What will be the "big" Social Issues in 2050?

[Blue3]

So the summary of this thread so far seems to be:

* animals rights
* gambling
* drugs
* assisted suicide
* polygamy
* globalism / lack of national boundaries
* geoengineering/terraforming
* transhuman and advanced tech ethics: genetic engineering, cloning, life extension, designer babies, advanced AI,  automation versus jobs

[The Mikado]

I'm very surprised I'm the only person in the thread to say immigration (unless I missed someone). It's the obvious answer and is a very, very safe bet. As long as the USA exists, it will have immigration debates.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'm very surprised I'm the only person in the thread to say immigration (unless I missed someone). It's the obvious answer and is a very, very safe bet. As long as the USA exists, it will have immigration debates.

Immigration isn't always thought of as a social issue.  To a large extent it's an economic issue.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I'm very surprised I'm the only person in the thread to say immigration (unless I missed someone). It's the obvious answer and is a very, very safe bet. As long as the USA exists, it will have immigration debates.

My response touched on it's effects contributing to other debates, but yes, it will be a contentious issue in itself.

[Blue3]

So the summary of this thread so far seems to be:

* animals rights
* gambling
* drugs
* assisted suicide
* polygamy
* globalism / lack of national boundaries
* geoengineering/terraforming
* transhuman and advanced tech ethics: genetic engineering, cloning, life extension, designer babies, advanced AI,  automation versus jobs

Even more of a summary:
-globalism
-technology
-social libertarianism
-animal rights

With the dueling narratives of
"elitists versus commoners"
against
"educated humanitarian progressives versus ignorant selfish traditionalists"

Which is also a pretty good summary of post-2016 election analysis.

[JJC]

Sending cryogenically frozen humans on millennium long journeys to other star systems.

Too science fictiony?

[TDantuono]

Dealing with the fact that most of the major cities of the world are underwater and there is massive famine in many areas of the world due to unchecked climate change.

[Fusionmunster]

Dealing with the fact that most of the major cities of the world are underwater and there is massive famine in many areas of the world due to unchecked climate change.

Even under the worst estimates, major cities will not be underwater by 2050.

[JJC]

Dealing with the fact that most of the major cities of the world are underwater and there is massive famine in many areas of the world due to unchecked climate change.

You really believe this, don't you?

[Lachi]

Dealing with the fact that most of the major cities of the world are underwater and there is massive famine in many areas of the world due to unchecked climate change.

You really believe this, don't you?

Well, he should, because Climate Change and Global Warming ARE REAL! and they WILL cause things like this to happen.

[Figueira]

Am I the only one who realizes that 2050 is not fifty years from now?

[mencken]

• Polygamy, with opponents advocating civil unions for partners #3-5 instead of full marriage.
• Voting rights for animals.
• Death penalty for white cismale heterosexuality (non-Islamic), with opponents advocating dhimmitude as a compromise.
• Compulsory gender reassignment surgery.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Let me go really far out on a limb:

Ethical issues presented by biological immortality (that you live until you die of some freak accident or disease, because you never get old).

But, abortion will likely still be around.  Our other current ones will either have been solved or evolved.

[The_Doctor]

Designer babies
Human cloning
Sentience transference to computers
The final reversal of Trump's immigration law
Changing your body features

By 2050, the liberals will be basically litigating retarded issues because they've won the culture war of the 1980s to 2030s decisively and we'll all be arguing about if designer babies should be allowed or not.

Reagan conservatism on social issues will be obsolete. (Anyone talking about banning abortions or gay marriage will be laughed out of the room. Seriously. The GOP of 2050 will be pro-choice and pro-gay marriage and pro-transgender rights, everything. It will make today's Democratic Party look like a good old fashioned fascist party).

[The_Doctor]

Dealing with the fact that most of the major cities of the world are underwater and there is massive famine in many areas of the world due to unchecked climate change.

No. I think by 2050, we've developed the technologies to manage global warming and climate change because the liberals will at some point between now and 2030 decisively route the conservative right and push us all towards a zero carbon emission path.

The liberal Democrats will have the case to be made by 2024-2028 that we need to get on a zero carbon emission path ASAP and fast. That argument will .... painfully clear. And it will be one of the big realigning election arguments.

The conservative Right that you think will stop this will evaporate by 2030. The world will be enormously, enormously, VASTLY different than it was today. And there will be really no disagreement left on climate change as nations around the world gets hit with freak global warming events. (Which of course will require very, very, interventionist, extremely heavy handed liberal economic reengineering).

[The_Doctor]

Another social issue retired:

1. Will there be a woman president? (Yes. And she will be a Democrat).

[Cory]

The liberal Democrats will have the case to be made by 2024-2028 that we need to get on a zero carbon emission path ASAP and fast. That argument will .... painfully clear. And it will be one of the big realigning election arguments.

The conservative Right that you think will stop this will evaporate by 2030.

Quite literally, truth be told.

[PresidentSamTilden]

Dealing with the fact that most of the major cities of the world are underwater and there is massive famine in many areas of the world due to unchecked climate change.

No. I think by 2050, we've developed the technologies to manage global warming and climate change because the liberals will at some point between now and 2030 decisively route the conservative right and push us all towards a zero carbon emission path.

The liberal Democrats will have the case to be made by 2024-2028 that we need to get on a zero carbon emission path ASAP and fast. That argument will .... painfully clear. And it will be one of the big realigning election arguments.

The conservative Right that you think will stop this will evaporate by 2030. The world will be enormously, enormously, VASTLY different than it was today. And there will be really no disagreement left on climate change as nations around the world gets hit with freak global warming events. (Which of course will require very, very, interventionist, extremely heavy handed liberal economic reengineering).

Problem isn't winning the argument, it's that we're running out of time.

538 discussed meeting climate targets a couple months back (http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/when-will-the-world-really-be-2-degrees-hotter-than-it-used-to-be/), here were some key takeaways:

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From the National Research Council's "Warming World: Impacts by Degree", we can expect http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/materials-based-on-reports/booklets/warming_world_final.pdf:

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Higher food prices, higher seas. This is not good news for social stability in the world. It's gonna be a total disaster folks, bigly.

[Figueira]

Another social issue retired:

1. Will there be a woman president? (Yes. And she will be a Democrat).

I'm sure there will be one by then, but it's not guaranteed that she'll be a Democrat.

[Person Man]

Some of the new bioethics things are already beginning to happen. The UK legalized Mitochondrial donation in IVF and China has already started trials on adult lateral gene transfer with CRISPR. These new social issues surrounding whether genetic/reproductive medicine and research will not only be a continuation with what has been going on with abortion, but also tie further into economics, international politics/national security, and economic justice (insurance companies, medicare, and what to do about Social Security). Though for the record, a lot of benign things have happened because of such things such a stem cell alternatives to cosmetic surgery. But even that could cause people to act cray.


On top of these, we will have Global Warming and that adds in new components to entire debate about immigration and economic justice. If we can't handle 3,000,000 Syrian refugees, what hope do we have to handle 600,000,000 Indian refugees when the Ganges dries up in the 2040s because the glaciers that fed it have all melted into the Indian Ocean?

And yes. We will still be talking about teh gays. We will still be talking about stupid, lazy pot heads. We will still be talking about "killing babies". We will still be talking about giving free stuff to people and not being allowed to shoot people who loot our electronics stores.