Vision of life in the middle of the century

How will oil depletion affect the way we live? What will the economic impact be? How will agriculture change? Will we thrive or merely survive?

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YossarianUK
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Joined: 24 Nov 2005, 11:09

Post by YossarianUK »

IMHO, robots, aka "artificial intelligence", already control human society, in the form of multinationals. They are pre-programmed and single minded ("best interests of shareholders") and systematically buy off anyone who gets near power.

We still have the vote, but its generally a decision about which corporate sponsored member of the political class is most telegenic. The differences in policy, where they exist, disappear as soon as they take power, and the realities of power are explained to them.

We don't have to wait for computerised AI to take over the world, corporate AI has already done so. Its probably the cause of most, if not all, that is discussed on this forum.
"Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good... so far so good... so far so good. How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land!"

La Haine, 1995
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RenewableCandy
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Post by RenewableCandy »

Wasn't there some chap who took the analogy of a corporation being legally a person, to its logical conclusion, and analysed their behaviour? Then found (nearly) all of them were psychopaths??

And if that's so, isn't there a 'cure'? Or at the very least a way of changing the rules so that companies have strong 'incentive' to 'behave'?
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Erik
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Post by Erik »

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RenewableCandy
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Post by RenewableCandy »

Oh, Canadians I might have known :) Once someone described the whole country as "Pathologically nice" :)
syberberg
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Post by syberberg »

RenewableCandy wrote:Wasn't there some chap who took the analogy of a corporation being legally a person, to its logical conclusion, and analysed their behaviour? Then found (nearly) all of them were psychopaths??
Take a look around, we're already there. All that's left is to grant corporations extraterritoriality. There's a good overview, albeit a US-centric one, here.
And if that's so, isn't there a 'cure'? Or at the very least a way of changing the rules so that companies have strong 'incentive' to 'behave'?
Yeah, it's known as: "Don't buy their shite." :wink:
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RenewableCandy
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Post by RenewableCandy »

syberberg wrote:
Take a look around, we're already there. All that's left is to grant corporations extraterritoriality
does that mean we get to exile them all to Mars? :D
Wal-Mart, your inconvenience store...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterritoriality :(
Susukino
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Joined: 08 Aug 2007, 00:51
Location: Tokyo

Post by Susukino »

clv101 wrote:50 years into the future? I think the next 50 years are going to be far far harder to forecast than the last 50 and we know how accurate the 1950's forecasts of the 21st century were! :)
My feelings exactly!

If there's one thing the PO crowd needs it's a healthy dose of humility regarding its own ability (or lack thereof) to forecast a detailed future.

Personally I will be glad if I can correctly predict the rough trend in energy prices for the next 10 years and a few very basic consequences of that price trend.

Suss
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RenewableCandy
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Post by RenewableCandy »

Susukino wrote: Personally I will be glad if I can correctly predict the rough trend in energy prices for the next 10 years and a few very basic consequences of that price trend.
Suss
If I could do that I wouldn't just be happy I'd be delirious (and so would my boss)! I'm forever being asked 'Yes but how long would this solar PV/wind-turbine/CHP mularkey take to pay for itself?'...
Grizzly Mouse
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Joined: 24 Mar 2008, 02:32
Location: Bristol

Post by Grizzly Mouse »

Predicting the next 50 years should be a lot easier than it was predicting the last 50 years. As it should be easier predicting the decline of industry and technology than the development of new technology. Of course the idiots will still make stupid jetson style predictions.

M King Hubert made a pretty good prediction 50 years ago anyway: "Global peak around the year 2000" only six years off!
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Andy Hunt
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Post by Andy Hunt »

Welcome to the forum Grizzly Mouse. :)
Andy Hunt
http://greencottage.burysolarclub.net
Eternal Sunshine wrote: I wouldn't want to worry you with the truth. :roll:
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