List the trends you have observed that will change our world.

[Baitball Blogger]

(1) Young kids can't read script.

(2) The American Constitution is losing its unifying meaning.

Maybe the two trends are related?

[Octafish]

1. Unitary Executive killing Americans without trial or due process...

Whistleblowers treated like enemy combatants and tossed into solitary confinement without representation indefinitely.

The national security apparatus turned on the American people, as if We the People were the enemies of the State.

These, too, are connected to the destruction of the Constitution, not by the People, but by the Secret Government, the war party, the MIC - the BFEE.

[RKP5637]

2. ... more

- militarization of local police
- economic disparity
- increasing "Idiocracy"
- solutions only driven by $$$$$
- the neglect of "we the people"
- overwhelming surveillance of the masses
- overwhelming technology to keep the masses in adherence to the regime dictates

[Baitball Blogger]

4. To that I would add:

The increase in unethical attorneys who are derailing valid legal causes against government malfeasance.

[NickB79]

3. Climate change

It will LITERALLY change our world.

All of our other problems pale in comparison.

[hobbit709]

5. Beat me to it.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. So true.

[RKP5637]

19. Excellent, this will trump all others ... n/t

[devils chaplain]

7. The end of privacy.

The government wants a record of everything that everyone does anywhere so it can scour its "metadata" whenever it deems it "necessary."

[Baitball Blogger]

10. Scary to think what is going to happen when Republicans once again take over.

If we don't have a solid organization in place to fight the abuses, individuals are going to be singled out and picked off.

[zeemike]

8. The privatization of government functions.

Including education...It is the soft road to Fascism.

[freedom fighter jh]

9. Young people seem more responsible.

I had to try real hard to come up with something positive.

I work with young people, and when I compare them with what I remember of my friends and myself some four decades ago, they mostly seem to be doing pretty well in their character and their sense of responsibility.

Maybe it's because my generation cleaned up all that leaded paint and its remains.

Those young people going to need as much strength of character as they can find, considering all the issues listed above.

[Blanks]

23. They also have the ability to stay connected...

When I graduated from high school (late 70's) I left my home town and went into the army, unless someone wrote me a letter - I had no idea what they were up to.

Compare that to people graduating now. Sure a lot of what young people post is trivial day to day mundane crap, but if a movement originates on the Internet - it takes longer to dissipate.

Young people today are awesome. Thanks for pointing out something positive. I think we will see great things from the young people that are coming of age right now.

[OneGrassRoot]

11. Communication and information retrieval (social media and the Internet)

HUGE implications as we have seen in the last 10 years. It's completely changed how we do nearly everything, and I'm curious to see how it will evolve.

[KharmaTrain]

17. Precisely...

...when I was a kid in the 60s we had 30 minutes of news each night. Usually the coverage was on film that took hours to fly across an ocean. Today when something happens on the other side of the world, we have word almost immediately with the video soon to follow. It used to be a special occasion to talk to a relative in another city "long distance"...today people text and phone around the world routinely. The affects of the boom in technology in the past century has truly revolutionized the world and will continue to do so...but with drawbacks for each step forward.

A dear friend, who passed away way too young, was a journalist in Eastern Europe during the last days of the "Iron Curtain". He traveled to the many different hot spots in '88 and '89 and witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall. When asked what led to the ultimate fall of the Soviet empire, he would say "television and the fax machine". They unified the people in a way the government couldn't keep up with.

Cheers...

[greymattermom]

12. The true end of privacy

Will be when we see the end of cash.

[demwing]

13. 3D Printing

Its the 1st step toward something like the matter replicators from Star Trek.

Eventually, we will be able to custom "print" just about anything we need at the local level.

The impact on manufacturing and transporting goods to markets, and in turn, on the environment, will be staggering. One day each of us will be able to print all the cheap stuff we buy at Walmart, without also supporting the Chinese economy, and while simultaneously reducing our carbon footprint.

[Blanks]

24. I look forward to that too.

It will give us the ability to repair things (that have small plastic gears for example) that currently end up in a landfill.

Of course a market for the 'printing media' will also emerge - hopefully from recycled material.

[demwing]

25. The technology will also impact healthcare in ways we can't yet imagine

and will someday revolutionize how we feed the world.

[deutsey]

14. Wealthy, right-wing oligarchs are brazenly ruling this country

They used to have to hide their agenda behind their smiley Reagan mask while they did all their dirty work in the shadows, but now they don't feel they need to do that anymore.

They're in control of just about every facet of our country with incredible resources at their disposal, so I guess they figure, "Who's going to stop us?"

[SummerSnow]

15. 1. People don't talk to each other anymore ,its all Twitter and Facebook. ....

2. Libraries will be obselete in less than 10 years

[Baitball Blogger]

16. So true.

It has become too easy to end friendships where political opinions clash.

[savebigbird]

18. Privatization

Privatization
Privatization
Privatization

[raccoon]

20. The end of easy-to-get-to oil. nt

[Baitball Blogger]

21. Solar power better hurry up.

[zipplewrath]

22. Commercialization of Education

On line learning isn't just for continuing education credits anymore. Huge numbers of people are getting post graduate degrees and barely ever showing up on campus. And "home schooling" isn't just about folks who want their kids to get some fundamentalist education. Large numbers are parents unsatisfied with the public school education and don't want to pay for a private prep school. The various "trades" are relying more and more on specialized post secondary commercial institutions (Full Sail, Kaizer, NOVA, etc.). It is the commercialization, democratization, and the re-segragation (along ecomomic lines) all at once. Not's not about whether it is "good" or "bad" but who will benefit and who will be hurt. Oh, by the way, during the transition, the cost is going out of control and the students are being buried in debt.

[Deep13]

26. okay: ...

1. mass, instant, personal communications makes it easier than ever to stay in touch with people.

2. mass, instant, personal communications makes it easier than ever to spy on people. I notice this most with the NSA problem, but also with advertisers.

3. mass, instant, personal communications makes it harder to learn and use standard language with confidence.

4. global warming will have profound implications for human numbers and wealth distribution.

5. sharp increase in fascism accompanies continued impoverishment of the world for the benefit of the ruling class.

[Freddie]

27. Showering daily

Oops, wrong thread!

[KurtNYC]

28. 1. Decline in the standard of living is accelerating

2. More secrecy for government + no privacy for citizens

3. Continuing rise in the use of legal mood-altering meds for people of all ages -- Adderall, Prozac, etc

4. Positive vision for the future is almost non-existent (vs. Kennedy era)

5. Increasing overlap between government and corporations.

6. More tightly controlled media which does not cover protests OR wars, no investigative journalism. Criminalization of photography, journalism and dissemination of information. Sock-puppeting and limits on public debate of public matters.

7. Life expectancy declining, general health declining. Access to healthy and fresh foods declining.

8. Banks and financial entities draining public pensions, betting against their own clients, and exempting themselves from oversight.

9. Increased sand-bagging of women, minorities, the middle class, retirees and the poor via abortion laws, voting restrictions, tax structures, bankrupting of local governments and public pensions, and unchained CPI.

10. Once in 40 year weather events occurring every year now. Prolonged heat, drought, rain effecting agriculture and real estate. Insurance companies cutting coverages and raising premiums. Shoreline areas becoming uninhabitable.

[Baitball Blogger]

29. Damn. That's a well thought out list.