2010s

The Decade as a Whole

This decade is expected to be called the tens or the twenty-tens, possibly the twenty-teens. This latter being historically consistent, as the 1910 decade has been popularily referred to as the nineteen-teens.

Events and Trends

The baby boomer generation which is designated as "officially" including babies born after the end of World War II in 1945 reaches the age of 65 beginning with this decade. 65 is the standard (though not universally accepted) age of retirement in the United States. A rapid expansion of the number of retired persons due to the aging Baby Boomers is expected to have a drastic effect on the economy of the United States and Europe, especially Social Security and Medicare. This expected surge in the distribution of retirement benefits has been dubbed the pension bomb.

• World Cup 2010 to be held in South Africa
• 2010 Winter Olympics to be held in Vancouver/ Whistler, BC, Canada
• 2012 Summer Olympics to be held in London
• Mayan Calendar panic in 2012
• April 15, 2012 100th aniversary of the sinking of the ocean liner RMS Titanic
• June 28, 2014 100th aniversary of the assassination in Sarajevo which triggered World War I
• World Cup 2014 to be held in Brazil (tentative)
• 2014 Winter Olympics scheduled, location TBA
• 2016 Summer Olympics scheduled, location TBA
• 2017 100th aniversary of Bolshevik revolution
• World Cup 2018 scheduled, location TBA
• 2018 Winter Olympics scheduled, location TBA
• 11 November 2018 100th aniversary of the signing of the armistice which ended World War I.
• 2019 50th Anniversary of NASA Moon Landing. Also 2020 is the deadline for the Vision for Space Exploration to put men back on the Moon.

Science

Both the International Linear Collider and ITER may be completed during the latter half of the decade.

Technology

• Around this time, the Hubbert peak of global oil production predicts widespread disruptions to conventional energy supplies of oil and natural gas. Some academic and business research into hydrocarbon deposits has concluded that the continued usage of this form of energy source will inevitably create widespread reductions in its supply during the 2010s, resulting in a sudden need to switch to alternative energy sources such as nuclear energy and "green" sources such as solar and wind power. Similar predictions about the "end of the age of oil" have been made almost since oil first became a major commodity, and so far no such predictions have borne out. However, Marion Hubbert's 1954 prediction that U.S. oil production would peak in 1970 proved to be startlingly accurate, so it is possible that the prediction of the same methodology applied to world oil production may be equally accurate. Still, it is a hotly debated subject. See also future energy development.

• Robot technology, as of 2006 still somewhat in its infancy, may cause changes within labour markets, although this event may occur later than the 2010s...

• In the year 2012, conventional CPUs are expected to reach their maximum computing potential, according to Moore's Law. Moore's Law states that roughly every 18 months the computing power of processing units will double. Reaching the maximum potential would have devastating consequences on the technological industry. However, this would open up the door for true quantum computing development.

Fictional References

• The Arthur C. Clarke novel 2010: Odyssey Two and its film adaptation 2010: The Year We Make Contact are set in 2010
• The events of Capcom's Mega Man classic series that give a date of 20XX take place during this decads. Tese games are Mega Man 3 through Rockman & Forte and the spinoff's (such as Superadventure Rockman). Mega Man 3 is the first game to shift from 200X to 20XX (thus it takes place circa 2010) and the other games span until roughly the year 2017.
• The anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion takes place in 2015.
• The Nintendo DS game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, takes place around 2016.
• Back to the Future Part II is part set in 2015 and features flying cars, self-fitting clothes and the Mattel hover board.

Supernatural/Psychic Predictions

In December 2012 some predict Armageddon, others predict a consciousness shift, extraterrestrials becoming public knowledge, New World Order, among many other things.