I stumbled across this website, and it got my attention:
+ Fusion energy
+ Crash proof cars
+ Personal computers with the power of a human brain
+ Insect sized spy devices (already in development)
+ Sealing wounds with a portable laser pen, a la “Bones” in Star Trek
+ A sunscreen pill
+ Cheap, personal DNA sequencing
+ Incredible advances in computer storage and speeds
+ The lame will walk
…and more
As I read through this list, I could not even begin to imagine the changes that our society will go through. Will the DNA sequencing be used for other things than cancer treatments? You betcha. Will the bug spy-ders be used for other than military uses? You betcha. I can only imagine the paranoia that could ensue from some of these wonderful technological advances.
A sunscreen pill? That’ll put the sunscreen manufacturers out of business, but will it also ripple into increased spending for outdoor activities? And what will the libbers scream about, if skin cancer is removed from their list of frightening statistics?
Fusion energy sounds great, but how much resistance will it get from big oil and the government cronies that depend upon big oil donations? Will the libbers argue against it?
All of the advances in computer technology sound great, but they leave us vulnerable to certain types of attacks. I foresee an increasing cyberwar with our enemies. How will this change military recruiting? Or do we already have secret bunkers filled with geeks who safeguard our computer safety with their pocket protectors and little round glasses?
It seems that all of the science fiction I used to read about in wonder is actually coming true. I remember Isaac Asimov describing a bed material that conformed to his body shape – and now we have it and it is sold every day. There’s a famous story called “The Last Question” that reflects on the changes in computing, and how man and computer begin to relate to each other in their evolution.
What changes can you foresee in our next generation? What would you like to see? And what are the unintended consequences of our growing technological advances?
Wednesday Changes Open Comments
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Texas Department of Public Safety officials are asking questions following a report that Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council member Mohamed Elibiary may have been given access to a sensitive database of state and local intelligence reports, and then allegedly shopped some of those materials to a media outlet. He allegedly used the documents to claim the department was promoting… Read more »
Here’s directly from the Washington Post: But the Internal Affairs Division at U.S. Customs and Border Protection ruled differently nearly a year later and, ultimately, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas brought charges. The Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council said the government’s case was “based on false testimony that is contradicted by the facts.” In a… Read more »
Hamous #126;
My point as to downplay Sarge’s comment on Rick Perry.
Here’s what a Townhall post just posted from the Washington Times: Agent Jesus E. Diaz Jr. was named in a November 2009 federal grand jury indictment with deprivation of rights under color of law during an October 2008 arrest near the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, in response to a report that illegal immigrants had crossed the river with… Read more »
Roughly 150 protesters with Occupy Chicago stormed City Hall Wednesday demanding to assert their “First Amendment rights” with Mayor Rahm Emanuel…but to no avail. The brash Emanuel — who once sent a “Sicilian message” in the form of a putrid, decomposed fish to a pollster who irritated him; threatened former British Prime Minister Tony Blair not to “f–ck this up;”… Read more »
Eating dead birds is different than sucking dead birds.
#111 Darren,
Yup.
hater
#122
I blame Bush.
We’re apparently doomed. A cold front might cause our temperatures to go all the way down into the 40’s.
I wish you all the best of luck. I hope the survivors can find the will to continue on.
#120 Boney
I’m glad I could bring some joy to your otherwise miserable existence. 😉
#119 TT: Thank you so much:>) There were several in there that made me laugh real hard but that last one was the best outrageous to the extreme. It brought a moment of joy to my drowning in the river of green snot.
This last one had me LOLing.
You were expecting something different? Heck, you get that response here. 😆
heheheh heheh heheh she said “masturbation”
TT; No one has come right and told them “this is bad, this is a sin, this separates you from God”. Must have Protestant caregivers. 😉 I am always amused at the sharp intakes of breath and the comments “OH REALLY?” and “OH NO” and the always drawn out and giggly ‘oooooh’. Ha!!! They’re so busted. 🙂 Keep up the… Read more »
Rick Perry wants Mitt Romney to cough up his form 1040s (that’s the US individual tax return document). The Romney camp demurred, saying they would consider doing so next year. (Remarkably, Romney has NEVER released, even during his governorship of Massachusetts.) Why won’t Romney do it? Speculation, from liberal group ThinkProgress and others, is that Romney pays a way lower… Read more »
How appropriate, these last comments. In our discussion of the sacraments, we always get hung up on confession. These kids have not seen the inside of a church, much less the confessional, in months (or years for way too many of them). There’s the usual discussion of mortal/venial sin, the three mitigating factors, etc. No one has come right and… Read more »
#83;
Not quite the analogy I would have used considering the context. 😉
#43;
Shows the seething hatred of the Tea Party, eh?
Thoughts and prayers to Greg and his family.
#24;
That’s not too bad. I’ve been eating dead birds all my life.
gto #2;
Is that Headshaker’s site? I searched the site and went on it and, boy, I thought Headshaker’s site was tacky before now. Now it’s pure gutter trash. What the heck is ST even bothering doing there?
Texpat, thank you for the suggested reading, A Soldier of the Great War. Texpat and mharper42, the more I go back to the memory bank to write these notes, the more impressions of people, places, and connections come to mind. The jet lag is long gone along with the mountain of laundry and putting things back in their places in… Read more »
#106 Adee
I am enjoying your Roman tour postings. Have you recovered from the jet lag and exhaustion of such a monumental trip?
Adee Thanks and if I may, I would like to suggest a book I know you would enjoy. A Soldier of the Great War By Mark Helprin In the summer of 1964, Alessandro Giuliani, an old and partially lame professor of aesthetics —white hair and mustaches, white suit, cane— is thrown off a trolley on the outskirts of Rome after… Read more »
Drill HERE drill NOW dagnabbit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
World Series rained out in St. Louis today. Hmmm, might we hope that rain makes it this far south by tomorrow? Now back to Rome, the morning after arrival and we’re still jet lagged and pooped from climbing around the Colosseum and hoofing up the Capitoline Hill to overlook the Forum of Caesar and the Forum of Augustus and see… Read more »
#100 Hamous Pritchard has it confused there. In the mid-1990s, the US was importing about 67% of it’s petroleum. We are now down to (calculated on net/net importation) about 48-49% so we have at least crossed the majority domestic reliance point. With nuclear and natural gas, especially LNG distributed to fuel our trucking fleets, we could put a huge dent… Read more »
Starbucks coffee tastes like they roast it too long or hot, kind of charred & ashy.
Centennial Hamous:
The Senior Geoscientist at Exxon told me to my face the world would be at “peak oil” by 2010 but we would run out of drinking water long before we run out of oil. At that time, EMEC couldn’t find oil in a Jiffy Lube.
I saw that new Starbucks instant coffee in the store last night. I was gonna try it until I realized it was 8 bucks for 8 little tubes. A buck for a cup of instant coffee? Not this fool.
93 Texpat
But…but….but……I thought we didn’t manufacture ANYTHING anymore.
That doesn’t sound right. I think it’s still around 50%.
The first time I had Starbucks coffee was a few months ago. They serve it at Memorial City Hospital’cafeteria. Best darn decaff I’ve ever had. Exquisite.
Just heard this on Michael Berry’s program. I can certainly sympathize with the sentiments.
ST’s relatives in Conn are causing trouble with their “strange ways”.
Ron Jeremy’s family suing NATO for war crimes.
You too can prepare foods that wookiees eat.
Pat Robertson: “Look at me! I’m relevant too! Guys? Hello? Where is everybody?”
Ambrose Evans Pritchard in the London Telegraph: The American phoenix is slowly rising again. Within five years or so, the US will be well on its way to self-sufficiency in fuel and energy. Manufacturing will have closed the labour gap with China in a clutch of key industries. The current account might even be in surplus. The US already meets… Read more »
Killer whales are people too!
compassionate conservatism is just another phrase for squishy bs. It winds up being neither compassionate nor conservative. Go with the genuine article , conservatism, and get great results, it works every time.
But alas, the Republicans had all those things for six years and what did we get? NCLB and a new Medicare program. We did not have filibuster proof majorities and we had a bunch of fine upstanding politicians [wb] like leaping Lincoln Chaffee, Arlen Speculum, Snow and Collins and the blogosphere/innanet thing was not as strong. We have seen the… Read more »
#88 WB
I wonder how many IRS agents are convoying to Williston, North Dakota right now to bring the hammer down on all the cash flowing through that town.
Heck, I might consider stripping for that kind of money.
Of course, people would be yelling at me to “Put it back on!”
Righands have been throwing their money away since before Spindletop. I don’t suppose they’ll ever change, but there are some girls up there putting together a nice nest egg. Kit, a 36-year old stripper who has been dancing for 10 years in places like Las Vegas, Texas and California, first started coming to Williston a few years ago in between… Read more »
Which is why I distrust Perry given the last minute nature of his plan.
I predict that the Ds will get their heads handed to them and the Rs will have a stronger majority in the house, a filibuster proof majority in the senate and control the WH. It could happen, although I don’t see a filibuster-proof majority coming. But the Dems have recently abandoned the concept of filibuster now so Rs can do… Read more »
#81 bone
Thanks for sharing.
The Arms Room gun range near Houston had a mixed reception. Mr. James’s attorneys advised him to seek written statements from Target and Home Depot declaring that they didn’t object to his business opening in their shopping center. Home Depot agreed, but Target declined, Mr. James said. (Target declined to comment). Later, representatives of PetSmart Inc. thanked him for boosting… Read more »
Here’s a less biased critique of the plan, which is sort of what I was hoping for here.