History of the Mid to Late 21st Century (2050-2100)

The following is a summary of the most significant social and political changes that occurred during the mid to late 21st century.

  1. Transportation--Advances in fuel cells made possible inexpensive ultraminiature cars, which became extremely popular. Instead of having a single large automobile, people began to use microcars for commuting and other everyday purposes. For special events such as long trips or for carrying cargo, it became more economical for people to rent cars or small trucks than to own a large vehicle. Because such vehicles were delivered by automated drivers, rental became a practical alternative for millions of people. This eased congestion and cut energy consumption.
  2. Entertainment--Since microcars were connected to the Internet, people listened to streaming audio in their cars instead of the radio. This led to the decline and eventual extinction of terrestrial radio broadcasting. Television also fell into decline as it was gradually replaced by the Internet. Although some proclaimed this to be the beginning of a new era in individual empowerment, ultimately Internet video fell into the hands of a small number of large entertainment companies just as before.
  3. Commerce--As Internet commerce displaced brick and mortar businesses, package delivery companies such as FedUPS became increasingly powerful. From 2021 to 2025, FedUPS secretly controlled the governments of four American states.
  4. Housing--Housing prices continued to ratchet up throughout the early 21st century because of periodic declines in interest rates. Eventually more and more people were forced to live in condominiums. Individual ownership of real estate declined continuously throughout the 21st century.
  5. Computerization--Crime-detecting computers (CDCs) became omnipresent, virtually eliminating crime and, to a large extent, individual liberty. For example, the CDCs would automatically impose a fine if a person disposed of a light bulb in a disposal bin designated for food waste instead of a (much more expensive) bin for toxic chemicals. The fine was automatically deducted from the person's bank account. Every person and device had at least one individual IP address, and each person had an implanted broadband wireless connection to the Internet, which served as identification, as entertainment, and as a replacement for currency. Unfortunately, because the implanted chips also recorded every action and spoken word, they were also later used by the dreaded OSP (Offensive Speech Police) to suppress all unapproved political speech.

    The average person could not avoid these crime-detecting computers, because they were embedded in almost every consumer product. A popular saying in those days was, "Nowadays, TV watches you!"
  6. Entertainment-- The American entertainment industry was decimated by a large influx of higher-quality movies and videos from Asia. Hollywood was unable to compete because years of mixing political opinion with the entertainment had made the viewers cynical. In those days, people made no distinction between fictional films such as the science fiction classic "An Inconvenient Truth" and documentaries such as the nostalgic cult movie "Mutant Vampire Flying Saucer Women from Betelgeuse B", which was the most popular movie in theaters throughout 2015 and 2016.
  7. Health care--After the imposition of national health care in the North American Union (NAU, which was known in those days as the United States), the government made it illegal to eat junk food or to exercise fewer than three times per week. The rationale was that eating junk food was unhealthy and therefore caused added expense for other citizens. The Department of Health and Human Services Dietary Enforcement Branch (HHS/DEB) was widely feared and mistrusted, and its responsibilities were eventually transferred to the Department of Internal Order, a quasi-military department created in 2026. The DIO also took over the responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security, which had been plagued with scandals and a series of bizarre on-the-job injuries and accidents under its previous director, Macaulay Culkin.

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