My OperaPredicting the future
Thursday, May 21, 2009 9:39:20 PM
To be honest, we are pretty damn terrible at predicting the future. I don't see the flying cars, the evil AI, the robots or the apocalypse. Which leads me to believe countless books, films and games have been lying to me all these years.
Although some people have left big impressions about the future in my mind, the first being George Orwell and 1984. Orwell paints such a simple vision of the future, one of big brother and thought police, one where people who try to swim against the current are taken away and broken back into society. A future without privacy where people have no rights anymore.
The second being Max Barry and Jennifer Government. I know Barry is not the first person to write or think about a capitalist future, but he takes it to such extreme comical levels it struck a real chord with me. Barry's future is one where governments have no power, where people are named after the companies they work for. A world where you can only go to a hospital which is part of your companies alliance, where police from another global alliance refuse to help because you aren't covered by them.
As i see it, these are the futures we have to choose from. I look at the world around me and i see little signs. Recent moves by the British government to archive everyones SMS and E-mails. Recent 100 riches lists having more corporations in than countries. I would say its up to us to decide which future we want to live in but its not. We really have no say, to quote a friend.
So i'm starting with socialism and heavy encryption of all my communications.. you never can be too careful
Although some people have left big impressions about the future in my mind, the first being George Orwell and 1984. Orwell paints such a simple vision of the future, one of big brother and thought police, one where people who try to swim against the current are taken away and broken back into society. A future without privacy where people have no rights anymore.
The second being Max Barry and Jennifer Government. I know Barry is not the first person to write or think about a capitalist future, but he takes it to such extreme comical levels it struck a real chord with me. Barry's future is one where governments have no power, where people are named after the companies they work for. A world where you can only go to a hospital which is part of your companies alliance, where police from another global alliance refuse to help because you aren't covered by them.
As i see it, these are the futures we have to choose from. I look at the world around me and i see little signs. Recent moves by the British government to archive everyones SMS and E-mails. Recent 100 riches lists having more corporations in than countries. I would say its up to us to decide which future we want to live in but its not. We really have no say, to quote a friend.
it is really not about how the future turns out, but what you can do to prepare yourself for whichever future might come
So i'm starting with socialism and heavy encryption of all my communications.. you never can be too careful
