The future

[MistressValerie1]

Umm....I just said. Unless you're filthy rich or are the son or daughter of a top-ranking government official I highly doubt you'll be chosen, much less allowed to be frozen. It is not beneficial to the big corporations to allow just anyone to be frozen. Would they even have enough units available per citizen? We don't even have enough flu shots. I think they'll prefer their clients to be either very rich or someone who can do them favors.

Plus, what about the guess work? Someone who is frozen that long may not come out the same way they came in. They could suffer mental retardation or some other side effects. And lets not forget the possibility of dying in stasis or power being cut or lost to your unit. There goes your life support. Let us not forget sabotage as well. Oh, and lets not forget the possibility of not being able to adjust to a new world.

Some interesting information from Alcor, a private cryogenics company: http://www.alcor.org/index.html

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Some interesting information from Alcor, a private cryogenics company: http://www.alcor.org/index.html

I don't trust cryogenic stasis. Not because it can't be helpful medically, but because it reduces you to the level of a frozen cadaver and the service of maintaining you is reliant on the company staying afloat. Suppose the company goes out of business, or is forced to merge or sell out to a larger company or governmental facility that does not have the same morals or goals as they do. It's possible your fate will be left up to the government and not your family and you become a property of sorts.

Because your existance is so fragile, it's also so easily manipulatible, legally speaking. It's not too unlike a coma patient. But at least the coma patient has the benefit of having their family with them. No such thing when you're in a frozen capsule, all alone.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

If I had to give an outline for what I think the future will be like (taking out religious beliefs and prophecies) I think the economic gap is going to become even larger. I think the middle class family may not exist in the distant future. The economy is going to suffer a huge depression that will launch it into a fight for resources.

The government will subdue it, but they'll be left with the problem of who to service. Who gets the resources and who doesn't. It is a natural assumption that because the rich are able to pay their dues that they will get the resources and the poor will be left to become poorer and die.

Society will then form to cater only to the rich, which will force the poor to resort to extremely illegal activity for survival. Martial law will fail and this will lead to civil war and an attempt to wrest resources and power from the rich and government.

I don't think there will be any kind of "terminator" or science fiction future ending. I think we'll simply see the collapse and decline of western civilization and the death of America as THE superpower.

Seeing our weakened state, our enemies abroad will attack us and show their true colors and will attempt to take our position in the world. We will repel them, but this will lead to WWIII.

We will win, but will be completely exhausted and will have to allign ourselves with the very enemies we fought.

Having slept with the enemy, America, as a result, will cease to be, and we'll be on our way to creating a one world government, seeing as ours is dead.

Somehow, we will become the rulers of this nation and absorb the other countries into it. Those that oppose this global takeover will be rebels, but they will fail eventually.

The combined resources of the planet will be consumed by the single nation and the rest of the world will starve to death.

Eventually the resources will be completely gone and the nation itself will experience civil war. Well equipped, one half will be able to do what the previous rebels could not- pose a real threat to the established rulers.

This will then herald the apocalyse where the rest of the human race simply erradicates itself.

If you consider religious prophecy, then absolute death will be averted and the entire world will experience a spiritual epiphany and that which we squandered will be returned to us anew.

By the time this happens though, only about a third of the human race will still exist, which means starting over with a new lease on existance as a species and race.

I think that humanity was destined to be saved at least one more time. If after we get a chance to start over, and we fail again, then I fail to see the worth of human life and it's hard to concieve what could possibly happen after that if not the same thing all over again.

 

[tickle_fan031]

Wow I didn't expect this thread to get so serious and realistic,was only supposed to be a fantasy/joke type question.

Yeah living like they do in Futurama would be cool.This also made me think of that Busted song Year 3000 where it went....

"he said I've been to the year 3000
not much has changed but they live underwater
and your great-great-great-granddaughter(and your great-granddaughter)
is pretty fine, she's pretty fine"

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Well, it is a naturally vast topic to begin with that it simply cannot be contained to humor.

 

[LonelyKimiko]

Wow I didn't expect this thread to get so serious and realistic,was only supposed to be a fantasy/joke type question.

Yeah living like they do in Futurama would be cool.This also made me think of that Busted song Year 3000 where it went....

"he said I've been to the year 3000
not much has changed but they live underwater
and your great-great-great-granddaughter(and your great-granddaughter)
is pretty fine, she's pretty fine"

Oh no. I knew where those lyrics came from 🙁 .

 

[tickle_fan031]

Well, it is a naturally vast topic to begin with that it simply cannot be contained to humor.

I think I gathered that much,hence why I said,
"I didn't expect it to be so serious"
the majority is serious as opposed to humour!

 

[tickle_fan031]

Sorry I've just realised that I've spammed in my own thread---Mods please could you move it to random banter?Thanks.Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[Ticklish Old Man]

"IN THE FUTURE" I'll be dust....HAR HAR HAR (sorry)

 

[MistressValerie1]

Sorry I've just realised that I've spammed in my own thread---Mods please could you move it to random banter?Thanks.Sorry for the inconvenience.

Done, although an occasional errant post isn't usually a problem.

 

[tickle_fan031]

Done, although an occasional errant post isn't usually a problem.

That's ok then,thanks Val.....just that I didn't want people to think that I was deliberately ignoring the guidelines 😎

 

[alchemy1]

What a depressing question...do you realize that in 1000 years we'll all be dead? Damn...that sucks.
Anyway...I think that there will be marvels beyond human comprehension in the future such as:

Fusion-talk-bots: Little devices that can vitually fit into the palm of your hand that will allow you to talk to another person that is hundreds...no...thousands of miles away. It'll be just like they're there with you. You'll never be out of touch with anyone!

Nuclear Televiewers: Devices in your home (and even your future cars) that will allow you to view your favorite movies and broadcast programs whenever you want...just at the push a button.

Future-wave food cookers: Small, box shaped devices that can heat and prepare all of your meals in just a few short minutes buy capturing and utilizing special waves of energy (we call them future waves). Lighting a stove will be a thing of the past!

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

The future will continue and expand many of our current hardships and create new ones, but there is a silver lining and lets not forget that.

Illness and disease may be completely wiped out. We already have a cure for cancer and other serious illnesses and we're looking more into electro vibrations, and pulse waves and such to reduce tumors, cancerous cells, etc. I forsee a change in conventional wisdom that will have us using more natural cures and remedies that will lead to the FDA not excluding or denouncing these forms of treatment.

Currently, the FDA and other such organizations insist that the only cure or treatment for anything is a pill or injection of some kind. They don't want to legally recognize all-natural cures because they can't patent nature itself. And what they cannot patent they cannot monopolize. That's why they're quick to stop, shutdown, fine, cease the property of, and even in some cases imprison, people offering all-natural cures, despite the fact and knowledge that all-natural cures have existed for time immemorial.

The drug companies only have one obligation to one group of people- the share stock holders. The only true responsibility these drug-pedaling companies have is to increase share holder value and profit.

The system is so corrupt that it's not in the business of wellness, cures, and good health; it's about addiction, dependancy and prolonging illness, not curing it. They don't want people to have options because it reduces their influence and control; they don't want healthy people because they don't profit from health, they profit from sickness.

So, they're in the business of concocting treatments, but never cures. This is why they're always seemingly "looking for a cure" but never finding it, "it's within our grasp, just a while longer", but that time never comes. This is a lie. There already are cures for many if not all of the illnesses human beings are plagued with (physical and mental), even the very serious ones, and if they wanted us to have them we would.

They prefer society to be largely ignorant than well-informed.

In the future, I think this won't be as much a problem and the government will take natural cures and remedies more seriously and help make them more largely available. Whether this is because they want to or because they're desperate is another issue.

This will of course cause a growth spurt in illegal and unhealthy substances, but it's well worth the trade off, considering. Many will choose to destroy themselves and many will choose to save themselves. That's just life.

 

[Cbarton]

Vlad, would prefer the way it was before when no meds were regulated? A repeat of things like the Elixir of Sulfonilamide that killed thousands upon thousands of people?

Natural products are great. Over half of the prescription meds we have now have organic origins. But, just because it's natural doesn't mean it's better. St. John's wort is a natural antidepressent, but can KILL if not used right. Not all natural products have the same potency, due to the growing environments and other variables. Some "alternative meds" claiming to contain the latest things like Hoodia, for example have been tested and found to have little to none of the product in them. Can't balme Merck or Glaxo for that one...

As for not seeking cures, many of the health problems people have today are caused by lack of prevention ON THE PATIENT'S PART. Most can be avoided by good healthy lifestyles and eating habits, most of which are shunned by the standard citizen becasue they all would rather 'take a pill" (thank you, 60's generation for that mind set...) than be responsible. Yes, the addage "no margin, no mission" applies to the health care arena as much as anywhere else, but that's life. Research costs a lot of money, esp. when you see all the liability hassles they have to try to cover for. I'm on the Research and Development committee at my hospital and I review the protocols. They take a lot of work to prove that they are safe and effective for patients

There are no magic cures for most chronic conditions (cancer, diabetes, etc.) But, that Z-Pak you used for your strep throat wouldn't be around if not for the drug companies. Without it, your strep throat would have lead to pneumonia, a kidney infection, or sepsis and killed you 70-80 years ago.

The current system may not meet everyone's approval. I even have my gripes about them, but it sure beats the alternative. We learned about what the medical field was like our first year in pharmacy school and all the days of "patent medicines" and the like. Trust me, what we have now is much better.

 

[leenotler]

The future may be closer than you think. I saw Ray Kurzweil (on Book TV) describe his book, "The Singularity is Near". He argues that technology advancements follow an exponential curve. We have been in the boring part of the tech curve so far, the slowly rising part. As present tech builds on previous tech, it reaches a "knee" in the curve that shoots upward. He plots various previous "tech" curves from past centuries as evidence. He believes in twenty or thirty years, we will see extreme life extention (200yr+), nano-tech, etc. Amazon has some good customer reviews on this book.

Given that, and avoiding the "grey goo" (death by nanobots) problem Senshi mentioned, the year 3000 should fulfill most of the SciFi projections mentioned in this thread and much more. Tickling will be mainstream, TT will replace CNN, and there will be fetish sites for sick, missionary position sex.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Vlad, would prefer the way it was before when no meds were regulated? A repeat of things like the Elixir of Sulfonilamide that killed thousands upon thousands of people?

No, of course not. And furthermore to my point, I only said that it would be ideal if they didn't discredit any proven natural cures and treatments and it would be ideal if they would incooperate these into existing medicine and take them just as seriously. They do not because they cannot monopolize nature and the all natural cures and treatments God Himself provided us with.

The FDA is corrupt. They are intentionally pulling their punches on the war against disease and illness and are passing products for consumer consumption that they should not be. They are supposedly charged with safeguarding the public good, but by narrowing what is legally recognized as cures and treatments, they are helping to lay down the foundations for future disease and chronic ill-health for the consumer, and a guaranteed source of revenue for the medical and pharmaceutical sectors.

They want people on pills and perscriptions and to be ignorant and reckless with their health, not growing the cures and treatments in their own backyard for free or next to nothing and being all the wiser and responsible. If anything other than currently legal administered drugs became available and promoted by the FDA, and they acted on it, then they'd be 'breaking ranks' with the monopolies and would damage the infrastructures these businesses built.

Because this thread is about the future, including the distant future, perhaps a reorganization of the establishment is what is necessary and will prove to be a part of the solution.

 

[Cbarton]

I could comment further on that, but will refrain from hijacking the thread.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

I know you could. Being in the medical profession, I'm sure you would have a lot more to say and defend and would inevitably best me in such a conversation.

As a proponent of the recently established forum guideline suppliments, I agree with you. 🙂

Although, to be fair, what you and I have done cannot be categorized as spam due to it's merit, nor completely passed as hijacking since the original query/thought was to what the future would have to do about medicine and that WAS just as much about the topic as anything else was. I hope you don't feel guilty, because you shouldn't. 🙂