Ever wondered what the future holds?

[mick2me 3,033]

[Cliff Ton 10,467]

What does the future hold? Maybe the revelation of the identity of the roughest area in Nottingham?

[... 1,411]

I wont have a future after today if I dont get the pots washed

[FLY2 10,108]

I'm constantly thinking of the future. Fingers crossed !!

[... 1,411]

#3 Can't you stand Mick the country needs a real person thats had a life that has not be handed on a plate, if you cannot only one alternative forage,only politian that looks comfortable in a pub apart from yourself of course the others need gentlemens clubs always thought that type were a bit iffy.

[mick2me 3,033]

I am just starting the process for standing for local council, but not yet decided on constituency.

Have not yet taken Parliamentary Candidate assessment perhaps 2019?

[... 1,411]

As they say in carry on,stop mucking about.tell us all where you are going to stand and we will all move there so we can vote for youx

[radfordred 6,284]

Things that didn’t exist on Christmas Day 20 years ago:

 

iPhone

Facebook

YouTube

Instagram

Twitter

TikTok

Android

Bitcoin

Tesla

iPad

Gmail

Netflix streaming

Amazon Prime

Reddit

Etsy

WhatsApp

Google Maps

Snapchat

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Chrome

Zoom

Skype

Spotify

Uber

[Cliff Ton 10,467]

3 hours ago, radfordred said:

Things that didn’t exist on Christmas Day 20 years ago:

 

Nottstalgia.

[Oztalgian 3,296]

I have been giving some thought to what the future looks like but today is bad enough. Here are my thoughts, of course based on Australia, is it similar to the UK?

 

A place where you can wander the aisles of your supermarket to do your shopping and if you can’t find what you want because they have re-arranged the store yet again there is no-one to ask. Having done your shopping you can self-scan it without talking to the non-existent staff and just hope the technology works. Imagine talking to a store employee? How old fashioned.

By the way Colesworths (large supermarket chains) if you want me to do my own check-out how about reducing the price of goods for a service you no longer provide.

 

Want to do some banking? Oh! Yes the banks are slowly closing all their branches and removing all their ATM’s. You want to pay by cash Oh dear they are progressively phasing that out and many retailers are card only. This is only so the banks can make money on every single transaction and add to their billions of super-profits that the government has not got the balls to tax. To purchase anything you will need to download an app that is linked to your bank account. Don’t have a smart phone? Sorry we don’t want you as a customer.

 

Public transport is well on the way to getting rid of more staff by closing ticketing offices, having unmanned stations and driverless trains and buses but you can still book on-line if you have a mobile phone and a suitable app. No smart phone then don't get on my bus or train

 

Airlines have already reduced check in staff to the bare minimum by automating check in and seat allocation even having the traveller apply the tags to their bags and place them on the baggage conveyor themselves. Of course you can check in on line but only if you have a mobile phone and the correct app. No smart phone, then you wont be flying with us. They are currently agitating to reduce the flight deck crew to one pilot? How long before they replace the galleys on the aircraft with vending machines and reduce by half the number of flight attendants?

 

Are you vulnerable, elderly and disabled, don't have a computer or smart phone, and have a query and need to talk to someone to help you then would you please die so that the world can move on to a place where we can all wander around like zombies, heads down fixated on the glow of our smartphone screens.

 

A thousand years into the future we will only have one moveable appendage, a thumb for use on our smart gadgets with chips implanted in our brains, courtesy of research currently underway by Eion Musk, and we will have lost the power of verbal communication and mobility

[philmayfield 6,140]

I much prefer to scan and bag without having to unload and reload at the checkout.

I prefer to pay by card and rarely use cash.

The smartphone is my favourite gadget. Camera, encyclopaedia, communicator all in one.

If it’s high tech and makes life easier I’m all for it. 
Regarding Muskham bridge there isn’t one. If you mean Kelham it reopens this Monday. I’ve been to that place at Gunthorpe (bridge now open) but not for years. We used to eat out regularly but since lockdown we haven’t got back into the habit. The Indian last Friday was full of noisy rabble so we’ll make the next outing to eat at a lunchtime when there’s only old farts in the place!

[Oztalgian 3,296]

40 minutes ago, philmayfield said:

The smartphone is my favourite gadget. Camera, encyclopaedia, communicator all in one.

If it’s high tech and makes life easier I’m all for it. 

Yes I agree Phil but there are many that don't/can't use the technology

[philmayfield 6,140]

Evolution of the species will sort that out!

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

I doubt there will be time for that to happen. I suspect we're on our way out and, given the damage we cause  that's not a bad thing.

[Willow wilson 894]

You realise that tomorrow is 3rd Monday in January, officially "blue monday". 

[Cliff Ton 10,467]

If the technological future hadn't happened, this forum wouldn't exist for people to say technology is a bad thing.

[Brew 5,419]

8 hours ago, Oztalgian said:

By the way Colesworths (large supermarket chains) if you want me to do my own check-out how about reducing the price of goods for a service you no longer provide.

 

Colesworth will claim reducing the wage bill helps keep prices down

 

8 hours ago, Oztalgian said:

This is only so the banks can make money on every single transaction and add to their billions of super-profits that the government has not got the balls to tax.

 

 Banks pay corporation tax, a bank surcharge and a banking levy

 

8 hours ago, Oztalgian said:

Airlines have already reduced check in staff to the bare minimum

 

Which means we can fly as easily and cheaply as getting on a bus or a train. It cost me a third of the price of a train ticket to Edinburgh recently and took less than two hours from East Mids.

 

8 hours ago, Oztalgian said:

Are you vulnerable, elderly and disabled, don't have a computer or smart phone, and have a query and need to talk to someone to help you then would you please die

 

A little melodramatic Oz but i take your point vis-a vis call centres, but it's not just the elderly that complain about them,

 

8 hours ago, Oztalgian said:

A thousand years into the future we will only have one moveable appendage, a thumb

 

 

 As a schoolboy I read of a prediction that humans will eventual lose most of their leg function and have huge skulls to hold an increase in brain size. At the time a mental image of the Mekon came to mind,

 

Basically Oz you are mostly stating 'what is', not what will be. Providing Neville Shute was wrong and we don't annihilate ourselves, most of the future when the population has doubled and doubled again, is more onerous than we think. 

[IAN FINN 808]

Same in Canada Oz all you have to do is pack your own groceries and pay up rip off prices pretty soon we will be performing DIY  surgery now where did i leave my scalpel

[PeverilPeril 3,283]

I am quite happy with new tech, however, when it reduces human interaction, it also reduces humanity.

[Beekay 5,151]

I don't worry about what the future holds. As a dear friend once said to me, " I look at it this way, how many summer holidays have I got left"?

[Cliff Ton 10,467]

1 hour ago, PeverilPeril said:

I am quite happy with new tech, however, when it reduces human interaction, it also reduces humanity.

 

I completely agree with that; automatic switchboards being a good example of loss of human contact.

 

But tech can also greatly increase human interaction. I've lost track of the number of people I've met - or re-established contact with - thanks to the internet.

 

[philmayfield 6,140]

I wish I loved the human race, l wish I loved its silly face and when I’m introduced to one I wish I thought what ‘what jolly fun’.

(Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh I quote)

[Brew 5,419]

I wish people would drop the silly alter egos they adopt on the internet...  

[Oztalgian 3,296]

7 hours ago, Brew said:

Colesworth will claim reducing the wage bill helps keep prices down

Prices continue to increase whilst suppliers and farmers are forced to accept lower prices for their produce. There is ample evidence that price gouging is rampant.

8 hours ago, Brew said:

Banks pay corporation tax, a bank surcharge and a banking levy

In the last year Australia's big four banks made a profit of $28.5 billion, an ROI of 10.6% well above the global average. The big four represent 72 of the market. The 2017 bank levy was set at 0.06% but only for banks with over a $100 billion of specified liabilities. Other government support to banks was estimated to lower bank borrowing cost by 0.22~0.34% and result in lower costs to borrowers. Fat chance. A better way of taxing "super profits" of banks, supermarkets and utilities where price gouging and cartel activites are occuring.

 

8 hours ago, Brew said:

Which means we can fly as easily and cheaply as getting on a bus or a train. It cost me a third of the price of a train ticket to Edinburgh recently and took less than two hours from East Mids.

It is still cheaper to travel interstate by coach or train here but the tyranny of distance and travel time necessitates the use of planes.

Intrastate travel by plane here is horrendously expensive for example a flight from Adelaide to Port Lincoln, a 50 minute flight costs around AU$200~AU$250 one way for the cheapest option. The distance is around 240 kilometres.

8 hours ago, Brew said:

A little melodramatic Oz but i take your point vis-a vis call centres, but it's not just the elderly that complain about them,

I did not mention the costs of mobile services here in OZ, a meaningful plan is often beyond the costs that pensioners/ unemployed can afford.

 

8 hours ago, Brew said:

Basically Oz you are mostly stating 'what is', not what will be. Providing Neville Shute was wrong and we don't annihilate ourselves, most of the future when the population has doubled and doubled again, is more onerous than we think. 

Yes this is "what is" yet we continue with the thinking of Keynesian Economics, do we need a rethink?

 

There is nothing wrong with new technology, it is just how it is applied, without thought for those who don't have it or for some reason can't use it.

 

[mary1947 2,082]

Do you really want to know??