Kind of a slow newsweek. Anyone want to share their crazy predictions about the future that you dare not tell anyone. (1 Viewer)

[J-Donk]

I have two myself.

There will eventually be no corporate, or business tax of any kind. The market continues to be come connected, and that means we now compete against other nations. America has poor social services, and it will continue to be a hard sale for businesses.

Second, we will eventually do a major rewrite to the constitution doing away with Congress. Congress is by far the least popular branch of government. It's inefficient compared to a direct democracy. Furthermore, it's becoming apparent that our current form of government is starting to break down. It's far to open to corruption. So why not move over to a direct democracy now? The problem has always been how to get the votes in over a large area. We still need some time on this I think to get internet to everyone, and near absolute cellphone saturation.

 

[Galbreath34]

Can't see either of those coming. Especially direct democracy. We can't even handle voting every 4 years with an 18 month lead-up; we don't want to be bothered with voting on every issue, and those who would choose to vote on issues vastly misrepresent those busy working their jobs and raising their families. Sifting through the details of what makes a good or bad law is actually a full time vocation. We may have our disdain for politicians, but it's not a casual affair like arguing on a forum or by the warter cooler.

My prediction: Lawyers for Catholic hospital argue that a fetus is not a person - CNN.com will not end well.

 

[saintfan-n-alex]

No need for a re-write of anything - the following of laws and procedures is what is needed

In 3 yrs the name calling will loose its appeal and we will once again be allowed to criticize the president as we have been able to do up til 4 yrs ago

Not saying the name calling will stop but it will be "diluted"

 

[IntenseSaint]

I have noticed many talking about rewriting the Constitution lately, mostly from those on the left. Is this just hyperbole or something people are really serious about?

 

[Rickboy]

.

My prediction: Lawyers for Catholic hospital argue that a fetus is not a person - CNN.com will not end well.

WOW! Just WOW!

 

[drob8785]

This isn't really a crazy-prediction-that-I-dare-not-tell-anyone, it's more a crazy-prediction-that-I-think-has-a-better-than-most-people-think-chance-at-actually-happening.

Prediction: Same-sex marriage will be legal in all 50 states by the end of the year.

I think it's got a slim chance (25%ish), but that's probably better than what most people expect.

SCOTUS chose to hear cases on both Federal and State prohibitions against same-sex marriage, and I think there's a shot the Court goes ahead and rules them all unconstitutional.

 

[Sun Wukong]

The middle class will be all but eradicated, with wealth disparity and the rise of multi-national corporations creating a neo-feudalist power structure. Worker's rights will continue to be eroded as increases in automation and technology effectively eliminate major sectors of industrial work forces permanently.

 

[saintfan-n-alex]

Can't see either of those coming. Especially direct democracy. We can't even handle voting every 4 years with an 18 month lead-up; we don't want to be bothered with voting on every issue, and those who would choose to vote on issues vastly misrepresent those busy working their jobs and raising their families. Sifting through the details of what makes a good or bad law is actually a full time vocation. We may have our disdain for politicians, but it's not a casual affair like arguing on a forum or by the warter cooler.

My prediction: Lawyers for Catholic hospital argue that a fetus is not a person - CNN.com will not end well.

While I do see the hypocrisy - isn't the position they took the same argument that makes abortion legal?

 

[J-Donk]

I have noticed many talking about rewriting the Constitution lately, mostly from those on the left. Is this just hyperbole or something people are really serious about?

There will have to be a CU amendment. It's actually part of the party platform.

Actually rewrite it? Eventually it will have to happen. Most people don't realize that they won't be driving their car in 10 years. It's hard to get them to see the big picture about how radically different the world could be in 10-20 years.

 

[Galbreath34]

While I do see the hypocrisy - isn't the position they took the same argument that makes abortion legal?

I think the hypocrisy is the entire point. Nothing wrong with lawyers being hypocrits, they paid to do whatever they can to finagle the system. The Church not saying wait, money is not as important as our position, that's pretty bad, if not surprising.

 

[Galbreath34]

It's hard to get them to see the big picture about how radically different the world could be in 10-20 years.

It's very unlikely to be radical in any way you project. Even the best futurists are usually dead wrong.

In the late 70s and early 80s no one would have sensed what "being online" or "wireless" would really be. Some still had rotary phones and none expected us to walk around with computers in our hands connected worldwide. Heck, we didn't even really have more than toys on our desktops. We didn't expect huge flat screens at home and movies on demand, some of us still had tinfoil and pliers to turn the channel because the knob broke off.

We did expect the days of "gas guzzlers" and probably all cars as we know them would be gone by 2000. We did expect a nuclear confrontation of some kind. We did honestly think we'd be on Mars and have guys on the moon permanently. We did think satellites would be the new military. We figured all flights to Europe, Tokyo or Australia would be 3-4 hours at the longest.

All this is to say, it's just as likely there's some inertia point with the information explosion the way there was with the transportation explosion from 1920-1970. It could go either way. It's also likely that the doom of the car and the switch to telecommute is like our dream of having the jet packs from Thunderball or the flying cars we legitimately did expect to come in 40-50 years. That and continued space exploration seemed totally legitimate and almost certain. Telecommuting becoming the norm makes so much sense and seems such an inevitable convergence point that I doubt it'll ever happen. My job in software development is one where it makes the most sense. I worked over 2 years solid doing it almost a decade ago. Now, it's actually gotten rarer and harder to find telecommuting gigs than it was around 2004.

I agree that in 20-40 years we may be blown away by the transformations, but I don't think they have more than 0.00002% chance of being what we imagine today.



P.S. Three of the "best" futurists ever weren't so because they could predict, but because they wrote fiction that inspired young geeks who could make the fiction reality (Wells, Verne, Roddenberry)

 

[Cosmic201]

Can't see either of those coming. Especially direct democracy. We can't even handle voting every 4 years with an 18 month lead-up; we don't want to be bothered with voting on every issue, and those who would choose to vote on issues vastly misrepresent those busy working their jobs and raising their families. Sifting through the details of what makes a good or bad law is actually a full time vocation. We may have our disdain for politicians, but it's not a casual affair like arguing on a forum or by the warter cooler.

My prediction: Lawyers for Catholic hospital argue that a fetus is not a person - CNN.com will not end well.

We can't handle voting every 4 years because we do it by the most archaic means imaginable. In person, paper ballots are a relic of the past. Even in person electronic ballots are out dated.


I can do everything online. I can do business. I can purchase untold amounts of products. I can sign up for new credit, take out loans, and even get a college degree online.

The internet is still new. But it's moving towards a more uniform and secure place than the free wheeling beast it has been in the past.


By that I mean I believe in the near future, 20 years at most, we'll be able to start voting through online methods. And once we can start voting online we will be able to start voting on everything and not just representatives that vote for us.


I don't believe that means we wouldn't need a congress. Congress doesn't more than simply vote on issues. But it would mean the average American would have much more power in the political process than they do now.


Rather or not that is a good thing remains to be seen.

 

[Galbreath34]

No, we don't even keep up with or know the issues. If you see exit polls of those who do vote that test that, we fail miserably at being informed beyond red and blue (at least en masse we do).

No one should vote on everything if they have a job. You don't have time to be up on every issue, and leaving it to the passionate zealots with a skewed view on a per issue basis is a recipe for apocalypse.

 

[J-Donk]

It's very unlikely to be radical in any way you project. Even the best futurists are usually dead wrong.

In the late 70s and early 80s no one would have sensed what "being online" or "wireless" would really be. Some still had rotary phones and none expected us to walk around with computers in our hands connected worldwide. Heck, we didn't even really have more than toys on our desktops. We didn't expect huge flat screens at home and movies on demand, some of us still had tinfoil and pliers to turn the channel because the knob broke off.

We did expect the days of "gas guzzlers" and probably all cars as we know them would be gone by 2000. We did expect a nuclear confrontation of some kind. We did honestly think we'd be on Mars and have guys on the moon permanently. We did think satellites would be the new military. We figured all flights to Europe, Tokyo or Australia would be 3-4 hours at the longest.

All this is to say, it's just as likely there's some inertia point with the information explosion the way there was with the transportation explosion from 1920-1970. It could go either way. It's also likely that the doom of the car and the switch to telecommute is like our dream of having the jet packs from Thunderball or the flying cars we legitimately did expect to come in 40-50 years. That and continued space exploration seemed totally legitimate and almost certain. Telecommuting becoming the norm makes so much sense and seems such an inevitable convergence point that I doubt it'll ever happen. My job in software development is one where it makes the most sense. I worked over 2 years solid doing it almost a decade ago. Now, it's actually gotten rarer and harder to find telecommuting gigs than it was around 2004.

I agree that in 20-40 years we may be blown away by the transformations, but I don't think they have more than 0.00002% chance of being what we imagine today.



P.S. Three of the "best" futurists ever weren't so because they could predict, but because they wrote fiction that inspired young geeks who could make the fiction reality (Wells, Verne, Roddenberry)

Technology gains are getting faster not slower. There is no sign of this slowing down. I gave no timetable so I have no idea what time reference you are referring to. "The future" is a very vague time frame. I would say no to all of that other then maybe the amendment in the next 10-20 years. My only reference to the next decade was concerning driverless cars which will happen at least according to the car industry. If you are a more of a expert on the subject, maybe you should take it up with them.

 

[Galbreath34]

I'm not saying the gains aren't faster. I'm saying the areas they'll be in are most often completely unexpected. Like when train tech on the way to diesel and more efficient steam seemed to be the next 50 yrs transportation revolution and it turned out to be cars and planes.

Driverless may happen, I thought your reference was to not driving cars because we could bunker up and live/work/play at home or that cars would be replaced.

 

[Three Monkeys]

Christian fundamentalists and Catholic charismatics will converge to create a Church of America.

Oh, and the next world war will be fought over drinkable water.