This is in response to the weird shit that we've just witnessed. Anyone who wants to contribute is more than welcome to do so.
Futurism has boiled itself down into two basic groups (leaving aside the wild-eyed dreamers, "transhumanists", and flat-out charlatans.)
First, you have your urbanists. This includes urban designers, economists (who never sleep at all), ecologists, process/systems engineers, neurology types, medical doctors, that sort of thing. They worry about stuff like how many liters of water have to be moved out of a city to keep it from drowning in its own shit. Hurricane Sandy completely overwhelmed the pumps for all 5 boroughs, but they had the shit flowing in the right direction 13 hours later, because some bright folks had sat down ahead of time and said "what if?"
Urbanists study cities the same way a good oncologist studies you as a patient. Look for what's there, but also look for what is inferred to exist by what isn't there. Urbanists require a huge amount of multi-discipline training to be effective...Looking back to the shit question, you need knowledge of fluid dynamics, mechanical knowledge of pipes and pumps, and also what storm surges you might expect in a given area. They tend to obsess over data, to the exclusion of what's actually going on.
Strategic forecasters, on the other hand, are the guys who obsess about the newest and best ways to put a hurting on someone. They come up with things like Swarm/AC drones and stoop targeting, stratelites, and other goodies. This requires slightly less training, but also requires having a mind full of angry wasps and broken hypodermic needles.
Swarm/AC. You have one medium drone that does all kinds of processing, using things like DESI and bog-standard facial recognition software. It selects, for example, the ring leaders in a protest, mostly by the way they walk (or stand still) in the crowd. It then sends this info to police, etc. Or maybe it doesn't. Maybe it sends it to stoop.
Stoop. Picture a cloud of drones shaped like 10 penny nails, with a little rotor on the blunt end and a disposable fuel & computer packet on the sharp end. It receives the signal from Swarm/AT, and aims at the ringleader. The packet and rotors drop off, and the tiny explosive in the flat end drives the drone down into the head of the victim. Where it also explodes.
It's worth mentioning that strategic forecasters are absolute solutionists.
It may seem like you can pick out the white hats from the black hats by which form of futurism they embrace, but this isn't the case. ISIS mostly uses an informal kind of urbanism to get their funnier ideas. They know that cities are our "safe spaces", so most of what they do is aimed at city dwellers. Including the beheading thing, which Cain could describe better than I can, in terms of psychological impact.
It's also worth mentioning that these people do not work for free. They in fact have a huge price tag, because the educational requirements are immense.
I'm not sure you can safely count out the wild eyed dreamers from the futurist camp. Sure, the vast majority of them get fuckall done, but sometimes one of them writes a story or makes a film that sparks something in the minds of the more practical and something that was an idea becomes a paradigm shifting reality. Dreaming has always been our first experience of a future, and the wild eyed ones often come up with the nicer visions.
Quote from: Q. G. Pennyworth on July 28, 2016, 05:39:58 PM
I'm not sure you can safely count out the wild eyed dreamers from the futurist camp. Sure, the vast majority of them get fuckall done, but sometimes one of them writes a story or makes a film that sparks something in the minds of the more practical and something that was an idea becomes a paradigm shifting reality. Dreaming has always been our first experience of a future, and the wild eyed ones often come up with the nicer visions.
I suppose I should restate that to mean "wild-eyed dreamers with no education in what they are discussing beyond "the free thought project" or something similar."
Example: exoskeletons to let paralyzed people walk translates out to "the cybermen are coming".
Another example: FB Transhumanists.
Ah, that makes a lot more sense. I was thinking types like Kaku and Rodenberry.
It seems worth looking at why very few 'futurists' will actually try and deal with the world as it is. I know it's the charlatan camp, but most push some likely imminent change or collapse as to why they need your soon to be worthless money.
It's this kind of shit that makes you quite aware that financial crimes occur all the time at every level. The other end is our new friend who probably couldn't even tell you what a shipping container costs yet has extensive plans to make some kind of tourist hostel from a bunch of them. I assume he's aware of other schemes that have actually been built but won't reach out for help and support.
Something else too about futurists generally living in their own imagined bubble where perfect solutions have/can only occur to/with them/their group. Messianic traits, similar to Manson.
Quote from: Junkenstein on July 28, 2016, 07:24:21 PM
It seems worth looking at why very few 'futurists' will actually try and deal with the world as it is.
On the contrary. New York recovered from Sandy so quickly (and at all) because Urbanists had spent the prior 10 years having conniption fits about flooding. The sanitation system was fully-functional again in 72 hours, and the subway had main line service in 7 days, and full service in 21 days.
So that's more "dealing with the world on it's absolute worst day from which you could possibly recover.
The more I read about this, the more I am convinced that a *serious* terrorist would find a way to incapacitate the settling pond farms.
Facebook and tumblr transhumanists seem to be an aesthetic movement, almost entirely devoid of technical examination and no imagination beyond prostheses.
Most even act confused or dismissive, when you tell them the most significant piece of transhumanist development, has been the Oracle in their pocket.
I want to give this a proper response when I am home next week, I am currently in Argentina, posting to subscribe.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 28, 2016, 08:44:06 PM
Quote from: Junkenstein on July 28, 2016, 07:24:21 PM
It seems worth looking at why very few 'futurists' will actually try and deal with the world as it is.
On the contrary. New York recovered from Sandy so quickly (and at all) because Urbanists had spent the prior 10 years having conniption fits about flooding. The sanitation system was fully-functional again in 72 hours, and the subway had main line service in 7 days, and full service in 21 days.
So that's more "dealing with the world on it's absolute worst day from which you could possibly recover.
The more I read about this, the more I am convinced that a *serious* terrorist would find a way to incapacitate the settling pond farms.
Conceded, not making point well on phone.
Quote from: Faust on July 28, 2016, 09:34:01 PM
Facebook and tumblr transhumanists seem to be an aesthetic movement, almost entirely devoid of technical examination and no imagination beyond prostheses.
Most even act confused or dismissive, when you tell them the most significant piece of transhumanist development, has been the Oracle in their pocket.
I want to give this a proper response when I am home next week, I am currently in Argentina, posting to subscribe.
I will be waiting when you get done chasing ancient Nazis.
Argentina is an awesome country. Enjoy it!
Well, I for one welcome our new Highest Good Of All overlords.
You know, if that particular one wasn't covered in cultish language and filled with psuedoscience experts and web designers I'd have a lot more hope for it. They DO have some engineers and science types on board, but they seem rare.
I'm on the fence. I think I'm going to wait and see and hold out that ray of hope that their plan really comes off as they intend and they get some kind of tourist community going. I wouldn't live there, as their new-age bent and superstitious leanings and in particular the "expert" they've assigned to calculate dietary requirements, but if they provide a working example and actually get to the level of transparency they claim to seek, and actually produce a positive revenue stream, I could see more of them popping up. With different ideals.
Hell at that point I might go and try to exploit any and all connections I have to get my own underway. One based on reality with a strong anti-superstition bent. Accepted, empirically peer-reviewed science or GTFO, sort of thing.
I think if the focus wasn't just sustainable living, but sustainable living with the highest degree of familiar creature comforts, it could have a real impact. I know personally a metric fuckton of people that would love to live somewhere they can have the comforts and video games of home, live more cheaply than now, and be able to know they aren't fucking the environment to live that way. Getting there is the big problem. Each community would need a positive revenue stream to warrant the level of funding required. That's my other big problem with the recent one, is they don't seem nearly worried enough about funding when funding is clearly the largest hurdle they're likely to face.
Awhile back I did some math and tried to figure what it would take to build up a large area with alternative energy technology and try to either sell energy into the grid or run a ton of modern bitcoin miners to turn the electricity into currency. The ROI was way, way longer than can be reasonably predicted to go smoothly. Basically, to make something like this work, the community would have to include enough of the right people and resources to create streams of income. The tourism thing might actually work for those guys (or might not) but doesn't seem like the sort of thing that would work for very many of these communities very reliably as a major source of income. Personally I think that could be handled though. Some people have skills that are marketable, some people make stuff that can be sold for value, and some income can be made simply by investing in the technology. For the latter, I'm thinking community Movie Theater, sports events, video gaming events, etc etc etc. Similar to tourism, just having events people might want to come spend money at.
I've gotten off track though, you seem to want to discuss futurism in general. Sign me up for wide-eyed dreamer please. I just want to find the right opportunity to become a wide-eyed do-er. Maybe we could get a GASM going related to this? Discordian Futurism? What would sticking apart in a self-sustaining community look like?
Ugh maybe it's time I go the fuck outside.
--
Yeah, I'm hopeless idealist. I know.
Alternatively, we could all just Go Galt.
Quote from: LMNO on July 29, 2016, 06:32:19 PM
Alternatively, we could all just Go Galt.
:sad:
I am not interested in transhumanism or any of that infantile shit. I am, in this thread, asking how things get done in the future to keep the toilets from exploding and the economy from melting faster than the icecaps and. oh yeah, those.
I'm reading some interesting stuff right now on economics as described rather than "as prescribed". It's a fucking horrorshow.
And quoting because new page.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 07:50:44 PM
I am not interested in transhumanism or any of that infantile shit. I am, in this thread, asking how things get done in the future to keep the toilets from exploding and the economy from melting faster than the icecaps and. oh yeah, those.
I'm reading some interesting stuff right now on economics as described rather than "as prescribed". It's a fucking horrorshow.
Incidentally, may I ask what it is you're reading?
I'm thinking that the impact of crypto-currency and the shadow banking facilitated by the Internet and our advanced mathematical computing abilities is just starting. I'm very far from an expert but it sure does seem like a big damn deal as I sit and speculate. The ability to covertly transmit large amounts of value instantly is a MAJOR contributor to crime and institutional corruption. the Spartans even had a heavy and inconvenient spoiled iron currency for day to day trade in a direct attempt to mitigate this, reserving gold and such for external trade conducted by the royal houses. Now the stage is set in the exact opposite fashion. Folks could be carrying a 50mil bitcoin wallet on a thumbdrive in their pocket nobody the wiser.
I also wonder about the effects crypto-currency is having on the markets, but lack any real technical understanding. What I do know is that the international currency markets were already the least regulated in the world and that barring some sort of global economic pact there's no getting them out of the system as long as the exchanges keep valuing them.
Is this along the lines of discussion you had in mind here?
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 07:50:44 PM
I am not interested in transhumanism or any of that infantile shit. I am, in this thread, asking how things get done in the future to keep the toilets from exploding and the economy from melting faster than the icecaps and. oh yeah, those.
I'm reading some interesting stuff right now on economics as described rather than "as prescribed". It's a fucking horrorshow.
Yes. I'm just talking about using technology to keep the toilets from exploding and my goddamn washing machine running. As for the economy, meh, I think that shit is toast and we'll need a new one.
The problem is, by now society has come to the realization that we have the technology to, for example, replace energy sources with renewable ones. However, we do not have the money. We have the technology to make all vehicles fully electric, and charge them via renewable energy sources. We have the ability to grow enough good clean food for everyone, but we don't have the funding for that level of operation. We do, however, have PLENTY of funding for the mega expensive endless circus we've made of our elections, and for the incredibly large amount of multi-million dollar hollywood films that come out each year, and of course the war racket.
In my mind the question is, how do we look past our broken economy to get the shit done that needs to get done to stop the toilets from exploding down the line?
That's why I said all that shit about having a positive revenue stream. If the shit makes money, people who want to make money will want to fund another one. People who have lots of money want to make money, generally. The more that get funded and created, the more humans are living in a sustainable way.
America is the perfect place to start, as our consumption of finite resources is extremely high, and the potential for revenue similarly high.
I can shrug even harder than Atlas did.
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 08:20:50 PM
I'm thinking that the impact of crypto-currency and the shadow banking facilitated by the Internet and our advanced mathematical computing abilities is just starting. I'm very far from an expert but it sure does seem like a big damn deal as I sit and speculate. The ability to covertly transmit large amounts of value instantly is a MAJOR contributor to crime and institutional corruption. the Spartans even had a heavy and inconvenient spoiled iron currency for day to day trade in a direct attempt to mitigate this, reserving gold and such for external trade conducted by the royal houses. Now the stage is set in the exact opposite fashion. Folks could be carrying a 50mil bitcoin wallet on a thumbdrive in their pocket nobody the wiser.
I also wonder about the effects crypto-currency is having on the markets, but lack any real technical understanding. What I do know is that the international currency markets were already the least regulated in the world and that barring some sort of global economic pact there's no getting them out of the system as long as the exchanges keep valuing them.
Is this along the lines of discussion you had in mind here?
Cash is much much easier for crime and corruption than Bitcoin. Bitcoin is NOT anonymous by any means, and people using it for illegal goods get caught all the time. The value of Bitcoin to crime is in using it over the internet, like Paypal, but with less need to register.
Add to that the fact that much of the corruption here in the US is from our own government and banks, which can transfer huge mega sums of money anywhere quickly for corrupt, criminal, or other immoral purposes while leaving far less of a trail to investigate and get caught. Entities that not only do so regularly, as a matter of course, but have the authority to
print new money in massive economy-damaging amounts and they do THAT regularly.
Bitcoin has all kinds of issues but its reputation as a crime-supporting anonymous internet druglord currency (IE: Silkroad) is overblown and inaccurate.
Quote from: LMNO on July 29, 2016, 07:57:18 PM
Incidentally, may I ask what it is you're reading?
A bunch of Micheal Lewis and two papers out of the Rand corporation.
Quote from: trix on July 29, 2016, 08:46:54 PM
As for the economy, meh, I think that shit is toast and we'll need a new one.
It doesn't work that way. No. You cannot just hand out Newbux and make everything okay. You can't even get rid of the federal reserve (if you're the kind of person that wants to). You can't go back to silver and you can't go back to gold (there isn't enough of either), and if you just replace one fiat currency with another, the problems all remain PLUS less people have confidence in it.
We're going to have to figure out how to fix THIS one.
Quote from: trix on July 29, 2016, 08:55:43 PM
Entities that not only do so regularly, as a matter of course, but have the authority to print new money in massive economy-damaging amounts and they do THAT regularly.
No they fucking don't. The vast majority of the money that is printed is simply to replace worn out bills which are then destroyed. If they were just printing new money to get out of trouble, you'd know it because a loaf of bread would cost $90.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 09:10:40 PM
Quote from: trix on July 29, 2016, 08:46:54 PM
As for the economy, meh, I think that shit is toast and we'll need a new one.
It doesn't work that way. No. You cannot just hand out Newbux and make everything okay. You can't even get rid of the federal reserve (if you're the kind of person that wants to). You can't go back to silver and you can't go back to gold (there isn't enough of either), and if you just replace one fiat currency with another, the problems all remain PLUS less people have confidence in it.
We're going to have to figure out how to fix THIS one.
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency. Otherwise I don't think that the system can be fixed given the unfortunate priorities in our value systems.
If shit gets bad enough those values could change dramatically whether we want them to or not.
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 10:52:36 PM
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency.
Joe, I'm gonna step back for just a second and let you try to see the obvious flaw with that.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 11:11:51 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 10:52:36 PM
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency.
Joe, I'm gonna step back for just a second and let you try to see the obvious flaw with that.
I'll give it a shot, and can guess at particular things, but what's obvious to you I can't guess. I've never tried to think of it in real terms before though, so here we go.
It's of almost no real value and any real commodity exchange would require quite a bit more energy than the water could ever represent. A traincar full of gold's value is such that actual relative cost of transportation would be negligible, if high risk.
Now that I think about it the idea of a low-val commodity currency is just flaxscrip in a different wrapper. Kinda funny idea, totally unworkable in the current system.
The water thing might work if it was profoundly high-value and strongly guaranteed somehow, but that would be either post-apocalyptic or perhaps interstellar scifi and not at all real world.
All I got for the moment. Anywhere near the mark?
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 09:12:31 PM
Quote from: trix on July 29, 2016, 08:55:43 PM
Entities that not only do so regularly, as a matter of course, but have the authority to print new money in massive economy-damaging amounts and they do THAT regularly.
No they fucking don't. The vast majority of the money that is printed is simply to replace worn out bills which are then destroyed. If they were just printing new money to get out of trouble, you'd know it because a loaf of bread would cost $90.
The fed doesn't print (much) new money, but the banks print a crapload. They loan it into existence. The reason this hasn't made a loaf of bread cost $90 is because the new money is going to the wealthy and they don't need that much bread.
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 11:51:59 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 11:11:51 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 10:52:36 PM
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency.
Joe, I'm gonna step back for just a second and let you try to see the obvious flaw with that.
Not quite.
Hint: its around the pile of dead bodies.
I'll give it a shot, and can guess at particular things, but what's obvious to you I can't guess. I've never tried to think of it in real terms before though, so here we go.
It's of almost no real value and any real commodity exchange would require quite a bit more energy than the water could ever represent. A traincar full of gold's value is such that actual relative cost of transportation would be negligible, if high risk.
Now that I think about it the idea of a low-val commodity currency is just flaxscrip in a different wrapper. Kinda funny idea, totally unworkable in the current system.
The water thing might work if it was profoundly high-value and strongly guaranteed somehow, but that would be either post-apocalyptic or perhaps interstellar scifi and not at all real world.
All I got for the moment. Anywhere near the mark?
Not quite.
HINT: its located near the pile of dead bodies.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 11:11:51 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 10:52:36 PM
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency.
Joe, I'm gonna step back for just a second and let you try to see the obvious flaw with that.
As a guess in light of Faust's hint,
Water becomes even more competed for strategically as "market forces" begin to drive water policy worldwide resulting in a whole lot of market "losers", by which I mean probably billions of innocent folks dead from war, water shortages natural and engineered, and miscellaneous secondary effects like disease and industrial pollution.
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 11:51:59 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 11:11:51 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 10:52:36 PM
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency.
Joe, I'm gonna step back for just a second and let you try to see the obvious flaw with that.
I'll give it a shot, and can guess at particular things, but what's obvious to you I can't guess. I've never tried to think of it in real terms before though, so here we go.
It's of almost no real value and any real commodity exchange would require quite a bit more energy than the water could ever represent. A traincar full of gold's value is such that actual relative cost of transportation would be negligible, if high risk.
Now that I think about it the idea of a low-val commodity currency is just flaxscrip in a different wrapper. Kinda funny idea, totally unworkable in the current system.
The water thing might work if it was profoundly high-value and strongly guaranteed somehow, but that would be either post-apocalyptic or perhaps interstellar scifi and not at all real world.
All I got for the moment. Anywhere near the mark?
Rich people hoard up the medium of exchange. while that's already happening (see Nestle, collection of shitbags), I don't really think encouraging rich bastards to hoard up the potable water is a really good idea.
Also, the bottom rung dies of thirst or cholera, more or less guaranteed.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 30, 2016, 04:39:36 AM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 11:51:59 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 11:11:51 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 10:52:36 PM
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency.
Joe, I'm gonna step back for just a second and let you try to see the obvious flaw with that.
I'll give it a shot, and can guess at particular things, but what's obvious to you I can't guess. I've never tried to think of it in real terms before though, so here we go.
It's of almost no real value and any real commodity exchange would require quite a bit more energy than the water could ever represent. A traincar full of gold's value is such that actual relative cost of transportation would be negligible, if high risk.
Now that I think about it the idea of a low-val commodity currency is just flaxscrip in a different wrapper. Kinda funny idea, totally unworkable in the current system.
The water thing might work if it was profoundly high-value and strongly guaranteed somehow, but that would be either post-apocalyptic or perhaps interstellar scifi and not at all real world.
All I got for the moment. Anywhere near the mark?
Rich people hoard up the medium of exchange. while that's already happening (see Nestle, collection of shitbags), I don't really think encouraging rich bastards to hoard up the potable water is a really good idea.
Also, the bottom rung dies of thirst or cholera, more or less guaranteed.
Yeah. I'm almost sorry I thought it. It's a bad idea. I see how coming up with ideas that will ACTUALLY improve things is a pretty tall order that needs to be accurately modeled and thought through thoroughly.
I'm imagining a future where collective humanity starts becoming so scientifically advance that it would lead itself into existential paranoia.
We, collectively, begin recognizing that our material reality has no exact specificity. We come to a point where we cannot measure quantities and lengths; a society that realizes a table is not 1 meter long, but actually 1.002735483946493493644894 meters long and still unable to grasp its exact length.
The future is a society which has lost its footing in semantics. We begin to lose sense of qualitative words such as adjectives. Is a movie exciting, or is our nervous system creating the excitement within us, or is it found in the photons colliding into our retinas? What exactly is this sensation we call "exciting"?
The future is a society that recognizes biology on a very intimate level:
You might discover that your gangly arms,
that nubby twig protruding from your groin,
or those lactating mounds swelling on your chest are repugnantly bizarre.
You might discover that the rubbery sheath you call "skin"
is actually a host of cells, living and breathing together -
You, a walking sack of blood, are a conglomerate of little creatures
evolved over eons to symbiotically cohabitate.
You, covered in a protein filament called "hair",
are a squirming tower of molecular animals
randomly generated by the quirks of perpetual chemical reactions
Don't ponder too deeply that "plants" absorb carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen.
You might discover that air is not the space between bodies,
but rather, a connective tissue - a thick web of matter eternally flowing bodies into bodies.
Your freaky alien form is not autonomous.
It has been shaped and twisted in a decadent symbiosis
with other festering organisms you previously considered separate from yourself;
protons, electrons, nitrogen, sodium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, water, soil, glucose, viruses, bacteria, algea, fungus, amphibians, fowl, forests, dogs and cattle. Organs within organs within organs wrought in a cauldron of magnetic currents and gravitational pressure, heated by the unceasing thermonuclear eruption of a helium ball.
What a strange zoo imprisoned to an abominable mutant.
We were not caught by the horror- we were born into the horror.
"God" is the unimaginable behemoth
of creatures multiplying inside creatures multiplying inside creatures.
***
Eventually humanity goes insane in the chaotic void of existential anguish/mania. Only a few survive a mass suicide - The spiritually ascended and the hopelessly ignorant.
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 10:52:36 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 09:10:40 PM
Quote from: trix on July 29, 2016, 08:46:54 PM
As for the economy, meh, I think that shit is toast and we'll need a new one.
It doesn't work that way. No. You cannot just hand out Newbux and make everything okay. You can't even get rid of the federal reserve (if you're the kind of person that wants to). You can't go back to silver and you can't go back to gold (there isn't enough of either), and if you just replace one fiat currency with another, the problems all remain PLUS less people have confidence in it.
We're going to have to figure out how to fix THIS one.
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency. Otherwise I don't think that the system can be fixed given the unfortunate priorities in our value systems.
If shit gets bad enough those values could change dramatically whether we want them to or not.
Ummmmm
I am just going to assume that the rest of the board already took care of answering this.
Quote from: CBXTN on July 30, 2016, 06:07:41 AM
I'm imagining a future where collective humanity starts becoming so scientifically advance that it would lead itself into existential paranoia.
We, collectively, begin recognizing that our material reality has no exact specificity. We come to a point where we cannot measure quantities and lengths; a society that realizes a table is not 1 meter long, but actually 1.002735483946493493644894 meters long and still unable to grasp its exact length.
The future is a society which has lost its footing in semantics. We begin to lose sense of qualitative words such as adjectives. Is a movie exciting, or is our nervous system creating the excitement within us, or is it found in the photons colliding into our retinas? What exactly is this sensation we call "exciting"?
The future is a society that recognizes biology on a very intimate level:
-snip-
***
Eventually humanity goes insane in the chaotic void of existential anguish/mania. Only a few survive a mass suicide - The spiritually ascended and the hopelessly ignorant.
Totally, that's why all molecular and cellular biologists have wilted into puddles of existential angst and just can't function.
Oh wait, nope, that's not it. Turns out that problem goes away after you leave intellectual adolescence.
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 30, 2016, 06:19:43 PM
Quote from: CBXTN on July 30, 2016, 06:07:41 AM
I'm imagining a future where collective humanity starts becoming so scientifically advance that it would lead itself into existential paranoia.
We, collectively, begin recognizing that our material reality has no exact specificity. We come to a point where we cannot measure quantities and lengths; a society that realizes a table is not 1 meter long, but actually 1.002735483946493493644894 meters long and still unable to grasp its exact length.
The future is a society which has lost its footing in semantics. We begin to lose sense of qualitative words such as adjectives. Is a movie exciting, or is our nervous system creating the excitement within us, or is it found in the photons colliding into our retinas? What exactly is this sensation we call "exciting"?
The future is a society that recognizes biology on a very intimate level:
-snip-
***
Eventually humanity goes insane in the chaotic void of existential anguish/mania. Only a few survive a mass suicide - The spiritually ascended and the hopelessly ignorant.
Totally, that's why all molecular and cellular biologists have wilted into puddles of existential angst and just can't function.
Oh wait, nope, that's not it. Turns out that problem goes away after you leave intellectual adolescence.
I might still be an adolescent - some nights I rise in the middle of the night panicked and anxious about why I'm in my own body, what exactly is my body made of, what is it I'm experiencing and why is it that things are infinitely small and large, and other general questions of reality and purpose(lessness).
It freaks me out and I hope it calms down. Some part of me wishes I could communicate the absurdity to my grandparents, but they are too busy watching the Democratic National Convention on television.
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 30, 2016, 06:16:02 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 10:52:36 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 09:10:40 PM
Quote from: trix on July 29, 2016, 08:46:54 PM
As for the economy, meh, I think that shit is toast and we'll need a new one.
It doesn't work that way. No. You cannot just hand out Newbux and make everything okay. You can't even get rid of the federal reserve (if you're the kind of person that wants to). You can't go back to silver and you can't go back to gold (there isn't enough of either), and if you just replace one fiat currency with another, the problems all remain PLUS less people have confidence in it.
We're going to have to figure out how to fix THIS one.
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency. Otherwise I don't think that the system can be fixed given the unfortunate priorities in our value systems.
If shit gets bad enough those values could change dramatically whether we want them to or not.
Ummmmm
I am just going to assume that the rest of the board already took care of answering this.
Yeah. ITT I discovered how a simple seeming idea can get millions dead. Going to switch over to attempting to ask intelligent questions should any occur to me rather than blather about what I think.
Quote from: CBXTN on July 30, 2016, 06:07:41 AM
I'm imagining a future where collective humanity starts becoming so scientifically advance that it would lead itself into existential paranoia.
We, collectively, begin recognizing that our material reality has no exact specificity. We come to a point where we cannot measure quantities and lengths; a society that realizes a table is not 1 meter long, but actually 1.002735483946493493644894 meters long and still unable to grasp its exact length.
The future is a society which has lost its footing in semantics. We begin to lose sense of qualitative words such as adjectives. Is a movie exciting, or is our nervous system creating the excitement within us, or is it found in the photons colliding into our retinas? What exactly is this sensation we call "exciting"?
The future is a society that recognizes biology on a very intimate level:
You might discover that your gangly arms,
that nubby twig protruding from your groin,
or those lactating mounds swelling on your chest are repugnantly bizarre.
You might discover that the rubbery sheath you call "skin"
is actually a host of cells, living and breathing together -
You, a walking sack of blood, are a conglomerate of little creatures
evolved over eons to symbiotically cohabitate.
You, covered in a protein filament called "hair",
are a squirming tower of molecular animals
randomly generated by the quirks of perpetual chemical reactions
Don't ponder too deeply that "plants" absorb carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen.
You might discover that air is not the space between bodies,
but rather, a connective tissue - a thick web of matter eternally flowing bodies into bodies.
Your freaky alien form is not autonomous.
It has been shaped and twisted in a decadent symbiosis
with other festering organisms you previously considered separate from yourself;
protons, electrons, nitrogen, sodium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, water, soil, glucose, viruses, bacteria, algea, fungus, amphibians, fowl, forests, dogs and cattle. Organs within organs within organs wrought in a cauldron of magnetic currents and gravitational pressure, heated by the unceasing thermonuclear eruption of a helium ball.
What a strange zoo imprisoned to an abominable mutant.
We were not caught by the horror- we were born into the horror.
"God" is the unimaginable behemoth
of creatures multiplying inside creatures multiplying inside creatures.
***
Eventually humanity goes insane in the chaotic void of existential anguish/mania. Only a few survive a mass suicide - The spiritually ascended and the hopelessly ignorant.
not wat ur mum said
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 30, 2016, 11:07:21 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 30, 2016, 06:16:02 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 10:52:36 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 09:10:40 PM
Quote from: trix on July 29, 2016, 08:46:54 PM
As for the economy, meh, I think that shit is toast and we'll need a new one.
It doesn't work that way. No. You cannot just hand out Newbux and make everything okay. You can't even get rid of the federal reserve (if you're the kind of person that wants to). You can't go back to silver and you can't go back to gold (there isn't enough of either), and if you just replace one fiat currency with another, the problems all remain PLUS less people have confidence in it.
We're going to have to figure out how to fix THIS one.
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency. Otherwise I don't think that the system can be fixed given the unfortunate priorities in our value systems.
If shit gets bad enough those values could change dramatically whether we want them to or not.
Ummmmm
I am just going to assume that the rest of the board already took care of answering this.
Yeah. ITT I discovered how a simple seeming idea can get millions dead. Going to switch over to attempting to ask intelligent questions should any occur to me rather than blather about what I think.
I find that a useful strategy in most situations, myself.
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 30, 2016, 11:07:21 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 30, 2016, 06:16:02 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 10:52:36 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 09:10:40 PM
Quote from: trix on July 29, 2016, 08:46:54 PM
As for the economy, meh, I think that shit is toast and we'll need a new one.
It doesn't work that way. No. You cannot just hand out Newbux and make everything okay. You can't even get rid of the federal reserve (if you're the kind of person that wants to). You can't go back to silver and you can't go back to gold (there isn't enough of either), and if you just replace one fiat currency with another, the problems all remain PLUS less people have confidence in it.
We're going to have to figure out how to fix THIS one.
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency. Otherwise I don't think that the system can be fixed given the unfortunate priorities in our value systems.
If shit gets bad enough those values could change dramatically whether we want them to or not.
Ummmmm
I am just going to assume that the rest of the board already took care of answering this.
Yeah. ITT I discovered how a simple seeming idea can get millions dead. Going to switch over to attempting to ask intelligent questions should any occur to me rather than blather about what I think.
The fun part about futurism, with both trained folks and us hoi polloi, is that it mostly seems to be "throw shit against the wall. A bunch of it is going to fly back into your face, ignore that and study the stuff that sticks." which is to say, brainstorm, shoot down the dumb shit (and this is something we all produce, even if we occasionally forget that), and focus on the stuff that might work. Rinse, repeat.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 31, 2016, 07:03:02 AM
The fun part about futurism, with both trained folks and us hoi polloi, is that it mostly seems to be "throw shit against the wall. A bunch of it is going to fly back into your face, ignore that and study the stuff that sticks." which is to say, brainstorm, shoot down the dumb shit (and this is something we all produce, even if we occasionally forget that), and focus on the stuff that might work. Rinse, repeat.
Futurism is dumb. It's an -ism- ie. dumb by default. Soon as you have an ism, you have people who believe it. Belief = retard. I don't believe in the future so I'm not an futurist. I do focus in that direction, tho. Try to get a handle on whats coming. See opportunities for profit and lulz. I saw computers back in the 80's, jumped on that bandwagon early and carved a cozy career for myself. I saw the internet in the early 90's and got my feet under the table. Now I'm looking at AI and AR and getting ready to upgrade my intellect and offload more of the donkeywork to machines. I've normally got a good 10 years head start on the general population and that means I get to play a modern day merlin. 21st century wizard powers. Makes for a fucking easy life.
And, yeah, any prediction anyone makes can be wrong. Some shit doesn't pan out and other shit hits speedbumps. Occasionally something turns out to be easier than it looks and we end up ahead of schedule and playing catchup. One truth seems to hold - the only constant is change. Primates, generally like things to stay the same, even when the status quo is abysmal. Sucks to be them. For some reason, I'm wired differently. I don't care what the fuck happens, as long as shit changes. Better, preferably but worse will do in a pinch. Just don't bore me, future the past already has that covered.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 30, 2016, 04:39:36 AM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 11:51:59 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 11:11:51 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on July 29, 2016, 10:52:36 PM
I wonder if a low-value, universal commodity, like fresh water, might not serve as a commodity basis for a universal currency.
Joe, I'm gonna step back for just a second and let you try to see the obvious flaw with that.
I'll give it a shot, and can guess at particular things, but what's obvious to you I can't guess. I've never tried to think of it in real terms before though, so here we go.
It's of almost no real value and any real commodity exchange would require quite a bit more energy than the water could ever represent. A traincar full of gold's value is such that actual relative cost of transportation would be negligible, if high risk.
Now that I think about it the idea of a low-val commodity currency is just flaxscrip in a different wrapper. Kinda funny idea, totally unworkable in the current system.
The water thing might work if it was profoundly high-value and strongly guaranteed somehow, but that would be either post-apocalyptic or perhaps interstellar scifi and not at all real world.
All I got for the moment. Anywhere near the mark?
Rich people hoard up the medium of exchange. while that's already happening (see Nestle, collection of shitbags), I don't really think encouraging rich bastards to hoard up the potable water is a really good idea.
Also, the bottom rung dies of thirst or cholera, more or less guaranteed.
I think we need a currency based on Jenkem. Watch the rich fuckers hoard literal shit.
Quote from: Pergamos on July 31, 2016, 09:35:26 PM
I think we need a currency based on Jenkem. Watch the rich fuckers hoard literal shit.
This is a really great idea~! I enjoy imagining blurring the lines between banks and the sanitation department. But how would such a currency avoid inflation?
Quote from: CBXTN on July 31, 2016, 09:40:06 PM
Quote from: Pergamos on July 31, 2016, 09:35:26 PM
I think we need a currency based on Jenkem. Watch the rich fuckers hoard literal shit.
This is a really great idea~! I enjoy imagining blurring the lines between banks and the sanitation department. But how would such a currency avoid inflation?
Production would be limited by poop output, so the supply could only inflate if the population did, which it would need to do with an expanding population. This is assuming jenkem degrades about as fast as it can be produced. I might be wrong about that.
You are right, the rate of inflation will always be proportionate to the population, but wouldn't the value of a product or resource stay the same? I think the ability to make one's own Jenkem might contain too many economic variables (like counterfeit bills).
In order for human shit to be a viable currency, we would need to figure out a system in which people do not own the shit they expunge - It needs to be redistributed according the values of products and services people sell.
Quote from: CBXTN on August 01, 2016, 02:17:22 AM
In order for human shit to be a viable currency, we would need to figure out a system in which people do not own the shit they expunge - It needs to be redistributed according the values of products and services people sell.
An economy based on literal shit flinging.
I don't think you need to worry about supporting such a thing. I believe America is a few policies away from this already. It's only a matter of time.
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on July 31, 2016, 09:37:12 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 31, 2016, 07:03:02 AM
The fun part about futurism, with both trained folks and us hoi polloi, is that it mostly seems to be "throw shit against the wall. A bunch of it is going to fly back into your face, ignore that and study the stuff that sticks." which is to say, brainstorm, shoot down the dumb shit (and this is something we all produce, even if we occasionally forget that), and focus on the stuff that might work. Rinse, repeat.
Futurism is dumb. It's an -ism- ie. dumb by default.
Except when it means, say, a fast recovery from a hurricane instead of the fact that NOLA is still fucked 11 years later.
Even skepticism is an ism.
All absolute beliefs are stupid. Including the idea that "ism" automatically makes things stupid.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 01, 2016, 04:23:53 AM
All absolute beliefs are stupid.
This sounds like a zenarchist's koan
Quote from: CBXTN on August 01, 2016, 02:17:22 AM
You are right, the rate of inflation will always be proportionate to the population, but wouldn't the value of a product or resource stay the same? I think the ability to make one's own Jenkem might contain too many economic variables (like counterfeit bills).
In order for human shit to be a viable currency, we would need to figure out a system in which people do not own the shit they expunge - It needs to be redistributed according the values of products and services people sell.
Well, the process of turning poop into jenkem is unpleasant and I expect most people would prefer to outsource it.
Quote from: CBXTN on August 01, 2016, 04:33:28 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 01, 2016, 04:23:53 AM
All absolute beliefs are stupid.
This sounds like a zenarchist's koan
Only if it's the kind of zen where you get to beat on fuckers with a stick. Zazzen or some shit like that.
Quote from: Pergamos on August 01, 2016, 04:43:51 AM
Quote from: CBXTN on August 01, 2016, 02:17:22 AM
You are right, the rate of inflation will always be proportionate to the population, but wouldn't the value of a product or resource stay the same? I think the ability to make one's own Jenkem might contain too many economic variables (like counterfeit bills).
In order for human shit to be a viable currency, we would need to figure out a system in which people do not own the shit they expunge - It needs to be redistributed according the values of products and services people sell.
Well, the process of turning poop into jenkem is unpleasant and I expect most people would prefer to outsource it.
Also unicorns. Outsourced and just as real.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 01, 2016, 05:12:47 AM
Quote from: Pergamos on August 01, 2016, 04:43:51 AM
Quote from: CBXTN on August 01, 2016, 02:17:22 AM
You are right, the rate of inflation will always be proportionate to the population, but wouldn't the value of a product or resource stay the same? I think the ability to make one's own Jenkem might contain too many economic variables (like counterfeit bills).
In order for human shit to be a viable currency, we would need to figure out a system in which people do not own the shit they expunge - It needs to be redistributed according the values of products and services people sell.
Well, the process of turning poop into jenkem is unpleasant and I expect most people would prefer to outsource it.
Also unicorns. Outsourced and just as real.
Not being real is probably a plus, as far as basing a currency on it goes.
Quote from: Pergamos on August 01, 2016, 05:38:49 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 01, 2016, 05:12:47 AM
Quote from: Pergamos on August 01, 2016, 04:43:51 AM
Quote from: CBXTN on August 01, 2016, 02:17:22 AM
You are right, the rate of inflation will always be proportionate to the population, but wouldn't the value of a product or resource stay the same? I think the ability to make one's own Jenkem might contain too many economic variables (like counterfeit bills).
In order for human shit to be a viable currency, we would need to figure out a system in which people do not own the shit they expunge - It needs to be redistributed according the values of products and services people sell.
Well, the process of turning poop into jenkem is unpleasant and I expect most people would prefer to outsource it.
Also unicorns. Outsourced and just as real.
Not being real is probably a plus, as far as basing a currency on it goes.
I agree! We should find more people that agree with us, then the more valuable the idea will become. just like real currency
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 01, 2016, 04:23:53 AM
Even skepticism is an ism.
All absolute beliefs are stupid. Including the idea that "ism" automatically makes things stupid.
You got me there :lulz: And you're right, I don't believe in the -ism- thing, per se. Just another makeshift model based on 100% of observed cases so far. Subject to change, pending new data, like everything else in my head. At some point in my life (day one I think) I got addicted to technology. I became a future-junkie. Maybe that's a futurist? Next year I can buy twice as much raw compute power for the same same bread I paid last year. I have no idea what to do with this, I had more than I could possibly use back in the 00's but that's irrelevant - I FUCKING WANT IT!!! And benchmarking software so I can taste how many trillions of instructions per sec I have at my disposal.
I got a mate who's the total opposite - bewildered by tech. He only sees the downsides (of which there are many) He's like the ultimate cromagnon motherfucker. His hatred of facebook is vitriolic and evangelical. Looks at the walking heart attacks that are the nintendo generation waddling past and wonders if we're fast approaching the Wall-E tipping point. Who decides that a human being is something that ought to be able to fit through a doorway or climb a flight of stairs without their chest exploding? We have machines these days that can scrape the burger fat from their arteries and carry them down the street to pick up more cheetos. Shit only looks fucked when you compare it to the past. The standards of humanity are not an absolute, they're shifting sands. The future always looks weird through that lense. I think that's why I like it so much.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 28, 2016, 05:18:52 PM
This is in response to the weird shit that we've just witnessed. Anyone who wants to contribute is more than welcome to do so.
Futurism has boiled itself down into two basic groups (leaving aside the wild-eyed dreamers, "transhumanists", and flat-out charlatans.)
First, you have your unbanists. This includes urban designers, economists (who never sleep at all), ecologists, process/systems engineers, neurology types, medical doctors, that sort of thing. They worry about stuff like how many liters of water have to be moved out of a city to keep it from drowning in its own shit. Hurricane Sandy completely overwhelmed the pumps for all 5 boroughs, but they had the shit flowing in the right direction 13 hours later, because some bright folks had sat down ahead of time and said "what if?"
Urbanists study cities the same way a good oncologist studies you as a patient. Look for what's there, but also look for what is inferred to exist by what isn't there. Urbanists require a huge amount of multi-discipline training to be effective...Looking back to the shit question, you need knowledge of fluid dynamics, mechanical knowledge of pipes and pumps, and also what storm surges you might expect in a given area. They tend to obsess over data, to the exclusion of what's actually going on.
Strategic forecasters, on the other hand, are the guys who obsess about the newest and best ways to put a hurting on someone. They come up with things like Swarm/AC drones and stoop targeting, stratelites, and other goodies. This requires slightly less training, but also requires having a mind full of angry wasps and broken hypodermic needles.
Swarm/AC. You have one medium drone that does all kinds of processing, using things like DESI and bog-standard facial recognition software. It selects, for example, the ring leaders in a protest, mostly by the way they walk (or stand still) in the crowd. It then sends this info to police, etc. Or maybe it doesn't. Maybe it sends it to stoop.
Stoop. Picture a cloud of drones shaped like 10 penny nails, with a little rotor on the blunt end and a disposable fuel & computer packet on the sharp end. It receives the signal from Swarm/AT, and aims at the ringleader. The packet and rotors drop off, and the tiny explosive in the flat end drives the drone down into the head of the victim. Where it also explodes.
It's worth mentioning that strategic forecasters are absolute solutionists.
It may seem like you can pick out the white hats from the black hats by which form of futurism they embrace, but this isn't the case. ISIS mostly uses an informal kind of urbanism to get their funnier ideas. They know that cities are our "safe spaces", so most of what they do is aimed at city dwellers. Including the beheading thing, which Cain could describe better than I can, in terms of psychological impact.
It's also worth mentioning that these people do not work for free. They in fact have a huge price tag, because the educational requirements are immense.
my money is on the MIC. As long as our mega society is still connected by bare threads they will be the dominant player in CONTROL.
On the other hand if CHAOS should prevail the strategic forecasters and the urbanists won't matter anymore.
Daesh is betting against the MIC. They are clearly TV deprived savages.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 07:50:44 PM
I am not interested in transhumanism or any of that infantile shit. I am, in this thread, asking how things get done in the future to keep the toilets from exploding and the economy from melting faster than the icecaps and. oh yeah, those.
I'm reading some interesting stuff right now on economics as described rather than "as prescribed". It's a fucking horrorshow.
nothing major ever happens in mega societies unless it is driven by economics, war or GOD. God is way into "broken window" parables.
Quote from: freshmeat on August 06, 2016, 04:30:00 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 29, 2016, 07:50:44 PM
I am not interested in transhumanism or any of that infantile shit. I am, in this thread, asking how things get done in the future to keep the toilets from exploding and the economy from melting faster than the icecaps and. oh yeah, those.
I'm reading some interesting stuff right now on economics as described rather than "as prescribed". It's a fucking horrorshow.
nothing major ever happens in mega societies unless it is driven by economics, war or GOD. God is way into "broken window" parables.
:noob:
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 01, 2016, 05:11:32 AM
Quote from: CBXTN on August 01, 2016, 04:33:28 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 01, 2016, 04:23:53 AM
All absolute beliefs are stupid.
This sounds like a zenarchist's koan
Only if it's the kind of zen where you get to beat on fuckers with a stick. Zazzen or some shit like that.
"The Stick of Compassion," as it is known.
Those Zen motherfuckers have a great sense of humor.
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on October 03, 2016, 11:21:03 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 01, 2016, 05:11:32 AM
Quote from: CBXTN on August 01, 2016, 04:33:28 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 01, 2016, 04:23:53 AM
All absolute beliefs are stupid.
This sounds like a zenarchist's koan
Only if it's the kind of zen where you get to beat on fuckers with a stick. Zazzen or some shit like that.
"The Stick of Compassion," as it is known.
Those Zen motherfuckers have a great sense of humor.
I am one compassionate asshat.
My dad has occasionally suggested that I get a water treatment cert as a way to pretty much write my ticket anywhere I so choose to go. I'm thinking that I may just do that after I resolve my issues with my ex-employer, and hopefully acquire educational funds, but really don't know where to start.
It appeals to me as a fundamental process worth understanding pretty much no matter what. Water solutions for the future are only going to become more important no matter if we're successful or manage to fuck the pooch entirely, even more so in space I figure.
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on October 04, 2016, 03:46:07 AM
My dad has occasionally suggested that I get a water treatment cert as a way to pretty much write my ticket anywhere I so choose to go. I'm thinking that I may just do that after I resolve my issues with my ex-employer, and hopefully acquire educational funds, but really don't know where to start.
It appeals to me as a fundamental process worth understanding pretty much no matter what. Water solutions for the future are only going to become more important no matter if we're successful or manage to fuck the pooch entirely, even more so in space I figure.
It's not a bad idea. A tech 3 can pretty much shit on the hiring office floor and get a job.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on October 04, 2016, 04:31:01 AM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on October 04, 2016, 03:46:07 AM
My dad has occasionally suggested that I get a water treatment cert as a way to pretty much write my ticket anywhere I so choose to go. I'm thinking that I may just do that after I resolve my issues with my ex-employer, and hopefully acquire educational funds, but really don't know where to start.
It appeals to me as a fundamental process worth understanding pretty much no matter what. Water solutions for the future are only going to become more important no matter if we're successful or manage to fuck the pooch entirely, even more so in space I figure.
It's not a bad idea. A tech 3 can pretty much shit on the hiring office floor and get a job.
What is this tech 3 and how does one get it? I figure if I'm going to be shooting for utility, might as well get good at it. I'm currently at a technical level just slightly above "janky, klutzy chimp". Just about the only exceptions to this are (barely) passable computer operation ability and LOTS of electronic assembly and repair, but that's mostly about focus and a steady hand, beyond spec knowledge.
My car is a rattling death trap that used to be a Toyota once. This is the measure of my ability and natural inclination. I've forgotten to properly replace the oil cap after filling about three times now in 4 years, the shit's stained everything. So many things don't work that it's almost laughable, but not funny. I went without heat last winter when the electricals went all dead on the panel. Did you know that cracking a window slightly will prevent frosting because the heat equilibrium prevents condensation? I didn't have to think about it until I lost the rear defroster last winter. I drive with two windows open to vent the fumes out of the cab.
What I'm saying is I'm not sure it's my thing, but if I don't do something my ignorance will catch up with me eventually in a final sort of way.
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/10/us-army-says-ground-warfare-is-on-cusp.html?m=1 (http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/10/us-army-says-ground-warfare-is-on-cusp.html?m=1)
This article seems to be along the lines of some of the OP. It's kinda nuts to think about how many different sort of "strategic competencies" perhaps might go into any future battles, and that "overmatch" is a word being used to describe some very real possibility in the future for the US.