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Interesting piece and graphic discussing what we as a species may face in the coming decade and the implications.

What do you think will be the biggest change over the coming years, not just politically but ecologically and societal.

Interesting read...and a topic I was going to post on here at some point in the near future. The first thing that comes to mind is social media and how its tearing society apart at the seams acting as a catalyst...I know you weren't looking for a political thread but I really do think the left and the right are going for a hard split at some point.

There use to be opportunity for compromise and coming together at the table for the common good, however, the bases and the general populace are just so balkanized with their views at this point.

I'll caveat this by saying, spoiler alert, I do fall on the political right but if I were a alien looking down I would see:

(I'll keep the discussion focused towards the atmospherics in the states)

Lets see:
Identity politics
Altruist Morals
Communists marching the streets
The Rise of the Alt-Right
Center Right and Center Left moderates driven to the extremes because their candidate of choice can't win a primary election.
Fake News on right and left (FNC, Breitbart, MSNBC, CNN, HuffPo, NYT, Vox, Buzzfeed etc)
Everytime I log on Facebook I see someone slagging off on someone else
Twitter, where people tweet 1000 times a day about either side of the political spectrum.
Violence in the streets
Censorship
Infringement of free speech
Congressman getting gunned down at a softball game
#theresistance (which ok call me bias, but this is completely unpatriotic to me and childish)

The goal posts have moved. What a center left individual would want politically, is just completely off the table for someone center right and vice-versa.

I don't know where its all going, maybe I'm just a pessimist, but it seems like its all fertile ground for, at the very least, some serious civil unrest and possibly a split at some point. What centers of gravity would lead to a UK civil war or a US civil war? I'm not really sure, but I do see the sh*t hitting the fan at some point, at least during my childrens lives.

My suspicion is that Trump will win again in 2020. Not only because of a familial contact being a GOP opposition researcher who has bet Ruth Chris Steakhouse on it because their firms numbers "point to nothing changing outside the city/liberal bubble", but also of no real competition from his own party or the Democrats.

Perhaps his re-election could be a flash point for just an absolute nuclear meltdown in this country.

I'd be interested to hear some thoughts on the future of the UK, wheres it all going there? If Brexit fails, is that a flash point?

I think we are about to enter a new industrial age.

I think automation will eliminate jobs but unlike previous eras the new jobs will also be automated. I expect governments to struggle with higher unemployment becoming the norm and all the social issues that arise from that.

Predicting the future tends to be futile. In my life i have seen the rise of computers, the internet, mobile phones and social media. I have seen the fall of communism and the rise of Islamic extremism. I didn't see any of this coming and I suspect that goes for most people.

Let me be positive for a moment by comparing the 1970's to today.

Europe - Eastern bloc, Spain, Portugal and Greece were all non democratic. Today largely democratic.

Asia and Latin America largely undemocratic today many countries are economically and politically better off.

Africa and Middle East major social and political issues across both continents. Today patchy improvement some shining examples and some same old same old.

With all the problems we see on the news I still think that overall politically and socially the world is a better today that it was 50 years ago.

Let's hope I am wrong about mass unemployment.

One more point

Increasing population is the overriding factor. It will probably destroy our way of life over the next couple of centuries.

Bring on the pandemic!

I'm hoping that technology will eventually help us with this.

But yes.....the rate of population increase has been causing problems for society for decades already.

Edited by Stirlingsays (07 Jan 2018 1.29pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

How?

There's more than bean burgers that vegans can eat.
Wagamamas have their own vegan menu, Pizza hut have vegan pizzas now as does zizzi's. Even Mcdonalds produced a vegan burger (out in sweden.) Sainsbury's have an increasing vegan range and Tesco's have appointed a head of vegan products. So yeah as the range of products and ease of purchase increases so will the number of vegans.

Edited by sitdownstandup (07 Jan 2018 2.36pm)

Attachment: foods vegans can eat.jpg (55.02Kb)

Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible Nature. Unaware that this Nature he’s destroying is this God he’s worshipping.

Hubert Reeves

I think sooner or later a pandemic will resolve this. The classic problem of an expanding world population thats increasingly moving across borders - Sooner or later we'll be looking at a Spainish Flu equivilant, or worse. Spainish Flu killed 50m people world wide, in an era where mass transport and rapid transport was next to non-existant. In the modern age, something like that, could be spreading thoughout the world in days rather than weeks, rendering any attempt at quarentine redundent.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
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Veganism has its place in the marketplace of ideas.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)