West European Studies

The past century has seen much advancement in terms of medical care, economy, social, environment and technology and this is bound to continue into the forthcoming  centuries. These changes have greatly improved the lives of communities. 

    Recent discoveries have greatly improved provision of health care. Many diseases can now be cured and the ones not yet curable will soon be (Woodward and Richards 54). By 2000 vaccines for all major diseases will have been discovered and this will greatly increase the population. On the other hand due to continued development, there will be an upsurge of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes. This will be due to people being too busy to find time to exercise and to prepare healthy food. Incidents of babies being born with defects will be greatly reduced since it will be possible to detect malformation of fetus while its in the womb.

    Societys perception of homosexuals will change. The lesbians and gay will organize themselves into communities that will spread out throughout the society. The rights of lesbians and gays will be recognized and improved. A law will be enacted to protect them from discrimination-in fact, the society could witness adoption of laws that would accord gay couples rights similar to those of straight couples. But considering the cynicism with which the issue is looked at, it will not be a big surprise for people to still be homophobic in 2000.

    The institution of marriage will loose its meaning due to many women getting economically empowered. They will no longer tolerate oppression from men since they will be able to take care of themselves. Cases of divorce will be commonplace and many people especially women will opt to stay single. Marrying to get children will no longer be a necessity. To get a child, women will just be choosing a man to get them pregnant without requiring that the man take responsibility in bringing up the child.

    Communication will be greatly improved. Transmission of information will be very easy due to improvement of the telephone technology so that people will be able to exchange information from one part of the world to the other. In fact by 2000 there will have been invented a telephone that does not require wire connections. Advancements in technology will also enable real time communication by writing between two people who are apart. These technologies will save time and will make it possible to even do shopping from home.

    Politics is a core aspect of every society and have the capacity to build or bring down a society. By 2000 the world will experience a revolution in terms of politics where women who currently are taking a backseat in politics will be actively engaged in politics.  They will compete for powerful positions and will be elected. More than half of the governments top positions will be occupied by women and they will deliver better than their male counterparts. In countries where racism exists such as America, the minority will have the audacity to run for top positions despite opposition. The majority will change their attitudes so much that they could even vote for a president from the minority group.

    The environment will be more polluted and destroyed.  This will be due to more industries being set up and the unwillingness of their owners to spend extra money to clean air before it is released to the atmosphere (Simmons 103). The increased population due to improved standards of living will lead to more deforestation. This will see the world experience massive climatic changes that will lead to problems such as skin diseases due to destruction of ozone layer and lack of rainfall which will lead to famine.

    Entertainment will become a lucrative business. Entertainment will not only be for leisure but will also be a way of making money and many people will engage in it. It will become the gateway to being a world icon and will be the sole way to win peers respect. Every individuals taste will be taken care of in that there will be different types of entertainment. Lovers of music will be spoilt for choice because there will be different genres of music to listen to. Tools of entertainment will be installed everywhere so that people will enjoy themselves wherever they are. Sport will no longer be just a way of keeping fit it will become a business that will transform paupers into millionaires. It will create celebrities in societies and it will be a point of power in itself.

    The transport industry will experience great advancements. It will be possible to travel around the world within minutes. People will also be spoilt for choice in choosing the means of transport to use. To get to the same destination, there will be several means. The means of transport will also be environment friendly and there will be even means of transport that will be using electricity as the source of power (Taylor and Dearden 27-30).

    The world by the year 2000 will be a better place to live in than it is now. This is in spite of the negative side of development that will have occurred.