&bull In 2010, the federal deficit reaches $15 trillion as the war in Afghanistan enters its ninth year and the war in Iraq its seventh. The British Broadcasting Company reveals that British and American agents have been operating undercover in Iran since 2006, and Iran and its neighbors sever political, diplomatic and economic ties with the West. The Department for Economic Stabilization is created by Congress and given the power to subsidize foundering United States corporations racked with impossible debts but crucial to the country’s perseverance. The Department of Homeland Security wins a landmark Supreme Court ruling expanding the limits of domestic espionage and creates the United States Intelligence Network to monitor Americans’ activities closer than ever before.

&bull In 2014, Apple and Google merge. After 2009, Apple’s market share expands by 45 percent. Apple begins tagging each of its products with GPS devices, and FindMe is born – an international human locator that interfaces with Google, letting anyone whom you allow access find you in less than 10 seconds, anywhere on the planet. The New York Times uses this technology to customize news delivery to each and every subscriber, and in 2016, the media giant ceases print publication.

&bull In 2021, medical researchers announce a vaccine for HIV. After thousands are inoculated, international authorities discover hundreds of villages full of dead Africans on the far southeast coast of the continent – 300,000 in all. Autopsies reveal various strains of the vaccine in the corpses, and evidence emerges proving vaccine trials were conducted in the area since 2015. Corporate pharmaceutical leaders as well as an entire graduating class of doctorate medical students are tried by an international tribunal and sentenced to death for genocide. The HIV vaccine becomes the subject of ethical and human rights’ debates across the globe, and many countries restrict its distribution.

&bull In 2031, a massive earthquake rocks the Mississippi River valley. Nearly 1.8 million people are killed, and a nearly two-mile wide crevice is left in place of the river. For almost 10 years, ground transportation from one half of the country to the other is severely limited. FedEx and UPS merge and are soon absorbed into the United States Postal Service, and it becomes the lead distributor of United States’ goods throughout the world.

&bull By 2050, populations in coastal areas across the country are forced to move inland by anywhere from two to five miles as water levels rise faster than predicted. It is predicted that by 2075, south Florida and Long Island will be uninhabitable. Evacuation begins.

&bull In 2056, the nation’s Hispanic population exceeds Caucasian and black populations for the first time. For the first time, no white candidate seeks election in the nation’s primary election, and the wall between Mexico and the United States is torn down. Mass immigration from the third-world country erupts civil unrest in southern Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Mexican terrorists, funded by Islamic interests in south Asia, seize control of state governments and cede from the United States. The Association for National Integrity, formerly the Department of Homeland Security, detects a surge in undercover operatives working for various Middle East and Asian nations as the nation faces another dark chapter its short history.

Adam Griffiths is a junior visual journalism major and a columnist for the Summer Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].