2038

Already, today, young people are having less sex and fewer partners than previous generations, though they are also watching much more porn and masturbating two to three times as often. That isn’t going to change, the Atlantic’s Kate Julian says, which means a future in which the gap between the sex lives we want and the ones we’ll actually have will yawn ever wider. Read her article here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Global warming will change much more than the world’s coastlines. Joel Wainwright and Geoff Mann, authors of “Climate Leviathan,” think it will bring about a new planetary sovereign, answering to no authority other than capital and climate stability. But they see other possibilities, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tyler Cowen thinks that in 2038, we're going back to the past. In the absence of major enemies like Nazis or Soviets, Tyler argues we'll see a return to the world of 19th-century American politics — bitter, rancorous, and dysfunctional, filled with fake news and presidents who probably shouldn't have been Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bruno Macaes thinks that in 2038, China will run the world (and maybe the solar system) thanks to its embrace of technology and its globe-spanning "belt and road" initiative. America will be totally marginalized and the new world order will also mean a Chinese-ification of global culture and values. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Missy Cummings is on the forefront of drone and driverless technology as a consultant and director of the Duke University Humans and Autonomy Laboratory. We asked her about the future of robotic-driving technology — from planes to trains to, yes, automobiles — and were a little surprised by her answer. The good news, though: Traffic will probably get better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices