Australia could be an eco-friendly safe haven bursting with community spirit and human capital or a feudal dystopian nightmare in 2050, according to studies and forums being conducted by the CSIRO.
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However the one certainty is that the generation gap will still be wide.
''Parents will still be battling with their kids and technology, that's for sure. It's important to remember though the Mayan civilisation collapsed when they encountered the type of change we are being faced with in the not too distant future,'' Beth Fulton, a senior researcher with the CSIRO, said.
Dr Fulton and a team of scientists behind the Australian Academy of Science's Australia 2050 project are looking at and researching possible living scenarios Australians may find themselves in when the alarm goes off on January 1, 2050.
''We've spoken to a lot of powerful people, CEOs, bosses and the like but we also wanted to ask those in the general public, people who don't make the high-level decisions but have to live with the consequences of those decisions, questions about the future and what they think Australia should look like in 2050,'' she said at the Australia 2050 focus group, which was held in Canberra on Sunday.
Dr Fulton was impressed with Canberrans' foresight about the evolution of development, population growth and technology but was thrilled that many locals are already championing a lifestyle of ''collaborative consumption''.
''Things like car pooling and food sharing, Canberra is already leading the charge on this.
''Ideas about regional thinking, an economic revolution and thoughts on what the ecological cost of all of this will be were really insightful.
''Canberra has been the first group to think really broadly and have a really balanced point of view. They shared many similarities with the other groups but really thought big picture type stuff, not just about things in their backyard, and weren't overly pessimistic or positive about the future. They didn't just think about Australia but took into account the entire solar system.
''Someone asked 'how do we prevent the sky turning purple due to emissions?' while another suggested we'll all be partying on the moon in less than 40 years' time.''
The Australia 2050 seminar, which was held in conjunction with the You Are Here festival, was the third in Dr Fulton's series.
The project has also hosted similar discussions in Hobart and Brisbane and has so far engaged with more than 250 people through these public conversations and via online questionnaires.
Participants represent a broad cross-section of Australia's population and have been aged between 15 and 90. Some were born in Australia while others have been here less than a month.
