: Either it's fear-mongering from misogynists or, more probably, an erroneous extrapolation from the current rate at which female incomes are catching up to male incomes.
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2025
| World population reaches 8 billion
| Given current rates, it seems unlikely it will take this long to hit 8 billion, but advances in birth control options and especially their availability in developing nations may slow the current rate considerably.
|-
| Two billion people face water shortages
| http://english.pravda.ru/science/earth/28-01-2008/103693-water_crisis-0/
|-
| 62 MPG cars introduced
| Miles per gallon. 62 MPG is a very good mileage rate at today's standard.
|-
| US power fades
| http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-us-power-will-fade-by-2025/
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2026
| Atlantis emerges completely
| {{w|Atlantis}} is the name of a fictional island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea. It seems that it has taken 2 years for it to emerge completely.
|-
| Rock Bands die out
| https://bestbands.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/rock-bands-to-die-out-by-2026/
|-
| US debt paid off
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| Car accidents cease
| Presumably, cars will be fully automated and able to pilot themselves at this point and will have fail-safes that prevent collisions currently attributed to user error. Car accidents will always be possible, however, due to mechanical and electrical failures.
|-
| West coast falls into ocean
| Most likely due to {{w|San_Andreas_Fault#The_next_.22Big_One.22|a significant seismic event}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2027
| Japan introduces new fastest Maglev train
| Japan's railway systems are famous for their "bullet trains", or {{w|Shinkansen}}.
|-
| Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony is established
| http://totse.mattfast1.com/en/technology/space_astronomy_nasa/moonmars.html
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2028
| Tobacco outlawed
| Tobacco products (cigarettes and chewing tobacco) have become more and more taboo in modern culture, with most public places and private businesses forbidding their use indoors and near places children congregate.
|-
| 40% of coral reefs gone
| Many factors have been attributed to the decline of {{w|Coral_reef#Threats|coral reefs}}, including mining, over fishing, and rising ocean tempteratures.
|-
| US debt paid off
| {{w|US Debt}} nytimes.com It’s 2026, and the Debt Is Due By N. GREGORY MANKIW
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2029
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| Computers pass the Turing test
| Computers already clear the Turing Test about 30% of the time. Also, it is no coincidence that 2029 is the timeline for Terminator Movies.
|-
| Aging reversed
| Manhattan Beach Project to reverse aging by 2029
|-
| Wikipedia reaches 30 Million articles
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2030
| Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging
|
|-
| Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels
|
|-
| Arctic ice-free in summer
| http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091015-arctic-ice-free-gone-video-ap.html
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2031
| Computers controlled by thought
| http://www.gizmag.com/future-mobile-technology/17554/
|-
| Realtors replaced by technology
| http://agbeat.com/editorials/will-realtors-be-replaced-by-technology-by-the-year-2031/
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| http://crfb.org/blogs/cbo-95-percent-confident-social-security-trust-fund-runs-out-25-years
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2032
| "Big One" hits San Francisco
| http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Quake-scientists-predict-Big-One-likely-by-2032-2653745.php {{w|San Franscisco}} is located on the {{w|San Andreas Fault}}, which is predicted to produce a magnitude 7+ earthquake in the 'near future'. This event is referred to as {{w|San_Andreas_Fault#The_next_.22Big_One.22|"The Big One"}}.
|-
| US elects first married lesbian President
| http://4chandata.org/g/In-what-major-ways-do-you-think-the-world-of-2032-will-be-different-from-that-of-today-a20155
|-
| Entire world converted to Christianity
| http://www.goddiscussion.com/38920/christian-domininionsts-to-take-over-the-world-by-2032/
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2033
| Kilimanjaro ice disappears
| http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/02/idUSL2210825
|-
| India becomes superpower
| https://www.facebook.com/pages/India-A-SuperPower-by-2033/151177191568098 ?
|-
| Europe reaches Mars
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2034
| US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple
|
|-
| US builds autonomous robot army
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2035
| 80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources
|
|-
| Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size
|
|-
| Arctic sea lane opens
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2036
| 80% of US has access to high-speed rail
|
|-
| Asteroid Apophis misses/hits Earth
| http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/ http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/ 99942 Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a probability of up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on April 13, 2029.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2037
| Arctic ice-free in September
|
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2038
| 32-bit timestamps roll over, causing Y2K-level chaos
| 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038, the value of time_t rolls over, that is it will return to zero. time_t is the computing standard measurement of time, it is a count of the number of seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970. time_t us used by most computer systems to store date and time information. It is recommended that new software should convert to a 64 bit time_t, indeed most operating systems designed to run on 64-bit hardware already use signed 64-bit time_t integers. This would give an epoch of 15:30:08 UTC on 4 December 292,277,026,596 (292 billion years away). Of cause legacy systems may not be upgradable so action taken now should prevent this becoming a problem closer to 2038...
|-
| "Big One" hits California
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2039
| US population hits 400 Million
|
|-
| Severe heat waves become commonplace
|
|-
| Scientology becomes majority religion in US
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2040
| Arctic summers ice-free
|
|-
| Nanotechnology makes humans immortal
|
|-
| 2041
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| 2043
| World population passes 9 Billion
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2044
| Mankind genetically engineered to be happy
|
|-
| Childhood obesity reaches 100%
|
|-
| 2045
| Humans and machines merge
| Ray Kurzweil predicts of 'singularity' which will lead to race of super intelligent beings
|-
| 2046
| World's natural resources depleted
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2047
| World ruled by banks and corporations
|
|-
| Tobacco industry fails
|
|-
| US begins using autonomous attack drones
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2048
| Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing
|
|-
| Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle
|
|-
| Entire US population overweight
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2049
| $1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity
|
|-
| Singularity occurs
|
|-
| Fishing industry collapses
|
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2050
| 80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers
|
|-
| China controls space
|
|-
| Sex with robots possible
|
|-
| Cars banned from European cities
|
|-
| One million species extinct from climate change
|
|-
| 2051
| Atmosphere escapes into space
|
|-
| 2052
| Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2053
| US budget balanced
|
|-
| Majority of Americans in prison
|
|-
| Cars driven by dogs
| This has already occured!
|-
| 2054
| Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2055
| Atmospheric CO2 doubled
|
|-
| Oil runs out
|
|-
| Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2056
| RFID-tagged driverless cars
|
|-
| Robots given same rights as humans
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2057
| 150 Japanese settlers on Mars
|
|-
| Colorado River runs dry
|
|-
| 2058
| Smoking ends in New Zealand
|
|-
| 2059
| Humans have domesticated robots
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2060
| Human race lives in peace
|
|-
| Extreme droughts across much of Earth
|
|-
| Global temperature rise reaches 4 °C
|
|-
| Oil runs out again
|
|-
| 2061
| Halley's comet returns
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2062
| Uganda hosts World Cup
|
|-
| The Jetsons
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2063
| First human clones reach adulthood
|
|-
| Population of Moon reaches 100,000
|
|-
| Population of Mars reaches 10,000
|
|-
| Spacecraft exceed speed of light
| Physics as currently understood states that it is impossible to exceed the speed of light. A monumental shift in our physics would have had to have occurred for this to come true. This is a reference to the 8th Star Trek feature Film: "Star Trek: First Contact" where Zefram Cochrane performs the first human Warp Flight on April 5, 2063.
|-
| 2064
| Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2065
| Last coral reefs die out
|
|-
| Chernobyl cleanup complete
|
|-
| 2066
| Cyprus achieves its goal
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2067
| Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV
|
|-
| Redheads go extinct
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2068
| Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering
|
|-
| Lord Jesus rules Earth from throne in Jerusalem
|
|-
| Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water
|
|-
| 2069
| Public masturbation legalized
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2070
| World population peaks
|
|-
| City-scale flooding disasters
|
|-
| 60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2071
| Europe's temperatures rise by 3 °C
|
|-
| World summer temperatures rise by 5 °C
|
|-
| 2072
| US retirement age is set to 75
|
|-
| 2073
| Oceans do not rise one foot
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2074
| Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million
|
|-
| Supertyphoons hit Japan
|
|-
| 2075
| US retirement age set to 69
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2076
| Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors
|
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| 2078
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2079
| US debt reaches 716% of GDP
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest
|
|-
| Floods commonplace
|
|-
| Religion marginalized
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2080
| Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP
|
|-
| UK population doubles
|
|-
| 2082
| World population declines to one billion
|
|-
| 2084
| Robot policemen introduced
|
|-
| 2085
| US deficit reaches 62% of GDP
|
|-
| 2088
| Japan becomes all-robot country
|
|-
| 2089
| World halts fossil fuel use
| {{w|Fossil Fuels}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2090
| Global warming hits 7 °C
|
|-
| Global warming hits 4 °C
|
|-
| rowspan="11"| 2100
| Global warming around 5-7 °C
|
|-
| Sea levels have risen by a meter or more
|
|-
| Joshua trees nearly extinct
|
|-
| Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous
|
|-
| Germany tropical
|
|-
| Emperor penguins extinct
|
|-
| Arctic permafrost thaws
|
|-
| Rising seas flood coastal cities
|
|-
| Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts
|
|-
| All coral reefs gone
|
|-
| Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor
| Each iteration of the Gillette line or safety razors has one more blade than the previous one. MadTV has also [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FAP8o5ZEo0 parodied] this.
|-
| 2101
| WAR WAS BEGINNING
| References {{w|Zero Wing}}, a 1981 Japanese computer game set in 2101, famous for poorly translated English and the source for "All your base are belong to us".
|}

==Transcript==
:<big>'''THE FUTURE'''</big>
:'''According to Google search results'''
:Events for each year determined by the first page of Google search results for the phrases:
::{|
|-
|"By <year>"
|"In year"
|-
|"By the year <year>"
|"In the year <year>"
|-
|"Will * by the year <year>"
|"Will * in the year <year>"
|-
|"In <year>, * will"
|"By <year>, * will"
|}

:{|
|-
|rowspan="4" width="50px" valign="top"|2012
|World population reaches 7 billion
|-
|Flying cars reach market
|-
|Canada cuts greenhouse emissions to 6% below 1990 levels as per Kyoto
|-
|Apocalypse occurs
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2013
|National debt paid off through President Clinton's plans
|-
|Microchipping of all Americans begins
|-
|Homelessness ended in Massachusetts
|-
|Health care reform law repealed
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2014
|US leaves Afghanistan
|-
|GNU/Linux becomes dominant OS
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2015
|New Horizons reaches Pluto
|-
|Health care law causes hyperinflation
|-
|192 UN member nations achieve millennium development goals:
*Extreme poverty and hunger eradicated
*Universal primary education implemented
*Women empowered, gender equality reached
*Environmental stability ensured
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2016
|Baby boomers begin turning 65
|-
|Android takes 38% of the smartphone market
|-
|Android takes 45% of the smartphone market
|-
|Windows Phone overtakes iOS in smartphones
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2017
|China completes unmanned Lunar sample-return mission
|-
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|US budget balanced
|-
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|-
|Cosmetic surgery doubles
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2018
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|Jesus returns to Earth
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2019
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|Every baby has genes mapped at birth
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2020
|Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels
|-
|Keyboards and mice become obsolete
|-
|New Tappan Zee bridge constructed
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2021
|US debt reaches 97% of GDP
|-
|US unemployment falls to 2.8%
|-
|Restored caliphate unifies Middle East
|-
|Lake Mead evaporates
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2022
|Kilimanjaro snow-free
|-
|HTML 5 finished
|-
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2023
|Jesus returns to Earth (again)
|-
|US debt passes 100% of GDP
|-
|All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2024
|Atlantis begins to reappear
|-
|Orangutans extinct in wild
|-
|China lands men and women on the moon
|-
|NASA sets up permanent moon base
|-
|Female professionals pass males in pay
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2025
|World population reaches 8 billion
|-
|Two billion people face water shortages
|-
|62 MPG cars introduced
|-
|US power fades
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2026
|Atlantis emerges completely
|-
|Rock Bands die out
|-
|US debt paid off
|-
|Car accidents cease
|-
|West coast falls into ocean
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2027
|Japan introduces new fastest Maglev train
|-
|Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony is established
|-
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2028
|Tobacco outlawed
|-
|40% of coral reefs gone
|-
|US debt paid off
|-
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2029
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|Computers pass the Turing test
|-
|Aging reversed
|-
|Wikipedia reaches 30 Million articles
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2030
|Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging
|-
|Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels
|-
|Arctic ice-free in summer
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2031
|Computers controlled by thought
|-
|Realtors replaced by technology
|-
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2032
|"Big One" hits San Francisco
|-
|US elects first married lesbian President
|-
|Entire world converted to Christianity
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2033
|Kilimanjaro ice disappears
|-
|India becomes superpower
|-
|Europe reaches Mars
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2034
|US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple
|-
|US builds autonomous robot army
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2035
|80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources
|-
|Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size
|-
|Arctic sea lane opens
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2036
|80% of US has access to high-speed rail
|-
|Asteroid Apophis misses/hits Earth
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2037
|Arctic ice-free in September
|-
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2038
|32-bit timestamps roll over, causing Y2K-level chaos
|-
|"Big One" hits California
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2039
|US population hits 400 Million
|-
|Severe heat waves become commonplace
|-
|Scientology becomes majority religion in US
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2040
|Arctic summers ice-free
|-
|Nanotechnology makes humans immortal
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2041
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2042
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2043
|World population passes 9 Billion
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2044
|Mankind genetically engineered to be happy
|-
|Childhood obesity reaches 100%
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2045
|Humans and machines merge
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2046
|World's natural resources depleted
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2047
|World ruled by banks and corporations
|-
|Tobacco industry fails
|-
|US begins using autonomous attack drones
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2048
|Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing
|-
|Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle
|-
|Entire US population overweight
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2049
|$1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity
|-
|Singularity occurs
|-
|Fishing industry collapses
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2050
|80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers
|-
|China controls space
|-
|Sex with robots possible
|-
|Cars banned from European cities
|-
|One million species extinct from climate change
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2051
|Atmosphere escapes into space
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2052
|Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2053
|US budget balanced
|-
|Majority of Americans in prison
|-
|Cars driven by dogs
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2054
|Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2055
|Atmospheric CO2 doubled
|-
|Oil runs out
|-
|Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2056
|RFID-tagged driverless cars
|-
|Robots given same rights as humans
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2057
|150 Japanese settlers on Mars
|-
|Colorado River runs dry
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2058
|Smoking ends in New Zealand
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2059
|Humans have domesticated robots
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2060
|Human race lives in peace
|-
|Extreme droughts across much of Earth
|-
|Global temperature rise reaches 4 °C
|-
|Oil runs out again
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2061
|Halley's comet returns
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2062
|Uganda hosts World Cup
|-
|The Jetsons
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2063
|First human clones reach adulthood
|-
|Population of Moon reaches 100,000
|-
|Population of Mars reaches 10,000
|-
|Spacecraft exceed speed of light
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2064
|Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2065
|Last coral reefs die out
|-
|Chernobyl cleanup complete
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2066
|Cyprus achieves its goal
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2067
|Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV
|-
|Redheads go extinct
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2068
|Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering
|-
|Lord Jesus rules Earth from throne in Jerusalem
|-
|Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2069
|Public masturbation legalized
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2070
|World population peaks
|-
|City-scale flooding disasters
|-
|60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2071
|Europe's temperatures rise by 3 °C
|-
|World summer temperatures rise by 5 °C
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2072
|US retirement age is set to 75
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2073
|Oceans do not rise one foot
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2074
|Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million
|-
|Supertyphoons hit Japan
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2075
|US retirement age set to 69
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2076
|Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors
|-
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2077
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2078
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2079
|US debt reaches 716% of GDP
|-
|Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest
|-
|Floods commonplace
|-
|Religion marginalized
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2080
|Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP
|-
|UK population doubles
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2081
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2082
|World population declines to one billion
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2083
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2084
|Robot policemen introduced
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2085
|US deficit reaches 62% of GDP
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2086
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2087
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2088
|Japan becomes all-robot country
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2089
|World halts fossil fuel use
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2090
|Global warming hits 7 °C
|-
|Global warming hits 4 °C
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2091
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2092
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2093
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2094
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2095
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2096
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2097
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2098
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2099
|
|-
|rowspan="11" valign="top"|2100
|Global warming around 5-7 °C
|-
|Sea levels have risen by a meter or more
|-
|Joshua trees nearly extinct
|-
|Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous
|-
|Germany tropical
|-
|Emperor penguins extinct
|-
|Arctic permafrost thaws
|-
|Rising seas flood coastal cities
|-
|Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts
|-
|All coral reefs gone
|-
|Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2101
|WAR WAS BEGINNING
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Google Search]]

887: Future Timeline

2014-12-25T20:59:09Z

Rob Hooft: /* The predictions */

{{comic
| number = 887
| date = April 18, 2011
| title = Future Timeline
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = future timeline.png
| titletext = Not shown: the approximately 30,000 identical, vaguely hysterical articles titled "WHITE PEOPLE IN [THE US/BRITAIN] TO BECOME MINORITY BY [YEAR]!", which came up for basically any year I put in.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Predictions table needs filling out.}}
This comic uses the same strategy as comic [[715: Numbers]], in which Randall uses Google to search for phrases and then charts the results. This one is charted as a timeline, whereas 715 was charted as line graphs.

"2101 - War Was Beginning" is a reference to the opening narration of video game ''Zero Wing''; the same narration is famous for the internet meme "{{w|All your base are belong to us}}". As there are not any other out and out references in the comic, and the rest are actually results that you can find if you search using Randall's methods, we're pretty sure "War Was Beginning" came up when he googled 2101 as well.

Another point of this comic is that certain event, e.g. "Social Security stops running surplus", are repeated multiple times. Also, certain bizarre events, like "Apocalypse occurs", or "Flying cars reach market", happen before rather plausible things, like "HTML 5 Finished". Certain events, like "Japan is a robot-only country", may be related to a recurring theme in xkcd comics, including [[605: Extrapolating]]. This may also refer to the large amount of research being done to develop viable robots in Japan as compared with other countries.

The title text is borne of a recurring "white people panic"; scaremongers will put in years of the very near future in order to get the panicked racist people to pay attention to them (without actually using valid or accepted scientific measurements to back up these claims; panicked racist people don't exactly fact-check very much), while level-headed sociologists will usually come up with more distant dates from their extrapolations.

As for how accurate the Internet has been: The ONLY prediction to have come true as of January 2014 is the world population hitting the 7 billion mark. The United States has now returned to Afghanistan, making that prediction unlikely to occur even by the end of 2014. And unless you count the Android phone platform, Linux shows absolutely no signs of winning back 50% of the operating system market by the end of 2014.

This comic has similar features to [[1413: Suddenly Popular]], [[1093: Forget]], and [[891: Movie Ages]].

==The predictions==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Prediction
! Further Details
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2012
| World population
| Ever since the advent of modern medicine and the more efficient agricultural processes developed suit the Industrial Revolution, the human population had been growing at an unprecedented rate. This has caused some people to worry about overpopulation, which would cause a scarcity of resources and overcrowding, and propose various solutions, most of which involve some form of eugenics. 7 billion is a landmark number because it is a multiple of 1 billion.
|-
| Flying cars
| For decades, flying cars have been a staple of futuristic sci-fi and technological predictions. So far none of these predictions, which to tend to hover around 5–10 years from whatever the current date is, have come true.
|-
| Canada cuts greenhouse emissions
| Currently, the Earth is experiencing an unprecedented period of warming we call global warming, caused in part by greenhouse emissions, which are gases that help trap heat in the atmosphere. Countries have repeatedly gotten together and promised to stop emitting greenhouse gases, but so far they have failed to meet their targets.
|-
| Apocalypse occurs
| This is in reference to the popular film 2012, which portrays the world ending December 22, 2012, using the end of a cycle of the Mayan calendar as a basis for predicting the end of the world. Some people took this rather more seriously, and actually believed that the world would end on this date. It didn't.
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2013
| National debt paid off
| For years, the subject of national debt has been a political point of contention, with the Republicans typically favoring paying it all off, and the Democrats more willing to spend to pull the country out of recessions in the economy. Clinton, a Democrat, at one point proposed [http://money.cnn.com/1999/06/28/economy/clinton/ paying off the debt by 2015].
|-
| Microchipping Americans
| Microchips are small computer chips, typically embedded in pets in case they get lost, that contain information about the pet. Some, more irrational, people worry about the government microchipping everyone in an effort to monitor their activities.
|-
| Homelessness ended in MA
| Homelessness has been a persistent problem in societies all over the world for centuries. It is unclear why Massachusetts specifically would end homelessness — Massachusetts is a more Democratic and wealthier state than others, but no particular initiatives have been started there to end homelessness.
|-
| Health care reform law repealed
| A health care reform law, popularly known as Obamacare, was signed into law in 2010. Ever since, many Republicans have tried (in vain) to repeal it, disliking the idea that government should provide and require healthcare.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2014
| US leaves Afghanistan
| After the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan, home of the Taliban, the terrorist organization behind the attacks. The war has gone on since then, with the public growing increasingly tired of it. Public support now favors a withdrawal, but for military and logistical reasons, the government cannot simply move all the troops currently in Afghanistan home right now. For one, that would cause immediate chaos in the country. Therefore, the government instead promises to eventually withdraw all troops, planning on doing so by the end of 2014.
|-
| GNU/Linux dominant OS
| An operating system, or OS, is the software that forms the structure in which applications on you computer function. Some typical OSs include Mac OSX, Windows 8, and Linux. The first two of those three are commercial products, sold as a copy by a company. The last is an open-source OS, one that anyone can download and modify free. Typically, open-source software is used by a small number of socially conscious people. It is therefore unrealistic to predict that it will become mainstream in the near future.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2015
| New Horizon reaches Pluto
| The New Horizon spacecraft is a U.S. space mission designed to go to Pluto and take photographs, collect samples, etc. It is scheduled to reach Pluto in 2015.
|-
| Healthcare law causes hyperinflation
| Possibly a reference to the {{w|Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act|Affordable Care Act}} (a.k.a. Obamacare)
|-
| Millennium development goals achieved
| {{w|Millennium Development Goals}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2016
| Baby boomers begin turning 65
| {{w|Baby boomers}} are individuals conceived in the years following World War Two, roughly defined as those born from 1946-1959. This isn't so much a prediction as basic math; if you were born in 1946, you turned 65 in 2011.
|-
| Android takes 38%/45% of market share
| {{w|Android (operating system|Android}} is a popular operating system for smartphones and tablets, created by Google. Market share is the percentage of all devices that use the product, in this case the Android operating system. These entries together are humorous because they cannot both happen at the same time.
|-
| Windows phone overtakes iOS
| {{w|iOS}} is the operating system used by Apple iPhones. At the time of the comic, Apple's mobile OS is much more popular than Microsoft's. The article Randall found predicts that the tables will turn.
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2017
| China completes lunar mission
| The {{w|Chinese space program}} has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| US budget balanced
| The {{w|United States federal budget}} outlines how much the US government spends on what in a given fiscal year. The budget is not required to be balanced, and so often more money is spent than is earned in revenue, causing the national debt to rise.
|-
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
| The increasing popularity of internet media and mobile devices has caused a steady decline in the popularity of print media.
|-
| Cosmetic surgery doubles
| {{w|Cosmetic Surgery}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2018
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| Jesus returns to Earth
| A number of Christians have attempted to predict the return of Christ (a.k.a. the second coming, the rapture) using clues from The Bible, even though the Bible itself says that "no man can know the date". Several predicted dates have come and gone.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2019
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| Every baby has genes mapped at birth
| {{w|Gene Mapping}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2020
| Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels
| Scientists estimate that more than half of the {{w|fossil fuels}} in existance have already been found and that fossil fuel production will begin to decline due to the scarcity, causing prices to increase. At the same time, improvements in {{w|Solar Power|solar technology}} are causing the prices for solar energy to steadily decrease.
|-
| Keyboards and mice become obsolete
| {{w|Computer input device}} are beginning to adopt other methods of input, such as voice commands, touch screens, and eye tracking. While the use of touch screens in particular is gaining widespread use, as of 2014 none has come close to making keyboards and mice obsolete.
|-
| New Tappan Zee bridge constructed
| A {{w|Tappan_Zee_Bridge#Replacement_bridge|replacement bridge}} was anounced in 2008 and is expected to be completed in 2018.
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2021
| US debt reaches 97% of GDP
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| US unemployment falls to 2.8%
| {{w|Unemployment in the United States}}
|-
| Restored caliphate unifies Middle East
| A {{w|caliphate}} is a form of {{w|Islam|Islamic}} political-religious leadership, centred around a Caliph, or successor to the prophet {{w|Muhammad}}.
|-
| Lake Mead evaporates
| Formed by the {{w|Hoover Dam}} on the {{w|Colorado River}}, {{w|Lake Mead}} is the largest reservoir in the United States (measured by maximum capacity). It hasn't reached its capacity since 1983, due to drought and increased demand for water. This could be linked to {{w|global warming}}.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2022
| Kilimanjaro snow-free
| At 5,895 metres, {{w|Kilimanjaro}} is the highest mountain in {{w|Africa}}, and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Around 85% of its ice cover disappeared between 1912 and 2011, and it continues to recede.
|-
| HTML 5 finished
| {{w|HTML 5}}
|-
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
| This is the second time this prediction has appeared.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2023
| Jesus returns to Earth (again)
| A number of Christians have attempted to predict the return of Christ (a.k.a. the second coming, the rapture) using clues from The Bible, even though the Bible itself says that "no man can know the date". Several predicted dates have come and gone.
|-
| US debt passes 100% of GDP
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest
| Likely due to a combination of wildfire and {{w|deforestation}}
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2024
| Atlantis begins to reappear
| {{w|Atlantis}} is the name of a fictional island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea.
|-
| Orangutans extinct in wild
| {{w|Orangutan|Orangutans}} are a species of great ape, currently classed as an {{w|endangered species}}, and found only in the {{w|Rainforest|rainforests}} of {{w|Borneo}} and {{w|Sumatra}}.
|-
| China lands men and women on the moon
| The {{w|Chinese space program}} has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.
|-
| NASA sets up permanent moon base
| There is a a lot of hype recently about finally returning to the moon, vis-a-vis Orion.
|-
| Female professionals pass males in pay
| There are two possible explanations for this entry: Either it's fear-mongering from misogynists or, more probably, an erroneous extrapolation from the current rate at which female incomes are catching up to male incomes.
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2025
| World population reaches 8 billion
| Given current rates, it seems unlikely it will take this long to hit 8 billion, but advances in birth control options and especially their availability in developing nations may slow the current rate considerably.
|-
| Two billion people face water shortages
| http://english.pravda.ru/science/earth/28-01-2008/103693-water_crisis-0/
|-
| 62 MPG cars introduced
| Miles per gallon. 62 MPG is a very good mileage rate at today's standard.
|-
| US power fades
| http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-us-power-will-fade-by-2025/
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2026
| Atlantis emerges completely
| {{w|Atlantis}} is the name of a fictional island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea. It seems that it has taken 2 years for it to emerge completely.
|-
| Rock Bands die out
| https://bestbands.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/rock-bands-to-die-out-by-2026/
|-
| US debt paid off
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| Car accidents cease
| Presumably, cars will be fully automated and able to pilot themselves at this point and will have fail-safes that prevent collisions currently attributed to user error. Car accidents will always be possible, however, due to mechanical and electrical failures.
|-
| West coast falls into ocean
| Most likely due to {{w|San_Andreas_Fault#The_next_.22Big_One.22|a significant seismic event}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2027
| Japan introduces new fastest Maglev train
| Japan's railway systems are famous for their "bullet trains", or {{w|Shinkansen}}.
|-
| Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony is established
| http://totse.mattfast1.com/en/technology/space_astronomy_nasa/moonmars.html
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2028
| Tobacco outlawed
| Tobacco products (cigarettes and chewing tobacco) have become more and more taboo in modern culture, with most public places and private businesses forbidding their use indoors and near places children congregate.
|-
| 40% of coral reefs gone
| Many factors have been attributed to the decline of {{w|Coral_reef#Threats|coral reefs}}, including mining, over fishing, and rising ocean tempteratures.
|-
| US debt paid off
| {{w|US Debt}} nytimes.com It’s 2026, and the Debt Is Due By N. GREGORY MANKIW
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2029
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| Computers pass the Turing test
| Computers already clear the Turing Test about 30% of the time. Also, it is no coincidence that 2029 is the timeline for Terminator Movies.
|-
| Aging reversed
| Manhattan Beach Project to reverse aging by 2029
|-
| Wikipedia reaches 30 Million articles
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2030
| Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging
|
|-
| Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels
|
|-
| Arctic ice-free in summer
| http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091015-arctic-ice-free-gone-video-ap.html
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2031
| Computers controlled by thought
| http://www.gizmag.com/future-mobile-technology/17554/
|-
| Realtors replaced by technology
| http://agbeat.com/editorials/will-realtors-be-replaced-by-technology-by-the-year-2031/
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| http://crfb.org/blogs/cbo-95-percent-confident-social-security-trust-fund-runs-out-25-years
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2032
| "Big One" hits San Francisco
| http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Quake-scientists-predict-Big-One-likely-by-2032-2653745.php {{w|San Franscisco}} is located on the {{w|San Andreas Fault}}, which is predicted to produce a magnitude 7+ earthquake in the 'near future'. This event is referred to as {{w|San_Andreas_Fault#The_next_.22Big_One.22|"The Big One"}}.
|-
| US elects first married lesbian President
| http://4chandata.org/g/In-what-major-ways-do-you-think-the-world-of-2032-will-be-different-from-that-of-today-a20155
|-
| Entire world converted to Christianity
| http://www.goddiscussion.com/38920/christian-domininionsts-to-take-over-the-world-by-2032/
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2033
| Kilimanjaro ice disappears
| http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/02/idUSL2210825
|-
| India becomes superpower
|
|-
| Europe reaches Mars
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2034
| US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple
|
|-
| US builds autonomous robot army
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2035
| 80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources
|
|-
| Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size
|
|-
| Arctic sea lane opens
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2036
| 80% of US has access to high-speed rail
|
|-
| Asteroid Apophis misses/hits Earth
| http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/ http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/ 99942 Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a probability of up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on April 13, 2029.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2037
| Arctic ice-free in September
|
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2038
| 32-bit timestamps roll over, causing Y2K-level chaos
| 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038, the value of time_t rolls over, that is it will return to zero. time_t is the computing standard measurement of time, it is a count of the number of seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970. time_t us used by most computer systems to store date and time information. It is recommended that new software should convert to a 64 bit time_t, indeed most operating systems designed to run on 64-bit hardware already use signed 64-bit time_t integers. This would give an epoch of 15:30:08 UTC on 4 December 292,277,026,596 (292 billion years away). Of cause legacy systems may not be upgradable so action taken now should prevent this becoming a problem closer to 2038...
|-
| "Big One" hits California
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2039
| US population hits 400 Million
|
|-
| Severe heat waves become commonplace
|
|-
| Scientology becomes majority religion in US
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2040
| Arctic summers ice-free
|
|-
| Nanotechnology makes humans immortal
|
|-
| 2041
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| 2043
| World population passes 9 Billion
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2044
| Mankind genetically engineered to be happy
|
|-
| Childhood obesity reaches 100%
|
|-
| 2045
| Humans and machines merge
| Ray Kurzweil predicts of 'singularity' which will lead to race of super intelligent beings
|-
| 2046
| World's natural resources depleted
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2047
| World ruled by banks and corporations
|
|-
| Tobacco industry fails
|
|-
| US begins using autonomous attack drones
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2048
| Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing
|
|-
| Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle
|
|-
| Entire US population overweight
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2049
| $1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity
|
|-
| Singularity occurs
|
|-
| Fishing industry collapses
|
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2050
| 80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers
|
|-
| China controls space
|
|-
| Sex with robots possible
|
|-
| Cars banned from European cities
|
|-
| One million species extinct from climate change
|
|-
| 2051
| Atmosphere escapes into space
|
|-
| 2052
| Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2053
| US budget balanced
|
|-
| Majority of Americans in prison
|
|-
| Cars driven by dogs
| This has already occured!
|-
| 2054
| Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2055
| Atmospheric CO2 doubled
|
|-
| Oil runs out
|
|-
| Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2056
| RFID-tagged driverless cars
|
|-
| Robots given same rights as humans
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2057
| 150 Japanese settlers on Mars
|
|-
| Colorado River runs dry
|
|-
| 2058
| Smoking ends in New Zealand
|
|-
| 2059
| Humans have domesticated robots
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2060
| Human race lives in peace
|
|-
| Extreme droughts across much of Earth
|
|-
| Global temperature rise reaches 4 °C
|
|-
| Oil runs out again
|
|-
| 2061
| Halley's comet returns
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2062
| Uganda hosts World Cup
|
|-
| The Jetsons
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2063
| First human clones reach adulthood
|
|-
| Population of Moon reaches 100,000
|
|-
| Population of Mars reaches 10,000
|
|-
| Spacecraft exceed speed of light
| Physics as currently understood states that it is impossible to exceed the speed of light. A monumental shift in our physics would have had to have occurred for this to come true. This is a reference to the 8th Star Trek feature Film: "Star Trek: First Contact" where Zefram Cochrane performs the first human Warp Flight on April 5, 2063.
|-
| 2064
| Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2065
| Last coral reefs die out
|
|-
| Chernobyl cleanup complete
|
|-
| 2066
| Cyprus achieves its goal
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2067
| Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV
|
|-
| Redheads go extinct
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2068
| Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering
|
|-
| Lord Jesus rules Earth from throne in Jerusalem
|
|-
| Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water
|
|-
| 2069
| Public masturbation legalized
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2070
| World population peaks
|
|-
| City-scale flooding disasters
|
|-
| 60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2071
| Europe's temperatures rise by 3 °C
|
|-
| World summer temperatures rise by 5 °C
|
|-
| 2072
| US retirement age is set to 75
|
|-
| 2073
| Oceans do not rise one foot
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2074
| Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million
|
|-
| Supertyphoons hit Japan
|
|-
| 2075
| US retirement age set to 69
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2076
| Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors
|
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|-
| 2078
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2079
| US debt reaches 716% of GDP
| {{w|US Debt}}
|-
| Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest
|
|-
| Floods commonplace
|
|-
| Religion marginalized
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2080
| Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP
|
|-
| UK population doubles
|
|-
| 2082
| World population declines to one billion
|
|-
| 2084
| Robot policemen introduced
|
|-
| 2085
| US deficit reaches 62% of GDP
|
|-
| 2088
| Japan becomes all-robot country
|
|-
| 2089
| World halts fossil fuel use
| {{w|Fossil Fuels}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2090
| Global warming hits 7 °C
|
|-
| Global warming hits 4 °C
|
|-
| rowspan="11"| 2100
| Global warming around 5-7 °C
|
|-
| Sea levels have risen by a meter or more
|
|-
| Joshua trees nearly extinct
|
|-
| Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous
|
|-
| Germany tropical
|
|-
| Emperor penguins extinct
|
|-
| Arctic permafrost thaws
|
|-
| Rising seas flood coastal cities
|
|-
| Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts
|
|-
| All coral reefs gone
|
|-
| Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor
| Each iteration of the Gillette line or safety razors has one more blade than the previous one. MadTV has also [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FAP8o5ZEo0 parodied] this.
|-
| 2101
| WAR WAS BEGINNING
| References {{w|Zero Wing}}, a 1981 Japanese computer game set in 2101, famous for poorly translated English and the source for "All your base are belong to us".
|}

==Transcript==
:<big>'''THE FUTURE'''</big>
:'''According to Google search results'''
:Events for each year determined by the first page of Google search results for the phrases:
::{|
|-
|"By <year>"
|"In year"
|-
|"By the year <year>"
|"In the year <year>"
|-
|"Will * by the year <year>"
|"Will * in the year <year>"
|-
|"In <year>, * will"
|"By <year>, * will"
|}

:{|
|-
|rowspan="4" width="50px" valign="top"|2012
|World population reaches 7 billion
|-
|Flying cars reach market
|-
|Canada cuts greenhouse emissions to 6% below 1990 levels as per Kyoto
|-
|Apocalypse occurs
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2013
|National debt paid off through President Clinton's plans
|-
|Microchipping of all Americans begins
|-
|Homelessness ended in Massachusetts
|-
|Health care reform law repealed
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2014
|US leaves Afghanistan
|-
|GNU/Linux becomes dominant OS
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2015
|New Horizons reaches Pluto
|-
|Health care law causes hyperinflation
|-
|192 UN member nations achieve millennium development goals:
*Extreme poverty and hunger eradicated
*Universal primary education implemented
*Women empowered, gender equality reached
*Environmental stability ensured
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2016
|Baby boomers begin turning 65
|-
|Android takes 38% of the smartphone market
|-
|Android takes 45% of the smartphone market
|-
|Windows Phone overtakes iOS in smartphones
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2017
|China completes unmanned Lunar sample-return mission
|-
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|US budget balanced
|-
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|-
|Cosmetic surgery doubles
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2018
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|Jesus returns to Earth
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2019
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|Every baby has genes mapped at birth
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2020
|Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels
|-
|Keyboards and mice become obsolete
|-
|New Tappan Zee bridge constructed
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2021
|US debt reaches 97% of GDP
|-
|US unemployment falls to 2.8%
|-
|Restored caliphate unifies Middle East
|-
|Lake Mead evaporates
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2022
|Kilimanjaro snow-free
|-
|HTML 5 finished
|-
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2023
|Jesus returns to Earth (again)
|-
|US debt passes 100% of GDP
|-
|All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2024
|Atlantis begins to reappear
|-
|Orangutans extinct in wild
|-
|China lands men and women on the moon
|-
|NASA sets up permanent moon base
|-
|Female professionals pass males in pay
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2025
|World population reaches 8 billion
|-
|Two billion people face water shortages
|-
|62 MPG cars introduced
|-
|US power fades
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2026
|Atlantis emerges completely
|-
|Rock Bands die out
|-
|US debt paid off
|-
|Car accidents cease
|-
|West coast falls into ocean
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2027
|Japan introduces new fastest Maglev train
|-
|Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony is established
|-
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2028
|Tobacco outlawed
|-
|40% of coral reefs gone
|-
|US debt paid off
|-
|Social Security stops running surplus
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2029
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|Computers pass the Turing test
|-
|Aging reversed
|-
|Wikipedia reaches 30 Million articles
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2030
|Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging
|-
|Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels
|-
|Arctic ice-free in summer
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2031
|Computers controlled by thought
|-
|Realtors replaced by technology
|-
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2032
|"Big One" hits San Francisco
|-
|US elects first married lesbian President
|-
|Entire world converted to Christianity
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2033
|Kilimanjaro ice disappears
|-
|India becomes superpower
|-
|Europe reaches Mars
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2034
|US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple
|-
|US builds autonomous robot army
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2035
|80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources
|-
|Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size
|-
|Arctic sea lane opens
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2036
|80% of US has access to high-speed rail
|-
|Asteroid Apophis misses/hits Earth
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2037
|Arctic ice-free in September
|-
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2038
|32-bit timestamps roll over, causing Y2K-level chaos
|-
|"Big One" hits California
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2039
|US population hits 400 Million
|-
|Severe heat waves become commonplace
|-
|Scientology becomes majority religion in US
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2040
|Arctic summers ice-free
|-
|Nanotechnology makes humans immortal
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2041
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2042
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2043
|World population passes 9 Billion
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2044
|Mankind genetically engineered to be happy
|-
|Childhood obesity reaches 100%
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2045
|Humans and machines merge
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2046
|World's natural resources depleted
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2047
|World ruled by banks and corporations
|-
|Tobacco industry fails
|-
|US begins using autonomous attack drones
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2048
|Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing
|-
|Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle
|-
|Entire US population overweight
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2049
|$1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity
|-
|Singularity occurs
|-
|Fishing industry collapses
|-
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2050
|80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers
|-
|China controls space
|-
|Sex with robots possible
|-
|Cars banned from European cities
|-
|One million species extinct from climate change
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2051
|Atmosphere escapes into space
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2052
|Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2053
|US budget balanced
|-
|Majority of Americans in prison
|-
|Cars driven by dogs
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2054
|Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2055
|Atmospheric CO2 doubled
|-
|Oil runs out
|-
|Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2056
|RFID-tagged driverless cars
|-
|Robots given same rights as humans
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2057
|150 Japanese settlers on Mars
|-
|Colorado River runs dry
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2058
|Smoking ends in New Zealand
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2059
|Humans have domesticated robots
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2060
|Human race lives in peace
|-
|Extreme droughts across much of Earth
|-
|Global temperature rise reaches 4 °C
|-
|Oil runs out again
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2061
|Halley's comet returns
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2062
|Uganda hosts World Cup
|-
|The Jetsons
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2063
|First human clones reach adulthood
|-
|Population of Moon reaches 100,000
|-
|Population of Mars reaches 10,000
|-
|Spacecraft exceed speed of light
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2064
|Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2065
|Last coral reefs die out
|-
|Chernobyl cleanup complete
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2066
|Cyprus achieves its goal
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2067
|Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV
|-
|Redheads go extinct
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2068
|Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering
|-
|Lord Jesus rules Earth from throne in Jerusalem
|-
|Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2069
|Public masturbation legalized
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2070
|World population peaks
|-
|City-scale flooding disasters
|-
|60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2071
|Europe's temperatures rise by 3 °C
|-
|World summer temperatures rise by 5 °C
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2072
|US retirement age is set to 75
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2073
|Oceans do not rise one foot
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2074
|Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million
|-
|Supertyphoons hit Japan
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2075
|US retirement age set to 69
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2076
|Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors
|-
|Social Security trust fund exhausted
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2077
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2078
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out
|-
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2079
|US debt reaches 716% of GDP
|-
|Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest
|-
|Floods commonplace
|-
|Religion marginalized
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2080
|Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP
|-
|UK population doubles
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2081
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2082
|World population declines to one billion
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2083
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2084
|Robot policemen introduced
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2085
|US deficit reaches 62% of GDP
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2086
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2087
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2088
|Japan becomes all-robot country
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2089
|World halts fossil fuel use
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2090
|Global warming hits 7 °C
|-
|Global warming hits 4 °C
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2091
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2092
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2093
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2094
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2095
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2096
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2097
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2098
|
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2099
|
|-
|rowspan="11" valign="top"|2100
|Global warming around 5-7 °C
|-
|Sea levels have risen by a meter or more
|-
|Joshua trees nearly extinct
|-
|Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous
|-
|Germany tropical
|-
|Emperor penguins extinct
|-
|Arctic permafrost thaws
|-
|Rising seas flood coastal cities
|-
|Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts
|-
|All coral reefs gone
|-
|Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor
|-
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2101
|WAR WAS BEGINNING
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Google Search]]

1464: Santa

2014-12-25T18:10:33Z

Rob Hooft: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1464
| date = December 24, 2014
| title = Santa
| image = santa.png
| titletext = He probably just poops over the side of the sleigh.
}}

==Explanation==
Broadly speaking, this comic follows a long list of issues raised about physical limitations {{w|Santa Claus}} faces, including the [http://www.daclarke.org/Humour/santa.html speed he has to travel] and other issues such as [http://www.articlesbase.com/holidays-articles/10-impossible-facts-about-santa-claus-1509493.html the omniscience he purportedly possesses and the mass of presents he has to carry]. This comic combines some basic {{w|physiology}} with the physical law of the {{w|conservation of mass}}.

More specifically, this comic refers to the common tradition of leaving milk and cookies out on Christmas Eve for Santa Claus. If one assumes that Santa eats even a small percentage of the sweets left out for him, the question comes up where all the cookies ''go''. Megan suggests that, since Santa isn't ''that'' large, he must poop them out somewhere, and wonders if he does so in our houses.

Cueball doubts that. Megan replies that mass cannot disappear completely; it has to go somewhere, to which Cueball comments that Santa has a magic bag in which he could poop. The magic bag referenced is the bag in which he carries all the Christmas presents he delivers on Christmas Eve. It is called 'magic' because a bag large enough to carry millions of presents would be much too heavy and unbalanced to carry on a sleigh pulled by only eight (or nine) reindeer. Thus, it must be magic somehow. Megan is disgusted at the thought of Santa pooping on peoples' presents.

Cueball proposes a third theory: that only a few houses are pooped in, but those that are are pooped in in large quantities. Megan says that there may not be anyone that naughty in the world (referencing the myth that Santa will leave coal (or in this case, feces), instead of presents, for those who misbehave.) Cueball replies that it is randomly determined whose house is pooped in, burdening a smaller number of people.

Specifically, Cueball quotes the beginning of {{w|Spock}}'s aphorism from ''{{w|Star Trek II}},'' "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." The quote is used to justify the sacrifice people make in "allowing" Santa to poop in their homes by citing the numerous other people who are spared his feces.

The title text puts forth yet another theory: that Santa doesn't poop in houses at all, but off the side of his sleigh.

According to [[1070: Words for Small Sets]], a few is referring to "anywhere from 2 to 5". Currently, there are 1.9 billion children in the world, assuming on average a cookie is left for Santa for each child and that Santa eats one in every 5 cookies, he consumes 380 million cookies in a 48 hour period, due to the convenience of time zones. According to Google, a chocolate-chip cookie contains approximately 140 kilocalories, therefore Santa consumes 53.2 billion in the period of 2 days, 26.6 billion kilocalories per day. As a man should have a daily intake of 2500 kilocalories per day, Santa has 10640000 times the amount of daily calories required over the period of two days, sufficient to last for over 59111 years, or over 59 millennia, and producing 20 million pounds of feces.

On a side note, this amount of energy is enough to power several thousand homes for a year.

In reality, since Santa is only a myth, we're all safe from the risk of being one of the few.

==Transcript==
:Megan: Say Santa eats a cookie at every few houses. That's hundreds of tons. By the end of the night, he should be a hulking seven-story behemoth.
:But he's not.

:Cueball: What are you...
:Megan: Does Santa poop in our houses?

:Cueball: No way.
:Megan: That mass must be going somewhere.
:Cueball: He has that magic bag...
:Megan: You think he poops in the bag of ''presents''?

:Cueball: Maybe instead of pooping in every few houses, he waits, and then in a few houses, he poops a ''lot''.
:Megan: What if no one's been ''that'' naughty?
:Cueball: He picks at random. The needs of the many...
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Christmas]]

1464: Santa

2014-12-25T18:05:31Z

Rob Hooft: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1464
| date = December 24, 2014
| title = Santa
| image = santa.png
| titletext = He probably just poops over the side of the sleigh.
}}

==Explanation==
Broadly speaking, this comic follows a long list of issues raised about physical limitations {{w|Santa Claus}} faces, including the [http://www.daclarke.org/Humour/santa.html speed he has to travel] and other issues such as [http://www.articlesbase.com/holidays-articles/10-impossible-facts-about-santa-claus-1509493.html the omniscience he purportedly possesses and the mass of presents he has to carry]. This comic combines some basic {{w|physiology}} with the physical law of the {{w|conservation of mass}}.

More specifically, this comic refers to the common tradition of leaving milk and cookies out on Christmas Eve for Santa Claus. If one assumes that Santa eats even a small percentage of the sweets left out for him, the question comes up where all the cookies ''go''. Megan suggests that, since Santa isn't ''that'' large, he must poop them out somewhere, and wonders if he does so in our houses.

Cueball doubts that. Megan replies that mass cannot disappear completely; it has to go somewhere, to which Cueball comments that Santa has a magic bag in which he could poop. The magic bag referenced is the bag in which he carries all the Christmas presents he delivers on Christmas Eve. It is called 'magic' because a bag large enough to carry millions of presents would be much too heavy and unbalanced to carry on a sleigh pulled by only eight (or nine) reindeer. Thus, it must be magic somehow. Megan is disgusted at the thought of Santa pooping on peoples' presents.

Cueball proposes a third theory: that only a few houses are pooped in, but those that are are pooped in in large quantities. Megan says that there may not be anyone that naughty in the world (referencing the myth that Santa will leave coal (or in this case, feces), instead of presents, for those who misbehave.) Cueball replies that it is randomly determined whose house is pooped in, burdening a smaller number of people.

Specifically, Cueball quotes the beginning of {{w|Spock}}'s aphorism from ''{{w|Star Trek II}},'' "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." The quote is used to justify the sacrifice people make in "allowing" Santa to poop in their homes by citing the numerous other people who are spared his feces.

The title text puts forth yet another theory: that Santa doesn't poop in houses at all, but off the side of his sleigh.

According to [[1070: Words for Small Sets]], a few is referring to "anywhere from 2 to 5". Currently, there are 1.9 billion children in the world, assuming on average a cookie is left for Santa for each child and that Santa eats one in every 5 cookies, he consumes 380 million cookies in a 48 hour period, due to the convenience of time zones. According to Google, a chocolate-chip cookie contains approximately 140 kilocalories, therefore Santa consumes 53.2 billion in the period of 2 days, 26.6 billion kilocalories per day. As a man should have a daily intake of 2500 kilocalories per day, Santa has 10640000 times the amount of daily calories required over the period of two days, sufficient to last for over 59111 years, or over 59 millennia.

On a side note, this is enough to power several homes for a year.

In reality, since Santa is only a myth, we're all safe from the risk of being one of the few.

==Transcript==
:Megan: Say Santa eats a cookie at every few houses. That's hundreds of tons. By the end of the night, he should be a hulking seven-story behemoth.
:But he's not.

:Cueball: What are you...
:Megan: Does Santa poop in our houses?

:Cueball: No way.
:Megan: That mass must be going somewhere.
:Cueball: He has that magic bag...
:Megan: You think he poops in the bag of ''presents''?

:Cueball: Maybe instead of pooping in every few houses, he waits, and then in a few houses, he poops a ''lot''.
:Megan: What if no one's been ''that'' naughty?
:Cueball: He picks at random. The needs of the many...
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Christmas]]

1464: Santa

2014-12-25T18:03:19Z

Rob Hooft: /* Explanation */ Santa's trip is over, he's a myth again

{{comic
| number = 1464
| date = December 24, 2014
| title = Santa
| image = santa.png
| titletext = He probably just poops over the side of the sleigh.
}}

==Explanation==
Broadly speaking, this comic follows a long list of issues raised about physical limitations {{w|Santa Claus}} faces, including the [http://www.daclarke.org/Humour/santa.html speed he has to travel] and other issues such as [http://www.articlesbase.com/holidays-articles/10-impossible-facts-about-santa-claus-1509493.html the omniscience he purportedly possesses and the mass of presents he has to carry]. This comic combines some basic {{w|physiology}} with the physical law of the {{w|conservation of mass}}.

More specifically, this comic refers to the common tradition of leaving milk and cookies out on Christmas Eve for Santa Claus. If one assumes that Santa eats even a small percentage of the sweets left out for him, the question comes up where all the cookies ''go''. Megan suggests that, since Santa isn't ''that'' large, he must poop them out somewhere, and wonders if he does so in our houses.

Cueball doubts that. Megan replies that mass cannot disappear completely; it has to go somewhere, to which Cueball comments that Santa has a magic bag in which he could poop. The magic bag referenced is the bag in which he carries all the Christmas presents he delivers on Christmas Eve. It is called 'magic' because a bag large enough to carry millions of presents would be much too heavy and unbalanced to carry on a sleigh pulled by only eight (or nine) reindeer. Thus, it must be magic somehow. Megan is disgusted at the thought of Santa pooping on peoples' presents.

Cueball proposes a third theory: that only a few houses are pooped in, but those that are are pooped in in large quantities. Megan says that there may not be anyone that naughty in the world (referencing the myth that Santa will leave coal (or in this case, feces), instead of presents, for those who misbehave.) Cueball replies that it is randomly determined whose house is pooped in, burdening a smaller number of people.

Specifically, Cueball quotes the beginning of {{w|Spock}}'s aphorism from ''{{w|Star Trek II}},'' "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." The quote is used to justify the sacrifice people make in "allowing" Santa to poop in their homes by citing the numerous other people who are spared his feces.

The title text puts forth yet another theory: that Santa doesn't poop in houses at all, but off the side of his sleigh.

According to [[1070: Words for Small Sets]], a few is referring to "anywhere from 2 to 5". Currently, there are 1.9 billion children in the world, assuming on average a cookie is left for Santa for each child and that Santa eats one in every 5 cookies, he consumes 380 million cookies in a 48 hour period, due to the convenience of time zones. According to Google, a chocolate-chip cookie contains approximately 140 kilocalories, therefore Santa consumes 53.2 billion in the period of 2 days, 26.6 billion per day. As a man should have a daily intake of 2500 kilocalories per day, Santa has 10640000 times the amount of daily calories required over the period of two days, sufficient to last for over 59111 years, or over 59 millennia.

On a side note, this is enough to power several homes for a year.

In reality, since Santa is only a myth, we're all safe from the risk of being one of the few.

==Transcript==
:Megan: Say Santa eats a cookie at every few houses. That's hundreds of tons. By the end of the night, he should be a hulking seven-story behemoth.
:But he's not.

:Cueball: What are you...
:Megan: Does Santa poop in our houses?

:Cueball: No way.
:Megan: That mass must be going somewhere.
:Cueball: He has that magic bag...
:Megan: You think he poops in the bag of ''presents''?

:Cueball: Maybe instead of pooping in every few houses, he waits, and then in a few houses, he poops a ''lot''.
:Megan: What if no one's been ''that'' naughty?
:Cueball: He picks at random. The needs of the many...
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Christmas]]

1464: Santa

2014-12-25T18:00:00Z

Rob Hooft: Fix typo

{{comic
| number = 1464
| date = December 24, 2014
| title = Santa
| image = santa.png
| titletext = He probably just poops over the side of the sleigh.
}}

==Explanation==
Broadly speaking, this comic follows a long list of issues raised about physical limitations {{w|Santa Claus}} faces, including the [http://www.daclarke.org/Humour/santa.html speed he has to travel] and other issues such as [http://www.articlesbase.com/holidays-articles/10-impossible-facts-about-santa-claus-1509493.html the omniscience he purportedly possesses and the mass of presents he has to carry]. This comic combines some basic {{w|physiology}} with the physical law of the {{w|conservation of mass}}.

More specifically, this comic refers to the common tradition of leaving milk and cookies out on Christmas Eve for Santa Claus. If one assumes that Santa eats even a small percentage of the sweets left out for him, the question comes up where all the cookies ''go''. Megan suggests that, since Santa isn't ''that'' large, he must poop them out somewhere, and wonders if he does so in our houses.

Cueball doubts that. Megan replies that mass cannot disappear completely; it has to go somewhere, to which Cueball comments that Santa has a magic bag in which he could poop. The magic bag referenced is the bag in which he carries all the Christmas presents he delivers on Christmas Eve. It is called 'magic' because a bag large enough to carry millions of presents would be much too heavy and unbalanced to carry on a sleigh pulled by only eight (or nine) reindeer. Thus, it must be magic somehow. Megan is disgusted at the thought of Santa pooping on peoples' presents.

Cueball proposes a third theory: that only a few houses are pooped in, but those that are are pooped in in large quantities. Megan says that there may not be anyone that naughty in the world (referencing the myth that Santa will leave coal (or in this case, feces), instead of presents, for those who misbehave.) Cueball replies that it is randomly determined whose house is pooped in, burdening a smaller number of people.

Specifically, Cueball quotes the beginning of {{w|Spock}}'s aphorism from ''{{w|Star Trek II}},'' "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." The quote is used to justify the sacrifice people make in "allowing" Santa to poop in their homes by citing the numerous other people who are spared his feces.

The title text puts forth yet another theory: that Santa doesn't poop in houses at all, but off the side of his sleigh.

According to [[1070: Words for Small Sets]], a few is referring to "anywhere from 2 to 5". Currently, there are 1.9 billion children in the world, assuming on average a cookie is left for Santa for each child and that Santa eats one in every 5 cookies, he consumes 380 million cookies in a 48 hour period, due to the convenience of time zones. According to Google, a chocolate-chip cookie contains approximately 140 kilocalories, therefore Santa consumes 53.2 billion in the period of 2 days, 26.6 billion per day. As a man should have a daily intake of 2500 kilocalories per day, Santa has 10640000 times the amount of daily calories required over the period of two days, sufficient to last for over 59111 years, or over 59 millennia.

On a side note, this is enough to power several homes for a year.

In reality, since Santa is <strike>only a myth</strike> [http://www.noradsanta.org/ really out there]!<strike>, we're all safe from the risk of being one of the few.</strike>

==Transcript==
:Megan: Say Santa eats a cookie at every few houses. That's hundreds of tons. By the end of the night, he should be a hulking seven-story behemoth.
:But he's not.

:Cueball: What are you...
:Megan: Does Santa poop in our houses?

:Cueball: No way.
:Megan: That mass must be going somewhere.
:Cueball: He has that magic bag...
:Megan: You think he poops in the bag of ''presents''?

:Cueball: Maybe instead of pooping in every few houses, he waits, and then in a few houses, he poops a ''lot''.
:Megan: What if no one's been ''that'' naughty?
:Cueball: He picks at random. The needs of the many...
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Christmas]]