2033

[pdogg]

So what will life be like 20 years from now?

 

Jeff Bezos of Amazon predicts that newspapers will cease to exist in paper form and he just bought the Washington Post.  I guess everyone will be on the subway with a tablet.

 

The future should be interesting.  I don't think I'll be flying  around like George Jetson though.

[xyzzy]

So what will life be like 20 years from now?

 

Jeff Bezos of Amazon predicts that newspapers will cease to exist in paper form and he just bought the Washington Post.  I guess everyone will be on the subway with a tablet.

 

The future should be interesting.  I don't think I'll be flying  around like George Jetson though.

 

  I'll be 78 so unless vending machines have HGH Cola I won't be meeting anyone at the PBG. Or whatever the Russians call it then. I just hope to not be too worried about the future. About as good as it get for me. "Jane, stop this crazy thing". 

[KenW]

Nobody knows. But just thinking back 20 years to 1993 and conjecturing about what life would be like in 2013 may give some clue.

 

Housing, work, cars, sex & romance, home gadgets, and all our other mainstream material culture were pretty much in place. The two big things to change dramatically over that double decade are computers and phones. So I predict we will see much change and faster change in that kind of gadget technology area and their flow-on effects (like computers taking over from print media). But probably not much change in many other things.

 

We will still have war, especially sectarian and ideological clashes. Whether there will be more or less terrorism I wouldn't like to say.

 

Education will continue to change. For a man of my type and values that implies more dumming down and less quality learning. (That's another thing reflected in the past 2 decades of change too.)

 

I suspect there will be more travel and tourism, another trend continuing from the past 20 years.

 

Poverty will increase or stay at about present levels, but the gap between rich and poor will continue to increase, and probably faster.

 

Plenty of other things to think about, but those are possibly the main ones.

[pacman]

More technological advancement has been made in the past 10 years than was achieved in the previous 10,000 years. Extrapolating on that, there's some incredible changes on the way. I doubt 20 years is enough time for us to see teleporting & cold fusion power & the solution to global warming but I expect most cancers will be cured, feudalism to be a reality in many countries & cars will be different in ways we aren't expecting.

 

It will take the next 20 years at least to solve the global financial crisis, that's because the US & the EU & the UK will need that long to figure out how to change the monetary system at the same time as they make their national debts disappear. There's no way they can ever pay their debts & new currencies & new bond markets are a perfect cover to rid themselves of the old way along with the money owed. Either that or the world goes to war over it. China will be placated one way or another.

 

Terrorism will continue to get worse & will result in every person on the planet being monitored, just like today but it will include our private conversations. And I don't just mean emails, etc. I mean every time we open our mouth. (Or maybe they just won't tell us about it.) People will scream at the loss of their personal liberty but once in place, big brother really will be everywhere. The trade-off will be no more terrorist attacks & we will adjust to it & accept it. Maybe not our generation but those that follow will know no different.

 

The cult of celebrity will grow so large that I predict it will result in its own demise. To be uncool will be the new cool. Like every popular trend that preceded it, once something becomes so prevalent, it destroys itself. There's a limit to how much self-aggrandisement & ego displayed by nonentities the public can stand & future generations will reject them en masse. IMO.There will still be popular artists but they won't be famous for just being famous.

 

The biggest health issue after cancer will be mental health. Once all the causes of the various mental problems (and cancer) are known (other than faulty DNA), there will be a wave of class actions launched against public companies like we haven't witnessed before. The manufacturers of certain chemicals & foods are likely to be ruined by the claims. Just my opinion but I hope to be around to see it. Nicotine will be banned & alcohol may become a controlled substance. Wishful thinking? Maybe.

 

Science will be able to detect all drugs & many Olympic events will be won with times last seen 30 years ago. Maybe 20 years ago but who's counting?

 

There's a few possibilities that come to mind. What can't be predicted are the numerous catastrophes that are statistically bound to happen. Major weather events are a given but what is next in store from Al Qaeda & others? In the next 20 years nothing can be discounted.

[Hefe]

In NYC right now 70-75% of subway commuters, by my visual guesstimate, are using devices on their daily commute already. 

[strocube]

The Empire will continue it's slow motion collapse as predatory, global capitalism eats itself, rendering huge chunks of the planet effectively uninhabitable due to extreme environmental degradation and massive social upheaval. If current trends are any indication, most people in the US will remain willfully uniformed, going about the business of maintaining and unsustainable system by continuing to consume, living medicated and endentured lives of quiet desperation, watching their lives ebb away in meaningless, humiliating drudgery, going to jobs they loathe and are alienated from, while the rest world collapses around them. Most people will be nothing more than disposable, landless wage slaves to be used as fodder for the prison industrial complex or the military industrial complex. Essentially, the third world will be "brought home" to Der Homeland even more than it already has been.

The system will be maintained as long as possible by coercion and propaganda. The usual formulas of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD), along with the time honored Hegelian dialectic of thesis, antithesis, sythesis, or in more recent times, problem, reaction, solution will be used by the poweres that be to keep a stranglehold on power. These ancient strategies of social comtrol will be aided by new technologies that will be used to further the oppression of the masses.

Have a nice day, kiddies:)

[TEXASMAC]

 I will be at Obsessions waiting for Pacman to give me another tour of Pattaya.

[pacman]

Wonderful...        

[pacman]

feudalism to be a reality in many countries 

 

If current trends are any indication, most people in the US will remain willfully uniformed, going about the business of maintaining and unsustainable system by continuing to consume, living medicated and endentured lives of quiet desperation, watching their lives ebb away in meaningless, humiliating drudgery, going to jobs they loathe and are alienated from, while the rest world collapses around them. Most people will be nothing more than disposable, landless wage slaves to be used as fodder for the prison industrial complex or the military industrial complex. Essentially, the third world will be "brought home" to Der Homeland even more than it already has been.

 

My comment above was inspired by a friend who swears that Feudalism is going to become common in the future. You & he should meet, you are both on the same page. 

[seven]

In 2033 Google owns the house you live in.

[seven]

Deleted by Google.

[bumblebee]

With the growing interest in the LB scene in the Philippines, via actual visits and online dating sites, maybe in 20 years from now it will be the main go to place for guys like us.  I'd imagine once they realise how big a tourist attraction LBs are to an expanding army of LB lovers it will be huge.  Thailand has reached it's limit more or less, how many more lb bars can open in Pattaya for example,  but if they start to open LB bars in the PIs on the Thai scale it has massive potential I feel.

 

There again having never been there, I could be way off the mark.

[Tomcat]

IMO

By 2033 both Thailand and maybe the PI will be as expensive as Taiwan if one extrapolates out the movements in wages etc

Already  KC3 or whatever its called is "asking" 3000 +BF+tip for ST . Long time dont even ask if you have weak heart

[pdogg]

I agree!

 

There is long term structural weakness in the economies of the West.

 

If paralegal work can be done much cheaper overseas that's where the work will flow.  And you don't even need a ship to transport the documents.

 

Now I suppose in the PI and India they speak better English so paralegal work won't be going to Thailand but the average bloke in emerging markets are doing better and the average bloke without skills won't be doing well in the West.

 

Somchai is catching up to Sammy!

[Tomcat]

Education by internet will soon shake up that cosy world as well .  and also medicine ...by 2033 every bugger will be carrying a Tricorder linked to the Hospital ( or whatever that thing in Star Trek was called). 

 

3D printers will by then be printing pills

 

Cars will using ammonia as fuel or hybrid fuel. Ammonia is the next big thing in fuel.

[pdogg]

One man's opinion of ideas and trends:

 

 

 

Who Will Prosper in the New World By TYLER COWEN

 

Self-driving vehicles threaten to send truck drivers to the unemployment office. Computer programs can now write journalistic accounts of sporting events and stock price movements. There are even computers that can grade essay exams with reasonable accuracy, which could revolutionize my own job, teaching. Increasingly, machines are providing not only the brawn but the brains, too, and that raises the question of where humans fit into this picture — who will prosper and who won’t in this new kind of machine economy?

Who will do well?

 

THE CONSCIENTIOUS Within five years we are likely to have the world’s best education, or close to it, online and free. But not everyone will sit down and go through the material without a professor pushing them to do the work.

Those who are motivated to use online resources will do much, much better in the generations to come. It’s already the case that the best students from India are at the top in many Coursera classes, putting America’s arguably less motivated bright young people to shame. “Free” doesn’t really help you if you don’t make an effort.

PEOPLE WHO LISTEN TO COMPUTERS Your smartphone will record data on your life and, when asked, will tell you what to do, drawing on data from your home or from your spouse and friends if need be. “You’ve thrown out that bread the last three times you’ve bought it, give it a pass” will be a text message of the future. How about “Now is not the time to start another argument with your wife”? The GPS is just the beginning of computer-guided instruction.

Take your smartphone on a date, and it might vibrate in your pocket to indicate “Kiss her now.” If you hesitate for fear of being seen as pushy, it may write: “Who cares if you look bad? You are sampling optimally in the quest for a lifetime companion.”Those who won’t listen, or who rebel out of spite, will be missing out on glittering prizes. Those of us who listen, while often envied, may feel more like puppets with deflated pride.

PEOPLE WITH A MARKETING TOUCH There will be a lot more wealth in this brave new world, but it won’t be very evenly distributed because a lot of human labor won’t seem like a special or scarce resource. Capturing the attention of customers with just the right human touch will command an increasing premium. Don’t forget that Mark Zuckerberg was a psychology major in addition to being a tech genius. Sheer technical skill can be done by the machines, but integrating the tech side with an attention-grabbing innovation is a lot harder.

 

MOTIVATORS A lot of jobs will consist of making people feel either very good or very bad about themselves. Coaches, mentors and disciplinarians will spread to many areas of life, at least for those of us who can stand to listen to them. These people will cajole us, flatter us and shame us into improving our lives, our work habits and our consumption. That’s why so many people go to yoga class instead of relying on the podcast. Managers who are motivators of first-rate talent will see their earnings continue to rise.

 

Who will be most likely to suffer from this technological revolution?

 

PEOPLE WITH DELICATE FEELINGS Computing and software will make it easier to measure performance and productivity.

It will be harder to gloss over our failings and maintain self-deception. In essence everyone will suffer the fate of professional chess players, who always know when they have lost a game, have an exact numerical rating for their overall performance, and find excuses for failure hard to come by.

Individuals will have many measures of their proficiency. They will have an incentive to disclose that information to get the better job or social opportunity. You’ll assume the worst about those who keep secrets, and so openness will reign. Many of us will start to hate the idea of Big Data.

 

PEOPLE UNLUCKY IN HEALTH CARE Quality surgery and cancer treatment cannot be automated very easily. They will be highly expensive, and unlucky health breaks will be all the more tragic because not everyone will be able to afford the best treatments.

With marvelous diagnosis available online, some people will get the right treatments early on, whereas others will know exactly what they are dying from.

 

PEOPLE WHO DON’T NEED MONEY We are used to thinking in terms of rich, poor and middle class, but those categories will change. Berlin’s eastern neighborhoods and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, are a window onto our future. These urban areas are full of people who are bright, culturally literate, Internet-savvy and far from committed to the idea of hard work directed toward earning a good middle-class living. We’ll need a new name for the group of people who have the incomes of the lower middle class and the cultural habits of the wealthy or upper middle class. They will spread a libertarian worldview that working for other people full time is an abominable way to get by.

 

POLITICAL RADICALS: A mechanized, computer-driven, highly unequal future is sometimes viewed as a recipe for rebellion. But the Edward J. Snowden saga shows this won’t be easy, as tech is at least as much an instrument for surveillance and control as it is for revolt. We’re also aging rapidly, and that tends to make society more peaceful, less violent and less extreme in all directions. It was the 1960s, a peak era for manufacturing jobs and the American middle class, that brought so much social turmoil and unrest. The more that work is done by machines, the less compelling is the case for putting your manufacturing in a distant country where wages are low. If there is any big winner from all of these trends, it is probably the good ol’ United States.

 

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/31/who-will-prosper-in-the-new-world/?src=me&ref=general