New predictions for the timeline

[wjfox]

2035 – All water meters in the UK are smart

https://www.eswater.co.uk/myaccount/wat ... rt-meters/

[wjfox]

2027 – South Australia achieves 100% renewable energy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... olar-power

[wjfox]

13,724 AD – Vega becomes the northern pole star

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_star



Ashley Dace / Star Trail above Beccles / CC BY-SA 2.0

[wjfox]

2050 – A lunar economy begins to take shape

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... ely-maybe/

https://www.pwc.fr/en/publications/2026 ... sment.html

[wjfox]

2061 – All galaxies within 10 billion light-years have been catalogued

David Schlegel at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California says our previous maps of the cosmos include a total of 5 million galaxies, so the DESI data increases our knowledge of the universe by a factor of almost 10.

“We’ve actually been on this curve now for my whole career where, every 10 years, we’re making 10-times-larger maps,” he says. “You can ask the question, at what point have you mapped every observable galaxy within 10 billion light years… and if we stayed on the curve, we would do that by 2061.”

https://www.newscientist.com/article/25 ... wtab-en-gb

https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2026/04/15/d ... exploring/

https://www.space.com/astronomy/dark-un ... digm-shift

[wjfox]

2039 – Germany has substantially boosted its military strength

(or possibly combine the prediction entry with other European countries)

https://www.defensenews.com/global/euro ... y-by-2039/

The personnel growth plan foresees expanding from 185,420 active-duty soldiers today to 260,000 by the mid-2030s, alongside a parallel reserve buildup from around 60,000 currently assigned reservists to at least 200,000, for a combined total of 460,000 combat-ready troops. The plan runs in three phases: a rapid buildup through 2029, a capability-focused expansion through 2035, and a longer-term technology-driven phase through 2039 and beyond. New legislation in force since January 2026 enshrines the milestones in law, with conscription (already embedded in the new military service law as a fallback) becoming an option if recruitment targets are missed.

[wjfox]

Latest schedule for this ludicrously delayed and over-budget rail route:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cz6e0vplgldt

"the line will now cost between £87.7bn and £102.7bn, with trains not running until between 2036 and 2039..."

[wjfox]

20 million AD – The Himalayan mountains come to a halt

"The rate at which the Indian sub-continent creeps toward Eurasia is slowing exponentially, according to Clark, who reviewed published positions of northern India over the last 67 million years to evaluate convergence rates. The convergence will halt -- putting an end to one of the longest periods of mountain-building in recent geological history -- in about 20 million years."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 140659.htm