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The 21st century is the present century of the Gregorian calendar. It began on 1 January 2001 and will last to 31 December 2100.

Important developments, events, achievements

Politics

Science and technology

Conflicts and civil unrest

Worldwide deaths from war and terror attacks
Furthermore, there are several wars and dictatorships continuing from the 20th century. In most cases, the death toll is unclear. See also *.

Natural disasters

Sports

Issues and concerns

Some of the things that have dominated discussion and debate in this century include:

  • Overpopulation. The United Nations estimates that world population will reach 9.1 billion by mid-century. Such growth raises questions of ecological sustainability and creates many economic and political disruptions. In response, many countries have adopted policies which either force or encourage their citizens to have fewer children, and others have limited immigration. Considerable debate exists over what the ultimate carrying capacity of the planet may be; whether or not population growth containment policies are necessary; to what degree growth can safely occur thanks to increased economic and ecological efficiency; and how markets should accommodate demographic shifts. Evidence forms that developed countries (such as Japan) suffer population implosion, and the population debate is strongly tied with poverty.

  • Poverty. Poverty remains the root cause of many of the world's other ills, including famine, disease, and insufficient education. Poverty contains many self-reinforcing elements (for instance, poverty can make education an unaffordable luxury, which tends to result in continuing poverty) that various aid groups hope to rectify in this century.

  • Global warming. The overwhelming majority of climate scientists think that the earth is currently undergoing significant anthropogenic (human-induced) global warming. * The resulting economic and ecological costs are hard to predict, and by the end of the 21st century could be quite severe.

  • Other environmental changes. Trends such as increased pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss occurring in the 20th century are likely to continue into the 21st century.

  • Resource depletion will be a significant issue, with economic and environmental implications. Resources in immediate danger of depletion include oil and natural gas.

  • Global power. Issues surrounding the cultural, economic, and military dominance of the United States and its role in the world community have become even more pointed given its recent military activities, problematic relations with the United Nations, disagreement over several international treaties, and its economic policies with regard to globalization. Integration of the European Union and the African Union have proceeded.

  • Intellectual property. The increasing popularity of digital formats for entertainment media such as movies and music, and the ease of copying and distributing it via the Internet and peer-to-peer networks, has raised concerns in the media industry about copyright infringement. Much debate is proceeding about the proper bounds between protection of copyright, trademark and patent rights versus fair use and the public domain, where some argue that such laws have shifted greatly towards intellectual property owners and away from the interests of the general public in recent years, while others say that such legal change is needed to deal with the threat of new technologies against the rights of authors and artists (or, as others put it, against the outmoded business models of the current entertainment industry). Domain name "cybersquatting" and access to patented drugs to combat epidemics in third-world countries are other IP concerns.

  • Technology developments show no sign of ending. Communications and control technology continues to augment the intelligence of individual humans, collections of humans, and machines. Cultures are forced into the position of sharply defining humanity and determining boundaries on desire, thought, communication, behavior, and manufacturing. Some predict that by the middle of this century there will be a Technological Singularity if artificial intelligences are created that are smarter than humans. If these then create even smarter AI's technological change will accelerate in ways that are impossible for us to foresee.

  • Energy is becoming scarce and more expensive, due to the escalating demand for petroleum ("oil") and oil-based products such as gasoline and kerosene, unmatched by production. Discovery of new oil fields has not been sufficient to sustain current levels of production, and some fear that the earth may be running out of economically viable oil. While complete depletion will not happen in the near future, some fear that a peak in production will cause an end to the trend of economic expansion in modern society, perhaps resulting in a collapse of modern civilization itself. Others believe that alternative sources of energy will prevent this disaster.

  • Civilization is subject to increasing pressures due to overpopulation and culture clash. Samuel Huntington has spoken of a crash that may lead to extended wars and global instability. At the same time, there is increasing concern of decadence in Western arts and sciences among the leading intellects of the time, from Jacques Barzun to John Horgan´s "End of Science" to the columnist Spengler of Asia Times (who took his pseudonym from Oswald Spengler).

The United Nations lists global issues on its agenda here and lists a set of Millennium Goals to attempt to address some of these issues.

Significant people

Influential people in politics as of 2006

(in alphabetical order)

Influential people in religion as of 2006

Influential people in technology as of 2006

Influential people in science as of 2006

Influential people in mathematics as of 2006

Influential people in the arts as of 2006

Astronomical events

Scientific and technological predictions

Socio-political predictions

  • A woman once told Winston Churchill: "In the year 2100, women will rule the world." Churchill asked: "Still?" By 2005, with the appointment of Margaret Wilson as Parliament's speaker, New Zealand had women at the head of all branches of government: Sovereign, Governor-General, Prime Minister, Speaker, and Chief Justice.
  • Several leaders in politics, religion, etc., have set goals for the elimination of dictatorship, disease, hunger, illiteracy, lack of drinkable water, over-population, poverty, racism, tyranny and war in the 21st century.
  • Many in the media have begun referring to the 21st century as the Asian Century because of the predicted growing power in Asia.

Science fiction set in the remaining years of the 21st century

Television and film

Computer and video games

Novels

Decades and years

See also

External links

Centuries | 21st century | 3rd millennium | Postmodernism

21ste eeu | 21. Jahrhundert | Sieglu XXI | 21 стагодзьдзе | 21. vijek | XXIvet kantved | 21 век | Segle XXI | XXI ĕмĕр | 21. století | 21ain ganrif | 21. århundrede | 21. Jahrhundert | 21. sajand | 21ος αιώνας | Siglo XXI | 21-a jarcento | XXI. mende | XXIe siècle | 21e ieu | 21세기 | 21. stoljeće | 21ma yar-cento | Abad ke-21 | XXI æнус | 21. öldin | XXI secolo | המאה ה-21 | Abad kaping 21 | 21ns kansblydhen | Sedsala 21'an | Saeculum 21 | 21. Joerhonnert | XXI amžius | Einentwintegste iew | 21. század | 21 век | Rautau rua tekau mā tahi | 21e eeuw | 21世紀 | 21. århundre | 2000-talet | 21. Johrhunnert | XXI wiek | Século XXI | Secolul XXI | XXI век | Shekulli XXI | Sèculu XXI | 21st century | 21. storočie | 21. stoletje | 21. век | 2000-luku | 2000-talet | 21. yöz | คริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 21 | 21. yüzyıl | 21 століття | 2000صبم | Thế kỷ 21 | 21inme sieke | 21世纪

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "21st century".

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