What are some trends I see and the possible directions they might go -
Education and Libraries - After high school, I see community colleges playing prominant roles. They cater to needs particular to the area so are more relavent to the graduates, who come out with the skills to 'hit the ground running'. Academic universities I see eventually moving to Cyberspace. Continually rising costs and uncertain value post-graduate-wise will I think allow online universities to gain traction. I believe eventually all academic universities will end up online, save those that require direct involvement (hard sciences). Even with these, there is the possibility of having home labs. They'd be expensive, but how much more expensive than moving on campus and the course costs and books? Likewise, I see libraries moving almost exclusively online.
Healthcare - Whether the neo-Nazi's like it or not, universal healthcare, in one form or another, will have to come to the United States. Removing the burden of costs from employers will make our businesses compete on a more even ground globally, and everyone will be covered. How long it takes to get to that point of transition will determine whether it's too late to remain a first-world power. If our trade embalances continue to escalate and if we continue to burden our home-grown businesses with the cost of providing healtchare to their employees, we will become a second-world country.
Automobiles - The future is likely to be electric. I see hybrid as an intermediary stage. Within the next 40 years I see over 80% of cars being electric. I see dozens of new nuclear reactors being built for the purposes of creating electricity. I see eventually a lot of the coal burning electric plants being phased out as Americans discover that's where a lot of our electricity comes from. There will be more solar farms and I see carbon-based fuel being the eventual domain of jets, locomotives, large construction equipment, and military-related craft. Even there, I think tanks will be slowly phased out in favor of smaller, lighter, faster attack vehicles.
Internet - I see software being purchased in subscriptions online and handled like a utility. Your account will have so-and-so software enabled and you'll pull much of that, including dynamic keys to allow you to use what you have on your personal computer. I see large retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy selling essentially terminals and an account with them or some large software holding company that will act as your utility provider. You'll buy the computer terminal and go home and plug it in. When you turn it on (you'll hook it to you big-screen tv; monitors will go away), a setup screen will guide you through the process of auto-discovering your Internet connection (it'll be wireless), and establishing an account and selecting software to be attached to your account. The terminal may not even have a hard drive, all your files being saved online with your provider, or by choice to a third-party repository provider. Eventually, these terminals would be in all new houses with a basic account attached to the house. It'll be considered another appliance like a stove or fridge, and because it's wired into the house, will be able to operate via schedules or remote, the electronics in the house. This will include cooking things in the stove, or ordering new food when the fridgerator is getting low. TV channels will be seamlessly integrated with Internet channels and part of your utility bill will be combinations of software on account and television stations (or packages), on account.
Manufacturing and IT Development - It's quite obvious that the future looks very bleak for Americans in these fields. Manufacturing jobs are being relocated to Mexico and China and IT jobs are being relocated to India and China. When you couple the costs that employers have to transfer to the cost of making their vehicles to cover healthcare costs and union concessions, it's no wonder they want to go elsewhere. On the other side of that coin, it has been because of unions that workers have any rights at all and generally have the relatively high wages they've enjoyed for so long. What will be left will be combinations of service industry, construction, and health field related jobs. Much of the industry left will be for small items and repair.
Military - The US Armed Services will eventually have no major foreign presence. We will have to pull down our military bases overseas to cut costs and our navy will have to be paired down to a minimal presence. Most will be moth-balled. We will have to forge strong ties with our allies to maintain airbases for foreign operations and will have to listen to our allies more and be much more reliant on our pursuasive capabilities so that they take the lead in operations. Our greatest saving grace will be our geographical distance from most of the conflicts. Our greatest fear will be tipping between a weak economy and occasional terrorist incursions onto our soil. Perhaps our biggest challenge is to successfully detect and prevent terrorists from setting off nuclear material in our cities as part of a terrorist action. Outside of that, extraction from their lands will do us the most favors. We would best serve anti-terrorist efforts by staying off the radar and giving them time to forget about us. We have to concede that we can no longer jump all over the world at the drop of the hat and bully everyone around. It costs too much and makes too many enemies. If we want peace here, we need to stop listening to the neo-Cons.
Education and Libraries - After high school, I see community colleges playing prominant roles. They cater to needs particular to the area so are more relavent to the graduates, who come out with the skills to 'hit the ground running'. Academic universities I see eventually moving to Cyberspace. Continually rising costs and uncertain value post-graduate-wise will I think allow online universities to gain traction. I believe eventually all academic universities will end up online, save those that require direct involvement (hard sciences). Even with these, there is the possibility of having home labs. They'd be expensive, but how much more expensive than moving on campus and the course costs and books? Likewise, I see libraries moving almost exclusively online.
Healthcare - Whether the neo-Nazi's like it or not, universal healthcare, in one form or another, will have to come to the United States. Removing the burden of costs from employers will make our businesses compete on a more even ground globally, and everyone will be covered. How long it takes to get to that point of transition will determine whether it's too late to remain a first-world power. If our trade embalances continue to escalate and if we continue to burden our home-grown businesses with the cost of providing healtchare to their employees, we will become a second-world country.
Automobiles - The future is likely to be electric. I see hybrid as an intermediary stage. Within the next 40 years I see over 80% of cars being electric. I see dozens of new nuclear reactors being built for the purposes of creating electricity. I see eventually a lot of the coal burning electric plants being phased out as Americans discover that's where a lot of our electricity comes from. There will be more solar farms and I see carbon-based fuel being the eventual domain of jets, locomotives, large construction equipment, and military-related craft. Even there, I think tanks will be slowly phased out in favor of smaller, lighter, faster attack vehicles.
Internet - I see software being purchased in subscriptions online and handled like a utility. Your account will have so-and-so software enabled and you'll pull much of that, including dynamic keys to allow you to use what you have on your personal computer. I see large retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy selling essentially terminals and an account with them or some large software holding company that will act as your utility provider. You'll buy the computer terminal and go home and plug it in. When you turn it on (you'll hook it to you big-screen tv; monitors will go away), a setup screen will guide you through the process of auto-discovering your Internet connection (it'll be wireless), and establishing an account and selecting software to be attached to your account. The terminal may not even have a hard drive, all your files being saved online with your provider, or by choice to a third-party repository provider. Eventually, these terminals would be in all new houses with a basic account attached to the house. It'll be considered another appliance like a stove or fridge, and because it's wired into the house, will be able to operate via schedules or remote, the electronics in the house. This will include cooking things in the stove, or ordering new food when the fridgerator is getting low. TV channels will be seamlessly integrated with Internet channels and part of your utility bill will be combinations of software on account and television stations (or packages), on account.
Manufacturing and IT Development - It's quite obvious that the future looks very bleak for Americans in these fields. Manufacturing jobs are being relocated to Mexico and China and IT jobs are being relocated to India and China. When you couple the costs that employers have to transfer to the cost of making their vehicles to cover healthcare costs and union concessions, it's no wonder they want to go elsewhere. On the other side of that coin, it has been because of unions that workers have any rights at all and generally have the relatively high wages they've enjoyed for so long. What will be left will be combinations of service industry, construction, and health field related jobs. Much of the industry left will be for small items and repair.
Military - The US Armed Services will eventually have no major foreign presence. We will have to pull down our military bases overseas to cut costs and our navy will have to be paired down to a minimal presence. Most will be moth-balled. We will have to forge strong ties with our allies to maintain airbases for foreign operations and will have to listen to our allies more and be much more reliant on our pursuasive capabilities so that they take the lead in operations. Our greatest saving grace will be our geographical distance from most of the conflicts. Our greatest fear will be tipping between a weak economy and occasional terrorist incursions onto our soil. Perhaps our biggest challenge is to successfully detect and prevent terrorists from setting off nuclear material in our cities as part of a terrorist action. Outside of that, extraction from their lands will do us the most favors. We would best serve anti-terrorist efforts by staying off the radar and giving them time to forget about us. We have to concede that we can no longer jump all over the world at the drop of the hat and bully everyone around. It costs too much and makes too many enemies. If we want peace here, we need to stop listening to the neo-Cons.
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