Because most of my debut novel, The Lightning in the Collied Night, takes place about 30 years from now, I thought I’d explore what the world might be like in the mid-21st century. Then when you read my book—which I hope you do!—you’ll already have an idea as to why I decided to depict the world of the near future as I did. Since this is a big topic, I’m going to cover it in multiple posts. I’ll introduce the subject here, and in subsequent posts dive into areas such as technology and the environment.
Let’s close our eyes for a few minutes and pretend it’s 2054. You’re driving through the city, town, or rural area in which you live today (open your eyes, first!). What will it look like? Will it look anything like it does today? I think it will look a lot like it does today. Sure, there will be some changes over the next three decades. There will be new buildings, maybe entirely new developments if you live in an exurban or rural area. There will be some new roads, and some current roads might be different from what they are today—for example, in my area traffic circles are popping up all over. And you might be driving a different type of vehicle—an EV, perhaps—than you do today, and you’ll see new and different kinds vehicles on the roads.
But I think much will be the same as today. Almost all of the homes and other buildings that exist today will still be around in 30 years. Thus cities and towns won’t look all that much different than they do now. Familiar landmarks from today will still be there in the near future. Because people are keeping their vehicles longer than ever, I expect that many of the vehicles that are driving around today will still be on the roads in 2054. So, for example, I think we’ll still see 30+ year old F-150s 30 years from now, absent a mandate to eliminate them. (Just why I picked that particular example will become clear when you read my book.)
Now let’s take an imaginary drive down a highway in 2054. What will that be like? I think it’ll be pretty close to what that experience is today. The highways and freeways that exist today will probably still be there, augmented by some new roads. What you see out of the windows of your vehicle won’t have changed much, either. Some prairie or farmland might have been replaced by new housing or businesses; some farmland may no longer be in use (more on that in a later post). There will probably be more EV charging stations than there are today, and maybe some highways will have built-in charging—wouldn’t that be slick? We’ll probably see more wind farms and solar power stations than we do today… but those do exist today. As we drive along, there will still be prairies and forests and rivers and lakes. They may have changed somewhat, but by and large we’ll see them as we drive down the highway, just as we do today.
If our imaginary drive takes us to the beach, what will that be like? There will still be beaches in 2054, of course. But it’s possible the shoreline—and the beach itself—then is much different from what it is today, depending on what beach you’re at (more on that in a later post).
If by now you’re thinking that the world of the mid-21st century that I’ve depicted in my book will seem familiar in many ways, you’d be right. And I’ll further explore my rationale for that choice more in my next few posts. But there will be some things in my book that will not be familiar. It is a sci-fi story, after all, which means there’s some fictional aspects to the story. I’ve tried to base that fiction on facts, or at least on current projections as to what the world might be like 30 years from now, whenever possible. But as happens with a lot of sci-fi stories, sometimes I had to stretch the world of facts just a wee bit to make the story work. You know… like the TV show where people step into a wormhole, travel thousands of light years in a few seconds, and emerge at the other end (without having a hair on their heads mussed) on an alien world that looks a lot like British Columbia, where everyone speaks English. (Confession: that example is from one of my favorite sci-fi shows.)
In my next post, I’ll hypothesize what the world of technology might be like 30 years from now. Spoiler Alert: it won’t include transporters, stargates, or laser pistols.
