30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS

         Since I don't have a blog I share with this group, I thought I'd give you my ten cents worth on this subject. Yes it's ten cents worth, inflation, y'know? I'm sorry if I sound bleak in this, or if this depresses you, but it's what I see in my Crystal Ball.

         This will not be as much about ten years from now as it will about mankind's future. Ten years from now.

1. More violence in the Middle East than now, which floods over to Europe, then the America's. It's already here in the form of the attacks we've seen recently. We never saw these things in the before the 90's really. I don't blame the people of the Middle East for this, I blame us for being so connected, so into everything going on that we have to share. So people here see the violence over there, and figure why not here too? Mankind is digressing in how they treat each other.

2. Technological advances. My Crystal Ball doesn't show this very clearly, but be ready to have what privacy you currently hold to be gone almost entirely. Amazon Echo, Apple Siri, whatever. They already invade your life, already spy on you. Most of you probably don't believe this, but they do. No one will admit it either, in this I'm more a realist than most. I work in a very technological field, and while the systems I work on aren't designed to be with us (they're designed more for First Responders/Military, etc), they are very similar to the Wi-Fi devices most of us have in our lives. One of my fears has to do with anything made in China, or any other foreign country that isn't on the best of terms with the United States. Why? Let's look at today's 'Smart Watches'. What's to stop them from adding an ap (not listed as an Ap on the watch) that not only monitors and records your every call to the 'cloud', it also has a GPS that tracks where you are, who you talk to (even if not in a call), your likes/dislikes, etc. A lot of people are buying them, at least those in a techie field. If you're a VIP and need to be compromised/controlled, what better way than knowing your every move?

3. Space Travel. Don't worry, we're not going very far. Maybe Mars, but there a lot to work out besides the obvious expense. Now for the future beyond ten years here. Mankind is never going to the stars, at least not in our lifetimes, nor our children's or grandchildren's. Not in the foreseeable future. Why? It takes too long. I just read where it would take the Voyager 1 or 2 spacecraft about 90,000 years to reach the nearest star! So we're going nowhere until we discover a radically new type of propulsion, and maybe some 'alternate' physics to overcome that obstacle. Star Wars/Star Trek are Science FICTION, and always will be unless we discover this new form of propulsion.

4. Global Warming. It's going to get worse, and nations/individuals cannot do anything to stop it. First, corporations won't do near enough. The bottom line always, always, takes precedence. I think we've passed the 'turning back' point, passed it long before Al Gore brought Global Warming to the forefront it's in today. Where does that lead us? I don't know, but I don't think it can possibly lead us to a 'good place' in history. I don't see mankind being wiped out, but our numbers will be drastically reduced due to this, and other occurrences.

5. WWIII. No, I don't see that coming. But I see a lot of limited warfare, some of it being rebelllions, terrorist related, cyber related. Think of all the ways mankind has fought that history has covered. We'll see that. But not a World War. Not in the sense of WWI & II.

6. Medical Advances. There will be many, but any 'cures' for things like Cancer, MS, or any other debilitating disease will run in the millions. Why? Because like everyone else in control of something, big Pharma is greedy. Imagine that a cure for Cancer is discovered. What happens to all that money being poured in to Cancer Research? What happens to all the doctors working on a cure? I'm sorry, I'm dubious about many things like this. IF a cure of a major disease is found, it will cost millions for us to buy it, making it unavailable to the average person. I just feel this way about many things in life. Yep, I know.... but that's me.


         There you have it my friends, my best effort at looking at the future. Let's hope I'm wrong about a lot of these things....






Jim Dorrell