Nationalism decreases

Probability: 51%

Timeline: 50 years

This is a tough one, so I can only really give it slightly better than a 50/50 chance. So the astute among you may have realized this isn't really a very good prediction at all. More of just a comment.

Overall, the world's population has become a bit more "mixed up" as people move around. And people tend to acclimate to a country's culture given enough time.

There are a number of people that consider themselves "citizens of the world" and aren't overly nationalist.

But there are far more people that get extremely fired up about their patriotism. Enough to be violent about it.

Hopefully the "us versus them" mentality will subside as society progresses, but at current, it's still really just a hope.

International borders open up

Probability: 30%

Timeline: 50 years

This is more of a wish than a prediction.

It seems that all countries -- even the ones you'd traditionally consider to be "poor" -- are cracking down on immigration.

It is becoming increasing difficult to live and work in a country other than the one you happened to be born in.

People's movement is restricted by governments, and increasingly, corporations -- as working for a local company is often a requirement for residency.

Unfortunately, nationalism seems to be on the increase, and I don't foresee this happening in my lifetime.

Robots will turn on us

Probability: 70%

Timeline: 50 years

Yes, I know, this has been a common theme in science fiction for decades now, but unlike the cheery future presented in The Jetsons, the Terminator scenario seems to be getting closer every day.

We have all sorts of unmanned probes and robotics, and computing power increases exponentially every 18 months.

How long until we can build something with the computing power of the human brain? If things continue as they have been, we could be looking at this happening as early as 2025 -- fifteen years from now. You can read why in this very detailed article.

So we'll have the computing power. But why would we program it to be able to make its own decisions? Doesn't that sound dangerous?

We already have lots of software that make certain decisions much faster (and often better) than humans. Think about airplane autopilots. They take inputs from the real world, evaluate them, and translate them back to outputs on the real world again.

Even still, why would a mechanical intelligence turn on us? There are a few ideas here.

At current, this outcome seems more likely than not, unless some other disaster sets back technological progress significantly.