The far future

[Bijo]

What do you mean by far future ? 2100AD ? 2500AD ? 5000AD ? Later ?

Any far future you can think of, whether it's 2100, 2500, in-between or beyond :)

[DemonArchangel]

http://onastick.net/sitz/images/

In the Grim Future of Hello Kitty, there is only war.

[KafirChobee]

Well, as a wiseman (or was it stoned? - Jim M.) man once said, "No one gets out alive". After all only one guy ever came back - it's on Ripley's Believe it or not ... so it must be true.

Corporations already rule, USA CEO's on average make 541 times (was 452X a bit ago) the median wage of their employees ($65K a year) - not that long ago it was 40 times the lowest paid employee. So, what we have is a self propagating corporate system that assures those that control the $$$$$$ of the world can influence one government or even the world economy on a whim, if they do not agree with a government or determine it would be even more profitable for them in the long run to create a depression scenario. They already have the influence to determine Presidencys and install their representatives through the pure will of tossing money at them. [last election here they dropped the gas prices significantly - lasted less than 6 months, and the problem really was that they didn't do it soon enough to effect the election .... they panicked .... and it may cost them ... or not - the Dems may benefit from the oil dollars ... flexabilty os not a problem with big oil - or the DNC or GOP].

As to the far future? Personally, I would like to see us get through this presidency - I mean this guy believes in the "rapture" (a fictional sci-fi, non-biblical based scenario) first, and I imagine we will. God, Allah, Jehova, Zeus, Jupiter, Odin, etc. willing. But,... first we have to survive this presidency.

Still, the nations of the world have always been influenced by the major companys (they liked to think were "under their control") - and have always been intent on a one up manship political philosophy of one sort or another with their friends and especially their adversaries (please note that most of those adversaries were also their major economic competitors). Self interest is, after all, self interest. And, there in lies the problem for any real advancement (of man in general) toward a more equal world - or to create an atmosphere of real cooperation (aside from alliances of war, always presumably to prevent one) amongst nations of any and all issues concerning the betterment of all mankind or any kind of realistic future that might allow all humanbeings to attain a modest form of dignity - or atleast the means to survive above a poverty level (or eat on a daily basis).

Thing is, the people have no power; even those that can vote are easily influenced by simple phrases repeated over and over and over again by whom so ever that has the $$$$money$$$$ to keep their message on the air long enough to out weigh reality. This will not change, it is inherent in how business is done and how politics has always been done (in nearly all Anglo-Saxon politico's created by white folk - as in my ancestors). Point is, the powers that be were once Kings and Queens - today they are corporations.

BTW, has anyone else noticed the number of influential (wealthy beyond imagination) families that have been around seemingly forever (some since before the Romans)? They stay quietly in the back ground and seemingly are apolitical. Or, atleast they rarely demonstrate an opinion publically - and why should they since ..... a word by the mighty can be a hurricane in the ear of an opportunist.

Still, my rant not being the point here, If those of you young enough become hippies soon and run out to the streets to force a confrontation with the powers that be - ya'll may deter things for ... 50 years tops before either the terrorists realize that all it takes is for a "wild pig" to crap in a lettace field (to screw up our food supply ... according to the present FDA) , or that if they are smart .... we will destroy ourselves in due process.

"Waiting for the sun". Is a great song .... but, man out of his own greed will not be here to see or fear it. Greed, and ignoring the needs of all mankind will end all hope far before that occurs. Slavery? When exactly did that end in the world? Heck, the GOP'ers even introduced a Bill in 2005 that would have allowed kids to work in factories in the USA,;the GOP wants slavery - just not here, right now - they need time to explain what a good thing it would be for the economy ("econ-o-me" being one of their mantras that works for the dipshits that vote for mantras and not the rights of others than themselves, it is as it has always been. The GOP (GreedOverallPeople) have lost their course, their original beliefs ... oh wait ... their belief began when Silent Cal proclaimed "the business of America is business", that pretty much summed up what the new existance of America was and is ... and it should have warned the world of our import. Our purpose.

That purpose will end the world, at the first sign that we (USA) seems to be losing ground as a (the) "super power" we will attack any and all. It isn't our nature as a a populace - it is our ego and ignorance as the nation that sets world policy. If we can't be the top gun, then neither can anyone else. We are what we are, sad as it is - if we can't be numero uno, then ya'll may have a problem. Get it? BTW, Expect the Brits to get real excited if their "empire" shrinks much further.

Youngsters? Get behind the environmental initiatives of your particular nation, go to the streets when your nation sends your troops into places on the whim of your leader, and question everything - wrong is when one is silent - not when one makes a fuss and is wrong .... thing is the fussy ones are more oft right than those supporting their government's whim.

When one ceases questioning something ... they accept it.
When one stops asking questions that challenge the powers that be, then they accept them.
When no one is allowed to challenge the powers to be, then the powers that be win (those that challange that end up in a Guatanimo. By the concession of those fearing being called unpatriotic, unAmerican (unBritish, un_____insert nationality), they lose the ability to present theie own arguement. The acceptance of a lie is still the acceptance of lie..
Thing is, they won ... (in the USA atleast) about the time that Ike tried to warn us of the Military-Industrial-Complex (add Congress after military and you gots today). It is their option of when the world will end. 500 billion years ... right?

Future? Good luck with that -beyond 18 months. Honestly, I became a pessimist from experience - not because of a political affiliation. I came out of 'nam with an optomistic attitude toward mankind and my government, and maintained it 'til I was dumb enough to believe in Nixon's secret plan to get us out of 'nam (ergo save my friends scheduled to be fed into the machine). 'Nam was, is, and will always define the future for some in America - those willing to go into the next war as blindly as we did 'nam and then Iraq .(2003) ... 80% of America CAN BE convinced of anything after a crisis - or is that christist. Regardless, look to America to make or break the future. And people that have seen friends die in a war the politico-military-say-anyhing-Westmoreland-told-us-we-are-winning - we once adjusted our war policy so a 'nam situation might not happen again. Bush43, proved that a candidate need not win an election, so much as keep the count close enough to send the decision to people of that prefer your GOP party to one that might continue

The more crap fed americans, the more they love it. Give 'em a good commercial and they are happy ... as long as it resolidifies their prejudices. Thay is why we won't find or qurstion about our prez telling us to duck when he (whom ever .... my bets on a GOPist) decides yo protect us all from what ever the popular theme of the day is. You know?

Future world? Crap, how about surviving the near future. One thing that maybe a deciding factor in the length of our "future" is the sharing of wealth. See any future in that?

[Shaka_Khan]

I think the middle class will take over the world. They'll invite the poor with them to overthrow the rich CEOs, but after the revolution, the middle class will double cross and enslave the poor.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Dear God, aren't you lot gloomy?

I think the next few years will certainly be challenging, but we shall soon solve our energy problem - ie its finite nature. With the resources of fusion power providing practically free energy, science and technology will be able to solve most of the world's food problems and free people from the slavery of endless toil. Capitalism and the free market will play a big part in this, but soon it will be possible for everyone to have pretty much what they need and aggressively competitive behaviours will fade - as they have done for most people in the first world now. Corporations will be brought to a more positive influence because education will increase and no-one can control a free and educated people.

As with the developed world currently, fewer and fewer children will be born, stabilising and then reducing the population. Because people will no longer need to work to live, more and more time will be spent on self-improvement. Gaia will start to reassert herself because we will no longer need to be sucking her life blood for our very existence.

When everyone is able to live in a decent and fulfilled way, money (as the measure of competition and the apparent guarantor of security) will no longer be used. Personal happiness will be the status of the day.

Given how far we have come (in the developed world) even since the mid-nineteenth century (let alone the last two thousand years) in terms of health and personal leisure time, reduction of the need to fight each other every day and other benchmarks of a peaceful civilisation, I don't see this as unreasonable. Heck, even in my lifetime I have seen miracles.

I despair at those who always bring up our animal natures as our doom. We are transcending those natures already, healing the sick, sharing wealth and so on. We are not slaves of our genetics, we have the proven ability to be more than those base drives, and I believe one day we will all see the benefits of that ability.

[KafirChobee]

Dear God, aren't you lot gloomy?

I think the next few years will certainly be challenging, but we shall soon solve our energy problem - ie its finite nature. With the resources of fusion power providing practically free energy, science and technology will be able to solve most of the world's food problems and free people from the slavery of endless toil. Capitalism and the free market will play a big part in this, but soon it will be possible for everyone to have pretty much what they need and aggressively competitive behaviours will fade - as they have done for most people in the first world now. Corporations will be brought to a more positive influence because education will increase and no-one can control a free and educated people.

As with the developed world currently, fewer and fewer children will be born, stabilising and then reducing the population. Because people will no longer need to work to live, more and more time will be spent on self-improvement. Gaia will start to reassert herself because we will no longer need to be sucking her life blood for our very existence.

When everyone is able to live in a decent and fulfilled way, money (as the measure of competition and the apparent guarantor of security) will no longer be used. Personal happiness will be the status of the day.

Given how far we have come (in the developed world) even since the mid-nineteenth century (let alone the last two thousand years) in terms of health and personal leisure time, reduction of the need to fight each other every day and other benchmarks of a peaceful civilisation, I don't see this as unreasonable. Heck, even in my lifetime I have seen miracles.

I despair at those who always bring up our animal natures as our doom. We are transcending those natures already, healing the sick, sharing wealth and so on. We are not slaves of our genetics, we have the proven ability to be more than those base drives, and I believe one day we will all see the benefits of that ability.

Good luck with that, as I said, I too was once an optomist. I like your summation more than mine, but .... mine is more realistic.

[Duke Malcolm]

I think the middle class will take over the world. They'll invite the poor with them to overthrow the rich CEOs, but after the revolution, the middle class will double cross and enslave the poor.

Isn't that already happening?

[English assassin]

I for one welcome our cephalopod overlords.

A few less random thoughts:

Space travel will not releive population pressure. There just isn't enough energy to get a billion people out of the earth's gravity well. We're here and we're staying. I wouldn't think colonisation of the solar system was at all impossible (query why you would do it) , but I would see it leading to an Asimov style world or a packed earth, and largely empty skies, with the humans occupying each having very different lives and agendas.

There's got to be a serious risk of it all going Pete Tong in the next 100 years. Global economy, peak population, possible energy crisis, climate change, all making a nice set of problems for the middle of the century. This will require global political leadership of great courage and insight. On present showing, then, we are ed

If we get over that, Borg-world ! At 37 I'm not exactly an old fart yet, but even in those 37 years our increased connectivity and reliance on technology is remarkable. I can phone America on the train! I carry my record collection in my pocket! (Some might question whether digitising Saxon truly represents progress, but I digress). I talk nonsense on an internet forum ! And this is just the start. I find the whole myspace-social networking thing very odd (whatever happened to "I vant to be alone?) but ten million teenagers can't be wrong. Even without fancy implantable technology (which I suppose is possible, although I have to ask why you would want to) the social changes this connectivity will drive will be huge. Once they are all networked up with always on high speed wireless connectivity in gadgets the size of an Ipod will people even think of themselves as individuals any more?

God help us. I'll be sitting under a tree reading a book

[Whacker]

Isn't that already happening?

Completely opposite in America actually... Middle class has taken a huge beating in the past few years.

[Odin]

Very nice romantic notions here, that somehow humans will survive to destroy themselves in combat of some kind, I always like those.

I suspect that in the immediate future a clever lot will get a nuke and set it off in Washington DC creating a massive vacum of power in the states where we end up with 4-5 new countries.

For the rest of the world? I dont know pick your nationalistic/historical hatred and amplify it with the availability of advanced weapon systems and anamosity over resource/wealth imbalance.

Or


All of us continue to piss into the wind, Mother nature pisses back and the deteriation of the ozone/global warming becomes irreversable and we all go down the crapper.

Then the insects get thier shot for 2-10 million years.

[KukriKhan]

We're about due for a new religion, so I think that'll happen in the not so-distant future.

Politically, we've been identifying with larger and more-encompassing groups, from Family, to clan, to tribe, to city-state, to nation - while philosophically moving in the opposite direction, toward emphasis on the individual human, and his rights and responsibilities.

So, IMO, we're in need of some kind of unifying framework to embrace all that, and maybe move beyond our reliance on the movement of electrons for connection to a broader world than our individual eyeballs can apprehend. Especially since getting those electrons to swirl about so far entails sucking up the residue of our dead predessessors, ultimately, a finite resource.

[doc_bean]

@BG: An actual optimist is a rare thing these days

Don't get me wrong, I recognize we, as human, can show compassion and love towards eachother. The problem is, it only takes one bad apple to ruin the basket. In the good old days when someone wanted to be bad they might have killed someone, now they take their semi-automatic and kill 33, or make a nice bomb and kill 50 or so, how much longer before a single person can kill thousands ? millions ? (arguably, this already happened with Chernobyl, but let's classify that as an accident). There will *always* be people who resort to violence, and the damage they'll be able to do will keep increasing, We'll need to protect ourselves and bring an element of violence/oppresion of our own to the table because of it.

@Kafir : Can you name one of those families who has been in power since the Romans ? I'm honestly curious.

@EA: Perhaps someone will get the bright idea of introducing "Democracy Live!" where the representative democracy is dropped in favour of a 'full' democracy where everyone can vote on everything if they want to. Imagine the people voting for BB exits now voting for your laws...

@ Seamus and Rotorgun: I don't see space travel developping before there's really something out there worth our time, effort and money. The people financing those endavours will probably remain on earth and would want something tangible for their money. The people leaving would need a really good reason to leave. Remember that the 'new world' back in the age of discovery was a pretty nice place to go and live, Mars ain't.