The End Of The World As We Know It, Not What You Think
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By the end of the year 2012 major changes will begin to take place worldwide that will change the course of history.
This has nothing to do with the apocalypse predictions that prophets are proposing. But, rather, changes with the way people think, the way they communicate, and the way they reason with unacceptable issues. Even with what they'll demand from their leaders.
The world will not end in 2012 but it will be very different.
For one thing, the presidential election for the next president of the United States will be completed by the end of 2012. And Americans will be looking forward to an improved leadership in the coming year with a leader who will focus on a global solution to existing problems.
The reason for a global solution is clearly that we all live on a common planet. Spaceship Earth, if you will. Whomever the new leader is will have the wherewithal to understand the interconnections and interrelationships of life and community.
They will also be educated with the communicative requirements to bring people together with the true understanding of all this.
This may be wishful thinking, but it's a necessity. We will all be experiencing good changes and bad changes. That's reality. But whatever the outcome, we all will share it together on this small planet we live on.
Spaceship Earth
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We are all in this together and we all share a very volatile planet on which we all live. The Earth still has a liquid molten core that we know very little about, except when its pressure causes enormous release of energy in the form of volcanoes.
Our continents are basically floating on this inner core. It is a universally accepted fact that the entire continent of North and South America is shifting west, away from Europe and Africa, at speed of about two inches per year.
They were still attached some 150 million years ago. Evidence of this continental drift has been discovered with studies of the ocean floor in the early 1940's.
Leaders In Denial
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As for leaders of foreign countries, those who are in denial will discover a power more resilient than their own capabilities. That power is the power of communication.
The world will never be the same as communication continues to develop as it has in recent years. The Internet and various social websites have given the people of the world the ability to share common knowledge, to spread information in a heartbeat, and to organize social changes that have previously eluded them.
We have already seen this take place when a single person, Wael Ghonim, a Google marketing manager, proposed a plan on Facebook for citizens of Egypt to come together to claim their freedom. It worked.
Then the same social networking type of communication began to happen to remove unacceptable dictatorship from other countries. Some of this is still in flux. Unfortunately lives are being lost. But the end result of the desired outcome will prevail.
Dictators who have no concern for their people will be removed from power. But there is a problem that entails. We have no idea what will replace them. It may be better but it can be worse. Time will tell. The world will change one way or the other.
Freedom - Accepting Nothing Less
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The period after 2012 will bring a new order to the world, one where all citizens of all countries recognize the importance of their own freedom and will accept nothing less.
They will all have a complete understanding of what this freedom is about and they will have the knowledge to use it wisely. This knowledge will be due to a worldwide communication system that has no censorship and no barriers to hinder the impact of intelligence or the flow of commerce.
People Are Living Longer
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Imagine... there were only about 370 million humans on Earth after the Great Famine and Bubonic Plague in 1350.
Today the estimate is close to seven billion people. A little Internet research reveals...
Of all the people in history that have reached 65
years of age, half of them are living right now.
If you do your own search you'll find misleading statements like "More people are alive today than have ever lived." That's just wrong! Some people have botched up the correct statement with their own interpretation. Be careful what you read on the Internet.
Based on my interpretation, if you add up all the people in history who lived past 65, but are no longer alive, you'll get about the same number as if you add up all those over 65 and alive today.
So it's clear that people are living longer. And with further advances in medical technology, our age limits will continue to increase as time marches on.
What Will Happen To Social Security
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With people living longer, we will have more and more seniors alive at one time. And what happens when they all draw from their Social Security at the same time. Not only will they be drawing more than they ever paid into it, but there will be more people doing that.
After 75 years (as of August 14, 2010) Social Security may be forced into being replaced, privatized, or eliminated. Based on the Social Security Trustees' Annual Report to Congress, "by 2037 the Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted."
This is reality. Instead of complaining, instead of blaming politicians, we need to take the responsibility to save for our own retirement, more so now than ever.
I'm not saying it's not the fault of politicians. It IS. But who voted for them. We did! Who's following up with them to be sure they don't continue to mess up. No one is. But we the people should be. And we're not! Expect the finances of the United States, as well as other countries, to get worse before it gets better.
Cyber Terrorism On The Rise
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After 2012, I'm afraid cyber terrorism will be the way of the future for enemies to attack one another. The fact that the World Wide Web is all interconnected, allows terrorists to issue a denial-of-service attack by overloading a targeted site with too many data packets hitting all at once, creating server overload.
Another way to attack is to send viruses to people who don't know better and help the virus spread by opening an attached file in an email. These viruses may be benign to the individual who opens it, but they are designed to spread to everyone who that individual knows once it's opened.
Eventually a copy of it reaches a preselected location were it does it's dirty work. For example, if it finds its way to a computer in the Defense Department of a country, it can send back all the data from files on that computer. I don't need to tell you how that information can be used.
We'll Be Driving Electric Cars
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Let's look at a brighter side of things to come after 2012.
Technology will continue to bring many changes. With the advancement of rechargeable battery technology, electric cars will become more the norm as we make efforts to reduce dependency on foreign oil.
Today we have hybrids that have both gas engines and electric motors.
According to an article in the Washington Post, Nissan plans to mass produce electric cars in 2012. Soon after that, I believe we'll see more focus on totally electric cars. The infrastructure will begin to be put in place for total electric cars. And by that I mean "charging stations."
Electric car charging stations will become readily available no matter where you drive. You'll find these next to parking spots at hotels, apartment garages, department stores, etc. You swipe your credit card and plug the end of a cord from the unit into your car.
There is already at least one company making charging stations for electric cars. Miami-based Car Charging Group Inc. is already signing agreements with various parking garages to install their Charging Stations.
More Focus On Green Energy
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Wind Farms and Solar Farms will be built on land that otherwise may have been wasted real estate.
Apple is building a cloud-computing center in North Carolina. And to be environmentally friendly they are building a 100-acre solar farm to provide electricity for the power-hungry computer servers.
A hundred acres may seem like a big waste of land. But if it’s barren land anyway, better to use it for green energy and save the environment from burning fossil fuels and cutting down trees to generate power.
Cloud Computing
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We may be more familiar with working on our own computer using our own resources and saving our data on our own hard drive. But the changing environment is bringing about the ability to share the resources of a central computer server. This is known as Cloud Computing.
The concept of Cloud Computing is becoming more acknowledged as the wave of the future. Cloud Computing is already being used by Apple, Google, and Amazon, among others.
What are the advantages? The cloud can be accessed from anywhere and from any device. Users can configure their cloud environments as needed. They can select different processors, different amounts of memory as needed, and even different operating systems.
This is a far cry from purchasing your own equipment, only to have it become obsolete in a short time. Soon our own equipment will by simple low-cost smartphones. Oh, we already have those!
Pay with Cashback Bonus
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Credit cards that offer cashback bonuses will soon be linking with online merchants to allow you to apply your accumulated bonus to your order.
You'll no longer need to wait for the bonus to reach a minimum amount before you can request a check. Just apply it to your online order.
Amazon started doing this with their own Amazon VISA, serviced by Chase. And Discover Card is doing the same thing. I would expect others to follow.
More Powerful Instruments of Intelligence
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New devices will be developed that are yet to be designed. The portability of cell phones and pocket-sized computers, better known today as tablets and smartphones, will continue to be redesigned and reengineered into different and more powerful instruments of intelligence.
People will have ways to shape their lives and fulfill their dreams almost with the touch of a Virtual button.
Wait and see. The end of the world as we know it will soon be here.
Copyright © 2011 Glenn Stok
Are You Helping Cyber Terrorism Without Knowing It?
Cyber terrorists take advantage of those who fall for scams. Learn the facts. - Glenn Stok
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KoraleeP ~ Yes I agree, Cyber Terrorism is the most frightening. Mainly because many people don't know how to protect themselves from scams that get them to open viruses. Thanks for stopping by and for the vote up.
Great Hub. I already had one virus in my computer, no more. I agree that dictators can no longer hide behind their news blackouts, the internet cannot be stopped. We know whatever happens in China, Cuba, Zimbabwe or whatever. They are fading away into oblivion as their people find out what's going on. Which will fall next?
I strongly agree with what you said about Americans needing to pay strict attention to what the politicians they elect are doing. So many people don't really pay attention to what is really going on behind the scenes in this country--they just keep up with the headlines and think that's all they need to know about the news. We are too busy being entertained with electronics,movies, sports, etc. (nothing wrong with those things--we just neglect important things because of our preoccupation with entertainment) to think about what is really important. I was that way for many years but now I realize the importance of really getting an understanding of how economics works, for example, and not believing what politicans (and the media for that matter) say about it.
FGual ~ You hit upon an important item, that dictators block the Internet. I'm hoping eventually this form of censorship gets overridden as more people learn how to seek out the truth in those countries.
BooksGalore ~ Well said. We tend to believe too much in our politicians even when we see they are doing nothing to improve things. The main problem, I think, is that they focus on a selective group. But the majority has the power to vote them out. I just don't understand why the wrong politicians get to stay in office. Thanks for thoughts on this topic.
I agree with alot of what you had to say today but social security? No. Will it need to be adjusted? yes. Will it go away? No. There are several very easy fixes to the social security issues, none of which are Chicken Little - the sky is falling, social security is going to be dead and gone.
SheriKeat ~ Let's hope you're right. An alternative needs to be found soon to replenish the funds. The note about the Social Security Trust Fund being exhausted by 2037 is printed in the account statement that all Americans get annually. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
A fascinating hub!
I know that the social networking sites often get a bad press and I'm not an overly huge fan of them, but, as you say they do have a very good plus side. Not only in bringing people together for good causes. I also believe that as more and more people from across the world get together and talk with one another, we can see that there is very little differences between us all if any. This can only do good by helping to reduce ignorance and fear of people simply because they have a different language or culture.
A very enjoyable and fascinating hub. Voted up!
Seeker7 ~ Glad you enjoyed this hub. You're right, today's technology make sit possible for people from across the world to get together and talk with one another. Skype is another useful tool for that, allowing people to talk for free worldwide. Thanks for the vote up and for following.
Hey Glenn
I guess it's my turn to be the gadfly.
"a leader who will focus on a global solution to existing problems."
Really? From which party? The Conservatives are still engaged in trying to deny climate change and evolution and the Dems are enthralled by Wall St. I haven't seen a global thinker since Nixon.
Leasers in denial have been taught to cut off access to the internet to control people. That still works in China and will probably be used elsewhere. The democracy movement is laudable and should continue but we have to remember these new democracies have not been influenced by the Enlightenment so these democracies may turn into dictatorships by the proletariat. What I mean is that majorities may turn against their minorities. Our founders were rightly concerned about majority rule, that is why we have checks and balances. Will the new democracies employ checks and balances?
Social Security is fixable but we need leaders with courage and we need to support those leaders. Means testing will come, whether we like it or not.
Cyber-terrorism is inevitable but it won't affect me. You see some guy in Nigeria has promised me millions and all I need to do is give him my bank account numbers, ha, ha, ha. My point here is that our ignorance dooms us, other countries support education and teach hard science. We teach liberal arts and wonder about unemployment.
Anyhow,,thanx for this article. Thought provoking and interesting! Voted up
chefsref ~ You brought up a lot of important points. We are in total agreement with not knowing what will come of it when dictators are replaced by democracy. As I mentioned in mu hub, "We have no idea what will replace them."
Your idea of checks and balances is another important point. That is definitely a requirement and should be used in all cases. Unfortunately it's not going to be that easy to implement where it was never used before.
I like your statement "our ignorance dooms us" as this is one of the biggest problems. I, as you, never fall for gimmicks too good to be true. But we both read stories in the news about people who believe these things.
Thanks for all your comments, and for the vote up.
Glenn:
Really enjoyed your latest article and I do have to admit that you really put together a great summarization not only about the issues we face today, but things to think about in the future. In addition it is certainly a scary thought of what could happen to the future of our social security system. Thanks for sharing such an eye-opening article with all of us here in the community. I voted it up as well as awesome.
Jim
Jim ~ Your comment clarifies my intentions with writing this hub very well. Thanks for reading and voting up.
While I don't share it, I find the optimism you display here refreshing. I hope the future is as bright a one as you think. The one thing I really don't see happening is the increases in communication. I hope I am wrong but what I see is many countries, including our own, making concerted efforts to restrict what's on the internet and have the ability to shut down cell phones at a moments notice. Again, I hope you are right and I am wrong.
poetvix, You are absolutely right. Three or four things I mentioned in this Hub were not optimistic at all. You just referred to the last item. It's not all going to be glory. Your comment is a very important addition to this list. Thanks for stopping by.
Great hub. As a grandma, I worry about what is in store for my young grand kids. I am teaching them to grow food and when they are older, to keep poultry so some of the basics will be covered. We need to Learn not to take things like cell phones and the Internet for granted as it makes us more reliant on the government . Until we get highly intelligent, inspired leaders not motivated by greed the future doesn't look too bright. It is a beautiful day today so I'm enjoying that for now!
KoraleeP Level 3 Commenter 6 months ago
Interesting and voted up. Very interesting topics to think about. The scary one to me is the Cyber Terrorism. And I am also curious about what is going to happen with the removal of the dictators. I agree that we don't know whether they will be better or worse.
Thanks for sharing your hub.