It will never happen. Global warming will bring down civilization before we get that far.

The last vestiges of civilization will be the military.

.. and chrome.

2050 is 32 years from now.
32 years ago was 1986.

Compare Mumbai in 1986 to Mumbai in 2018. Now project the same amount of change by 2050. It's filthier and more crowded.
Compare Detroit in 1986 with Detroit in 2018. Now project the same amount of change by 2050. It's a virtual ghost town.

Somehow, I don 't see all the slums of Nairobi vanishing in 32 years to be replaced by shining towers of glass and chrome. It's make no sense whatsoever. Nor do I see the Victorian row houses of San Fransisco being plowed under, or the Brownstones of New York's Upper West Side being replaced by "futuristic" domes and pyramids 32 years from now.

In 1967 I worked in an office in the "Equitable Building" in Hollywood. Google street view of that building looks the same now as it looked 51 years ago. The "Pantages Theater" sign I could see from my office window hasn't changed in those 51 years. What used to be "Lums Hot Dogs" is now Starbucks, but the building itself has not changed. There are a couple new buildings, and most of the old ones have new paint, but the parking lot between my building and the Capitol Records tower where I parked my car every day for many years is still a parking lot. These idiots who dream of miracles in a mere 30 years are delusional.

space we envisioned would be against aliens, not against each other.

...from an orbital space station, hi-tech air to space fighters, Battlestars or Star Destroyers, etc.

But "spy satellites" taking out other spy satellites, communication satellites, Surface to Orbit missiles taking out enemy satellites, etc. Thankfully there are treaties to keep nukes being launched from satellites.

Think I read somewhere there are plans...or perhaps they already?... to drop metal objects that can survive re-entry and wipe out cities.

But how many countries are we talking about that have this capability or close to having it? The US, Russia, EU, China and India.

The rest of the universe will rest easier knowing we can no longer leave this planet.

If they can kill you from space, what good will your guns do?

On Star Trek, the USS Enterprise was always on peace keeping missions. Why can't it be that?

That devastated Earth.

Starfleet Academy courses, History
Human history

During the early 2000s, the international scene was deteriorating as well. The United Nations had been reorganized as the New United Nations. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint&quot A number of nations joined together in a union known as the Eastern Coalition. Hostilities between the Eastern Coalition and forces including the United States broke out in 2026 as World War III. The conflict soon escalated into full-blown nuclear holocaust, engulfing much of the globe and again nearly returning Human civilization to a dark age. 600 million people died across the planet as a result. The subsequent collapse of the global economy, political systems, and the drastic environmental effects of the war devastated those nations which had escaped direct nuclear attack. (Star Trek: First Contact; VOY: "In the Flesh"; ENT: "In A Mirror Darkly" production art)

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With most of the major governments collapsed, law and order soon degraded into a "guilty-until-proven-innocent", lawyer-free show trial system which lasted until 2079 in some parts of the world. (Star Trek: First Contact; TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", "All Good Things...&quot

The period from the 19th to the late 21st centuries also saw dramatic environmental degradation due to Human activities. Humans were responsible for the extinction of many species, including the draco lizard, white rhinoceros, the buffalo, and the humpback whale (the latter eventually proved to be sentient and were brought back from extinction by James Kirk). Human industrial activities also resulted in massive air pollution and degradation of Earth's ozone layer. The nuclear wars led to several "nuclear winters", as well as radiation poisoning of both Humans and animals. (TOS: "The Man Trap"; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; TNG: "When The Bough Breaks", "New Ground&quot
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Human_history

If only Gene Roddenberry had been alive today to see Trump and Un in action, that prediction is not that far off!

on airplanes that don't work.

It's like, "We have this whole frontier out there, ready to be explored! Let's stay on earth forever and invent new ways to kill each other instead!" I wish the human race was less violent and more intelligent.

We'll probably need to almost obliterate ourselves before we learn our lesson (if we survive and are humble enough). The solution to all of our troubles is out there, plain to see, but we would rather kill each other for the limited resources we have right now.

That was done when the space race was on in Kennedy's years.