DBWI: What will the 1960's be like (from OTL 1960)

This what I thought the other thread meant. From Jan 1 1960: what will the decade of the 1960's be like?
 
I think Castro will be overthrown within the year.
In the US election, Stevenson or maybe Johnson against Nixon, probable Democratic win over economic issues. Maybe Kennedy as Vice President.
The Cold War.
The St. Lawrence Seaway changes the economy of the US and Canada by making shipping east-west easier.
Decolonization continues throughout the 1960's, but I can't see Singapore surviving as an independent State.

As for space, I think the Antarctic treaty will be a model for cooperation in space, and there will be a joint US-Soviet moon landing within the decade, as the Cold War gradually ends.
 
Full scale nuclear war and the extinction of human civilization :(

Seconded.

EDIT: As a matter of fact, thats such an obvious prediction to make that we might as well add "assuming we don't all die."
 
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I predict that there will be a revolution in international business, at least among the western powers. Basically, instead of each nation being a single small 'market', they will consolidate into regional markets, if not a single 'global' market consisting of all the non-communist countries.

With modern transit networks - highways and rail stretching across countries, and air transport becoming more and more widespread - goods and people can move faster and cheaper than ever before. International telephone lines allow for nearly instantaneous, if still expensive, communication between groups in Europe, the Americas, and the Pacific Rim. Cargo ships are becoming larger and more capable every year. As new technologies - like artificial satellites and supersonic travel - become available, these will only become more prevalent than ever before.

Since most nations rely on tariffs less than before - as income and general sales taxes are now the primary means governments have to raise income - moving goods between countries shall also become much easier.

This will change the way the economy works, and its already begun - with crops like coffee, chocolate, and bananas that only grow in certain areas, they are shipped around the world, or with cars (most Americans buy from Detroit, but some prefer British or Italian models). What soon will happen is that this will happen with most or all goods. You know how difficult it is to get fresh fruit and vegetables in the winter? No longer, when it is affordable for the average person to buy fruits/vegetables grown in the southern hemisphere, in South America, Africa, or Australia. You won't even need to settle for frozen or canned vegetables, if jet aircraft can transport them from the field to the grocer within a day or two.

The real revolution, though, will be communication. I think the next major advance in communication will be the ability to send image across telephone and radio connections, by using a binary code similar to what computers use. It won't be anything like a science-fiction videophone or something, but sending documents across continents is certainly doable - I think computers, at least, may already be capable of sending text messages across telephone lines. This will allow businesses to send reports across the Atlantic and Pacific. Imagine how much more efficient many businesses can become if they can simply send their materials to their branch offices across the ocean? For time-sensitive material, you can even have a business with 3 offices working 24 hours a day total, without ever having to work abnormal hours - say, have a London or Frankfurt office, a Chicago or Denver office, and a Tokyo or Sydney office, sending documents on at the end of each 'day'.

Computers should also be revolutionary - they're becoming cheaper and smaller, so even smaller businesses will be able to afford one soon. The cheapest one I've seen is about $50,000 and not much bigger
than my desk. Ten years ago, computers cost a million or so, and only maybe a dozen or two existed; now there are several thousand of them. I think by the 1970s, we'll break the $10,000 barrier, and small businesses and wealthy, adventurous individuals will be buying refrigerator-sized machines which will allow them to keep records and prepare documents like never before. I don't think home users will find much use for them for a long ways, at least - certainly not within the next 20 years - but businesses will LOVE them.

Finally, outer space. Most people talk about going to the moon or something. That's nice, yes, especially long-term - but satellites are the real revolutionary component. Launch a satellite into a geostationary orbit (that is, staying above a certain spot on Earth), and it can send and receive radio signals from about a third of the Earth's surface - transatlantic or even transpacific radio signals, no telephone cables necessary! And you can position a handful of these satellites to send and receive from each other, too - to allow for instantaneous communication across the world.

All this should only help the West, as most of these things wouldn't concern a communist bureaucrat. They may have started out in space first, but they don't have anybody who would view the business angle of space; by 1970 I think NASA will be partnering with AT&T and their equivalents in other western countries to launch communications satellites.
 
All this should only help the West, as most of these things wouldn't concern a communist bureaucrat. They may have started out in space first, but they don't have anybody who would view the business angle of space; by 1970 I think NASA will be partnering with AT&T and their equivalents in other western countries to launch communications satellites.

Who's to say that the Commies won't think satellite communication is a good idea? After all, the USSR is quite a large place- perhaps one might be able to relay messages to remote parts of Siberia?

Though I do guess if it happens at all, it will be for military advantage, or showing off their prowess.

What I hope doesn't happen is some form of satellite warfare, or space being used for military advantages in some other way.
 
Hopefully, Hubert Humphrey will become President of the US. Kennedy's cool, but I reckon he'll end up VP and become President in eight years. Here in Australia, I reckon Menzies is gone as soon as Evatt retires.
 
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