Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Last Call
11:30 on a Monday night. I've had this tie on since 7 this morning. It's loosened now. I rescued a few drinks from the bar, just nursing this last one now when the bartender shouts "Last Call". He knows he won't get any trouble from me, I been coming here for 2 weeks now. He knows what I drink and he keeps em coming till last call. That's good because I get to be quiet. I haven't spoken a word since I left my job at 5:10. My boss doesn't mind the company card being used for my evening therapy, at the bar. He understands. The chair at the bar here is quite decent, it's those new ones you can lean back on but I just hover over my drinks and keep my head down. I peak up every now and then to do the proverbial head nod that men do when they make eye contact, or to look at the owner of the peering eyes of the woman who wouldn't mind if I switched seats for the one beside her. Music, light chatter, laughs and tickling glass of my working bartender keep my ears company. It's like an intermission, a worm hole that I slip into everyday on the way home. And every time I'm about to slip into a blank void and forget where I am, my chair gets a slight bump from someone passing or a hint of a new perfume find its way to my nose and my sanity gets a jolt that I am still on this planet. I keep my drinks light so I can take everything in as the hours pass, but it's time to go home now. Work in the morning. She should be sleeping by now or just about going to bed. I wish I could stay here but I don't need to. I wish I could tell her but I don't know how to. There's not much left to save, this time. The division, they unity, the cover, the sides that need to be taken, the faces that need to be saved, the money. The last form of communication, signing the credit card receipt and the last head nod of the night. Till tomorrow I suppose.
Friday, October 7, 2011
The Nostradamus Effect. Updated by me.
This is not a new topic but I want to look at it in further detail. Various movies and documentaries have covered the topic from time to time at various angles. The following is my "Nostradamus Effect", updated.
We no longer push our children to explore their intelligence so the rate of production of "geniuses" will slow. Capitalism will implode as Wifi becomes globally available on every street corner and every basement. This demand for its availability will lead to the crash of the telecommunications industry because cell phone and device manufactures' products will no longer need dedicated service. Once that happens, their own sales will eventually slump because heavy device competition will drive prices down.
With a plethora of satellites launched over the years and internet access being more readily available, will drive companies to offer work from home positions to cut costs, still getting the work done, as features like online storage will reduce the need for on site activity. Advanced and cheapened automation, home shopping and network marketing companies will be the new source of income and work thus killing the "shopping mall" culture and the physical retail market, as shopping at home will give more people time with their families. Money will be converted to credits as working and shopping from home kills the need for actual cash. Cash value will be digitized, as commercial banks overcharge their way into extinction on the rails of distrust that they have greased themselves, giving birth to the digital bank. The ease of everything leads to a false sense of health as people become happier with no constrained working environment and the ability to be "outside" more. But there is no fun without food and working from home reduces physical activity. More time is actually spent online since more of the actual world is now online. We're seeing more but we're not learning more. Virtual worlds become the new reality, as going "outside" means turning on your computer. With less people going out, online and long distance relationships flourish but soon become twisted. Monogamy gets eaten away and leaves room for online polygamy. Sperm selling now becomes an online commodity, women all over the world can buy sperm by viewing unverified online profiles thinking they can raise children on their own and "save the world". Many laws now become inapplicable and there is a breakdown of judicial re-organisation. Capitalism, the silent backbone of politics is now left homeless and first world and developing governments multiply into fields mini-neo parties, all claiming to lead the new digital world. More industries crash and go extinct that were people driven and location driven. Gas and oil consumption actually slow for a time as no one really drives anymore causing gas prices soar and the automotive industry to fail. Transportation and Postal industries will thrive as they will be heavily subsidized for fuel consumption, but only for a time. Universities and schools shut down their physical locations and transform into online entities trying to keep the increasing population educated but failure rates increase and real education is no longer guaranteed. Libraries lose their value and are soon trashed by wayward gangs of those left behind in this digital ice age. The need to exceed will no longer be a goal because the dwindling jobs will no longer require it. Scientists and engineers self-secure their advancement with only the wealthy and with no political affiliation or obligation, fresh minds from the masses are no longer needed to "grow". Reproduction increases causing over population and limited jobs lead to more crime. With no banks and stores to rob, kidnapping for ransom, postal offices and delivery trucks are the new targets of the "have nots". Emptied constantly, authorities and the armed forces declare marshal law and these outside activities that we worked so hard for, is now limited to 7pm. Our children become unhealthy from staying inside, playing video games and not exercising their bodies or their minds. Gyms close and online fitness struggles to become the forefront of the digital lifestyle... "ten minutes and a floor mat". But porn and virtual worlds flourish as it becomes a safe way to find work, stay inside and get paid, putting a webcam in the hand of most homes...to watch. STD's soon become more accepted as underground porn now has too many genres to support and medicine has become a luxury that only the wealthy can afford. No natural disaster stops the public utilities from being supplied and it is now the only thing that the government controls, so nothing stops the spiral. This goes on long enough for our current world to be forgotten. Libraries, malls, labor intensive infrastructures are now ghost towns with no manual to re-start them because they were "too expensive" anyway. The hunt to make our lives easier, safer and more secure, where "everyone" is happy and "everyone" can benefit has now come to fruition. There is no longer a need to be smart because all the information you can ever need is behind the tap of a few keys on a touch screen. We don't seem to be going in any other direction, outside of an Extinction Level Event. That being said, this road of better, lighter, faster, easier and cheaper is being driven on at a speed faster than the Industrial Revolution could ever fathom. But our full bellies, fat bank accounts, safe sleeping children or the chase for these provisions do not consider that this boiling pot of our now advancing society could ever be full, nor the real cost of technological bliss.
We no longer push our children to explore their intelligence so the rate of production of "geniuses" will slow. Capitalism will implode as Wifi becomes globally available on every street corner and every basement. This demand for its availability will lead to the crash of the telecommunications industry because cell phone and device manufactures' products will no longer need dedicated service. Once that happens, their own sales will eventually slump because heavy device competition will drive prices down.
With a plethora of satellites launched over the years and internet access being more readily available, will drive companies to offer work from home positions to cut costs, still getting the work done, as features like online storage will reduce the need for on site activity. Advanced and cheapened automation, home shopping and network marketing companies will be the new source of income and work thus killing the "shopping mall" culture and the physical retail market, as shopping at home will give more people time with their families. Money will be converted to credits as working and shopping from home kills the need for actual cash. Cash value will be digitized, as commercial banks overcharge their way into extinction on the rails of distrust that they have greased themselves, giving birth to the digital bank. The ease of everything leads to a false sense of health as people become happier with no constrained working environment and the ability to be "outside" more. But there is no fun without food and working from home reduces physical activity. More time is actually spent online since more of the actual world is now online. We're seeing more but we're not learning more. Virtual worlds become the new reality, as going "outside" means turning on your computer. With less people going out, online and long distance relationships flourish but soon become twisted. Monogamy gets eaten away and leaves room for online polygamy. Sperm selling now becomes an online commodity, women all over the world can buy sperm by viewing unverified online profiles thinking they can raise children on their own and "save the world". Many laws now become inapplicable and there is a breakdown of judicial re-organisation. Capitalism, the silent backbone of politics is now left homeless and first world and developing governments multiply into fields mini-neo parties, all claiming to lead the new digital world. More industries crash and go extinct that were people driven and location driven. Gas and oil consumption actually slow for a time as no one really drives anymore causing gas prices soar and the automotive industry to fail. Transportation and Postal industries will thrive as they will be heavily subsidized for fuel consumption, but only for a time. Universities and schools shut down their physical locations and transform into online entities trying to keep the increasing population educated but failure rates increase and real education is no longer guaranteed. Libraries lose their value and are soon trashed by wayward gangs of those left behind in this digital ice age. The need to exceed will no longer be a goal because the dwindling jobs will no longer require it. Scientists and engineers self-secure their advancement with only the wealthy and with no political affiliation or obligation, fresh minds from the masses are no longer needed to "grow". Reproduction increases causing over population and limited jobs lead to more crime. With no banks and stores to rob, kidnapping for ransom, postal offices and delivery trucks are the new targets of the "have nots". Emptied constantly, authorities and the armed forces declare marshal law and these outside activities that we worked so hard for, is now limited to 7pm. Our children become unhealthy from staying inside, playing video games and not exercising their bodies or their minds. Gyms close and online fitness struggles to become the forefront of the digital lifestyle... "ten minutes and a floor mat". But porn and virtual worlds flourish as it becomes a safe way to find work, stay inside and get paid, putting a webcam in the hand of most homes...to watch. STD's soon become more accepted as underground porn now has too many genres to support and medicine has become a luxury that only the wealthy can afford. No natural disaster stops the public utilities from being supplied and it is now the only thing that the government controls, so nothing stops the spiral. This goes on long enough for our current world to be forgotten. Libraries, malls, labor intensive infrastructures are now ghost towns with no manual to re-start them because they were "too expensive" anyway. The hunt to make our lives easier, safer and more secure, where "everyone" is happy and "everyone" can benefit has now come to fruition. There is no longer a need to be smart because all the information you can ever need is behind the tap of a few keys on a touch screen. We don't seem to be going in any other direction, outside of an Extinction Level Event. That being said, this road of better, lighter, faster, easier and cheaper is being driven on at a speed faster than the Industrial Revolution could ever fathom. But our full bellies, fat bank accounts, safe sleeping children or the chase for these provisions do not consider that this boiling pot of our now advancing society could ever be full, nor the real cost of technological bliss.
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