400-year lifespan, borderless overseas travel: What the year 3023 will look like

Humans living for 400 years, AI-controlled interstellar travel, a borderless world and a global population who all look the same - this is what life in Queensland is tipped to be like in a thousand years’ time.

Humans living for 400 years, highly educated prosperous societies, and AI-controlled interstellar travel – this is the vision for Brisbane in a thousand years’ time.

With the Olympic Games on the horizon, business and industry leaders have shared their views on how the state can blossom ahead of 2032.

But what about far beyond that?

The Courier-Mail gave a demographer and a futurist the impossible task of imagining our great city in 3023 and the response was fascinating.

Demographer Simon Kuestenmacher said the mainstream prediction is to imagine a dystopian future such as Water World or Mad Max, but he said the more productive option is to picture a positive world where humans are thriving.

Prominent futurist Ross Dawson agrees.

Reimagining Brisbane in the year 3023. Picture: DALL-E2

Catastrophic climate forecasts provide a gloomy outlook, where rising temperatures would leave the planet uninhabitable in hundreds of years.

So if we are able to survive to 3023, it would likely mean the planet has revolutionised its energy use and flourished on net zero reliance, according to the experts.

This would mean the planet, and Queensland particularly, would be an ultra clean and healthy society.

Mr Kuestenmacher said it was possible all the damage done to the planet could have been undone by 3023, and the world will begin to regenerate.

LIFE EXPECTANCY:

Both experts agree the life expectancy of humans will significantly increase by 3023, with Mr Dawson saying it was “very plausible” to imagine survival rates of up to 400 years and possibly more.

“Of course we’re not immortal, per se, but that we (could) have extended our life massively and have healthy lifespans far beyond what we consider within the realms of possibility now,” the Advanced Human Technologies chair said.

Mr Kuestenmacher was less willing to put a number on the maximum age expectation but both said technology advancements would have cured cancer and the creation of cyborg organs and other crucial body parts will increase lifespans.

The integration of cyborgs will help us live longer.

“In 1000 years, it’s plausible to say we will have individualised medicine — there will be a scan of your system and then you can get the right dosages, the right medicines, for any kind of ailment,” the Director and Co-founder of The Demographics Group said.

“Essentially, just make sure that all your spare parts in your body work for longer and we will have gotten better at replacing spare parts in your body.”

SOCIETY STRUCTURE:

The futurist and demographer both cite predictions global human population will peak between 2060 and 2080, with the possibility the total figure could be nearly halved in the next 200 years.

This means countries and cities won’t necessarily be overcrowded, even if we’re living for hundreds of years.

Mr Dawson said this will likely lead to a more prosperous society, with inhabitants who are advanced and highly educated.

Cyborgs will likely feature prominently in a future society.

“We will continue to have economic growth, we will continue to create things that make our lives simpler, more convenient, and better in various ways,” he said.

The futurist says parts of Queensland and the nation’s east could be subject to submersion as sea levels rise but most of Brisbane could sustain rising water given its topography.

“This will mean there’s massive displacement of people from other parts of the world who could well choose moving to Brisbane, or southern Queensland, as one of the most attractive places on the planet,” Mr Dawson said.

TRANSPORT AND GLOBALISATION:

Another typical prediction is to imagine flying cars zooming across the city such as The Jetsons but Mr Kuestenmacher said it was more likely we would have created an autonomous transport system rather than personal vehicles clogging communities.

“An integrated system that gets you where you want to be in the most efficient way,” he said.

“A smart system that’s fully autonomous and smart public transport — you just jump on and you need very few moving vehicles compared to what we have now.

“Something stupid like 95 per cent of all cars are always parked at any given point in time.”

Simon Kuestenmacher is a prominent demographer. Picture: David Smith

In a society where the rapid nature of travel will likely allow international travel to be achieved in a few hours, globalisation will be far more advanced, Mr Kuestenmacher said.

He said this will also ultimately affect how we look as human beings, with races mixed to the point we all look the same.

“South East Queensland will not be Anglo in a 1000 years,” he said.

“That will probably not even be a thing anymore because there will have been so much mixing and intermarriage throughout all types of places.

“It’s also a likely scenario to say, ‘well, how important are nation states and regions?’

“At the moment, nation states are important because we hold the power to borders and we hold the power to resources.”

This borderless world would place more significance on cities over countries, when the world will be dominated by global cities.

“Think back to the Greek city states where they were the ultimate power because this is where the intellectual and the financial wealth is being created, and I don’t see why this should be unrolled in the future.”

Futurists predict the world will be vastly different in the year 3023. Picture: DALL-E2

Mr Dawson also said he expected 3023 to be an “incredibly global society”, where people can live wherever they want.

“One of the questions would be the degree of nationalism and the way in which we protect nations or have continued issues around controlling migration, but I think we will likely be well past that,” he said.

“We will be able to create prosperity for people wherever they are.”

But what about migrating to space and travelling through galaxies?

Mr Dawson said it’s “extremely likely” there will be people living outside of earth but he says this will be a small minority.

“In terms of the proportion of human population, I still doubt it’s going to be very high because it is rather inhospitable on other planets in the solar system,” he said.

“For the foreseeable future, most interstellar travel will not by humans but by artificial intelligence we delegate to do that.”