User blog:Jeremiah Garland/Jeremiah's Depressing Predictions on the Future

I've been thinking lately about what the future holds for human society. If you recall, I did a blog many moons ago concerning World War III, and how I thought it would eventually play out. This blog goes a little more in depth as to how humans will be affected in the near future, by aspects such as the economy, education, science, technology, etc.

Surveillance
Many of you have probably heard about the recent NSA leak by Edward Snowden, which makes this growing concern very relevant. The USA PATRIOT Act (short for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism") is a 2001 bill passed by President Bush that has, in its 12-year history, rose to be the most controversial bill in the history of the US. Under this act, government officials are given the right to, among other things, hack into any citizen's e-mail or other personal online accounts, intercept and listen in on phone calls, and rummage through a recipient's mail, all for the purpose of "halting domestic terrorism". This is, without a doubt, one of the worst aspects that have resulted from America's recent growing fear of terrorism, which is, ultimately, hardly necessary for a variety of reasons.

With the USA PATRIOT Act in place, with similar bills rising (or having already rose) all over the world, and security cameras ubiquitous, it seems that George Orwell's opus magnum Nineteen Eighty-Four is slowly becoming a reality. Needless to say, things can only get worse from here. Already governments around the world (most notably the US government) has begun researching "direct surveillance" of specific citizens via tiny microchips implanted anywhere on the target's body. Obviously, they are still in their alpha stage, but I predict it will not be long before this trend becomes widespread – becoming a governmental requirement covered up by a fib and given a sugar-coated name similar to the infamous USA PATRIOT Act. As governments become more and more paranoid, corrupt, and disillusioned, it comes with no surprise that the demand for surveillance will only be increased, so politicians, in making it their personal goals to privately and secretly run our lives, can now manage us easier through the use of tiny chips that will be implanted in our heads. Sound unlikely? Like I said: these programs have already begun, with thousands of volunteers actually wanting to have the chip sewn into them, believing that in doing so, their government is better "protecting" them.

Economic Collapses
Let's be honest: there is not one national economy in the world today that is "doing well" at the moment. In fact, of the 190-odd countries on Earth, there are currently only three countries that are not in debt, those being Brunei, Liechtenstein, and Palau. Even in Europe, which is supposedly one of the most economically-sound regions on Earth, we've witnessed several nations of the EU, namely Spain, Portugal, Greece, Ireland, and most recently, Cyprus, tank completely, only to be bailed out by either the collective entity known as "the Troika" (the European Union's monetary fund partnered with the IMF), or Germany. A growing population in East Asian powerhouses such as China and Japan only means more health care, education, welfare, and other necessities to pay for, directly from the government's wallet. And then there's America, where unnecessary military spending (roughly $680 billion annually) is the main fiscal focus rather than the essentials to support yet another rapidly growing population.

To sum it up, the world economy is presently in deep turmoil, and the likelihood that we'll ever recover is practically zero to nill. Germany can't continue to holster up the EU; Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Lithuania barely have enough money to support themselves, and are the most likely next candidates to tank soon enough. Meanwhile, you have huge American corporations like Wal-Mart, Apple, and General Motors (to name a few) who, given national status, would have highers GDPs than a majority of the countries in the world. Such companies are slowly undermining the American economy further. All the while, universal unemployment rates show no sign of lowering, and less and less people are making enough money to even afford a roof to sleep under. The result: increased poverty. A lot. Unsteady economies means more taxes to the proles, and only the few .1% ultrawealthy billionaires will not be affected in the least.

Effects of Overpopulation
Before I get to this topic, here are some facts to consider: It took until the 19th century (1800s) for the world population to finally surpass one billion people; then, it took just another century to surpass two billion; then, about half a century later, the world's population doubled that to four billion. Currently, just sixty years later, we sit at a total population of 8 billion people. What's more, scientists have predicted at the rate we are reproducing, we will reach a staggering 296 billion people in just the next 150 years. Just sit back for a moment and imagine a world with 296 billion people. Crazy, right? Point is, our population is increasing exponentially, at an extremely alarming rate. The world is only so big, and cannot possibly support that many people. Already, on just 8 billion people, world hunger has taken its deadly toll; with almost 300 billion people, it's unthinkable. This is truly an imminent problem that has gone unignored, probably due in part to the morbidly proposed solutions.

Of course, much of the world's growing population is, and will continue to be focused in East Asia. Mumbai, Manila, Shanghai, Dhaka, Seoul, and Tokyo are amongst the most densely populated metropolitan areas on Earth, and it comes with no surprise that overpopulation will wreak the greatest havoc in these key places. Already, nearly 22 million people live in the cramped city of Mumbai, which is, area-wise, no larger than the city of Chicago (a city which currently holds less than 3 million people). Fact of the matter is, we simply don't have enough "space" on Earth to create suitable living conditions for such a growing population. So what happens when too many people are packed in such tiny spaces? Epidemics. Plagues. Famine. Disease. As pessimistic as this may sound, viral diseases are what immediately result from growing populations, and we certainly have a growing population. Consider an experiment performed in the 1960s in which a dozen or so foreign rabbits were introduced to a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The rabbits began to breed in order to survive on the island, and soon a rabbit colony was formed. However, given the tiny size of the island and the growing amounts of rabbits, are the rabbits on the island were extinct within a decade, simply due to a growing population that could no longer be supported by a limited environment. In our near future, the same effect will take its gloom toll on the world. Slowly we are running out of fresh water on Earth; already in populated areas of Africa and India it is extremely rare. And, needless to say, food will also be a growing matter; like anything else on Earth, our food is limited, and cannot possibly support a larger population. That being said, I predict that it will be the countries of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh that will suffer the greatest, perhaps even leading to the world's largest epidemic, granted the limited space our Earth offers.

Decline in Education
Already people throughout the world have become frustrated with the universal educational system. Whilst countries like Finland and Belgium place at the top of the educational spectrum, these countries are also home to the largest population of students who have admitted a disdain for school. America, a country which statistically lags behind on the educational treadmill, has been criticised for its poor and disorganised educational curriculum, which is based mostly around creative thinking rather than the more important critical thinking. Needless to say, undeveloped nations (e.g., most countries of Africa, a majority of Latin America, and Central Asia) have very poor, if not nonexistanting, educational programs. Few goals have been prioritised by the world's governments to better our universal educational programs, which appear to be overshadowed by more demanding, mostly economic, issues. With a decline in education, how, then, are we to better ourselves for the future?

It's simple logic. If our educational programs are not improved, people are no longer qualified to run our world. If people are no longer qualified, there's little hope for improvements in anything else. With little motivation to better the world's education, I predict that universal governments will continue to focus on "big picture" issues, leaving this educational fiasco to decay dramatically. On top of that, as means to earn immediate money, governments will cease funding of schools, forcing the citizens who wish to receive an education (which in our apathetic times, appears to be few) actually pay for it in addition to their already optional college tenure (which, again, very few will choose to pursue).

More to come...