Sunday, March 01, 2009

The Year Two Thousand... and Nineteen

I'm just going to jump into this shit and pretend like I never left. You can tell a friend to tell a friend.

Below is a Microsoft nerd fest of what they expect to happen in the next 10 years.



More than anything I am a technology lover and advocate. So watching videos like the above give me a little bit of an orgasm, regardless of whether Microsoft is the company that will usher in this new wave of tech or not.

Thinking about the next 10 years of tech and where we have come from since 1999 and the scritch scratch of AOL dial-up and their ubiquitous installation discs is pretty overwhelming.

We already live in an age where computers can access detailed 3D imagery of the entire earth and ocean, replace your television via the internet and help you stalk your exes from as far back as elementary school.

What will the iPhone be like in 10 years?
What will video game tech or even computing in general be capable of?

Or will we be fighting Chinese robot police for scraps of food in our post economic collapse in a sort of I Am Legend/Mad Max future dystopia?

But then things like reality have to go and fuck shit up for me. Who will really get to use these technologies? Will they improve society or just make life easier for those whose lives are already pretty easy?

I mean, what's the point of an awesome touch screen medical diagnosis device when over 50 million people in the country will be uninsured by 2019.

Which leads me to this NYT article about upper class white people who are now "poor."

The article discusses people who had  6 digit salary careers who now have $12/hr jobs.

These articles are pretty amusing to me. I don't know if it's wrong or not but it's hard for me to feel sorry for these people. Granted, these people aren't necessarily RICH or the most deserving targets of my ire but the tone of the article does nothing for me.  Is it more saddening or worthy of sympathy for a person to lose their $100K job and health insurance than a person who never had health care in their life.

And if you read the NYT comments, many people are saying "Join the fucking club."

If you like that article then peep this video about "poor" white people in South Africa and please let me know if you shook your head throughout.

Maybe it's the Obama effect or maybe its the fact the white people are becoming more displaced as minority population growth outpaces white pop. growth or maybe our Depression 2.0 will show a large part of the mid to upper crust what life is like for the rest.

For whatever it's you can expect to hear a lot more of these stories.

Meanwhile I'll be daydreaming about my auto updating touchscreen holographic newspaper.

7 comments:

  1. I'm so happy you have returned. Now off to read the post.

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  2. I read that NYT article and let me tell you, there is a large number of Americans who have never made 12bucks an hour. One thing these articles being to focus is how little we as Americans save. Someone who is making 150k per year should be able to save half of his after tax income. Exception being the one guy who had 8 children. We don't need huge homes and the latest gadgets. This recession will hopefully be a humbling one for us all.

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  3. Welcome back.

    That looks like some Minority Report tech.

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  4. Not gonna lie, it's good to see people still read and respond.

    I forgot I had to approve the comments.
    Whoops.

    That's the thing people make 150K and increase their lifestlye so that they are still living check to check.

    I might sound kind of anarchist when I say I am somewhat glad that the depression/cession will deflate some of this privilege, but thats how I feel.

    Im not glad the world is imploding but some shit needed to be corrected.

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  5. It's good to see you back again.

    I was convinced that the Black Crusaders kidnapped and imprisoned you; either that or they inducted you into the group.

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  6. Just found this blog today, and boy howdy, i clicked subscribe. Just wanted to say keep it up man.

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