The world of 2050 will be what we make it. This leaves full rein for our agency, for our commitment, and for our moral judgment. It also means that this period will be a time of terrible struggle, because the stakes are much higher than in so-called normal times. Thus European feudalism, which depended upon serf labor, began falling apart in the 15th century because depopulation and the abandonment of villages in the wake of the Black Plague enabled peasants to exact better terms from landowners. Feudalism was replaced by capitalism which operates by endlessly accumulating capital through exploiting labor.
Capitalism is now in terminal crisis for three reasons.
This was revealed by the New Left movements and rebellions of the 1960s. This will be the central political debate of the next 25-50 years. Our challenge, as we struggle for political democracy, is also to imagine, project and struggle for alternatives to capitalism. Utopias tend to breed illusions and therefore inevitably disillusions. Utopistics requires that we think holistically, consciously reuniting science, politics and morality and including a sense of social timing.