Reaping today’s rewards in 2040

 

The financial world entreats us to invest in stocks/shares/various financial markets or even in long term basic savings where the reward (we are told) will become visible in the long term future. I am not going to go into this as I am not a financial planner or anything like that but as many might well attest, care with finances is wise but unless you are into the risk market, the only ones who benefit from your investments are the Banks etc. I know this might elicit a multitude of wisdom from those who may have a contrary view so let me rather dwell on another area of rewards that we will almost certainly reap when the young people of today become the oldies of tomorrow. The adults/parents of the New World Order!

I suggest that the investments we are making in the youth of today, and here I mean the digital investments primarily, are going to create an entirely New World Order- I borrow this terminology from Huxley’s Brave New World written just prior to the Second World War.

I would posit that unless we can dramatically halt the headlong rollercoaster rush down the slippery slope of the digital explosion (apologies for the many mixed metaphors), we are going to reap the reward of young adults totally unable to cope in a world which raised them with values still echoing the 1970’s onwards. The generation of today and yesterday may well have coped with the advent of radio/television/radar/computers/calculators/floppy disks/stiffy disks/VHS/DVD’s/ memory sticks/ and the plethora of thumbnail sized digital information cards which are able to hold more information than once was in all the libraries of the world, and a world that is still changing with electric vehicles/drones… but unlike the 5 year old/ten year old/15 year old in the classroom of today (which has not changed since classrooms began- desks etc facing a teacher and blackboard/whiteboard/digital board), the adult of today, generally speaking, was able to “grow” with the changes and adapt. There was a firm foundation on which we could base our tomorrow’s. The lifestyle required an active engagement with the surroundings. We were encouraged to get off the TV couch and throw a ball through a hoop. Nowadays the “tv” goes with the child…

So what does the world of 2040 onwards look like?

·         Sporting Activities: The number of people actively involved in sporting activities will dramatically decrease. Local clubs will all but become extinct- why must the young person play a sport which is not going to bring him any financial gain when she/he can rather watch via TV/Hologram/Cellphone or similar. AI may well provide simulated sport of various natures…

·         Marriage/Relationships/Bearing of Children: The idea of fixing oneself to a significant other will almost disappear. Why does one need to have only one partner, when physical satisfaction (of various kinds) will be catered for via robots which will look/feel/and be able to perform sexual acts if required without any consequences. (the “doll” from the local Adult shop is surely antiquated). AI is already able to offer companionship able to answer almost any question posed to it and even border on “caring” advice.

·         Education: Education will of necessity have changed from learning how to do things, to how to get the digital world to do it for the child. Classrooms/school buildings/actual human teachers, school academic reports will have little value in the future world.

·         Finances: The world of money will no longer be as it is in 2025. We have already moved a long way beyond just paper money and cheques (what is a cheque he asks?). The chip in your arm/neck will calculate your value to society.

·         Food: Protein (steaks etc) are already being created in laboratories. Artificial eggs have been in powder form for years. The need for animals for food will all but cease.

Are we going to see a dystopian society? I would suggest that if we are no longer able to recognise that it is indeed a dystopian society that we are moving towards and/or will be in, then it cannot be one. It then becomes a normal society.

We will be rewarded.