There’s a rather good discussion between Neil Oliver, Dr John Campbell and Tim Kelly discussing how they became sceptics and what that has meant for them.
There were two interesting questions at the end:
What is the way we should go into the future?
How is the future actually going to pan out?
The problem I have answering the first, is I only think about ways that I can improve what he have. So “should” isn’t a concept I focus on. It only works for those with the power to change, and all I can do is nudge the world just a little bit … even if at times skilful nudging can have a dramatic impact (or perhaps it was always going to happen?).
So, the next question “how is the future going to pan out” is more interesting. For all the idea that the world is controlled by the oligarchs, the truth is still that for every action of an oligarch their are millions or billions of counter actions by the ordinary people. So, even if an oligarch pushes with all their might & wealth, if the people don’t want it, it won’t happen.
Powerful people can make what is always going to happen, happen faster, and they can at times, get people to try things that they wouldn’t otherwise try, but if the people don’t like what they try, it won’t happen, or at least the resistance will be so great that the oligarchs will barely dent the nature of people’s lives.
People have to want change for change to be permanent. Also there has to be economic prosperity to enable change. And, at this moment NutZero, censorship and the other stupidities of “thou shalt do what we say” government is killing the prospect for change.
So, my best guess of the future, is stagnation.
The other day I was thinking what had changed in the last ten years. I looked out the window and literally nothing had changed except the annual flow of the plants through the seasons. What I saw was the view I might have seen ten years ago.
Yes, the old altruistic internet has been taken over by US corpse, but I doubt that will last. The US corpse “internet” is as boring as hell. If I wanted to listen to mindless muppets I would buy a US muppet video. I don’t want to listen to brainwashed idiots talking about brainwashed fashions. I never have, I never will, Cars have LED headlights … that will last. Modern cars look stupid … they always have as they go through one fad fashion after another, and that constantly changing fashion is not changing, but fundamentally, the vast majority of people will still be driving much the same kinds of car in ten years as they are now. Indeed, perhaps far fewer electric ones.
Windmills …. that fad is coming to an end … because they now cost too much to make, because of the rising costs caused by windmills. But some could still make money from them, so I doubt they will all disappear. But, solar panels … were never a good idea and they will disappear in the next ten years.
AI = dot.com bubble. A lot of talk about nothing. A lot of people creating fake scams to attract investors which will almost all go bust. Yes there will be other similar scams like the cryptocurrency one, but there will always be another scam for the gullible.
Censorship …. the public will not stand for it … it is BORING. I cannot stand censored channels. THEY ARE BORING. You can’t change human nature, uncensored channels are far more interesting and will always be preferred. So, the political parties pushing censorship are committing suicide and we can wave goodbye to them forever, likewise those who create the government tyranny that we saw during covid and the NutZero scam. It doesn’t matter how much brain washing you use, people will always prefer to control their own lives and to live free from censorship. And they will always end up voting out those who make their lives boring.
mRNA jabs … are going to be discredited for many decades. So, not a lot will come from them.
The biggest changes will be globally with the rise of Brics and the decline of the US. Trump will not stop that. Indeed, he may actually hasten the downfall. Because the decline is inevitable and arrogance and support for Israel are not going to do anything to help the US stay as the top dog globally.
So, I do see the South of England, which has profited hugely from the financial sector, and which is going to lose out as that western financial sector gets replaced, suffering. That doesn’t mean the north will do well, just that the south is going to find a quick descent into parity with the North.
But, in terms of technology, we have basically hit stagnation. Innovation is dying because the freedom to think controversial thoughts that are key to innovation has been under attack. And, I don’t see any sign of the young having the ability to challenge the status quo. And, if you cannot challenge the political status quo, you cannot challenge the technology status quo. So, any innovation is not happening in the west. Instead, the west is going to be a mere follower of (large corpse created) fashion.
There may be areas like software and health where we do see relatively massive changes. But that is only because there is so much untapped potential, not because the next generation is any good at innovation.
So, in my view, in 50 years time, the world will look pretty much like it is now. The shape of cars may be different. The clothes people wear. Computers may be running Mico$oft version 666, but it will do almost the same as it does now. The improvement will be marginal not massive.
A few rich people will have robots to do some menial jobs. There will be fewer teachers and lecturers, partly because we won’t need as many, because there will be less need for skilled workers in the west but partly because technology will take over.
Trains will be driverless. A few road vehicles may be driverless, but there will be so many accidents using driverless vehicles that the cost will skyrocket making it far simpler to use a person. In contrast, there may be driverless tractors and combine harvesters on the farms. There may be oil rigs that operate without a single person. Ships that sail without a single person … except security guards to protect the cargo.
Space travel … will still be talked about as something we really ought to spend an awful lot of money on, with no clear idea why.
The EU … will not exist in any real sense in 50 years. It never was a good idea and it is just a burden to those who joined.
