Actually, you probably won't have to wait.
It's gunna take awhile for ISPs to sell that many IPv4 addresses.
It just means you won't be able to start up your own ISP any time soon.
This is the part that I don't quite understand. It's not like the entire Internet is constantly talking to every other server in the world. There's no Internet Immigration Authority checking your IP Address to make sure it's totally unique in the world at all times. Wouldn't identical IPs only matter if they meet up in the same serverspace? Or am I completely wrong about how this works, which isn't unlikely.
Well, actually, IP addresses are actually addresses.
Imagine if two buildings had the same address + Zipcode/Postcode whatever.
Basically, you'd then have two places to send one piece of mail.
I still refuse to believe that an industry as massive as telecommunications would see a problem as apocalyptic as described from as far off as described, and refuse to do anything about it on their end. If the situation is as described, an entire industry stands to gain nothing and lose tons of money. Why would they allow that to happen?
This goes back the whole point.
Nothing bad is really going to happen. ISPs probably have enough surplus IP addresses to last them until they finally make the switch on their own steam.