-2
$\begingroup$

following global trends it suggest that eventually fair skin will be as rare as redheads are today as Europeans or ethnically "white" people are staling or going down in population, eastern asians and southeastern asians are definitely losing population and the only populations that just seems to get bigger no matter what are Africans and Indians.

Would be then realistic to say that cyberpunk stories should be focused around African and Indian culture?

like in 2077 everyone eats hot curry rice with their bare fingers instead of using chopsticks or forks/spoons?

$\endgroup$
6
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ Population demographic trends are just that, trends. and trends are subject to change and fluctuation by their very nature, in the 1970s there was a trend for ever wider bell bottoms on our jeans, had someone with your matchless grasp of these things extrapolated the size of bell bottoms at that time I'm sure he would have also concluded that in 2024 we would all be wearing trousers with bells of prodigious and still growing dimensions requiring structural supports much like old hoop skirts [ponders] and that mini skirts would have disappeared entirely, that might have excited him I suppose :) $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented May 8 at 17:59
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Are you writing a documentary? (a) Why are you concerned about whether or not it's "realistic" for everyone to be dark skinned? (Your title question.) It sounds like you have a perfectly good rationalization for a rule of your world. (b) Why are you concerned about whether or not it's "realistic" for said people to be of African/Indian culture? (Your body question.) Once again, you appear to have a perfectly good rationalization for a rule of your world. I don't see a question here. (c) VTC:Needs More Focus for asking more than one question. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented May 8 at 18:01
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This makes a lot of assumptions, but fails to recognize a lot of really key factors. One of those is social trends such as the intentional lightening of skin or higher pursuit of lighter skinned partners that is common in some regions of Asia. The US is quickly normalizing to a more tan median skin tone, but that is also currently considered attractive. Population growth trends are also affected greatly by numerous socio economic factors that can easily change in a single generation. Lastly though, in a hyper augmented cyberpunk world, why wouldn't anyone just change their skin tone on a whim? $\endgroup$ Commented May 9 at 6:02
  • $\begingroup$ This question also ignores environmental factors. Dark skin is an environmental adaptation to high UV and reduces the risk of skin cancer. Light colored skin is an adaptation to low UV where the skin needs much greater efficiency in creating vitamin D. (Nordic skin is up to 20 times more efficient in using UV to create vitamin D than Sudanese skin while Nordic skin in Sudan is at high risk of cancer.) $\endgroup$
    – David R
    Commented May 9 at 14:20
  • $\begingroup$ @DavidR that takes thousands of years of evolution.... $\endgroup$ Commented May 11 at 18:17

2 Answers 2

4
$\begingroup$

That depends on what you consider "fair skin". If you mean almost pigmentless skin as in stereotypical Danes and Swedes and Norwegians, then such a condition has always been a small minority in the world. If you allow for some pigmentation, then where do you draw the line? About half of the people of India are clearly of the same biological stock as Europeans, just with a little bit more pigment than your stereotypical Greeks and Spaniards.

On the other hand, I am completely certain that China and Indo-China are not going anywhere any time soon, and absolutely not before 2,077.

On the third hand, whether everybody is eating curry rice with their bare fingers depends enormously on the story setting. If the story is set in 2,077 then I am almost completely certain that people of Indian and sub-Saharan African descent will still be tiny minorities in Central and Southern and Eastern Europe, and in Russia. I would be extremely surprised if everybody was eating curry rice (yuck!), let alone with their bare fingers, in a story set in Nizhny Novgorod in 2,077.

P.S. You may want to know that the fertility rate in India is nowadays below replacement rate... Which means that the population of India will continue to grow for a while, slower and slower, then it will plateau, and at some point before the end of the century it will begin to decrease.

$\endgroup$
3
$\begingroup$

I think it's best not to make assumptions. A well respected newspaper once wrote an article saying powered flight by humans would perhaps be possible in a million years. This was nine days before the Wright brothers first flew. Additionally, cultures can mix and evolve in unpredictable ways, especially when rapidly evolving technology is involved. If you're interested in writing a cyberpunk story where things take the route you described, however, feel free! I would encourage you to do some research, but fiction can be whatever it's creator wants. Also, it would again be important to have plenty of research. This seems like a topic that, with little knowledge, could go in unfortunate directions.

$\endgroup$

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .