Predictions about 2020... from 1994 

Can't wait for the next installment of this video in 2046... see you there everyone!

I watch The Onion for accurate predictions about the future

I predict that by 2035, most people will be 14-15 years older than they are today

"Even if I'm President of Canada." Um, JJ, don't you mean "Prime Minister of Canada"? Or are you making another prediction about the future?

I’ll be voting J.J. as president of Americanada in 2046

"...let's hear some of your calm, moderate predictions" JJ TO HAVE HAIR LONG ENOUGH TO TOUCH HIS ANKLES

I predict that all the oil rich Middle Eastern countries will collapse in the next 2 decades. Two reasons - one, they are too reliant on one resource that will eventually lose its value in a world increasingly moving towards clean fuel. And two, 80% of their population is comprised and run by expats from South Asia who are not given any rights of equal residency or citizenship - once the economy dries up, they will have no stake or reason to stay, while the local unskilled population is incapable of running a country on their own. I’m willing to bet my last penny on this prediction.

I think everyone forgot around the end of 2019 when we were joking around about how they was going to be a plague in 2020,Just like 1720,1820 and 1920.

"A _vision_ of 2020" It's such a shame that this pun can never really be used again.

I think in the next 20 or so years, we're going to see a steady increase in conditions like depression and anxiety all throughout the western world. We'll reach a state where going to a therapist and taking medication will be considered as normal as going to the dentist, in comparison to a time like the 1950s where people really looked at you funny for that sort of thing. As such, we'll see many new mental health facilities being opened up to cater to this need and increasing integration of mental health care and technology, such as telemedicine. Mental health care in various forms, more or less formal, will increasingly become a huge and very profitable industry. Currently, there's a common belief that things like depression are a result of some moral failing, or the result of spending too much time on the computer, etc, but as time goes by, the older generation (who often find these kinds of mental health struggles hard to relate with) dies and more and more people are treated with these conditions, the prevailing attitude will just be that depression and anxiety are simply facts of life that everyone has to deal with.

by the year 2046 I predict JJ will have so much memorabilia that behind him that they will unite into one sentient being which will provide colorful interjections during videos

I predict that by 2046 computers will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings in Europe will own them.

The great thing about writing a book predicting the future is that you can sell it two times: once at publish date and once after prediction date! It's GENIUS!!!

Some of my predictions for 2046: Energy: A majority of global electricity production will be from renewable sources, though fossil fuels and nuclear will still provide significant fractions, and there will be several countries where internal combustion engine vehicles are straight up illegal. The biggest sources of renewable energy will be very cheap wind and solar, probably followed by hydro (which will have seen little or no cost reduction compared to now). Geothermal and marine energy also have the potential to deliver huge amounts of power sustainably, but I'm not sure 25 years is enough time to scale them up. It's plausible thermodynamically viable fusion will exist, but it'll be a very small part of the global energy economy if it does. There will still be a large market for oil, but it'll be shrinking and today's energy exporting countries will have suffered severe financial strains, in some cases consigning their populations to decades of stagnating or declining living standards. Demographics: The number of children born per year worldwide has been more or less constant since the 1980s, so by 2046, global population growth will have slowed to a crawl. The average age of the global population will have increased a lot and many of today's middle income countries (almost certainly including China) will have shrinking populations. Geopolitics: I hope I'm wrong about this part, but I expect China will become a semi-pariah state with a stagnant economy and an ossifying autocratic political system. If you tried to explain the levels of optimism many people, including myself, had towards China in the early 2010s to most teenagers in 2046, they would look at you askance. The United States will remain the world's most powerful country, though never with the kind of influence it had at the start of the century. India and Africa will be much more important on the global stage than they are now. The EU will not have changed too drastically, since Ukraine is the only large country that still has much chance of joining; the UK will also have a constituency for rejoining but by this time it will mostly be aging eccentrics and both major parties will be explicitly committed to staying out. Other: Some crewed missions may have reached the moon or Mars, but the current space colonization fad will have been quietly abandoned once policymakers remember these worlds are unimaginably remote and inhospitable wastelands and no, I don't think I'm being too harsh there. In some developed countries, Vegans and Vegetarians will be over 10% of the population, possibly over 20%. Most countries, including many African and Middle Eastern countries, will be noticeably less religious than they were in 2020. COVID will still exist in isolated pockets and cause sporadic outbreaks, but wont materially affect most people's lives. Life in most of today's Least Developed Countries will have improved significantly. Late 2010s/early 2020s nostalgia will be near its peak.

I love how in the quote sections, the font/typeface chosen is very typical of the mid 80s to 90s commercials. A very nice touch.

I love this channel because it feels like you are actually there, sitting around the campfire with him, rather than just listening to a story or taking a lecture.

Kind of impressive that he predicted *Parasite* would win best picture, wow

The Siiiiiiiiiiiiimpsoooons! Can’t predict the future.

Eh. I think when it comes to the water shortage prediction, McRae might’ve been wrong if he was talking about North America, but in other places in the world, the threat of a water shortage is very real, as he predicted. South Africa’s water shortage and irrigation issues and the dam dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia, which came close to starting a war last summer, are prime examples of this. I think the reality is that the water shortage issues aren’t as widespread as McRae might’ve thought, but I definitely wouldn’t say they aren’t a concern right now in the world, or, at the very least, that they aren’t going to escalate sometime in the near future.

His personal feelings may have slipped in a bit at the end. Just a lil bit.

Yeah but is it as accurate as Time-Traveler Noah’s prediction about Canada in 2030?!

I always love hearing how predictions play out several years later

Nothing to do with the video, but how many items of clothing does J.J. own? It seems he wears an outfit one video, and then a different outfit the next, with neither being worn again in videos...

What do you mean this guys writing wasn't in some way motivated by his political beliefs when he literally said one side of politics would be reliable and establish strong, rich capitalism and the other side would be whiney.

My prediction for 2046 is that there would have involved some sort of military conflict with China. I don't know if I'd go as far to say all out war but there will be some escalated aggression. I do think that some diseases such as HIV/AIDS and some minor forms of cancer will have cures. I think that life between now and 2046 won't look terribly different and won't look like some Sci-Fi movie (the movie GATTACA comes to mind for some unknown reason). However, I do think most people will have to put more effort into searching for meaning in their lives as technological advances will mean that we would possibly have more free time on our hands as machines do more of the menial & repetitive work than the jobs of the past. I do see some professions just disappearing altogether and being replaced by machines such as accounting. Retail stores will mostly be replaced by showrooms and people would just order their desired items online. Supermarkets will follow the Amazon/Wholefoods model of having very few human employees and mostly rely on technology for purchases/transactions to take place with customers rather than queuing up at a checkout. I do think interest in cars will drop as more people will use public transport in urban areas and cars will just be for hobbyists and people who live in remote areas.

JJ clearly hasn't looked at the Middle East and Ethiopia and Egypt for water wars

As far as future predictions go, I'd say McRae did pretty well.

The joy of a new JJ video now also includes to see how his hair has gotten longer :D

Evidence suggests that Waluigi will be added into smash bros by the year 2030

the “tug of war” prediction seems pretty biased in how he portrays one group against another.

To be fair that dudes predictions seem to be a little bit affected by his conservative ideology too.

I feel like we could have our first millennial president in 10 years.

I love it when someone makes a reasonable prediction and has facts to back it up. My best example is you, because you are so calm and informative.

Although he was pretty neutral in his predictions, he seemed pretty biased when he talked about American politics lol

just want to clarify because there may have been a bit of misinformation about one third into the video about 'alternative energy' the facts are that solar is THE cheapest form of energy and there are no safety concerns with the use of solar energy, wind is cheaper than coal but cannot be sustained without government funding as solar can be at this point, there are safety concerns with wind but they area less than the safety problems we know are associated with fossil fuels. that is all

8:38 To be honest, Emmanuel Macron was in the incumbent party before leaving it and is a former banker, so his election is not that big of a shock. However, it's true that many people are today pushing for a sixth republic, like Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who finished fourth with 19% of the votes in 2017.

11:53 While I agree with you that most of the analysis in this book seems to be commendably unbiased, this statement strikes me as belonging more to the bad type of prediction. That is, the statement is both very ideologically loaded and hasn't been fulfilled. We're definitely seeing a lot political polarization, a "tug of war," but the even if you accept the premise that leftists are just whiners, the idea that the current American right-wing zeitgeist represents rugged individualism is absurd. When I think "personal responsibility," I don't think of defiantly refusing to take precautions against a pandemic and storming the capital building because you can't admit you lost an election. Of course that's not all conservatives, but it is unfortunately the most powerful and influential strain of them for the last four years.

Gold bugs fail to recognize that there is inherent value in believing a currency is valuable even if it's just paper. If someone is willing to accept $1.50 for a cup of coffee or a candy bar then it has value based on people's willingness to accept it.

I predict that in the future, people around the world will be eating and drinking at around 12-1pm on most days, roughly during the time and occasion we currently call lunch...

I predict that in 2046 the EU will be somewhat larger with at least more of the former Yugoslav republics joining but likely it will be at most moderately more integrated than today. So basically I think the trend predicted by McRae will continue for the time being.

Actually the water part is true partly, Hoover dam is running out of water and most of the lakes in california are almost dry. If you live in California or Nevada this won’t effect you very much right now and if you don’t live in that area at all you’re good.

Ideological: "Late-stage capitalism" Not ideological: "the robust individual self-reliance that created US capitalism and helped make it the richest country in the world"

"Productive and whiny" - this is wrong. There is a section of the US that have gone from productive corporations to corporations focused on rent-seeking and shifting as much unearned wealth as they can to their balance sheets. Some people are "whiny" about things like identity politics, but there is a very justified portion of the US complaining that these mega corporations are now becoming a drag on the economy rather than an engine for productivity.

Egypt is gonna experience a water crisis, with that Ethiopian Dam project.

Imagine the look on J.J.'s face when he finally becomes emperor of West-Hemispheria

bruh i somehow got here 30 seconds after the upload last time i was this early russia was an empire

Very funny that he predicted that France would have ANOTHER revolution. I’ve also seen that his prediction about China is echoed by plenty of people who think that China will sort of decentralized or even Balkanize once the nations core leadership loses its power to any extent. Also it seems like he thought that the culture war we have now would be waged more so by traditional conservatives against borderline Libertarians which is just sort of comedic to me.

The reason why more people didn't work from home, even though the technology existed to do so, was because employers thought that their employees wouldn't get their work done and would cheat. They wanted to keep them under their watchful eyes in an office. Well, the pandemic changed all of that and it turns out that people have been very productive working from home, and employers like the potential saving that could accrue from renting smaller office space. I predict more work-at-home opportunities in future, and something of a crash in the office real estate market, to go along with the decline in the need for retail stores, which is already underway.

for real if I could make a moderate prediction I can see the 2020s playing out very similarly to the 1920s with a few exceptions. I can see due to the pandemic we'll see an economic boom once life gets back to normal as people will be far more willing to live life to the fullest bringing back booms to any hospitality, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and such type businesses which do survive the pandemic. Social change will still change to be more liberal as I can see especially things such as legalisation of weed and a change in the values of the police and prison systems being the key progress of this decade as gay marriage was to the 2010s. Additionally young peoples values such as classifying your pronouns and breaking down of gender barriers will be very normal as it's something we've come to accept as normal. Trump will try to come back in 2024 but lose to a more moderate candidate as most voters will still feel very strangely about his last year in office. The Dems on the other hand will likely try to transition to a more radical system as congress-women such as Omar and AOC become more influential in the shape of the party causing a trump 2016 like rift to form. China and the US will start off a new cold war but not an ideological one such as capitalism vs communism but it will be over more specific issues such as china's treatment of muslims and hong kong, but more secretly it could be because the US is scared of Chinese imperialism spreading more across the third world and China is bitter about US companies going to countries where they can find cheaper labour as China itself transitions more into a black mirror type country with middle class lifestyle but a dystopian government still at the helm In Europe, Scotland will leave the UK, Boris will be the 3rd tory PM in a row to resign on the job and Keir Starmer will be elected. Apart from that I see thing mostly staying the same for most European nations

Man, we're already in the water crisis. Crop failures have been happening all over the world, and back when I still lived in brazil we had a year of water rationing 6 years ago because the reservoirs were below 0% capacity and drawing from emergency reserves. I don't doubt many people all around the world have similar stories. You just happen not to notice because you live in a first world country.

10:34 that aged well

wait you're telling me we don't live in late stage capitalism??

president of canada, now with 50 additional provinces

Is it just me or was his prediction about the US: "there will be growing inequality due to poor economic planning on big business/the government's part, also people who blame big business/the government for their problems are whiny"?

I got one: By 2050, all our issues would be worsened by the degradation of the environment in a global scale.

I love hearing how predictions play out

Reading predictions from the past is SUCH a fun pastime Check out the People’s Almanac trilogy from 1975-81, shit had some absolute GOLD in it

The part about 90s Italy being divided because of differences between northern Italy and southern Italy is a bit more complicated. During the 90s Italy went under a big chain of changes and it’s often marked as the beginning of a new historical period there. Maybe you could look up at what happened between 92’ and 94’, I think it could be interesting enough to be covered in a video or in a RU-vid short.

Memes about the Simpson’s predicting are out! Memes about Hamish McRae using common sense to predict the future are in!

I’m a bit disappointed J.J. The idea of late stage capitalism doesn’t automatically mean capitalism has to end immediately. It means, just like any other economical system, thru time capitalism progresses thru different stages and eventually morphs into a different system. So as capitalism goes on inconsistencies start to build up, which make it harder for it to function, like for instance global warming. It can definitely hang on to power tho, thereby prolonging it’s existence.

i would argue that this pandemic has exposed the inherent problems with capitalism, and if we don't do something about it, its a lot more likely capitalism will be replaced violently rather than peacefully.

What a nice birthday present! Thanks for all the videos, they have taught me a lot!

Hey JJ, I know your "Leader of every country" idea didn't turn out as interesting as you wanted it to, but maybe do a video series on the FIRST leader of every country? I think that might be pretty interesting.

these predictions are not entirely devoid of ideology. He only seems "moderate" because his ideas align nicely with neoliberal capitalism. the last prediction in the video was the best evidence for this.

I havent used "cable tv" for 8 years now and I'm never going back. Never going back to paying huge amounts for companies to show me ads.

I feel like his prediction on individualist capitalism vs "whiny" elements is a little bad. It genuinely ignores the disadvantages many working and middle class people have as well as the disadvantages people with disabilities and people of color face. Sure you can blame individual people for their actions but also on a bigger scale one person is only capable of so much. Sometimes it really is the government's fault for, say, lying everybody into war, sometimes it is the insurance company's fault for predatory practices, sometimes it is businesses fault for stuff like the great recession (which certainly wasnt helped by government). I feel like the dude is somewhat elitist but I dont know him personally so idk. He does have a point with what he says but I feel he goes too far in the other direction with it.

The thing that struck me most is when you said “The much newer tendency for people to refuse to take responsibility for the consequences of their own actions and instead blame the state, big business, etc” can apply to both left and right mentalities. And the really funny thing is they BOTH see the other side with that mind set, yet the people with those tendencies are on both sides... interesting.

We are 100% in late stage capitalism and it is 100% unsustainable. That's not even debatable.

Imagine thinking the prediction "China will become a loose federation" isn't an ideologically motivated one lol

Meat will become much more expensive and, while remaining popular, will be consumed less frequently by the majority of consumers

He was suspiciously accurate, it would be interesting if you could do an interview with him

There's a game from 1988 that predicts the future called Cyberpunk 2020. It's what inspired Cyberpunk 2077.

If JJ’s president of Canada, that means no more monarchy and no more Governor-General. Triple victory for JJ.

I appreciate your channel because you clearly strive to prevent your political biases and philosophical beliefs from coloring your videos. While most other channels and media are becoming increasingly politically polarized, you manage to remain fair and balanced, for the most part.

Literally in 2020 we saw the beginning of water conflicts over water dams in Africa and in Asia, so it's not a small problem. Also 9:26 did the Kaliningrad Oblast gain independence? xD

I misread this as “from 1984” and I thought you went full Dave Rubin

So you think capitalism will just never end. That sounds even more absurd.

Late stage Capitalism is not a Prediction of the future, it was never used to predict that by the end of it Capitalism will be no more, it is simply used to refer to perceived injustices and inequality in modern buisness development, late stage capitalism can also be said to be simply a chapter of Capitalism that in like Video Games has many different levels I love you man, but I recommend you read the book by Ernest Mandel, called “Late Capitalism”

kinda got chills at the end there when he said "aggressive common sense" will take back over. please, god. please.

J.J - I gotta say I watched probably the first 20 hours of your content with eyebrow firmly raised due to your previous adventures in Punditry on the Sun News Network. However, I am continually impressed at the very reasonable narratives of politics and history on this channel. So much so that I share your primers on Canadian Governance and political history with friends and family that express interest. So basically I'm writing this to say that if you admire an author like McRae you should be proud of how well you've done the same on this channel. That being said I don't know how you and pundit you are the same person, but truly it doesn't matter. Your impact here is a benefit to anyone who follows you and I hope you're proud of what you are managing to accomplish. Please keep up the great work. It's desperately needed.

There was a pretty great comic about the U.S./Canada water war that came out a few years ago, titled "We Stand on Guard" I'd definitely recommend it if you're into that sort of thing.

I’d love an interview with him today

I think JJ will in fact become President of the North American Union between Canada, Mexico and the USA 😌

He wasn't ENTIRELY wrong about water shortages. Lake Mead in Nevada in the U.S. is drying up, which essentially provides a lot of the southwest with fresh water. Similarly, Kazakhstan has a lake drying up. Also, the Sahara is increasing slowly in size.

11:10 That's actually very true. Although we see larger states of California and New York see a growing homeless populations, there is a lot of regions in the country that could easily pass for 3rd world countries. This is because many regions had an industry they used to thrive on only to see those industries move away to another country and see the once huge factory or factories in town shut down one by one leaving the towns on the brink of becoming ghost towns. In 2008, when GM nearly went bankrupt, a lot of cities with GM plants nearly lost their whole population and small business like for example diners that were nearby the GM plants slowly went out of business too because there was a chain reaction.

The whining class against the productive class is a seriously rightwing view on the topic of inequility economic or otherwise.

Ah yes capitalism is doomed to fail. Just like ancient Egyptians predicted 6,000 years ago.

If you really think we aren’t currently living through a slow collapse of society caused by capitalism then give me whatever you’re smokin man.

People weren't allowed to work from home because of capitalism and ableism. People don't want to work from home because interacting with other people in a sociable way is considered fun to some.

Would you make a second video about this book? I loved it, got so hooked that I couldn't believe it was that short!

last time a Canadian team won the Stanley cup was 1993...imagine if he made THAT prediction in 1994

The reason we didn’t work from home before is because they want to make sure we don’t get too comfortable at work

As a Marxist, I think we can all agree someday capitalism will end as all systems did before. An economic theory that bases itself on infinte growth in a world with finite resources is doomed to fail

JJs point on Marxism/Marxists only having an "Ideological Theory of Inevitability" and not an analysis of how the real world is kind of shows what little knowledge he actually has about Marxist theory. He could have given even a small argument against how Marxist predictions came about, but to say that the predictions were formed with no pretense is simply false :/

The funniest 1994 prediction my parents had about 2020 was that i would be a big success 😆

8:24 "political outsider". With a french perspective, I can assure you he is not. He was in the PS party before (formerly the main left party), and his mandate is rather the same that we could have 14 years before with Sarkozy (right). His political ideology is Liberalism, quite different as a "rebel" I would say... Regarding the next 2022 election, possible coalitions might occure between left parties and so and alliance between Macron (En Marche party) and the LR party (main right party). All that to say french is definitelly in the good old V Republic. NB: some political parties are indeed in favour of developing a new Republic.

JJ you were quite wrong about Orthodox Marxism, for it is based on historical observations of Political Economies. Dialectical Materialism is a science observed throughout Human history, therefore the scientific answer would be the Marxist one.

I didn’t realize the claims of late stage capitalism was one of those perpetual predictions.

Great video. As you said to place predictions here, I started typing that "In 25 years, J.J. McCullough will be the leader of the U.S.-Canadian merger movement " but then you interrupted my typing with your "President of Canada" line, and now I have to think about it some more.

*In the year 2077 they rated my city as the worst place to live in America*