Two Guesses

[Colin]

By 2025,
- Will WMDs be used?

Most likely not. Even countries hostile to the United States know that if they are implicated in helping terrorists release these weapons they basically cease to exist. Terrorists know that this is probably the one act that will turn most of the world, including the Muslim world, against them.

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There are always wars.

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Yeah, probably a three year economic downturn akin to the late 80s/early 90s recession or the late 70s.

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No, unless a large section of the world financial community, the Federal Reserve, the IMF, World Bank, and the President screw up royally which is highly unlikely.

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Uh...no. Especially with the growing baby boomer population, anything that delays aging, keeps people alive longer, and can make a huge profit from that will be researched vigorously.

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No, when have we ever abandoned a science? When? I can't think of a single example since the Dark Ages where some sort of science has been abandoned. Some interesting projects have been abandoned, the XB-70 Mach 3 strategic bomber anyone?, but that was usually because there was no longer a need for those projects because better technologies became available.

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My money would be on no but you can never tell with mother nature.

[Colin]

So, the world will keep rolling, but will probably go through a shift like it did in the 70s.

Yeah pretty much. The world is too interconnected now for a major war to start, it's financial system is too secure to fail as it did during the Great Depression, and there is no major catalist for any sort of revolutionary change on the horizon. There will be a slump, I'd say more late 80s than 70s but it's really just a matter of semantics, and then growth. I think you're to quick to assume that the future is all doom and gloom. I'm not saying its bright and cheery either, just that it will keep on moving along. The world will grow more multipolar, of course, but the US wont go all "rogue nation" on everybody, it's played the multipolar game before and will learn to do so again. It's status isn't going anywhere, it'll stay a major power, barring any incredibly crippling scenarios, for at least the next century or two. The international "club", so to speak, will grow larger but the basic structure will remain.