Speaking of 2020 (the unspeakable)

Back during the mid 90's, as some of you may know, I spent several years working in Asia. During this time I spent 2+ years living in SE Asia, specifically Malaysia.

At that time the country was ruled by a Prime Minister named Mahathir bin Mohamad. "Dr. M" as he was lovingly referred to by nationals. In 1991 Dr. M created a forward looking plan for Malaysia called "Vision 2020". It became the country's national slogan, and was plastered all over everything (billboards, buses, publications, etc.) Essentially, 'Vision 2020' was a plan to bring Malaysia out of the 3rd world and into 1st world economic relevance by the year 2020. And so they embarked on this very ambitious plan by doing things like building the tallest buildings in the world (at the time) among numerous other things.

I won't bore you any further with a history lesson about Malaysia as this is not the point of this thread. The point here is, back then there was a focus on the year 2020 and a brighter future.

I can remember wondering, at the time, what would the year 2020 be like. I think it was around 1995 or so. I wondered if Malaysia was going to go from 3rd world to 1st world status what would America be like in 2020, what would the western world be like?

That was twenty five years ago...likely stuck in a traffic jam, or in the pouring rain out in some remote jungle somewhere, when you had hours to think.

So here we are at the end of the year 2020. I don't know if Malaysia ever met it's goal really. George Soros put a pretty good dent in that plan around 1997 or so by bankrupting the country with his currency speculation and manipulation, which sent most of us international expats packing. But more importantly, where are we now, the western world? What great things have happened in the past 25 years? Think about this for a moment.

From my perspective, not all that much has happened in the past 25 years. Certainly nothing revolutionary. The world just kind of existed for two plus decades. Oh sure, we built some stuff, refined a few things to make them better, but mankind didn't visit another planet, or solve world hunger, or develop free energy, or as I sometimes say of grand things..."didn't learn how to boil the ocean" (not literally of course, but metaphorically...and no, this is not a reference to global warming).

Did we invent the Internet? Nope. The cell phone? Nope. All those things existed before that point in time. Do we have flying cars? Nope. We certainly have a whole lot more people consuming the same finite amount of resources. Have we discovered a cure for cancer, or any number of other horrible diseases like MS, MD, ALS, among too many others to mention? Nope. Did we even figure out something like how to efficiently get clean water to underdeveloped countries? Nope. Some might say we learned how to hate, but we didn't even do that; hate was around long before 1995.

So what is the significance of twenty five years? Well, for one thing it's 1/4 of a human life span, a quarter of a century. Just think about what things were developed or took place in the twenty five years which preceded 1995. Wait...what great thing happened in those 25 years?? Not much, once again. Okay, maybe the internet and cell phones, probably two of the most disruptive things ever developed (certainly cell phones are). Otherwise, people just pretty much kept on popping out kids, making sure their Christmas lights were better than the neighbor's and updating their fail-book page from Starbucks.

And then to cap it all off we had the year 2020. The icing on the cake. 2020 was pure destruction everywhere you look. The entire planet took a giant leap backwards! Good riddance 2020!! May we never meet again.

In a little over two weeks the year 2020 will come to a close. YAY! What a horrible year it has been indeed! But come 2021 we embark on another twenty five year cycle. What will be invented or done to revolutionize the world then?

I wonder.

Population will decrease due to all the micro plastics in our sushi and other sea and fresh water foods.
This is already showing up in countries that eat sea and fresh water foods.
It's the plastic in our diet that is making people act weird.
So don't eat seafood. Also any one checking the radiation count of seaweed coming out of the ocean lately

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I don't think it's really all that complicated.

If you want to give the impression that your vision into the future is clear you choose the year 2020, subconsciously we connect 20/20 vision with clear sight...hence

Anyway...we got drones, nano technology and twerking.

Peace

a reply to: operation mindcrime

Yes, I was acutely aware of the clever little play on words for the slogan at the time. I actually thought it was kind of dumb back then, like "Awwwww, isn't that cute". I'm sure that's why he picked it, but the people didn't get it. They all thought it was a bold and brave step forward. Most of the country were just simple villagers living in the jungle with a couple big cities thrown in.

a reply to: musicismagic

Okay, but how is that new or revolutionary?

a reply to: musicismagic

I dont eat any seafood, havent for 40 years.

I can certainly sea the strange around me....plastics are possibly the worst thing we have ever done to this planet.

I mean, aside from all the other ways we kill ourselves and every other goddam living thing on the planet.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: musicismagic

Okay, but how is that new or revolutionary?

It affects our thought process into rational thinking. Its like drinking out of lead based containers.

a reply to: musicismagic

So basically you're saying this is the reason there haven't been any significant breakthroughs in the past 25 years. Is that what you meant?

That may be part of the reason, but a very small one. I think a much larger part of the reason is people have just gotten lazy and selfish.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: musicismagic

So basically you're saying this is the reason there haven't been any significant breakthroughs in the past 25 years. Is that what you meant?

That may be part of the reason, but a very small one. I think a much larger part of the reason is people have just gotten lazy and selfish.

I really couldn't tell you this, but the research here in Japan on plastics washing up ashore and even whale meat is beginning to be unsafe to eat. I know this probably isn't big news around the world, but it sure is getting some press every now and then, but the major chain sushi houses don't like this type of press. I try to buy Hokkaido salmon though.

Perhaps not a huge leap for mankind, but one thing that was a first, happened in 2014. Putting a lander on a comet zooming through space was pretty cool imo.

Rosetta launched in 2004 and arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014. It is the first mission in history to rendezvous with a comet, escort it as it orbits the Sun, and deploy a lander to its surface. Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI. The mission ended on 30 September 2016.

rosetta.esa.int...

More in depth information: sci.esa.int...

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Reusable space tech? Satellite constellations, wireless information transfer, contact less payment systems and financial transfer systems, virtual currency.

Microprocessors, display systems, cloud technology, LED lights, AI, gene editing.

3D printing.

Yes a lot of these technologies are refined from earlier concepts but it's done in a way that's revolutionary. Flat screen display and microprocessors for instance. I moved a TV yesterday, 72 inches and thinner than my hand, it was extremely light too.... More computing power than a high end PC in 1995. I can buy 32 GB of RAM these days for less than $100, I didn't mention the revolution of trading on virtual stores.

We've invented a lot, we've refined even more. I was watching star trek the other day where they go to 2023. It'll have been shot around 1995, some brilliant insights and predictions but it's safe to say they were actually lacking on their predictions. We're a lot further than they thought and I think that you give credit for.

Someone years ago made a thread here about cloud processing, about it being the next big thing... Xbox a testing it now with their mobile app. Things take time but it's safe to say we're good at manifesting dreams. It's going to revolutionise how we dissect and use data. I wish I could find that thread, I imagine F35's use similar processing capabilities.

I disagree with you fairly strongly that we haven't achieved much.

a reply to: musicismagic

Radioactive isotopes are bad. But we're doing extremely well compared to the issues we faced during or immediately after nuclear weapons tests.

There used to be a market for pre 1945 steel since anything smelted using normal air is tainted with nuclear isotopes.

Micro plastics have been widespread since at least the 80s. I'm no expert but from my understanding it's mostly inert. Seems it's biggest danger is that it's not biologically degradable. So I can only assume it's as deadly as sweeteners are for insects. Animals like us will most likely pass it through our systems. We use plastics extensively in the medical industry.

Not to downgrade plastic pollution... But it is just carbon after all. There's 100's of other chemicals in nature than we've put there and are much more deadly.

Trying to place a blame or a reason for, on time, is skirting the real reasons of our maladies...


In the immortal words of Pogo Possum, "We has met the enemy and he is us!"

Only when man takes possession of all the bad things that were initiated by him in this world, realizes that the fault is his (ours), only then can we even start to rectify any of the bad things brought about by the ideologies, greed and misrepresentation unleashed over the years on this planet.

All of those problems we still have will never be solved. Want to know why? Because The Psychopathic Powers That Be will NEVER allow for it to happen. They want the world, society, and humanity in a constant state of CHAOS, it gives them life. The more miserable we are, the better they feel. Within those 25 years, presidents/Puppets came into office and left. What did they do? Keep the world in a constant state of misery, throwing We The Peasants a bone here and there to make us think and feel like something is truly being done, that the future will be brighter. They also kept us divided and distracted, they conquered us several times.
Because of this point of view that I have, I will never vote nor put trust in a president/puppet ever. They all follow the agenda of TPPTB. Trump loves the poison/vaccine as much as Biden, just another puppet. Old Puppet out, in comes the New Puppet Creepy Joe. 2021 will be worse. Call me a pessimist or logical and realistic, I don't care. I refuse to live in a delusion.

The biggist bigly change was digital money. It's manipulation will define the future. Not much that internet warriors can do about it though.

but there will be blood....

OMG, where have you been? we got social media, we got Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google, TicTok, and the Kardashians. Why Biden and Harris are primed and poised to lead us into a world you never dreamed of.

a reply to: putnam6

This was my point, exactly.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk
The last 25 years...........The psychological information age. The 25 years that replaced hope with fear.