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04-12-2021, 12:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-01-2022, 01:08 AM by Fearless Community.
Edit Reason: Fixed Encoding
)
The future:
What needs to be at the forefront of discussion now is nuclear proliferation, and the damage that it will inevitably do to the planet, given the right circumstances. It is not unreasonable to assume that, if now there were to be a war that breaks out, and WMDs such as nuclear warheads were to be used, then we may as well call the time of death for the planet. Nuclear explosions will damage and for hundreds, if not thousands of years, making it uninhabitable, killing all wildlife, and destroying any hopes of agricultural growth.
Recently, there have been plans for the UK to expand it's nuclear arsenal, which currently stands at over 100 active warheads. If WMDs such as these serve only to act as a deterrent, and should never be used, then it is beyond me why over £30bn is to be set aside to invest in more bombs that, in theory, should just sit and never be deployed; again, if they are deployed, then we are all doomed. £30bn could be spent investing in services that make a real difference, ensuring that our NHS doesn't continue to crumble, that it has the services available that are required, that staff are paid a fair wage. £30bn could be invested into the mental health crisis, it could go into national projects that benefit us all such as fibre infrastructure, or further allowing accessibility to schools and universities. Too many countries play God with their defence programmes, many of which are frankly ridiculous fire pits designed to suck up money for no useful gain. The talk shouldn't be about how many more nukes we need, it should be about how we reduce our arsenals, and work towards a society that can resolve issues amicably, rather than by killing everyone and everything in a path of destruction.
COVID:
I expect that more people will adopt face masks even post-COVID, similarly to the usage in some Asian countries due to smog and such. This isn't a bad thing, I think people will treat it quite like a safety net, just for that extra bit of protection. This would be great to see when people are suffering from flus, as the mask serves the role to add an extra bit of protection for those around the mask wearer. It can't hurt.
I strongly believe that COVID should bring the question of foreign aid into the forefront, as it is common knowledge that many of these viruses, bugs, etc, will originate in countries with poor public health management, as many of the countries are not very developed. Foreign aid benefits everyone, as we can see, moving into a more globalised society with transatlantic connections becoming easier and easier with transport. Those countries who are in a comfortable position with well developed healthcare systems should be working in conjunction to raise the stability and infrastructure of other countries. If we can work together, rather than continue in a divided society, then everyone benefits. Vilifying countries is not the solution (e.g. "China Virus"), that xenophobic hatred only functions to further divide all nations, and thus we all suffer because of it.
As for the EU question:
If people watching the UK as the test subject are reasonable, I wonder how long until it's put down as a failed experiment. As we have left, exports to EU countries have dropped dramatically, and we're not compensating with exports to non-EU countries. We have lost a ton of rights and abilities, such as the right to freely travel, and work in 27+ countries, and then there are many stipulations that people are experiencing; I received a £70 tax and duty bill from Fedex following an order from an EU store, which luckily they covered - this won't be the case all of the time.
Brexit was a disaster for business and for individuals.
Tech:
Of course tech will advance greatly. Look back 10 years time, and consider what mobile phones were then, as to now. Better yet, look back 20 or 30 years time at what we didn't have. This will only continue to expand with the introduction of 5G, IoT, AI, etc. We've barely touched the tip of the iceberg as to what is possible with compute power. Society will evolve around it, and hopefully it will be mostly used for good.
Strongest Country:
The strongest country is the one that has a heart, in my eyes. The USA could be classed as the richest third world country, due to the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are declared bankrupt every year as they cannot afford medical bills. There is a mindset that everyone can reach the American Dream, except due to the fundamental issues with a capitalist society, there are so many roadblocks being thrown up that stop this from being the case. Anyone, or any country that believes that it is a good and fair outcome that a multi-billionaire continues to grow wealthier whilst exploiting workers with poor wages, the inability to unionise, and strict, inhumane working conditions, is either wilfully blind and ignorant, or downright psychopathic. It should be the role of governments to fight these injustices for the betterment of its citizens, except you rarely see any questioning of Amazon's business practices, but for a small amount of journalism that never tends to get national coverage.
Judging a country as strong based on its ability to invade any other country, or wipe any country off the face of the earth is the equivalent of judging how great and strong a person is based on their genitalia.
What needs to be at the forefront of discussion now is nuclear proliferation, and the damage that it will inevitably do to the planet, given the right circumstances. It is not unreasonable to assume that, if now there were to be a war that breaks out, and WMDs such as nuclear warheads were to be used, then we may as well call the time of death for the planet. Nuclear explosions will damage and for hundreds, if not thousands of years, making it uninhabitable, killing all wildlife, and destroying any hopes of agricultural growth.
Recently, there have been plans for the UK to expand it's nuclear arsenal, which currently stands at over 100 active warheads. If WMDs such as these serve only to act as a deterrent, and should never be used, then it is beyond me why over £30bn is to be set aside to invest in more bombs that, in theory, should just sit and never be deployed; again, if they are deployed, then we are all doomed. £30bn could be spent investing in services that make a real difference, ensuring that our NHS doesn't continue to crumble, that it has the services available that are required, that staff are paid a fair wage. £30bn could be invested into the mental health crisis, it could go into national projects that benefit us all such as fibre infrastructure, or further allowing accessibility to schools and universities. Too many countries play God with their defence programmes, many of which are frankly ridiculous fire pits designed to suck up money for no useful gain. The talk shouldn't be about how many more nukes we need, it should be about how we reduce our arsenals, and work towards a society that can resolve issues amicably, rather than by killing everyone and everything in a path of destruction.
COVID:
I expect that more people will adopt face masks even post-COVID, similarly to the usage in some Asian countries due to smog and such. This isn't a bad thing, I think people will treat it quite like a safety net, just for that extra bit of protection. This would be great to see when people are suffering from flus, as the mask serves the role to add an extra bit of protection for those around the mask wearer. It can't hurt.
I strongly believe that COVID should bring the question of foreign aid into the forefront, as it is common knowledge that many of these viruses, bugs, etc, will originate in countries with poor public health management, as many of the countries are not very developed. Foreign aid benefits everyone, as we can see, moving into a more globalised society with transatlantic connections becoming easier and easier with transport. Those countries who are in a comfortable position with well developed healthcare systems should be working in conjunction to raise the stability and infrastructure of other countries. If we can work together, rather than continue in a divided society, then everyone benefits. Vilifying countries is not the solution (e.g. "China Virus"), that xenophobic hatred only functions to further divide all nations, and thus we all suffer because of it.
As for the EU question:
If people watching the UK as the test subject are reasonable, I wonder how long until it's put down as a failed experiment. As we have left, exports to EU countries have dropped dramatically, and we're not compensating with exports to non-EU countries. We have lost a ton of rights and abilities, such as the right to freely travel, and work in 27+ countries, and then there are many stipulations that people are experiencing; I received a £70 tax and duty bill from Fedex following an order from an EU store, which luckily they covered - this won't be the case all of the time.
Brexit was a disaster for business and for individuals.
Tech:
Of course tech will advance greatly. Look back 10 years time, and consider what mobile phones were then, as to now. Better yet, look back 20 or 30 years time at what we didn't have. This will only continue to expand with the introduction of 5G, IoT, AI, etc. We've barely touched the tip of the iceberg as to what is possible with compute power. Society will evolve around it, and hopefully it will be mostly used for good.
Strongest Country:
The strongest country is the one that has a heart, in my eyes. The USA could be classed as the richest third world country, due to the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are declared bankrupt every year as they cannot afford medical bills. There is a mindset that everyone can reach the American Dream, except due to the fundamental issues with a capitalist society, there are so many roadblocks being thrown up that stop this from being the case. Anyone, or any country that believes that it is a good and fair outcome that a multi-billionaire continues to grow wealthier whilst exploiting workers with poor wages, the inability to unionise, and strict, inhumane working conditions, is either wilfully blind and ignorant, or downright psychopathic. It should be the role of governments to fight these injustices for the betterment of its citizens, except you rarely see any questioning of Amazon's business practices, but for a small amount of journalism that never tends to get national coverage.
Judging a country as strong based on its ability to invade any other country, or wipe any country off the face of the earth is the equivalent of judging how great and strong a person is based on their genitalia.