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Imagining the Future - Utopian or Dystopian?!


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7 minutes ago, Abdul_Latif said:

That article, though published by the WEF is essentially a fantasy piece. 
 

It’s every bit as irrelevant to how the real world will turn out as Mad Max is.

Of course it won't happen. But it's the baddies PR trying to convince us they want good things for us. 

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We're already past Skynet becoming self aware, finding a multidimensional monolith on the other side of Jupiter, the Running Man and Bladerunner. 

Demolition man is set in 11 years time but the big one that led to the new society is already 11 years late. 

Sci fi /dystopia things that have happened :

The permanent war

The culture's terminals

Videocalls

 

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Off the Ball weekly 4 hour specials on The Lisbon Lions and some pure gallus scamp who once played for Rangers, beamed direct from their cryogenic tank.

Squirrels chapping the window of Mullarkey’s nursing home bedroom at all hours.

P&B becoming like Muppet Babies.

Britain being run by a bunch of Hooray Henrys.

That’s the dull reality of dystopia.

 

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The future will be dystopian - because we seem to want it that way - the more 'liberal' we seem to be allegedly becoming, the more we lurch towards right-wing governments - we vote them in, for some reason.

Token gestures on climate change are probably too late, so the environment is likely fucked anaw. 

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1 hour ago, AlbionSaint said:

@Abdul_Latif - do you mean it would be impractical, or that people would never stand for it? Or both?

Yeah both of those are factors.

Another is that people’s aspirations and want for security won’t allow it to happen. Property ownership keeps too many people wealthy and I don’t mean just landlords - it’s also solicitors, developers, manufacturers, sellers themselves etc. 

There is such a complex chain of profit in this, that it’s not really in anyone’s interest for it to stop.

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2 hours ago, AlbionSaint said:

 

 

@Abdul_Latif - do you mean it would be impractical, or that people would never stand for it? Or both?

Can private property every be truly abolished? Is that even possible? Say everything belongs to the state, i.e. communism, then it is ostensibly owned by the people. But is it really? It's effectively owned by the people who control the state. Communism just creates an oligarchy  - does anyone believe the Castros or the Kims (actual dynasties) haven't lived like billionaires, just with more power?

How can one actually create a system where all possessions are publicly owned and nobody has preferential access to them? Is that truly possible, and if it was, would it be desirable?

I look at the public parks where I live, full of dog excrement and litter, and have to wonder whether public goods will ever be maintained to the same standard? I just don't think it's in humanity's nature.

The Castros have not lived like billionaires that's self evident. Fidel was a simple man who just liked reading, smoking cigars, wearing a tracky, playing basketball and being a shagger. 

Communism is not about abolishing private property. People still own cars, clothes, homes etc. It's about abolishing private ownership of the means of production. 

Edited by Detournement
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16 minutes ago, AlbionSaint said:

1961575167_britishgas001.thumb.jpeg.17931b10693fee0a565613d3e95b1c1d.jpeg

 

My pal just sent me his new energy tariff. Two things stand out:

(1) His energy costs will increase by more than £50 per month! A ~50% increase.

(2) 100% of his electricity will come from renewable sources.

Now if it was me, and my tariff was going to stay the same, or increase only slightly, I'd find (2) delightful news. But at that price I'd be inclined to say "F**k that! I don't care if you have to burn coal or even tyres, just get the price down."

What effect do you think the above will have on the price of goods in general, btw? Also it will make travelling by electric car a lot more expensive.

If a 'right wing' party comes along and promises to scrap our commitment to renewable energy and build lots more coal-powered power stations, do you think that would be popular? A low paid guy with a family will often worry about things like this, and not so much about climate change, pronouns, LGBT rights and white privilege; in fact if he's a working class guy from Hartlepool he probably is white and probably doesn't see himself as particularly privileged. 

 

 

 

 

I would actually say that the above proves my point, lame as it is - we don't pay attention, and our priorities are all over the place - short-term thinking about what is good for our personal monthly finance,, etc. distract us. 

American Democrats are right-wing, as are British Labour - it's possible that there could be a shift at some point, but I reckon we've been heading in a bad direction for a long time. 

The main thing, imo, is that most people are ok with it - as long as there's power in the hybrid Volvo, wine cooling in the fridge for Strictly, and folk get their ten days in Albufeira, everything's fine. :)

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1 hour ago, oaksoft said:

Yes I did think it through and I have cut my energy bills by using less of it and there are various very easy ways of achieving that.

I pay less now than I did 15 years ago.

Do share? I'm quite serious about cutting mine. I have to renew very soon.

 

1 hour ago, Glennie said:

utopia is a type of dystopia so hopefully neither

They're actually antonymous, like heaven and hell. But aye, I suppose one person's idea of utopia could be an Islamic theocracy, whilst another's is a society where everyone sits around drinking beer, eating pork scratchings and watching porn, or something.

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Indeed! Though essentially communism is authoritarian. It would be difficult to conceptualise a society with a command economy, where goods and resources are effectively allocated, that isn't that way. If you had a proper democracy and free speech then a Tory could stand for election and, when confidence in the government is low (as happens with any government), win a mandate to abolish communism in favour of a free market capitalist society. 
Essentially, a communist society would be a one party state, which controls everything - the military, police, housing, trade unions (the Party is the trade union), the judicial system and is your employer, too. That's a whole lot of power, and if the wrong person takes charge, they might do very bad things to retain it! The ideal of communism becomes secondary to the Chairman's desires.
 

“Inherent greed in humans” crumbles at the mere idea of non-familial altruism.

ETA: replying to Oaksoft instead of you Albion, sorry. No idea how your post ended up being quoted.
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11 hours ago, coprolite said:

We're already past Skynet becoming self aware, finding a multidimensional monolith on the other side of Jupiter, the Running Man and Bladerunner. 

Demolition man is set in 11 years time but the big one that led to the new society is already 11 years late. 

Sci fi /dystopia things that have happened :

The permanent war

The culture's terminals

Videocalls

We are also 41 years after U.F.O. where aliens are constantly threatening Earth and we have to rely on silver haired women in go go boots stationed on the moon to save us.

Then again, seeing that it was all hush hush top secret and that, maybe it has happened and we are simply none the wiser.

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