What happened to the future? It used to be all about hover skateboards, flying cars, living on the moon... the future was bright and exciting, we didn't know what to expect but we were excited and had positive creativity.
Today the future is zombie apacalypses, nuclear winters, global warming, 2012, y2k... what happened? Why do I have to constantly think I won't be around in the future... that the world is going to end before I'm ever a girl?
Not that I'm some hypocondriac (sp?) but for real do you notice this too? I'm 25 and have my whole life to live still... can we make the future positive again? Pleeeaaaasse?!?!?
The Future's Not What It Used To Be.
graffiti on the wall, Haight-Ashbury, Summer of '69.
Quote from: rylielove on August 16, 2010, 04:15:05 PM
What happened to the future? It used to be all about hover skateboards, flying cars, living on the moon... the future was bright and exciting, we didn't know what to expect but we were excited and had positive creativity.
Today the future is zombie apacalypses, nuclear winters, global warming, 2012, y2k... what happened? Why do I have to constantly think I won't be around in the future... that the world is going to end before I'm ever a girl?
Not that I'm some hypocondriac (sp?) but for real do you notice this too? I'm 25 and have my whole life to live still... can we make the future positive again? Pleeeaaaasse?!?!?
Actually nuclear winter is what it used to be. Would you rather have lived during the cold war? It was decidedly less optimistic then when compared to what we worry about now. ;D
I'll make a prediction.
In a few hundred years, white people will become very rare.
This very question has me in an imaginary wonderland of jetpacks, space helmets and rayguns. If cyberpunks and steampunks can have their fun, then so shall I have raypunk (http://www.raypunk.org). ^_^
Perhaps all it takes is an individual outlook. One day, maybe, it'll actually happen. There are enough people about for there to be a raygun gothic rocket ship in San Francisco these days, just to commemorate the future that never was. Until then, I just do what I can to have fun. 'Cos the future should be that, just as much as the present. Goodness knows the past wasn't much fun...
Quote"Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventure and ideals: the Atomic Age, the challenge of outer space, and the hope for a peaceful and unified world."
~ Walt Disney
In grade school I learned to "duck and cover" if I saw a bright flash of light (nuclear explosion). The future was tomorrow or next week - anything longer was just a dream. You could perhaps prolong it with a home-built bomb shelter, but it was uncertain whether you could survive long enough or would want to live even if you did.
In college the future was an almost certainty of being drafted and then probably sent to Viet Nam. Thoughts of a career were for after that if there was an after that.
Live for today. The past formed you and perhaps you learned a few things. No one knows the future. Today is all you have to work with. I don't mean "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die." Rather, do the best you can now to create as pleasant a future as you can for yourself.
- Kate
"If you want to make enemies, try to change something" (Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer)
The more things change, the more society tries to remain the same. Be it spirituality/belief systems, government policy, the nature of government itself and the nation-state model, any attempts to alter current models of social structure (that is required for wide scale prosperity) is met with the same paranoid fear all too common with those who are unwilling to adapt to the future as it
could be.
Instead of unified governance with one set of laws, divide and conquer is humanities game.
Instead of a few common languages, there are hundreds of dialects with the only reason for existence being so called tradition.
There could be a future
Star Trek style, only if "we" cast the chains and let it happen.
Quote from: spacial on August 16, 2010, 05:00:15 PM
I'll make a prediction.
In a few hundred years, white people will become very rare.
Already happening, the recessive gene for blue eyes is dieing off, just a matter of time before caucasian origin persons become added to the endangered species list.
not as long as they can take everyone out with them.
Hmmm, well I grew up in the 80s and 90s... maybe that and the combination of being a kid gave me the idea thay the future was bright and anything was possible. I see all of your points about how we're always faced with a dim future but I don't want to anymore... I look in the mirror and fear ill never see femininity, why can't I think positively about transition. I was just referencing that in todays world (and yes the past too) we're constantly told to live in perpetual fear about the future and I hate it.
So I guess this idea just boils down to wanting to think like a kid again with innocent eyes.... how do we do that?
maybe that and the combination of being a kid gave me the idea thay the future was bright and anything was possible
Oh, don't kid yourself, it was all gone by then. All you were getting was some warmed-over left-overs from the early 1950s.
I think when you're a kid everything seemed brighter and more possible. Growing up, I knew life was hard and that my future had the distinct possibility of sucking royally...I didn't buy into that whole "you can do anything!" thing either as I was growing up, but I was a jaded individual and I'm still a jaded individual.
Someone mentioned languages, there are also a lot of language mixing going on--such as Spanglish (which my Spanish teacher disapproves of). Then you have Phillipino (spelling?). Listening to my aunt speak in her native tongue is like listening to someone switch between three or four different languages every other word--I've heard English, Spanish, and a few other things come out of her mouth (which made my day, actually--I love languages). But if all of the older languages died out, I'd be pretty devastated because then I might never learn to read various things in what they were originally written.
I don't think you could ever go back to that innocent mindset of being a kid and I don't think it would be a very good thing to try to go back to that way because it would mean forgetting various things that changed the innocent mindset and possibly leading to an unproductive member of society.
--All above was purely opinion. ^^ --
I don't know that we should look at the world with totally innocent eyes, but we can see the good parts while being aware of the bad parts. Tomorrow will probably be something like today, with more good people than bad, with opportunities to make bad decisions or good ones, with gradual social progress (with a few bad hiccups), with your personal relationships being more important to your day-to-day well-being than what's going on somewhere else.
Yes, there are bad things happening and the future can look mighty grim. But many small good things happen all the time, too. Since we can't know the future, we can only work toward how we want to be in the future. And the probabilities are that rylielove will get to be the girl she really is inside.
- Kate
Considering that 250 years ago we had no electricity, no nothing othre han wind power and fire, we sure have come fast considering that as modern humans we have been around for at leat 100,000 years!!!
Considering that we only have less than 50 years left of the stuff that powered all that, you're amazingly short-sighed.
I predict that this threads future looks doomed. ;D
well one thing is for sure - nostalgia just isn't what it used to be! ;D
More seriously though these things go in cycles. We face many challenges as a species, some of which, like the finite nature of our oil resources, we have ignored for far too long and may well bring our current technological civilisation crashing down.
I would say that the chances of our civilisation falling in the next 50 years are worryingly high. I'm honestly not sure if I were starting out today, whether I would choose to transition given the high likelihood of it becoming impossible to get supplies of hormones and the like in the future. (and those who know me should understand that for me to say that means that I am very worried indeed, because I would never willingly have gone without transition unless as a last resort.)
The thing which may yet change this is if some serious effort is applied to solving the twin problems of developing new and sustainable sources of energy generation, and controlling the population growth. If that can be done, then things will look brighter again. Until they are BOTH tackled then I fear that within half a century our current way of life will be brought crashing to the ground.
Why is this in transsexual talk? I didn't bother reading this thinking it would just be a TS moaning about seeing no possible future &c... but it's much more fun than that.
We had a programme called 'Tomorrow's World' and I remembering them doing all sorts of exciting things like testing out cds and stuff. I remembered when I heard of my first video conference and thinking it was like the Jetsons. I grew up near Gatwick airport and I remember the joy of the monorail - even recently I had a run on the DLR and that was like a ride and a perfectly sci-fi way to get into the docklands area (to the wonderful museum of the docklands). I also like some of the new architecture such as the Gherkin and London's City Hall. I can't wait till they finish the Shard of Glass. There are lots of people around here driving electric cars that move quicker than milk floats. I pay for the bus and tubes with a card that beeps. I have access to all sorts of libraries, shops and stuff through the internet. In many ways this does feel like the future I was promised - I never really envisioned my role in it though, and I guess I still don't - which is fine. I'll just pervert all this high tech stuff to my own ends and take the monorail to the museum and use the internet to buy out of print novels.
THE FUTURE IS NOW NOW NOW now
how do we get here? the future is how
I could be flippant or practical.
In Pakistan at the moment the future is: can my family and I live under a tarp in polluted water while the world ignores me.
It is: I really need a telephone/computer that can allow me to access mind blowing technology so that I can tell my friends I need them, when they are sitting next to me.
Is it: I can do a liver transplant on an alcoholic that costs $500,00, but I will not supply clean water to children and let them die of diarrhea.
It is: putting a 10 year old on a heart risk diet and pretending that her parents are not child abusers for ruining her life with a Mcdiet.
It is: being raped in exchange for a hand full of rice to feed my starving child.
It is: building the most technology advanced machines and enhancing them, and that they are purely designed to kill.
It is: being in ER on a Christmas Eve and explaining to a 26yr old Mum, that the bruises she has on her legs from bouncing her 9 month old baby is from her just diagnosed leukemia. She died within weeks. Obviously I still remember.
There is no future. And I mean that in a positive way.
There is only the past and now.
The future is in your hands.
Sorry for being a little melodramatic.
Cindy
It is:
Quote from: Flan on August 16, 2010, 05:42:32 PM
Already happening, the recessive gene for blue eyes is dieing off, just a matter of time before caucasian origin persons become added to the endangered species list.
Possibly, but I was more thinking about the increasing failure of people with what we refer to as white skin, simply not producing enough children.
The skin tone is, perhaps a bit of a generalisation since there are people with very fair skin from other parts of the world.
But people who produce offspring with light skin tone, (tendency) non-brown eyes and (invariably) non-black hair, tend to originate from a very small corner of the world. Northern Europe.
These people have gone on to live in almost every part of the world, yet are even now, dying out, simply because they are no-longer producing enough children to sustain their genetic background.
To an extent, this is just an observation. But a more important aspect is that much of the drive to advance, technologically, has originated in Europe and from European cultures. There is ample evidence that non-European cultures have achieved significantly in various areas of theoritical technology. Yet none took that leap to electrical energry storage.
Even today, the latest innovations in technology, using electrical energy, still come, predomently from European cultures. The far eastern cultures have exploited electrical energy of course. Though the innovations themselves, principally in electronics, still originated from predominaently European cultures.
I was speculating on how the future might look if these innovations become less important.
Cindy makes a good point though.
There would appear to be different social forces pushing us here. Those that seek to look backward, to see the past as some sort of utopia, principally politicians and religious types, those that seek to look forward, principally the psuedo science types, dreamers and charlitans. There there are those that want to look at the now. Some of the issue Cindy cited, for example.
The problem with the now group is they tend to cost money. The past group can always find reasons why today is so bad. The future group tells us that just a little more suffering and all the problems will be solved.
"Sometimes I worry 'bout the future
Are we ever going to find our way
I don't even realise
That we're living in the good old days
Stop taking life so serious
You don't even know what you have"
"Serious", Ash Grunwald.
The 60's ? Not that great really, I'm happy we got through them!
Quote from: spacial on August 17, 2010, 07:10:14 AM
Possibly, but I was more thinking about the increasing failure of people with what we refer to as white skin, simply not producing enough children.
Reproduction isn't a race to see who can use up all of the world's resources first. We are quickly approaching the carrying capacity of the Earth.
It has been demonstrated over and over that birth rates go down when women have the right to say no, when birth control is readily available, when women have educational opportunities, and when there is a social safety net – usually government-provided – to take care of people in their old age instead of needing to rely on progeny. European societies have already reached that point and most other societies are moving in that direction. The question is whether as a species we will get there soon enough to make a difference.
If any species exceeds its environment's carrying capacity, there is a mass die-off to well below the carrying capacity. I'm old enough that I may die of natural causes before the human die-off, but I'd like to think that if enough of us work toward controlling population that we as a species won't have to reach that cataclysm.
The future is in our hands.
- Kate
We are quickly approaching the carrying capacity of the Earth.
The carrying capacity of this planet depends on both numbers, as well as appetites - and we do a poor job controlling either.
In Pakistan at the moment the future is: can my family and I live under a tarp in polluted water while the world ignores me.
You know who cares even less than the world? The government of Pakistan.
Quote from: K8 on August 17, 2010, 08:51:27 AM
Reproduction isn't a race to see who can use up all of the world's resources first. We are quickly approaching the carrying capacity of the Earth.
It has been demonstrated over and over that birth rates go down when women have the right to say no, when birth control is readily available, when women have educational opportunities, and when there is a social safety net – usually government-provided – to take care of people in their old age instead of needing to rely on progeny. European societies have already reached that point and most other societies are moving in that direction. The question is whether as a species we will get there soon enough to make a difference.
If any species exceeds its environment's carrying capacity, there is a mass die-off to well below the carrying capacity. I'm old enough that I may die of natural causes before the human die-off, but I'd like to think that if enough of us work toward controlling population that we as a species won't have to reach that cataclysm.
The future is in our hands.
- Kate
I won't argue the notion of the capacity of the earth.
I won't argue either with the need for birth control, though the reason many people have so many children is to have someone to care for them in their old age. This was traditional in western societies in the past, as much as it is now in the rest of the world.
I also totally accept that reporduction isn't a race, nor should it be.
I was making the point that, because the average issue in western countries is so low, decline is inevatable. With decline, the predominant culture in the world will almost certainly shift and priorities with it.
If you follow this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_birth_rate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_birth_rate)
The first, predominantly European country to figure on the list is Israel.
It's just an observation, not a judgement. Since I won't be around in a few hundred years it really is none of my concern.
Wow, this thread got pretty interesting... I really can't believe how negative some of you are on this site about things, I don't want to go with any specific people but for one to say not transition?!?! That's exactly what I need to hear right now, thanks :(
But I see that some of you did understand my post and that makes me smile :). That we need to think positive and have creativity for the future... the future is what we make it... those of you that perpetuate this bleak future, I'm sorry for you... its like you've given up on trying to be positive
The point is asking the question, why can't we be positive? Lots of you actually gave me reasons... the correct answer is to see that there is no reason not to see a bright future :)
(Yes maybe this didn't belong in "transexual talk" but figured there'd be a better audience, and its kinda about transition)
Quote from: rylielove on August 17, 2010, 02:11:25 PM
Wow, this thread got pretty interesting... I really can't believe how negative some of you are on this site about things, I don't want to go with any specific people but for one to say not transition?!?! That's exactly what I need to hear right now, thanks :(
Ummm - I think you are probably referring to me - but I don't want you to misunderstand me so please allow me to clarify and point out that I absolutely did
NOT say DONT transition. I said I am not
sure IF I would do so, a subtle difference I know, but a difference never the less. I was talking about my personal feelings, not offering advice to others. Basically trying to use it as a way to emphasise the strength of my own feelings of extreme frustration at what I see as humanities current failure to grasp the obvious fact that we can not go on piling more and more people into a fixed size planet, and that if we do not actually put more effort and determination into solving the energy problem then the consequences would be unthinkable.
It just worries me that so many people seem to have their heads in the sand.
As far as whether I am negative though, to that I would answer not guilty. I do think it is important not to duck the tough realities, but ask me if I think that we CAN overcome these problems and you would get a different answer. Of course we can.
I think the human race is incredibly resourceful and when we apply ourselves to solving problems there is very little that we can not accomplish. The only problem is that all too often we waste far to long trying to avoid the issue before we finally get to grips with actually solving it.
Do I think we will ultimately overcome the challenge?
YES! but there can be little doubt that we do have a challenge to face.
Is my view of the future bleak. NO absolutely not. However I do think that to have a bright future We have to face and overcome challenges. We have to put in the hard work and solve the problems, not run away from them. If we do that then the future will be bright. My concern is that at the moment too many people either think that the problems do not exist, or else they think that we should give up on technology and go back to a pre scientific age where ignorance and superstition ruled.
Both views are mistaken. The way to a bright future is a realistic and determined view of the challenges of the present and the application of our considerable knowledge and technology to finding solutions.
Hello, I just teleported in from Iowa after watching the big Heinliner take off. Traffic was terrible! It took almost thirteen seconds to re-materialize!
Have I missed anything?
-Sandy(I *am* a stranger in a strange land!)
Quote from: Sandy on August 17, 2010, 05:32:01 PM
Have I missed anything?
Not really
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogcdn.com%2Fwww.joystiq.com%2Fmedia%2F2009%2F02%2Ffallout3basking.jpg&hash=d78bc263f992f9c65ced8b177ab6b54db4943fc3)
QuoteWhat happened to the future?
Too many people had children. There is not enough resources to support 6.7 billion people. Not to worry it can support about 3 billion. Those 3 billion will have a much better quality of life. As for everyone else nature has a way of cleaning house. Just think not living is just the same as not being born, nothing to fear. Every goes through it an I have yet to hear anyone complain about the experience.
"We are all interested in the future, for that is where we will spend the rest of our lives."
Quote from: rylielove on August 16, 2010, 04:15:05 PM
Today the future is zombie apacalypses, nuclear winters, global warming, 2012, y2k... what happened? Why do I have to constantly think I won't be around in the future... that the world is going to end before I'm ever a girl?
Y2K is certain to destroy the world.
Quote from: Heartwood on August 17, 2010, 08:06:54 PM
"We are all interested in the future, for that is where we will spend the rest of our lives."
http://www.badmovies.org/movies/plannine/plannine1.wav (http://www.badmovies.org/movies/plannine/plannine1.wav)
Well do you want the sanitized FOX/CNN/SKY version of reality Rylie.....
Well do yah... and are yah felling lucky kid?...lol
(In which case you can believe Obama's the 2nd saviour, the economy will be shortly turning gold again...perpetual oil and fossil fuels are our god given right... and exponential population growth going on, and on and on... ever upwards to an infinite level will be all just fine and dandy)
Or you can read these two books and wise up fast....to what unravelling.....
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/53860 (http://www.energybulletin.net/node/53860)
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine (http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine)
There will always have been transgender people by the way... they were written about in Red Indian culture and highly respected by the tribe too in fact....
They managed to find a way through....even with basic nomadic technology...
But the future is not what we baby boomers are gonna leave behind for you generation X & Y'rs....
No baby....its gonna be what you personally do about it....??
(simples)
The age of reason will come back probably after people have again learnt the hard way where the other option leads. (This is optimism.)
I have to say that I will be very surprised if I can sit down to a nice lunch and watch the 2013 New Years Day Concert from Vienna.
When I first heard about the Mayans and their 2012 thing I laughed but I'm not laughing now.
I'm with Brian re the Mayans... and will be enjoying several more decades for sure...defo if living in a small population mineral assets ladden state...lol
2012 Prof Brian Cox and the End of the World (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zBqRLK_ESs#ws)
There will be an asteroid coming around 2029...the ruskies are plannig to hit it with a rocket...no joke!
Quote from: rylielove on August 16, 2010, 04:15:05 PM
What happened to the future? It used to be all about hover skateboards, flying cars, living on the moon... the future was bright and exciting, we didn't know what to expect but we were excited and had positive creativity.
Today the future is zombie apacalypses, nuclear winters, global warming, 2012, y2k... what happened? Why do I have to constantly think I won't be around in the future... that the world is going to end before I'm ever a girl?
Not that I'm some hypocondriac (sp?) but for real do you notice this too? I'm 25 and have my whole life to live still... can we make the future positive again? Pleeeaaaasse?!?!?
I've read through all the responses here, but in the end I thought I'd just respond to the original post :laugh:
The future is indeed there and its progressing well in my personal opinion. If you are a computer enthusiast or some one keeps up with the latest hardware you could see the progress made on processors, rams, graphic cards, hard disk capacity and more. I find myself upgrading my systems every year and something like a powerful high-end graphics card that cost over $500 last year is now down to $68 and labeled as an entry level one. I've find questioning myself several times - why upgrade? a new, better version is going to come out the very next year anyway... ~_~
For the hover vehicles to show up we all need to transition from the regular fuel to electric models. In-fact there are several electric cars being released on 2011, its a good step ahead. Next step would be to get rid of the wheels. Then use somewhat of a different source of energy. Well something is bound to happen
I doubt the world is going away any where. Other than a possibility of crisis, natural disasters, and whatnot. I'm sure the planet is still going to be here. I can see myself living for years now, why can't you? What I really dread is aging. If we are to stop aging then the cells that multiply in us gets cancerous and we'll die anyway >.< It would be nice if they really do find a way to slow down aging and help everyone be forever young and pretty :-\
Also isn't it about time someone really looks in to FFS and SRS? Wouldn't it be nice if they could genetically redevelop a clone body (unconscious) based on your specifications and age, and transplant the whole brain into it? That's a better transition I that I would have loved. Sadly lot of ethical battle there, oh well.