Whats your general outlook on what the future holds?

[MKSheppard]

My outlook is very, very pessimistic. Our kids aren't going to have
the amount of freedom we have, and I've pretty much given up
on all political parties.

The Democrats will get us to a totalitarian nanny state in 15 years,
the Republicans will get us there in 25 years (with a smile on their
faces), and the Greens, libertarians will just be throwing your vote
away...

If everything was really accidential in the world of politics concerning the
loss of freedoms, then we'd have gotten at least SOME of our freedoms
back due to an accident, but that hasn't happened at all.

Just an inexorable steamroller ride towards a bleak totalitarian future....

Just take a look at all the video cameras popping up everywhere, videotaping
your every move....and then combine that with advanced video editing
software....can we say "frame job"?

That and the growing evidence of two classes in this country, that of
ordinary Peons like you and me, and the elite classes of the government...

Did anyone hear about that shooting up in NYC? A former fed agent got a Dear John
letter and went crazy..shootin 2-3 people with a pistol in NYC, where guns
are illegal, but you don't hear a fucking thing about it on the national
news......gee call me a paranoid fuckwad, but I WONDER WHY....HMM?

Ok I'll sit down and go play some games and forget everything I said, but
I find it funny when people call me a fascist, when I'm as pro-freedom they are....

[Mr Bean]

I see MKShepp taking but I hear Resident Commie speaking(Well minus the Shep inserted swears )



Hmm
Isreal is fucked, within the next twentys years its going to hell, Tialand has 40% of its population infected with Aids, 24% of South America is, Along with similar in the twentys for most of Africa, China also has a bit of a well hidden Aids problem(5% or so?)

Bascily in the next ten years, even with an HIV cure, we will see nearly 200 Million people droping dead of AIDS

China is building up an Army, and an Army is only good aginst one person considering the Mountians to the South, Russia

Meaning withn the next eighteen to thirty years that part of the world is going to ^#$#%^# itself over, and considering Russia's Army, that war will go Nuclear, fucking up Asia for the next three hundred years or so

And in seventeen years from today, VR will become Cheaper than Dating and Mankind is doomed

[Darth Wong]

My outlook is very, very pessimistic. Our kids aren't going to have the amount of freedom we have, and I've pretty much given up on all political parties.

No one in his right mind has any faith in political parties.

The Democrats will get us to a totalitarian nanny state in 15 years,
the Republicans will get us there in 25 years (with a smile on their
faces), and the Greens, libertarians will just be throwing your vote
away...

Actually, it is the Republicans who are most aggressively pushing the totalitarian state right now. They're aiming to get us there before Bushie-boy and his Gestapo-henchman Asscroft leave office.

Just an inexorable steamroller ride towards a bleak totalitarian future....

But according to your NRA buddies, neighbourhood guys with rifles can stop all of that, right? Except that they're not ...

That and the growing evidence of two classes in this country, that of ordinary Peons like you and me, and the elite classes of the government...

Corporations, actually. They own the government.

Did anyone hear about that shooting up in NYC? A former fed agent got a Dear John letter and went crazy..shootin 2-3 people with a pistol in NYC, where guns are illegal, but you don't hear a fucking thing about it on the national news......gee call me a paranoid fuckwad, but I WONDER WHY....HMM?

Maybe because New York suffers a thousand homicides every year? Why should this one make national news? Guy goes nuts, shoots a couple of people. Hell, when I lived near Detroit, that would barely make LOCAL news.

Ok I'll sit down and go play some games and forget everything I said, but I find it funny when people call me a fascist, when I'm as pro-freedom they are....

You are pro-YOUR freedom. You are against everyone else's freedom, eg- freedom of (or from) religion, freedom to openly criticize the government, freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation, etc.

[XPViking]

There is an interesting book called The History of Knowledge by Charles Van Doren. The last chapter is devoted to what he thinks will happen in the next hundred years. What's interesting is that he takes his cue from science fiction writers and states that since we humans are so destructive, the machines will take over and govern us for our own good. I'll leave you with the last paragraph:

"Once more, and for the last time, I concede that the foregoing owes much to fantasy and science fiction. But I see no other solutions to the problem of war beside law and force. Law might work. Force, the absolute force imposed by computers that were benevolent because there was no other reason why they should not be, would certainly succeed."

XPViking

[Mr Bean]

Once more, and for the last time, I concede that the foregoing owes much to fantasy and science fiction. But I see no other solutions to the problem of war beside law and force. Law might work. Force, the absolute force imposed by computers that were benevolent because there was no other reason why they should not be, would certainly succeed."

Lucky for us Intellgent Machines are so far off ATM we don't have to worry about it in our life-times(We still having trouble with robots who can walk like a human does and don't cost over 50 million dollers to make)

[MKSheppard]

Actually, it is the Republicans who are most aggressively pushing the totalitarian state right now. They're aiming to get us there before Bushie-boy and his Gestapo-henchman Asscroft leave office.

Yeah right, and your goobermint is even better? The same
Canadian Government who protected the IMF/WTO meeting in one of
your cities by having the military deploy cell phone jammers? Your courts
even let that decision stand. So don't get all preachy about us when your
government is as fucked up as ours....at least we don't jam our citizen's
phones to protect the elite..

And the Democrats when they're in power, generally push for a totalitarian
nanny-state, while the Republicans push for a totalitarian law and order state...

Generally same thing, but different philosophies...the democrats want to take
your rights away to protect you, while the republicans want to take your rights
away to stop criminals, or undesirable elements...

But according to your NRA buddies, neighbourhood guys with rifles can stop all of that, right? Except that they're not ...

Violent armed revolution is never a step to be taken lightly. The Second
Amendment is the final failsafe in our system of government. It safeguards
the other amendments. Why do you think the founders gave it such a
high number?

What do tyrannical governments do upon assuming power typically?
They outlaw the ownership of firearms, so that they would have a
monopoly of force alone. Think for a moment about that.

Tom Jefferson got it right with the Declaration.


That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Corporations, actually. They own the government.

Ha, put down Marx and Engels, OK? Actually, all the corporations want
is TAX BREAKS. They don't give a fucking shit about the reins of power.
All they want is the skids of government greasing the path to greater
profit.

That reminds me Mike, Lifesaver Corporation just recently pulled a JOHN
GALT, and pulled up all of it's operations and moved to Canada lock,
stock, and barrel. The reason?

Subsidies for sugar growers in the tax code put in by sugar industry
lobbyists....it costs a fuckload more to buy sugar here in the US of A
than it does in Canada.

EDIT:

Oh yes, sorry mike, just remembered a case of corp influence... DuPont's patent on FREON, R-12
was about to run out, and after years of debate, somehow, a law banning
freon for it's damaging effects gets passed, and DuPont gets new patents
on new, environmentally safe refrigerants like R-22 and R-134a...

Maybe because New York suffers a thousand homicides every year? Why should this one make national news? Guy goes nuts, shoots a couple of people. Hell, when I lived near Detroit, that would barely make LOCAL news.

Remember Buford Furrow? Aryan Nations guy? The one who went nutzors and shot up
a Jewish Day care place? That was all over the news for DAYS...

Or what about that nut in Massachusetts, Michael McDermott, he shot up his workplace,
the same way this former FBI agent did, and he was splashed all over the front pages
for DAYS.

But the media is strangely quiet over this shooting, even though it has all the
ingredients of a good front page story.....guy upset over an "Dear John" e-mail
goes and shoots up his workplace, and he was a WTC survivor...and also a former
FBI agent...one of the elite few that the media thinks should be armed.

There IS a bias in the media when it comes to shit like this, and it's fairly
OBVIOUS to anyone with two brain-cells to rub together.

That isn't enough media bias for you? How about this?

How about a FBI agent pulling over a Kid and his girlfriend for bank robbery,
even though he has a fucking PICTURE of the bank robbers car, and the kid's car
looks NOTHING LIKE IT, and when the kid unbuckles his seat belt, the brave FBI
agent uses his machinegun to put a round into the kid's nose......and then they
cuff the kid and his girlfriend and leave the poor guy bleeding in the street for almost
an hour before calling an ambulance....

What happened to that FBI agent? Was he put in jail for nearly wasting the wrong person?

No, all he got was paid leave and a reassignment. The papers never even printed the
agent's name, while the names of every two-bit criminal out there get splashed all
over the front pages...

How do I know? I read local Maryland papers...this one never moved past page A23
or made national news...the double standard is between two groups of people:

Those who work for the government, and those who dont......

Lets not get started about how the government prefers the FLAMBOYANT stuff,
if it can get them a soundbite on the evening news.

They could have just picked up Randy Weaver when he was in town getting
groceries, or they could have picked up David Koresh when he was jogging
around his compound, with no muss or fuss. But no, they have to ALWAYS
do things the HARD way....

You are pro-YOUR freedom. You are against everyone else's freedom, eg- freedom of (or from) religion, freedom to openly criticize the government, freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation, etc.

Oh, and your suggestion is to pass MORE laws dictating how WE THE PEOPLE should
think, and feel everyday? Why not just make a law dictating that everyone must
submit to 2 hours of mass brainwashing everyday to inculcate a proper attitude
towards certain groups?

Why do you think the homosexual associations out there are always pushing for
more and more and more laws protecting them, rather than simply supporting
concealed carry like the Pink Pistols? http://www.pinkpistols.com/



Answer: They'd rather have the bodies of dead GLBTs to use to fob off their
anti-freedom legislation through our legal system. In short, they don't want
live gay, lesbian, transgender, or bi-sexual individuals....they want MARTYRS
for their cause!

What would have happened if Matt Shephard had been packing a Glock that night?

Absolutely fucking nothing and he'd be alive today, but then the GLBT groups
wouldn't have one of their most prominent MARTYRS.

And on Religious freedom, do we have mass mobs burning people alive for
merely being members of an opposing religion here? Uhm, No. Then why
do we need more laws against this kind of shit? Murder's murder, whether
the victim was straight, mormon, atheist, homosexual, etc etc.

I mean, murder's already ILLEGAL. Do we need to make it special-double-Illegal?

If I'm not mistaken, the murderers of Matt Shepherd got two consecutive
life sentences, without the need for anti-hate legislation.

Besides, you've obviously never seen how the government always misuses
laws, no matter how noble they originally were, nor how they never,
EVER give power back.

Case in point, using RICO laws originally intended to shut mobsters down against
pro-life groups, and the British Secrecy Laws, enacted during WWI...the brit gov't
found it liked having the powers so much they never got rid of them.

Law of Unintended Consequences, man.

[MKSheppard]

My Grandmother's old SS cards have "NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION" printed
on them, but my newer card doesn't have that, and everyone asks for my
SS number, even phone companies....

And my grandfather's old Drivers license from 1980 is nothing like my
new one....WTF do we need a damn BAR CODE and magnetic strip onthe
back of our licenses?

In some states, they're forcing you to give them a fingerprint to be encoded
onto your license.....

And in California, they have outlawed homeschooling, by passing a law
saying that you can only teach your kids if you have a valid teacher's
certificate....

[Kuja]

Quote:
Remember Buford Furrow? Aryan Nations guy? The one who went nutzors and shot up a Jewish Day care place? That was all over the news for DAYS...


That's cuz it was a daycare, a FREAKING DAYCARE! LITTLE KIDS WERE BEING SHOT YOU IDIOT! Guys shooting other guys happens constantly, but a freaking DAY CARE?!!?!?!? Jeez.......

[Colonel Olrik]

My Grandmother's old SS cards have "NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION" printed

I do believe you would go into a killing spree if forced to be european..
We have.. gasp.. Compulsory Identification cards.. with our fingertips in it..

on them, but my newer card doesn't have that, and everyone asks for my
SS number, even phone companies....

Hardly unreasonable, I think,since there is always a fair chance of not actually being *you * on the other side of the line..

And my grandfather's old Drivers license from 1980 is nothing like my
new one....WTF do we need a damn BAR CODE and magnetic strip onthe
back of our licenses?.

Well, it's progress.. If used properly, it can actually help.. For example, it makes them a lot harder to falsify..

In some states, they're forcing you to give them a fingerprint to be encoded
onto your license.....

Ah Ah, you would reaaally go crazy here in the E.U..

[MKSheppard]

That's cuz it was a daycare, a FREAKING DAYCARE! LITTLE KIDS WERE BEING SHOT YOU IDIOT! Guys shooting other guys happens constantly, but a freaking DAY CARE?!!?!?!? Jeez.......

That's not how the prosecutors saw it. The kids were merely
gravy on their case against him. He was in deeeeeeeep shit
the moment he killed a mailman....apparently it's very bad
form to kill a Federal employee or mailman (holdover from the reconstruction
era of the South 1864-1890) Even though mailmen are no longer
fed employees, a lot of the laws are still in place for protection
of letter carriers.

[MKSheppard]

Hardly unreasonable, I think,since there is always a fair chance of not actually being *you * on the other side of the line.

The original Socail Security act SPECIFIED that they would NEVER
be used for identification, PERIOD. They had to do that in order
to pass it back then.

Well, it's progress.. If used properly, it can actually help.. For example, it makes them a lot harder to falsify..

The off-center hologram of my face I can understand, but why the hell
do we need a bar code and magnetic strip? What kind of information do
they want to store on that?

Ah Ah, you would reaaally go crazy here in the E.U..

It isn't my fault the EU is mostly made up of authoritarian leaning
states. You never really discovered democracy the way the English
world did.

[Azeron]

Hey MK,

Its not whats on the card that you should be worried about, its whats on the dbase that should concern you stored somewhere else. The barcode is just an easy way to reference your number.

[IRG CommandoJoe]

Another biggy that I'm surprised you didn't mention was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. It's original intent was to regulate big business, but it was used against labor unions instead.

[Kuja]

Quote:
The off-center hologram of my face I can understand, but why the hell
do we need a bar code and magnetic strip? What kind of information do
they want to store on that?


Um, your CRIMINAL RECORD, maybe? If you're a serial killer, they'll probably want to know.


And it's still a freakin DAYCARE, for crissake.

[MKSheppard]

Another biggy that I'm surprised you didn't mention was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. It's original intent was to regulate big business, but it was used against labor unions instead.

EHEHEHEH

From UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES:

"Next I'd have to have a .50, and I like watercooled guns, so I'd get the original Colt MG52A, over there,
instead of the aircooled heavy barrel gun most people choose, down here on the end. That M2 mount is the
wrong one, but no one's seen an MG52 tripod in this country for thirty, forty years." Henry remembered
something and went on. "Allen got the documentation on that old Colt, and it originally went to a coal
company, back in 'thirty-one. "

"A coal company?" one of the people standing there said. "What for?"

"Labor relations," the man with the platinum Rolex answered, before Henry could say anything. "That's how it was done back then."

"Exactly," Henry added. "They didn't spell it out in their annual report, though." He went back to answering the man's original question.

[Wicked Pilot]

I predict that while the price of stamps will rise again, The South will not.

[MKSheppard]

I predict that while the price of stamps will rise again, The South will not.

ROTFLMAO

And I also predict the USPS will raise stamp prices and cancel
Saturday delivery......the fuckers..

Seriously, I can remember a lot of stuff from my childhood you
don't have anymore...you could buy a ticket at an airline counter
and board the plane without having to submit to an invasive
check, and without a photo ID....

I miss the 80s....and they started the photo ID thing a few years
before 9/11....

[Mr Bean]

Speaking of Airlines apperntly I fit a profile of some sort as the last eleven plane trips since 9/11 I've taken I've been searched, twice FULL search, Apprently I look like an Angrey Arab despite the fact I'm a card carring memeber of the Armed Forces

[Kuja]

Beware of Bean: the Angry Arab! (insert disturbing music)

[Mr Bean]

Beware of Bean: the Angry Arab! (insert disturbing music)

*Insert funny image here
Hmm ok I will

[RayCav of ASVS]

And in seventeen years from today, VR will become Cheaper than Dating and Mankind is doomed

Whooo! Finally, my chance to get laid!

[Kuja]

Dude you need a girlfriend.

Bean, where'd you get that from?

[Sea Skimmer]

Africa is fucked, South East Asia may be fucked, Europe is really fucked, the middle will fuck its self, why you ask? HIV+the possibility I could get control of a SSBN+Isreal has many nukes.

[Mr Bean]

Bean, where'd you get that from?

8-Bit Theater's Extra section
http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

For some people, the future will probably suck. For others, it will get better.

I can see in 50 years, the attacks on the WTC would be remembered as the final event that pushed the United States into line with the rest of the industrialized world . . . i.e. a mostly socilized state with distinct and overt police-state tendencies. Of course, the US will have the police-state flavor in less than eight years, and the socilization will take place in about 20. There's an outside chance that the US will become more of an overtly religious state. (Read: Christianity will become an acknowledged part of the state.)

People in the US will get stupider. Standards of education have been slipping for the past several decades. At the moment, there's nothing that says that this trend will reverse within, at least, the next decade or two. This will contribute to the continuing technological stagnation of the world. At this rate, the first human colony on Mars won't be established until at least sixty or seventy years from now. As it is, we're still more than twenty years away from the first manned mission to Mars period, and probably a decade away from our return to the Moon.

And likely, there will be an amendment to the Constitution repealing the Second Amendment. This will take place in less than thirty years. As much as some of would hate to see it come to pass, the snowball is already rolling.

The AIDS epidemic will eventually kill many people in Africa, or at least a disease that takes advantage of the systems of people with AIDS. Then the epidemic will have wiped itself out. This will take place within the next century.

A third world war will probably happen before the end of the century. It will start in either China/Russia, or (more remotely) in the Middle East. The Middle East will likely destroy itself in the next fifty years. And in the process, it could drag the world along with it. Barring . . . say a mile-wide asteroid coming down near Jerusalem or Mecca . . . this is pretty much a given. The process started in the forties . . . all it's been waiting for is all the powers there to go nuclear.

The third world war likely won't destroy civilization, however. The only way that would happen is if the United States deployed it's nuclear weapons in the war.

The US would find itself being in more and more of a position to be crippled by terrorist attacks. Eventually some terrorist is going to figure out how to build an EMP bomb and use it on some large city on the Atlantic seaboard. The effects of a single city cut off from the electronic wizardry of the 21st century would be do real harm to the US economy. A handful of cities attacked in this way would bring the US to it's knees.

One might ask "I don't see anything better about the future!"

Well, they'll eventually get to the point where you can get a computer pre-loaded with Microsoft .NET2020 (Assuming they don't get wiped out in the socialization of the US.) Of course, you'll pay licensing fees until the day you die, but this computer will have a connection to the outside world that will be at least as fast as cable is now. Genetic engineering (assuming someone reasonably educated in science ever gets elected,) will make becoming vegetarian both fashionable, and just as healthful as eating meat. Of course, this means that the price of meat will go waaaaay up, but the meat you will get will be top-notch. At least until WWIII, or the EMP bomb attack, that is.

. . . And we'll always be ten years away from fusion power . . .