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Predicting The Next 5 Years
The other day I was scanning over the posts from several of my favorite blogs, Boing Boing . The unfortunate news was one of its many contributing writers was leaving the staff. I liked the way he/she decided to leave their position with a question to the readers. The writer asked "What do you think you know about the future that few other people understand yet?" He/She also quantified that question by asking what the readers thought would happen within the next 5 years that would take everyone by surprise.
The comments were amazing; many are funny like the ol' clichéd personal jet pack and flying cars chestnut. Then there were some that were pretty insightful. Many I believe were a little premature in the fact that they were more than five years away.
Read that post here...
So being close to the end of the year and coincidentally another US presidency, I thought I would take a stab at a few predictions. I'm a practical optimist, so if this tastes like peaches and cream with green olives, you'll understand why. Take my predictions with a grain of salt, but if I'm right, be sure to send kudos. (Disclaimer - I'm not a professional investor...)
Economy - You have already seen the lowest the stock market will go when it hit the 7800's...it's going to hover between the 8000-9000 mark for the next two years. Then it will begin another very slow upward climb. Unemployment will continue a downward trend for about a year, but the next 'New Deal' will help prop up many of the people having trouble. Buying local produce will begin to become hip again. The US will rise once again as a world leader in technology and push another big quantum leap in biotechnology and medicine in the next four years.
Environment - China will continue to pollute their environment in their strides to become the dominate nation. The US will do the same, but within the next three years will begin to turn the corner towards reversing its corporate 'devil may care' attitude towards environmental responsibility. The Earth is going to do its own thing and continue to try and balance itself irrespective of what we want it to do.
 Energy - Biofuels will become a more common sight at gas stations and begin the transition toward a better source of 'home grown' energy sources. The Big Three (car manufacturers) will see the rise of another 'Lee Iacocca' type leader probably from the Silicon Valley crew. Car manufacturing will move to the Southern US away from the unions which have caused their own demise. Several new sources of energy production will battle it out for dominance, solar will make a big move within the next four years. Wind will still be a good competitor, but the hurdle of cost to set up and the attitude of people saying, 'I don't that in my yard'...will drag on the industry like an anchor.
Due to small jumps in battery chemistry...electric cars will increase exponentially, but gas will continue to remain dominate over the next five years. Unfortunately, the price of gas will go up again (probably to the $4 mark). This will only speed the increase the number of electric cars...
 Politically - The world is very angry right now...several nations acting like children screaming for attention. The US will work towards digging itself out of the hole it's been in for a while now. The Middle East will continue to be a hot bed until the worldwide scramble for energy resources. This will be solved only if a major there is a change in technology and greed can take a back seat for a while. Nations don't like to be occupied, and their leaders don't want to lose their power...it's that simple. Future wars and international angst will be calmed when diplomacy is used in a way where concessions that have never been considered before are made.
What am I basing my predictions on? Well, some of it is common sense, some on my personal interest in science and social studies and the rest on all these magazines I read here! Want a glimpse yourself? Add the following magazines to your list and the wisdom will come. Popular Science, Time, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Science Illustrated, and Fortune.
Remember though - The world is what you make it...Happy Holidays!
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