FUTURISTS

After more than 5 years of writing a monthly blog on wisdom, this edition will be my last.  Our family has grown with marriages and grandchildren during the past 5 years.  I once wrote that a futurist looks at the present to explain the future.  With that in mind, here are some of my predictions for how different the world will be 5 years from now. 

• The Newspaper era will be over.  After decades of reading a daily newspaper, the majority of my news is gathered on-line.  Younger people not only do not subscribe, they don’t even use news websites very often.  Those of us that still want it will pay for it.  A subscription for various news sources on my I-PAD will come soon.

• Paper checks will be extinct.  It is very costly for the financial system to process checks, and on-line banking is rapidly becoming acceptable.  I’ve done the vast majority of my banking on-line or at ATM’s for many months.  The security of debit and credit cards have improved, so no more bills to mail in with a paper check.                                                    

• The Post Office system will be gone.  Private companies like UPS and Federal Express too most of the shipping revenue years ago.  E-mail and newer on-line communication removed the cards and letters.  The elimination of the paper checks and the electronic junk mail options will be the final nail in the coffin.

• The Baby Boomers won’t retire.  An entire generation of Americans will not only live longer than their parents, but will work longer.  The “new normal” economy will keep a large number of workers on the job for an extra 5 to 10 years.  Unknowns about Social Security and Medi-Care will be the motivation to keep working.

• Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, but the wired land line of the past will be gone.  Individual cell phones, smart phone applications and new pricing will end the idea that houses need phones.  GPS additions to cell phones handle any 911 concerns, so cutting out the home phone line is a natural.

•   Television has moved from broadcast signals to digital cable, but is poised to disappear as we thought of it growing up.  Cable shows have already gone mainstream, and streaming video capability makes internet access to all kinds of content available.  Screens may continue to grow but content won’t be “televised”.

• The long awaited arrival of “the cloud” will be a reality.  Content will not be on hard drives connected to computers, but in server farms that store all the pictures, videos, movies, documents, records, and music.  Access with small mobile devises, as well as that I-PAD mentioned earlier will be the norm.

•  Privacy will be referred to as a concept that is unreasonable to expect.  The sharing of content around the cloud, the numerous cameras tied to the system, and improved advertising will make it seem normal.  Your interests and tastes will be shared with companies that will provide you what you want (as long as it’s not privacy).

• Gasoline driven cars will still be the norm, but electric cars will begin to make inroads into the market.  The ability to store energy will see a technological breakthrough.  The ability to quick-charge or swap out batteries at a cheaper cost than gasoline will make the electric car future a bright one, while disappointing oil company executives.

•  The political upheaval of the Tea Party will continue, swept along by the still working Baby Boomers.  The generational divide created by that upheaval will have a very negative effect on the country.  Taxes and government programs will fall into  two-tier process where each generation will be governed differently than the other.

• Women will make rapid in-roads in business, management, and politics.  The consensus building that is more natural for women will pay dividends in the higher paying jobs and eliminate what previously was called the glass ceiling.  The 2016 presidential candidates will be led by women from all three parties (yes three).

•   Internationally China will make its economic power known throughout the world.  After a terrorist attack, they will replace the USA in the battle against radical Islam.  India will become a vital partner of the United States when China places a puppet government in what was Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Europe will experience civil war.

The Bible provides a vision in the book of Revelation what the end of the world will be like.  Fortunately for us, many of the previous 65 books give us a vision of how we should live until then.  Over the past 5 years I’ve tried to illuminate that vision for my readers and for my children and grandchildren.  Check out http://www.wfs.org/ if this entry intrigued you.