05-11-2017, 03:01 PM
(05-11-2017, 08:24 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: By the way -- if we get out of this Crisis Era really well, then the world of 'Beaver Cleaver' will return in many aspects. Because of the wondrous technology, people won't have the clutter of books or music and video discs because they will get their reading, video, and music on line. Status symbols as we now know them will be largely irrelevant unless they are marks of indulgence in an inequitable and repressive society. There might be video screens tuned to nature in some form, whether the summit of Everest or some magnificent coastline (for people who live in places with no scenery, like much of Illinois. (Obviously if the world of the 2030s is hierarchical, repressive, and inequitable, then the Crisis will have gone badly). Robots will likely do the unpleasant work; think of "Rosie" in The Jetsons.
Take note -- that any 'paradise' of an uncrowded world suggests that a human population has been decimated, perhaps in a nuclear war. Maybe China has 100 million people and America has 30 million.... that is how it happens.
Yes, I can think bleak. That's one of my unwelcome talents.
One other factor of note that needs to be figured in is the likelihood of a major depression once driverless cars hit the scene, expected to happen somewhere around 2025.