The Next Ten Years

Originally published January 4 2010

Which Way Will It Go?

If you generally believe, like us, that 2010 is the beginning of a new decade, then join us in making fearless predictions of what this decade will bring. If you don't believe that 2010 is the beginning of a new decade, then we ask you to suspend your beliefs and humour us. :)

It can probably be further agreed that there is no way that anyone, absolutely no-one, can say for sure what's going to happen between now and December 31 2019. Life is like that - you never know what you're going to get. And things are changing so fast, how can we possibly know what's going to happen next? So, we're going to present some different scenarios and you can decide for yourself.

Dark And Foreboding Scenario

Unexpected calamities happen. Whether man-made or natural, they have happened, do happen, and will happen again. Anything from a small bridge collapse to a monstrously huge volcanic eruption that fills the earths' atmosphere with particles that the sunlight cannot penetrate, causing worldwide temperatures to decline. Global Warming?? Global Freezing would be the new reality. Any number of happenstances could occur that would spell the end of living things, and there would be no need to write the rest of this post - the already mentioned volcanic eruption, an asteroid strike, viral outbreak that has no cure, a solar flare that fries the earth, and etcetera. But there's nothing we can do about these things, so there's no use fretting about them.

If Religions win - we all lose. Why oh why, pray tell, do we never learn from past mistakes? "Kill Him In The Name Of God". When has this philosophy ever come to a good end, for anybody, ever? Should a person be free to believe what they wish? Yes. Should a person force their beliefs on others because they feel that their belief is "The Only One True Religion"? No. Then why do we keep doing it? Power. Greed. Avarice. Selfishness. This scenario is brewing, it's getting worse, and if allowed to fester and grow unchecked it could well be Armageddon for mankind.

Riots, insurrection, rebellion, revolution. Any number of things could cause this scenario. Already happening:

• New technologies cause massive unemployment
• Rich getting richer - Poor getting poorer
• Financial system collapse
• Drinking water shortage
• Food shortage

These are the most obvious triggers, and the most likely. You could add more, but they would seem trivial compared to these. All of the above have caused massive upheaval in past history, but, just like the religion issue, we never learn.

Light And Airy Scenario

The human race have always, up to now, been able to overcome catastrophes and calamities. We are a very resilient life form. So the other side of the coin has to be presented as a possible scenario.

The people of the world wake up and smell the coffee. A realization dawns on the earths' population that what happens in one part of the world affects everyone, everywhere. The new inter-connectivity and information dispersal in real time has made the world one. So, the next logical step is for a new world government. Let's call it the Global Organization Of Governments Leading Earth - or GOOGLEarth for short. :)

You think this is preposterous? Are you registered at Google for anything? Do you even know how many pies Google has their finger in? Do you have a Google ID? We bet you do. And if you don't, you will soon. It's inevitable. If everyone who has a Google ID united together in one cohesive group with a united vision, they could change things. Hey, stranger things have happened!

Extra food? Ship it to whomever is hungry, free. Capitalists, don't fret! A fed people will be healthy and industrious. A population that no longer has to spend every waking hour of their lives searching for enough food to eat to stay alive will actually start producing wealth for themselves, which they would share with you by purchasing your goods and services. Imagine how much money (taxes) you could save on policing, military, social services and health care if everyone had enough to eat? Feed their stomachs, free their minds! You never know what they might come up with.

Unfortunately, because of human nature, and the way they have conducted themselves in the past, we can't come up with any more "light and airy scenarios". If you have any, please let me know! I'll be happy to hear from you!

Good Bets

Here are some good bets on what's going to happen this coming decade:

1. Schools, the brick & mortar edifices, will disappear. New technologies will allow mass teaching, from anywhere in the world, without the students leaving home. The tools for this are already in place, all Web-based of course - email, messaging, mobile communications, pod-casts, web video conferencing, RSS, cloud computing, Kindle, Flickr, YouTube, Wikis, Google. We can't understand why all brick-and-mortar schools aren't closed already. What's the holdup? It will happen.
2. Implants improve your quality of life. No, we're not talking about those kinds of implants. ;) Nano-technology implants within the body that will provide wireless communications, enhanced sight, hearing and mobility. Indeed, these will cure those presently afflicted with lack of sight, hearing or mobility. And that's only the beginning.
3. DNA manipulation. Cure presently incurable diseases. Sounds good, doesn't it? How about this - DNA manipulation of egg and sperm, then artificial conception of "perfect" people. Don't know who gets to decide what a perfect person consists of (my wife would say it's her). Hopefully the new world government GOOGLEarth will decide. This is scary stuff. Real scary stuff. It will happen.
4. The Toronto Maple Leafs will not win a Stanley Cup.

We rest our case.

Randall Hawes