The 21st century

The 21st century began with the United States as the sole superpower in the absence of the Soviet Union, with China becoming a potential superpower.

The debate over what should be done about global warming, fossil fuel pollution and alternative energy raged in the new century after most of the 20th century was marked by industrial expansion. As the Cold War was over and Islamic fundamentalist-related terrorism on the rise, the United States and its allies turned their attention to the Middle East.

Digital technology - in its early stages of mainstream use in the 1980s and 1990s - became widely accepted by most of the world, though concerns about stress and antisociality from the overuse of mobile phones, the Internet and related technologies remained controversial.

By the end of the first decade, over 1.5 billion people worldwide used the Internet, and over 4 billion (more than half the world's population) used cell phones.

A major financial downturn gripped the world from 2007 until well into the following decade - caused by the excesses of capitalism, a sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US, and soaring debt levels. This led to a wrenching restructuring of many social, political and economic systems. For the majority of nations, recovery was driven by a combination of Keynesian policies, better regulation of financial institutions, and long term investments in building, infrastructure, energy and environmental programmes.

A new set of crises would emerge in the 2020s. As oil demand began to exceed supply, full-scale conflict erupted in the Middle East. At the same time, the effects of climate change were beginning to have an impact on worldwide food and water supplies. Growing instability led to a number of resource wars. This, in combination with extreme nationalism, would culminate in the first nuclear weapons attack since 1945. Frantic diplomatic efforts halted any further escalation, but considerable long term damage was done to international relations.

The 2030s and 2040s were marked by a massive shift towards renewable energy sources - helped along by startling breakthroughs in nanotechnology. Widespread adoption of sustainable development practices, along with vastly improved education and availability of information, also greatly aided this transition. This was followed by the birth of fusion power and other technologies. Despite this, conflict was brewing around much of the world. Africa, Asia and many other regions were suffering mightily due to food shortages and a growing influx of refugees affected by resource wars.

Humanity began to escape the confines of its dangerous and overcrowded home planet, with the first scientific base on Mars in the 2050s. Other colonies would be established over the following decades.

Advances in computing power - which had seen exponential growth for over a century - now began to create a "technological singularity", with AI playing a major role in government planning and corporate strategies.

Virtual Reality, in parallel with developments in neuroscience, began to profoundly change the day-to-day lives of mainstream citizens; in the developed world at least.

By the 2060s, the world's population began to level off and plateau. This was partly due to improved education and birth control - but also due to the vast numbers of deaths from starvation, drought and other adverse conditions. Entire nations were being devastated by the effects of climate change. Over half of the world's rainforests had been reduced to wasteland, much farmland worldwide had been rendered useless and freak weather events were becoming commonplace. Arctic sea ice in summer was non-existent. A huge amount of biodiversity had been lost, with the oceans largely devoid of life.

During this time, the USA was finally eclipsed by China as a world power, with India close behind.

The 2070s saw major growth in the use of fusion power. Accelerated space development also marked this time, with mining operations on the Moon, along with breakthroughs in propulsion technology allowing manned exploration of the outer solar system.

With continuing advances in AI, the 2080s saw an explosion in scientific discoveries. The average citizen in the developed world found themselves increasingly reliant on mind-control interfaces and other on-person technologies, which were becoming essential for purposes of practical communication and information retrieval.

By the end of the century, it became clear that humanity no longer carried the power and influence it once had. Much of the day-to-day running of world affairs was now being carried out by ultra-fast, ultra-intelligent machines, robots and digital entities.

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