Blog Dis
Twenty Years from now...
2025-03-04
Twenty years from now you'll look intently at your world, the environment in which you've constructed, the city or suburban neighbourhood in which you live, even the relationships you've built and begrudgingly admit to yourself that too much has changed.
Reflection is the better part of interpretation. Through the act of reflection, you regard what's around you with a discerning eye. Of course, things will change. Things and people are destined to change. But in what shape and form will they present themselves in the future? Speculative fiction generally tends to depict a bleak, cold and controlled future that is contrived by insidious governments. The reality is that life changes drastically, usually at the hands of a genius scientist, which in truth has been the heralding reason why each Millennium brings about a new world order. Think of the invention of electricity, the automobile, the computer, as but some examples.
In twenty years, technology will be fully integrated with humans, to the point that instead of lining up health-care services for an annual check up, we'll be going to high-tech booths to have implants installed in our temples upgraded w/ the latest, greatest software, thereby allowing the government to keep up-to-date on your personal details, that is health and money, your standing in the community, and outstanding criminal records will automatically download to every level of security. Essentially, the integrated circuit chip will no longer be a chip, or the size of current chips, but a mere dot, no bigger than the head of a pin, and this tiny dot will be installed behind your ear to look like a mole. And, the digital leash we now use in the form of our flip phone will be software coded into our veins, and our phone will become our hand, the images of our options floating like a hologram, in front of our eyes. Your whereabouts, heartrate, brain processing capability, even your last bowel movement will be known at all times.
Furthermore, Japan, China and Korea will have fully cornered the market on superior androids. These superior androids will cater to every sexual desire because a pandemic will have long wiped out at least several hundred million people, leaving over 90% of the population with an incurable disease, and so the androids will be utilized to fertilize females, over and above android wombs that'll also help to rebuild the population. Women and men will no longer feel the need to marry. Instead, children will be engineered by design to process lower levels of oxygen, while also being able to adjust their cellular structure to exist in controlled environments where oxygen is minimal, but just enough that it can be replicated to create a survivable biodome.
What will the new generation of children be like? Rotten to the core! If parents are given the power to engineer the personalities of their children, few would turn down the offer, and mothers will want loyal and dutiful sons with integrity and honesty, while fathers will want sports heroes and megalomaniacs because they will recognize that this harsh behaviour is what is called for in the cold future.
Fuel prices will have sky-rocketed to another planet, and taking hours upon hours to complete transatlantic travel will be reduced to a matter of seconds because our bodies won't actually be used to travel. Instead, our consciousness will do all the travel, conveniently downloaded into an android sex-bot, for those who really want to get it on and party, or a refined, gentle and polite tourist just landed to see the sights. Oil too will have been fought over prior to this future, and Canada will resemble a hotbed like the Middle East in that the Northwest Passage will have zero ice-cap remaining, which will result in a battleground between USA and Russia with Canada vying for table scraps. Our non-military and its peaceful stance in politics will be highly popular w/ the public but not necessarily applicable and practical in future.
The future will not breed empathy or compassion, or sharing, or regrowth because resources will have been raped and it'll be every android and human for themselves.
In other words, strife and wars will continue to rage throughout the world with all eyes on the dwindling supplies. It won't be pretty. Only the super, filthy stinking rich will be permitted to purchase airborne cars and the poor will be assigned pull-carts, pulled by humans on dirt roads bcus the on-going climate changes will result in a preponderance of earth quakes, tornadoes, taking place daily, perpetually, that paved roads will be a thing of the past. But grass will come back and kick everyone's ass, to the delight of the cows, and the dandelions and weeds will rejoice and sing!
Education too will suffer. Liberal Arts degrees will be viewed as a waste of time and studying the sciences will become only available, once again, to the super rich; the ones who control the whole kit and caboodle, and who especially control the fresh water supply. A young person getting out of University will carry with them a debt of half a million dollars, at a minimum. Crime will flourish. The segmented society between the very rich and the very poor will create an even greater divide and the middle class will disappear. Only the very rich will be able to afford higher education. Whereas, colleges will thrive and trades such as plumbers and electricians and the like will be able to charge outrageously exorbitant fees. Intellectual property rights and general rights to property will be deemed illegal by the government, without first applying for a licence from the government, which will be a false formality.
Freedom of speech will also be curtailed. Government will be the first to throw liberties out the window out of fear of the continued widespread misuse of reality. The ruling governments will not permit the printing of the truth in any newspaper. Instead, the poor will meet in secret holes under the Earth and talk about the days when they were allowed to rail against the stupidity of the government.
In twenty years time, food will taste bland and entirely devoid of nutritional value because the top soil on Earth will have been washed away by winds and regular tornadoes. Instead home grown operations will flourish the way marijuana did in the backrooms before each government legalized it to reap the benefits. Humans will create underground grow-ops of fresh vegetable and fruits that cater to the non-wealthy. We won't be eating people but meat like beef and chicken will become rare because animal rights activists will have obliterated all forms of meat processing plants. Soy and tofu will rule the world and heavy drinking will become a great pastime, rather than being forced to enjoy state-controlled television.
But all hope isn't lost! Love of art, literature, music, photography will continue to shape the world - these intangible realities have never been thwarted by the advent of the future and its changes. In fact, love will become a political movement that will evolve into a powerful socialist and constitutional republic and only those whose hearts are true will be invited to join as an active member. And although the future will at times seem not worth living, it will be through the love of the arts that people will go on and on, as they have in the past. The love of the arts will define our joy and our sorrow, holding up a mirror to the too-often cold environment of a frigid Universe.
Incidentally, I wrote this piece in 2008, seventeen years ago, which means there are still three years left on the clock. Regrettably, I'm not smiling because too much has come to pass, with more to come. So, if you already know what makes your heart leap, which for me is writing, travel, and partaking in life's simple pleasures... well, whadd'ya waiting for?
The future leaves everyone behind in the dust.
Reflection is the better part of interpretation. Through the act of reflection, you regard what's around you with a discerning eye. Of course, things will change. Things and people are destined to change. But in what shape and form will they present themselves in the future? Speculative fiction generally tends to depict a bleak, cold and controlled future that is contrived by insidious governments. The reality is that life changes drastically, usually at the hands of a genius scientist, which in truth has been the heralding reason why each Millennium brings about a new world order. Think of the invention of electricity, the automobile, the computer, as but some examples.
In twenty years, technology will be fully integrated with humans, to the point that instead of lining up health-care services for an annual check up, we'll be going to high-tech booths to have implants installed in our temples upgraded w/ the latest, greatest software, thereby allowing the government to keep up-to-date on your personal details, that is health and money, your standing in the community, and outstanding criminal records will automatically download to every level of security. Essentially, the integrated circuit chip will no longer be a chip, or the size of current chips, but a mere dot, no bigger than the head of a pin, and this tiny dot will be installed behind your ear to look like a mole. And, the digital leash we now use in the form of our flip phone will be software coded into our veins, and our phone will become our hand, the images of our options floating like a hologram, in front of our eyes. Your whereabouts, heartrate, brain processing capability, even your last bowel movement will be known at all times.
Furthermore, Japan, China and Korea will have fully cornered the market on superior androids. These superior androids will cater to every sexual desire because a pandemic will have long wiped out at least several hundred million people, leaving over 90% of the population with an incurable disease, and so the androids will be utilized to fertilize females, over and above android wombs that'll also help to rebuild the population. Women and men will no longer feel the need to marry. Instead, children will be engineered by design to process lower levels of oxygen, while also being able to adjust their cellular structure to exist in controlled environments where oxygen is minimal, but just enough that it can be replicated to create a survivable biodome.
What will the new generation of children be like? Rotten to the core! If parents are given the power to engineer the personalities of their children, few would turn down the offer, and mothers will want loyal and dutiful sons with integrity and honesty, while fathers will want sports heroes and megalomaniacs because they will recognize that this harsh behaviour is what is called for in the cold future.
Fuel prices will have sky-rocketed to another planet, and taking hours upon hours to complete transatlantic travel will be reduced to a matter of seconds because our bodies won't actually be used to travel. Instead, our consciousness will do all the travel, conveniently downloaded into an android sex-bot, for those who really want to get it on and party, or a refined, gentle and polite tourist just landed to see the sights. Oil too will have been fought over prior to this future, and Canada will resemble a hotbed like the Middle East in that the Northwest Passage will have zero ice-cap remaining, which will result in a battleground between USA and Russia with Canada vying for table scraps. Our non-military and its peaceful stance in politics will be highly popular w/ the public but not necessarily applicable and practical in future.
The future will not breed empathy or compassion, or sharing, or regrowth because resources will have been raped and it'll be every android and human for themselves.
In other words, strife and wars will continue to rage throughout the world with all eyes on the dwindling supplies. It won't be pretty. Only the super, filthy stinking rich will be permitted to purchase airborne cars and the poor will be assigned pull-carts, pulled by humans on dirt roads bcus the on-going climate changes will result in a preponderance of earth quakes, tornadoes, taking place daily, perpetually, that paved roads will be a thing of the past. But grass will come back and kick everyone's ass, to the delight of the cows, and the dandelions and weeds will rejoice and sing!
Education too will suffer. Liberal Arts degrees will be viewed as a waste of time and studying the sciences will become only available, once again, to the super rich; the ones who control the whole kit and caboodle, and who especially control the fresh water supply. A young person getting out of University will carry with them a debt of half a million dollars, at a minimum. Crime will flourish. The segmented society between the very rich and the very poor will create an even greater divide and the middle class will disappear. Only the very rich will be able to afford higher education. Whereas, colleges will thrive and trades such as plumbers and electricians and the like will be able to charge outrageously exorbitant fees. Intellectual property rights and general rights to property will be deemed illegal by the government, without first applying for a licence from the government, which will be a false formality.
Freedom of speech will also be curtailed. Government will be the first to throw liberties out the window out of fear of the continued widespread misuse of reality. The ruling governments will not permit the printing of the truth in any newspaper. Instead, the poor will meet in secret holes under the Earth and talk about the days when they were allowed to rail against the stupidity of the government.
In twenty years time, food will taste bland and entirely devoid of nutritional value because the top soil on Earth will have been washed away by winds and regular tornadoes. Instead home grown operations will flourish the way marijuana did in the backrooms before each government legalized it to reap the benefits. Humans will create underground grow-ops of fresh vegetable and fruits that cater to the non-wealthy. We won't be eating people but meat like beef and chicken will become rare because animal rights activists will have obliterated all forms of meat processing plants. Soy and tofu will rule the world and heavy drinking will become a great pastime, rather than being forced to enjoy state-controlled television.
But all hope isn't lost! Love of art, literature, music, photography will continue to shape the world - these intangible realities have never been thwarted by the advent of the future and its changes. In fact, love will become a political movement that will evolve into a powerful socialist and constitutional republic and only those whose hearts are true will be invited to join as an active member. And although the future will at times seem not worth living, it will be through the love of the arts that people will go on and on, as they have in the past. The love of the arts will define our joy and our sorrow, holding up a mirror to the too-often cold environment of a frigid Universe.
Incidentally, I wrote this piece in 2008, seventeen years ago, which means there are still three years left on the clock. Regrettably, I'm not smiling because too much has come to pass, with more to come. So, if you already know what makes your heart leap, which for me is writing, travel, and partaking in life's simple pleasures... well, whadd'ya waiting for?
The future leaves everyone behind in the dust.
