VISION AFORETHOUGHT

2011? Puh! That was a warm up. Here we go…

• Apple, Inc. begin to face serious credible competition in all product sectors before releasing yet another paradigm shifting innovation that gives them an edge again. (I know what is it, but will not disclose it.)
• Arab spring liberates many but forces up the price of oil once their citizens, like the Chinese, seek an improved quality of life. That is why the West liked having dictators in power – cheap oil!
• Climate change continues to have a discernible effect including a catastrophic ‘natural’ disaster that may or may not be the result of human activity.
• China continues to make rapid military and consumer technological progress, displacing the former cold war between the West and Russia, joining Korea in creating it’s own innovations, not those copied from Western companies. Japan evolved in the same way in the late 1970s after they found their creative spark.
• Next generation dynamic web apps based on html5 begin to offer robust credible alternative to local apps.
• Financial uncertainty further accelerates changes in human lifestyles.
• Irrelevant but cultish Mayan calendar expires leading many to move to bolt holes out in the wilderness as happens each time an apocalyptic prediction is made.
• Cancer and contemporary illnesses continue to effect more and more people due to decades of exposure to and consumption of processed foods, alcohol, radiation leaks, pharmaceutical drugs (Tom Cruise is spot on), household and personal cleaning products and more – costing health services and the economy billions, never mind the suffering and ethical considerations.
• US presidential elections will decide whether the (currently) most powerful nation on Earth continues a policy of sanctions and ‘UAV’ based foreign policy – or a no holds barred neocon approach. Meanwhile, the East gains technological, geographic and military superiority – but to what avail? Is paranoia justified? Only time will tell!
• Almost 15 years of dumbing down by the broadcast media and health and safety laws means a whole generation of maturing UK citizens will not be fit for ‘constructive’ revenue generating employment or military service, further weakening the economy and defences. The very opposite of contemporary Germany, Japan and China, whose workforce are efficient, intelligent and productive. Said issue predicted on this blog many years ago with a comparison between the UK and the Titanic.
• Elitist dystoptian nature of the London Olympics create controversy whilst the technology used to broadcast and manage it all will, like Wimbledon, have the same effect as war and the space race: Speed the optimisation and adoption of the technology towards an affordable price point. This will include Ultra HD TV, interactive results software, AI based face recognition security CCTV and more.
• Products based on flexible video displays hit the market making our current gadgets and home gear look clunky in comparison. Samsung have already demonstrated some impressive (hammer proof!) examples based on AMOLED technology.
• Increasing numbers of random people and animals in Japan and elsewhere down wind or down water continue to suffer the effects of the Fukushima radiation leak forcing governments to quietly focus on alternative energy sources.
• P2P wireless services and technologies finally trigger the beginning of the end of the greedy visionless old school business model cartel that is airtime service providers.
• Queen’s Diamond Jubilee creates a similar sense of (inter) national positive mood as this years wedding, despite the worrying issues listed elsewhere here.
• The first genuinely independent intelligent AI robot is announced for use in building security having been rejected by ageing Japanese citizens who prefer human company. This is not the first time a Japanese initiative aimed at an ageing population has failed. Research the 5th Generation Computer project of the 1980s.
• Ongoing scientific discoveries finally unravel core mysteries of the Universe that we have yet to prove, despite hints and teases over the last 12 months.
• Occupy X protests trigger the start of ‘fixes’ to corporate behaviour – and this dear reader is the heart of it all, to be covered in the much delayed WW4 post if and when time allows.

Much of the above will be fairly obvious to most, but with so many social, ecological, economic, national and global stability issues coinciding, it will be a very precarious period in human history. Beyond the death toll, consider the effects on the local and global economy of the quake and tsunami in Japan and recent floods in Thailand, just two coinciding disasters, not forgetting the fires in Russia and floods elsewhere that pushed up the price of basic foodstuffs, including rice. If we do not act thoughtfully, the quality of life we currently take for granted will be at considerable risk, and the wheels really will begin to fall off. Crowd sourced protest, visionaries, educated compassionate industrialists will save us, not the politicians, because no matter their party, beyond lack of imagination, politicians are too easily bribed into self serving (uhm, ‘political’?) decision making by special interest groups and underhand corporate maleficence.

Update: Vince Cable (UK) announces the banks are to separate city and consumer investments. Well there you go, it has already begun, that’s the power of democratic protest, in particular when more thoughtful politicians take note!
Update 2: I don’t mention H5N1 and other exceptionally dangerous threats because they are not tied to 2012, although they could render the above of lesser significance at any time…