The World in 2012
Doomsday Gloomsday - Not a chance!
The Ancient Mayans had predicted that the world will end in 2012. Hindus also say this. Many others say this too.
But I'm an eternal optimist and I believe my Friend up there is a Super Optimist! He always seems to have put such hopes on humankind.
I say that the world would have taken a turn for the better, and that progress will be visible then. We have a lot of things before us; lightyears to travel before we sleep!
But, for the others, with an open mind I give these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012
How I see the Immediate Future
This is not a psychic speaking; this is a dreamer. When I was a kid of ten, when we didn't have a phone, or TV or anything, I dreamed of a book, the pages of which will show me moving pictures of Africa, Antarctica or any part of the world I wished to see and hear. My father, when I expressed my wish, told me about television, which he had seen in our capital city, Delhi where the Prime Minister's speech was shown in close circuit tv. But I wanted a book that I could hold and direct. And maybe draw in for others to see!
When I was an older kid of 35 or thereabouts, I was introduced to laptops and palmtops, and later mobile phones. What wonderful magic our engineers create! They are beautiful people, in my dictionary. I am truly grateful for my toys!
In the face of such magic, I am still a kid, filled with wonder and pleasure.
Since most of my dreams were realized, I hereby place on public record my childlike vision of the future.
In the next five years, I see...
Great virtual reality computer systems that fit into your pocket, in all senses of the word.
Clothes that change colour at your command.
Roads that control traffic speed.
Kids carrying only light e-pads to school.
Absolute cures for AIDS and all cancers.
Religions uniting to support love instead of hate.
A major leap in the ending of all wars and finding global peace.
A giant leap towards global citizenship being available to all. Just as the worldwide web is available to all.
In short, One World for All, which is my ideal!
Sun or Wind Powered Electric Car
Less Smoke, Less Noise
I see more batmobiles! No, not the caped crusader's: battery operated automobiles! Ecomobiles.
They would run on batteries, powered by the sun, and there would be these battery bunks everywhere, for folks to refuel. Major companies could start launching both vehicles and bunks at the same time, neccessary symbiosis.
No smoke, less noise, less maintenance, less weight!
Bicycles will grow more and more popular; this trend is already there, cheers!
This will not aggravate global warming, too!
Priceless Communities
We will see more off-the-beaten-track communities spring up. Most of them will exist like islands, cut off from the fast world. Many will share a spiritual base; some will just desire a life untouched by lucre. Moneyless villages.
Self-sufficient villages that will learn to depend less and less on the outside world. They will grow their own food, recycle their waste, and manage without commerce. I consider this the next breakthrough of civilization. Simply put, it will be an extensive family, ties of blood being a non-sequitur.
There's one near where I live. They have only one kitchen and one hall of worship. Members are free to keep their existing faith and coexist in peace. They share work and maintain their own law and order. The management is the interface between outside and inside.
One day I'll create one or live in one such community. I also believe in keepng religion private, and not public. Ideally, it will be so in my village.
Global Cooling Resource: Deep Ocean Water
Global Cooling Projects
To reduce Global Warming, many have started 'global cooling' projects. But others have started saying that the next problem we face is a shift in climate, from hot to cold! I don't know, I am not strong in that.
But I'm strong in the belief that whatever the problem is, by 2012, the globe will unite to a great extent to solve whichever is the problem, and that will make a giant difference. We will be known as a responsible generation, a generation that awoke to its responsibilities.
