Future Food Crisis and the Seeds of War

Many people have wondered what the next big crisis that the world will face in the future. While I have already eluded to a second US Civil War, I haven't talked about how this comes about. It may seem strange but the a civil war over civil liberties is actually a result of a global food crisis that will become apparent in the next five years. This food crisis will be caused by sharp and sudden decrease in global wheat production. A new wheat fungus will be the cause and while the US will be better off than most other countries and regions, it will still hit America hard.

The fungus will make its appearance in the year 2014 with a sudden and unexpected decrease in production. It is determined to be a new type of fungus that kills almost all wheat varieties around the time of the wheat's maturation. The next year the wheat crop was even smaller due to a return of the fungus but also, it was discovered that the previous year's fungal outbreak left much of the wheat seed unable to self-pollinate. This caused smaller amounts of wheat to grow and then a portion of the wheat that did grow died from the fungus.

Within a few years the world's wheat production has been cut in half. Many countries changed their food production with a shift from wheat to corn, rice or potatoes. Asian countries chose to focus on rice production while countries in the Western Hemisphere moved to corn. Europe and India were unable to adequately grow enough food causing starvation, political instability and mass migration. Europeans attempted migration to the United States, but in reaction to the 100's of millions seeking refuge in America, the government closed its borders.

Similarly, people from India, Australia and New Zealand migrated to China, Japan and other smaller East Asian countries. Those countries also tried closing their borders, but were less successful leading to a near doubling of those countries' populations. This population shift caused social and political instability around the world with harsh reactions by governments in attempts to control their citizens. This includes the United States.

In reaction to this increase in government control and decrease in civil liberties and states rights, a freedom and liberty movement began in the US and slowly spread around the world. This sowed the seeds of rebellion in the America and the eventual secession of Texas and other states paving the road to the New Republic.

I am a dead person

I apologize that I haven't posted anything in a couple of weeks. I've been out on assignment and I've just now returned. I could have returned to the moment I left, but I prefer to allow the passage of time to reflect my age that way I don't "disappear" one day and the next day "reappear" looking months or years older. The TMO allows us to choose, but we get paid more if we do it the other way.

Since there will be a lot of questions about this, I might as well explain myself now. Every now and then I get messages from the home office in the future that detect small changes in history. This is due to the fact that agents like me are here in the past and that as much as we try, changes are inevitable. In addition to recording history, I also have to go and try to correct these incidences. Sometimes this takes weeks.

In order to be able to move among the people of a time period, I must have an identity. This is done by assuming the identity of a recently dead person. The TMO creates a copy of the social security card and birth certificate. Using this, I go out and get a common job and live an ordinary life so that no one suspects who I really am. My name is Brian and I died on November 12th, 2008.

The Future of Technology

The general consensus of people since the advent of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, is that the future is going to filled with amazing technology from flying cars to vacations on the moon. I'm sorry to say that generally speaking technology isn't going to go much farther in the next half century than it is in 2009.



Cloning - There will be developments in food cloning and animal cloning, but human cloning will prove unsuccessful. There will be neurological problems with the clones causing low intelligence and a short life-span.

Robotics - Developments in robotics will be limited to manufacturing, but we don't have human shaped robots that walk around doing human jobs.

Transportation - Mag-Lev trains will become very popular and even replace local subways and buses. However, cars won't float or fly in the future, at least to any great degree. They were tried, but the inability to break quickly in the air proved an insurmountable obstacle. Cars still run on the ground on tires, but the tires don't wear out.

Time Travel & Teleportation - Time travel is discovered by accident by a group of scientists trying to develop a way of teleporting. Both were created but because the amount of resources required for either one, they're only used by the government large shipping companies.

Gadgets - This the area where there will be the most advances. They won't change life or society much, but they're fun. The most common gadgetry will be PCs that people carry around in their pockets. They have laser optic keyboards, mice and digital displays that will allow people to work anywhere. These "PC"s will also be music players, phones and network with families and houses.

The real future of technology is more complex and tied to our social and political future, at least that of the US. In the future technology will taper off until the second civil war. After that innovation will come to halt. The economy will be such that disposable income which won't allow the population to purchase gadgets therefore research and development for new devices will no longer be funded by technology companies.

Furthermore, in the future, common knowledge about technology will begin to wain. The number of people who understand the complexities of devices will decrease as will the number of those who can repair them. For this reason, technological developments will come to a plateau and in 2064, we are still in it.