The World in 2110?

Considering the current trajectory of global warming and sea-level rise can we expect the world to look something like this? I made this map showing the world in the event of a 7m sea level rise using an interactive sea-level rise map on the internet. The world will evidently look much different than it does today, and that's not to mention political features, as this is done on a present-day political map. Also note that the Aral Sea is completely gone, this is arguably inaccurate though. With massive current and future increases in sea level in the Caspian Sea it is logical that some sort of canal project will be undertaken to replenish the Aral Sea. As is evident on closer inspection no one is safe, of course Louisiana, the Low Countries, the Amazon Delta, Venice and Shanghai are devastated as everyone predicted, but along with that we have major regions, such as London, Bremen, Hamburg, the Nile Delta, Hong Kong, the Mekong River Delta, (most of) Bangladesh, Mumbai and even the Persian Gulf, flooded and destroyed. This represents 100s of millions of people and likely 100s of billions of dollars if not more. Its simply not a good outlook for most of humanity.

The Future of Human Space Exploration.

It's official. America is out of the race. In the new budget Obama has cut funding from NASAs Constellation Program. The Constellation Program, possibly the only positive, forward thinking plan to come out of George W. Bush's reign of terror, was a program aimed to send American astronauts back to the moon by 2020 to begin construction of a lunar base. Billions of dollars had already been spent in development of America's new Ares class launch vehicles which were set to succeed the aging Space Shuttles. Unfortunately Obama did not find it pertinent to make sure there is a replacement to the Space Shuttle which is retiring this year.

Alternatively to continued funding of the Constellation Program and the Ares rockets, Obama has decided (reduced) funding would be given to NASA in order to have them contract out space launches to companies SpaceX and Orbital Sciences. Also, instead of funding further efforts to land on the moon, funding will be put into extending the life of the International Space Station (the biggest waste of time and money ever) to 2020. So what does the future hold for the American space program? Well private corporations will launch American astronauts to the International Space Station for 10 more years, at which point the space station will fall into disrepair and go the way of Mir. Then, America will have no space station, no launch vehicle, no lunar lander, no lunar base and no plan for the future of space.

So what's the deal? Why is Obama turning his back on space supremacy? Why is he allowing Russia and China to become the new leaders in the final frontier? Economy? The aerospace industry employs thousands in America. Then what is it? Its commercial interests. Again. Whoever said Obama was a socialist (every tea-bagger in America) was a flipping idiot. Obama is a die-hard capitalist. NASA had a good thing going being a publicly funded aerospace organization. Efficient, well directed, with unified goals. Now Obama is selling out to corporations that will be horribly inefficient ending up costing tax-payers more, and poorly directed, with no central goal or destination, and for what? To create commercial competition in the space market?

There are better ways to commercialize space and none of them involve shafting the public option. This industry is in its infancy, to attempt to create commercial competition when the only two contracts in the world are SpaceX and Orbital Sciences is ineffective beyond belief. Only when space technology becomes profitable, say by extracting resources from the moon or asteroids, will it be commercially viable to open a space firm. Otherwise, companies will continue to be contracted by governments who could do the job themselves more efficiently anyway. What's more a corporation's sole goal is to profit whereas the goal of governments in space is to explore and expand our reach. Is the United States going to lead the way in giving up on exploration?

Will any of this work? Maybe, just maybe the possibility of launching satellites and astronauts into space will cause a growth in the number and strength of space firms across America and the world. It is possible that commercial and government interaction could make the industry grow? It would require a lot of input and stimulus from governments. People don't care for space technology, and it must be proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that this technology is profitable to investors. Sub-orbital space flight is an area where there is sure to be growth for space tourists, but will companies like Virgin move beyond that and pioneer Virgin space? They will not do it without encouragement. Maybe, with the right funding, 20 years down the road we'll see upwards of a dozen space firms blasting off from around the world. Let us hope something good comes from cutting funding to NASA.

The Road

Released in select theatres across North America The Road is a movie based on Cormac McCarthy's book of the same title. The two main characters "man" and "boy" navigate a barren post-apocalyptic landscape moving towards their vague goal, "the South." As far as the viewer can tell the world has been hit by some sort of nuclear winter or meteor strike that has wiped out all life on Earth except for man. The pair, man and boy, struggle against nature (or lack there of), hordes of cannibalistic travelers, their own feelings of melancholy and the fate of their world, all the while struggling to "carry the flame." Among the action and drama, the story says some interesting and important things about our future in the event of an apocalyptic disaster.

1. Men and boys will dominate the post-apocalyptic demographic. Aside from a few women living in cannibalistic groups the women either stayed off the roads or were not present in the post-apocalyptic world.

2. There's a difference between living and surviving. The wife and mother in the story struggled with the idea of simply surviving. In today's society it doesn't seem important but there are people everywhere who simply survive with no prospect of truly living and definitely no prospect of thriving. Though, for everyone in this post-apocalyptic world the prospect of even living is almost entirely out of reach.

3. Ideas of good vs. evil will be deciding factors in survival. When all hope seems lost man and boy remember they are "carrying the flame" and that they are the "good guys" making their struggle to survive seem more bearable and important.

4. Man will turn against one another, but gifts and offerings will remain ways of keeping peace (food & clothing, no matter how small or insignificant). In the movie "man" is often distrustful of strangers and unwilling to extend a helping hand. The boy often insists on giving gifts though, which are returned by friendship and company.

5. Memories of the past will be both important to keep and important to forget. Man struggles to keep memories of his wife at bay but seeks solace in reading old-time story books to his son. These books while rejected as useless to survival are treasures important to keeping the illusion of living afloat.

6. Family and companionship are the most important thing to survival. With naught but crumbs of food left over in abandoned restaurants, the clothes on their backs and the quest of "carrying the torch," the pair would be missing the key ingredient to their survival. The most important point made in the story is the point of the unquestioned love between a man and his son.

You probably think I'm missing the point, that with the strong use of symbolism and metaphor, my deconstruction of the story's prophetic value is meaningless. Despite this, the movie gives a realistic view (as far as any of us can divine) of a post-apocalyptic world. Whether or not the author's intent was to write the story of a man's love for his son or a tale of prophetic and apocalyptic value it is important to see that these above factors are key to survival in a modern setting and will certainly be key in a post-apocalyptic world. The story is not only symbolic of a human struggle for happiness and family, it provides insight on a human level of what our world would be like in the event of a world-ending disaster. The Road shocks, it depresses, but most importantly it awes and inspires. Its a story of human ingenuity and the perseverance of love against all odds in an increasingly gray and dieing world.

Welcome to the Future

This is the future of the Party Prophet.