The Once and Future Century

I have been writing a novel about the future. The preliminary research and extensive note-taking began over a year ago. The story itself started being written about two months ago. Recently, I have come across two sources.

The first is a book by George Friedman entitled The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century. Friedman is founder and CEO of STRATFOR, a leading private intelligence and forecasting company. Employing a cyclical theory of history, and taking some lessons from the past, this book informs the reader as to why China will fall apart by 2020 (not as big a stretch as you think), how Poland will become a major world power by 2050 (every bit as big a stretch as you think), and about Mexico's attempt to challenge the USA for the southwestern states by 2100 (wow, never saw that one coming!).

Oh, and tensions between the USA and radical Islam have already peaked, and will subside by 2020. (I know; I had the same reaction.)

The other source will appear on ABC-TV tomorrow (Tuesday) night. Earth 2100 is a two-hour special documentary, hosted by Bob Woodruff, which explores the possible scenarios for civilization in the next century. Obviously I have not seen it yet, so I cannot say for certain how much real science will be applied, as opposed to the pseudo-scientific advocacy that has pushed ”global warming” theories on humanity (as opposed to thirty years ago, when they warned us of the coming Ice Age). But the video clips that appear on the ABC website show some intriguing possibilities, for good or for ill.

Subjects like this, while intriguing, are best taken cum grano salis. Neither example, from what I can tell, goes into any great length on trust in Divine Providence. This puts them at a significant disadvantage.
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