2100 Earth

  Hypersonic vactrains are widespread Much of the world has now established a hypersonic, evacuated tube transport system connecting major population centres. *  Its routes extend primarily throughout Russia, Northern Europe, Canada and the US. These trains are more advanced versions of the slower, simpler prototypes first introduced decades previously. * This form of transport works by combining the principles of maglev trains and pneumatic tubes. The trains, or vactrains as they are called, travel inside a closed tube, levitated and pushed forward by magnetic fields. After passing through an airlock, the train cars enter a complete vacuum inside the tube. With no air friction to slow it down, the vactrain can reach speeds far beyond that of any traditional rail system. The fastest routes can now reach speeds of around 4,000 mph (6,400 km/h) *  – around five times the speed of sound – compared to a 300 mph maglev train a century earlier. *     With speed of thi...

  Religion is fading from European culture In some European nations, the number of people considering themselves to be non-religious has increased from around 30% in 1980, to over 90% now. *  Although large numbers of Muslims populate the continent, a substantial portion are now only "culturally" Muslim, rather than having a literal interpretation of the Koran. Mainstream Islam has begun a reformation and modernisation in recent years – aided by improvements in education, combined with the broad homogenisation of culture resulting from globalisation, the Internet, international agreements and other factors. Medical advances are undermining religion as a whole, by greatly diminishing the fear of death, while developments in AI, robotics and biotechnology are beginning to trivialise the miracles on which many ancient religions are based. The increasing presence of androids in society – along with other forms of sentience – is adding a whole new dimension to the way humans view ...

  Photosynthetic humans Following many decades of research, a number of human-plant chimeras are moving from the laboratory into clinical and commercial use. Among the treatments now available is a method for combining the photosynthetic capabilities of chloroplasts with human skin. This enables a person to gain energy from being exposed to sunlight. In 1990, scientists first coined the term "kleptoplasty" to describe a symbiotic phenomenon whereby plastids, notably chloroplasts from algae, are sequestered by host organisms. This had been observed in  Elysia chlorotica , a species of green sea slug that absorbed chloroplasts from the algae it ate, making it effectively a solar-powered animal. In the early decades of the 21st century, researchers engineered cells that combined both animal and human material, producing chimeras (named after the creature from Greek mythology that possessed the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a snake). One notable experiment, f...

  Over 80% of the Amazon rainforest has been lost Due to the combined impacts of logging, drought, forest fires, desertification, agriculture and industrial expansion, less than one-fifth of the Amazon now remains. *  In addition to mass extinctions of flora and fauna, many indigenous peoples' communities have vanished.   A portion of the Amazon rainforest, 2000-2012. Animation created by Will Fox, using imagery from  NASA .

Despite efforts to halt climate change, it came too late to save many lowland areas of the world. Sea levels rose almost two metres by the late 2090s, displacing hundreds of millions of people. *   The Maldives were especially hard hit, with most of the nation disappearing underwater. *   Countries around the globe were forced to begin large-scale evacuation and resettlement programmes, while trillions of dollars were spent on coastal defences.  

  I) GAMIFYING ENLIGHTENMENT Depending on your DNA and other factors, the ideal number of steps, hours of sleep, hours of reading, vitamin D, calories consumed, water drunk, etc. will be counted each day. But more than just “fitbit style.” It will be all agreed that competition breeds the best results so the results would be public and ranked by various health metrics so all could see who is healthier than whom. Dating apps will be set up to match those with similar health. USBucks will be mined by those in peak health at the end of each month. Soon other factors of mental well-being will be measured and gamified as above — including the correct amount of dopamine uptake each day, serotonin, oxytocin (perhaps measuring sex?), and then meditation skills would be demonstrated on how quickly each spike in cortisol subsides into endorphins. This will be ranked each month, with the winners earning the rank of “Buddha” and more USBucks mined. People who have higher levels of cortisol may...