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So, is there ANYTHING my kids have to look forward to?

 
 
 
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Playball40

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I listen to the news. I read thread after thread, article after article.

Income and opportunity inequality, spying, student loans, affordable health care, global warming, right wing nutjobbery, guns...............on and on an on.

My 10 year old daughter told me she has no faith in humanity. She's 10!

So, DO my kids have anything to look forward to? Is there hope for a happy life for them? I've try to keep my kids up to date on things (and teach them history at the same time-the struggles of those before them), but now I'm beginning to think this was NOT a good thing. I don't want them to be naive or ignorant, but nor do I want them to give up before their lives even begin.

Please, give me the POSITIVE THINGS they can look forward to!
 
Dancing among the stars. We are now learning how to replace livers, the mechanisms for telomere reset, and we are less than a decade from curing HIV. I live in an apartment that is more opulent than most mansions, save for the size of it. I have unlimited access to cheap books of high quality. When I wish to alter my consciousness in some fundamental way, I can hop on a train and get a giant pile of cheap hash. I use computer networks to connect with communities that can only be drawn together because those networks exist... And they have come to exist as they are within my own lifetime.

I have a glowing rectangle the likes of which wars would have been fought for only 40 years ago. I use it to browse 'art' and keep connected to my friends and family from pretty much anywhere. Most of those friends and family live further than a casual drive away. And I don't have a car, and don't need one, even to access those friends who are further than a casual drive.

Life is better now than it has ever been, and even if WW3 breaks out there is more than enough information around to rebuild within my own lifetime.

The reason the world seems like a shithole from an international POV is that we have entertainment 'media' that makes it's money on sensationalism and milking the rule of large numbers to find the most disgusting outliers in a huge population.
 
Well, the main thing to feel good about is that their quality of life is far better than anyone else's in history has ever been. Most of the factors that make it better are continuously improving, so things are just going to get better and better for them.

If worst comes to worst, VR technology is getting better and better as well, so in a few decades they'll likely be able to just plug themselves into a paradise and ignore any real world problems.
 
The older generations will die and things might change.
 
The country is headed into a crisis. Things are going to get worse before they get better. Another recession/depression is upon us. First quarter growth was a mere .1 of a percent. That's within the margin of error no growth at all. When re-adjust the figures it usually goes down. The Dow Jones has gone up 150% in the last 5 years. No way that we've had that kind of real growth so were probably looking at a crash.

Russia has promised to bring down the US dollar in response to our sanctions. They can probably do so, but it may take a few years. When it happens, the US standard of living will plummet. We've been living on borrowed money and now were living on borrowed time.

Russia, China, and India will become the dominant countries in the world. (Assuming the US doesn't start WW III to prevent it.) China will take back Taiwan and we won't be able to do anything about it. Europe, especially Germany, will look increasingly toward Russia and away from the US as an ally. It will start in the economic sphere but end up in the political arena. The US will still be a major power, but not the "lone superpower" that we've been for the last few decades.

That's the bad news. The good news is that we have the power to recoup. There's no preventing an economic crash, and it will be a big one. The crucial question is how we rebuild. If the government responds to the crash with a big power grab, and that is almost certain at least to some extent, then things will get a whole lot worse. We would probably end up something like the old Soviet Union.

But if the government backs off and lets people deal with their own problems, as the Germans did after WW II, then we could soon experience the same kind of "economic miracle" that Germany experienced in the '50's. America would then emerge as the comeback kid of the 21st Century. We might find ourselves in somewhat the same situation as after the Civil War. We would be growing economically but will have reverted to "splendid isolation" politically. Still protected by the two oceans and still having a nuclear arsenal to protect us from the new world powers dominant in the "old countries" of Asia and Europe.

So hard times are ahead for your children. But if America's individualistic values assert themselves, and we don't fall into the collectivist trap, we could emerge in fine shape. Your children are headed for tough times, but your grandchildren may find life to be better than ever.
 
boneyard bill said:
So hard times are ahead for your children. But if America's individualistic values assert themselves, and we don't fall into the collectivist trap, we could emerge in fine shape. Your children are headed for tough times, but your grandchildren may find life to be better than ever.
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We live in a world of mobility. I have arranged with my co-workers and girlfriend to have places in India and China to run to if Canada collapses :)
 
I'll assume you're in the US, since it's what I know...and that's a tough question to answer, for me at least...

Income inequality is a problem, I agree. As s the skyrocketing cost of college education, combined with the increasing need for a college education to get a job. We need to work on this. Global warming is another issue we need to deal with.

Violence and guns? I grew up in the ghetto, in the 80s. The violence today, is far less than it was back then. Yes, we have more nuts stockpiling weapons, but overall, we're far less violent as a country than we were when I was growing up, and also far less violent than we were, where I grew up. Yes, there are these disgusting, periodic mass shooting, or people flipping out over some kid walking down the street, or texting during movie previews, whatever. We're a country with many more people than back in the 80s, and yet much less violence in general. Never forget that. We also now live in a country where things like molestation and rape are taken far more seriously than then.

Medical costs? We're starting on the path to fixing that, although I wish we were farther along.

Right-wing nutjobbery? I wouldn't be shocked if it were a last gasp. I probably shouldn't say this, but I've had very friendly discussions with *some* conservatives, and particularly with libertarians. I don't agree with them in principle, but I'm delighted by, say, Rand Paul coming out against restrictive voting laws, or Paul Ryan at least *trying* to figure out the lives of poor people (even if he gets it monumentally wrong). I hope the era of Cliven Bundy blathering about The Nigra while mooching off the government is coming to an end. It's not really all just being reactionary out there.
 
Mumbles said:
I'll assume you're in the US, since it's what I know...and that's a tough question to answer, for me at least...

Income inequality is a problem, I agree. As s the skyrocketing cost of college education, combined with the increasing need for a college education to get a job. We need to work on this. Global warming is another issue we need to deal with.
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These. Income inequality leads to political instability. There is only so much that can rise to the top before the bottom realize they have nothing to lose by overthrowing that top.
Global warming is a real and present threat. Say goodbye to Venice and Florida.

Violence and guns? I grew up in the ghetto, in the 80s. The violence today, is far less than it was back then.
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This. Crime is way down.

Right-wing nutjobbery? I wouldn't be shocked if it were a last gasp.
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I do believe it is in a last gasp phase. These people have taken off their masks and we can see them for who they are. The moderates have deserted them.
 
boneyard bill said:
Another recession/depression is upon us. First quarter growth was a mere .1 of a percent. That's within the margin of error no growth at all. When re-adjust the figures it usually goes down. The Dow Jones has gone up 150% in the last 5 years. No way that we've had that kind of real growth so were probably looking at a crash.
Click to expand...
There have been doom and gloom forecasts every years... wait for a bubble to form.

Russia has promised to bring down the US dollar in response to our sanctions. They can probably do so, but it may take a few years.
Click to expand...
Russia is not that strong, they will not affect the dollar.

Russia, China, and India will become the dominant countries in the world. (Assuming the US doesn't start WW III to prevent it.) China will take back Taiwan and we won't be able to do anything about it. Europe, especially Germany, will look increasingly toward Russia and away from the US as an ally. It will start in the economic sphere but end up in the political arena. The US will still be a major power, but not the "lone superpower" that we've been for the last few decades.
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I don't think this scenario is playing out this way, we are sworn to protect Taiwan and won't "just let it happen". We do have the ability to defend the island.
But if the government backs off and lets people deal with their own problems, as the Germans did after WW II,
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What alternative history are you reading?
 
The Better Angels of Our Nature By Steven Pinker is an exhaustive review of how, worldwide we are actually living in the most non-violent time on planet earth. I see trouble ahead, and like you I worry about my daughter. I also see bright spots, stuff we've never seen before. There are actual atheists in the Middle East. In Saudi Arabia they're labeled as terrorists, but they wouldn't be so if they weren't a concern. In some places, like Egypt, they're even known to be about. In Iran, there is a Facebook page with Iranian women throwing their headscarves away. The US is becoming less and less religious. Since the 50's of last century the West has seen incredible gains in social inequality for women, people of color, gays, etc. This stuff is contagious, even to the hellhole that is the Middle East. People see what is possible and they want it for themselves and their children. I have no doubts we'll see backlash, as those that use these evil things to support their power and influence will try to hold onto both, but it will get better.
 
Keith&Co. said:
Playball40 said:
My 10 year old daughter told me she has no faith in humanity. She's 10!
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Pfft. Wait until she's 16 and twice as smart as you are. She'll tell you what needs to be done, then.
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Maybe it's 16 for boys but trust me: girls are far quicker to know everything better than their parents ever could have.
 
Toni said:
Keith&Co. said:
Playball40 said:
My 10 year old daughter told me she has no faith in humanity. She's 10!
Click to expand...
Pfft. Wait until she's 16 and twice as smart as you are. She'll tell you what needs to be done, then.
Click to expand...


Maybe it's 16 for boys but trust me: girls are far quicker to know everything better than their parents ever could have.
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This is true. My 11 year old is almost there. This time next year, I'm toast.
 
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