I have been thinking about the future and I have some very specific predictions.
There will be self healing paint for walls and for cars and things.
There will be construction adhesive like nails or soldering bolts made from a substance like the adhesive that mollusks use to adhere to rocks.
A type of grown in incubation tanks building material that is based on a hardened but yet resilient coral-like material will be developed.
People will return to gardening when food prices go skyrocketing as climate change alters the landscape and makes regional crop production less productive.
There will be underwater and rising through and above the water business and housing developments.
A type of solar powered aircraft will be developed that can make trans-oceanic flights.
The race to keep information free or under control will continue.
The human life span will be expanded with those who can afford longevity and neural regeneration treatments creating an aristocracy.
Genetic engineering will begin with identifying fetuses with genetic anomalies, proceed to correcting the anomalies, move on to engineering zygotes to exclude genetic mutations and unwanted recessives, and lastly become a way for parents to design the child they desire.
I would like to think that in the upcoming energy crisis that a populist movement arises where people begin to use such things and ideas as geothermal heat, more solar and wind energy collection, permaculture design, etc. to create communities where each household is either independent from outside energy sources or contributes to a collective grid to power community necessities like schools, libraries, government buildings, and more.
I fear that the current energy brokers are investing resources not only into grabbing the last of the oil as we head over the hump of peak oil production into the era of dwindling fossil fuels, but also are doing research and development to identify not a new technology that will move us away from oil consumption but another type of controllable resource that can be used to generate an economic situation of supply and demand. Technology can only be contained for so long before it is replicated, but some new resource would guarantee ongoing profits.
Still thinking on all of this. More tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Have you considered some of the cruise ships already plying our oceans. They're essentially floating retirement homes for the wealthy, who move from ship to ship as the mood fits...
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about the cruise ships, but yes they are like floating retirement communities. I am could foresee in the future more of this as oceans rise and the people need to be housed somewhere. Perhaps in addition to floating retirement communities there might be factory ships where the assembly of goods is done on the ship. Or floating colleges where the dormitories and the classrooms are all on ship.
ReplyDeleteI've actually heard people, older folks, saying that for them it's cheaper to live most of the time on a cruise ship rather than in a retirement home.
ReplyDeleteThe meals are first rate, the service is supposed to be very good, and they have full time doctors on board. :)