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Revolution, Flashmobs and Brain Implants in 2035
siddesu writes "Marxist revolution, WMDs, flashmobs and other sci-fi items are coming soon in a country near you, according to the UK Ministry of Defence. 'Information chips implanted in the brain. Electromagnetic pulse weapons. The middle classes becoming revolutionary, taking on the role of Marx's proletariat. The population of countries in the Middle East increasing by 132%, while Europe's drops as fertility falls. "Flashmobs" — groups rapidly mobilised by criminal gangs or terrorists groups.
This is the world in 30 years' time envisaged by a Ministry of Defence team responsible for painting a picture of the "future strategic context" likely to face Britain's armed forces.'"
William Gibson wrote about much of this in Johnny Mnemonic
Even low-brow right-wing garbage like the Daily Mirror are flat out stating the truth, not that their readership (the proles) give a shit. Anyway, the MOD predictions sound great, can they provide me with assurances so I'll sleep a little better at nights?
I'm in favour of radical systemic change, but let's not make the mistake of 20th century revolutions. The main problem was creating an all powerful state that owned everything, including the people. In one word: centralisation.
:P
The new goal should be the total opposite: decentralisation, community sovereignty, individual freedoms.
You mean like what the USA had when they started out.
From the article: "The massive population growth will mean the Middle East, and to a lesser extent north Africa, will remain highly unstable, says the report."
h tml
h tml
Spengler from Asia Times has repeatedly argued that Middle Eastern countries face a different type of population problem, namely a large increase of the number aged. For example, Spengler says that "although the Muslim birth rate today is the world's second highest (after sub-Saharan Africa), it is falling faster than the birth rate of any other culture."
The demographics of radical Islam: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GH23Aa01.
Crises of Faith in the Muslim World: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GK01Aa01.
N/A
Minor quibble: even the birthrate among native-born Americans is at the replacement level (approximately 2.1), so the US would maintain its population without immigration. In Europe, the fertility of the native population is less than 2 (much less in some countries like Italy).
That would just be an updating of the political cycle described by Machiavelli.
chaos - despotism - democracy - despotism - chaos - etc.
I have more hope for the intelligence of some middle class wannabe revolutionaries though.
I think they will just use an embrace and extend style tactic to push their ideals on the greater proletariat while using FUD in the blogosphere against opposing ideologies.
After all this is the Web2.0 world we live in.
watashi wa bengoshi dewa arimasen!
Probably not. The skull and subsequent membranes that surround the brain serve as excellent EM shielding. It is very difficult to induce a voltage of any magnitude inside a container made of conducting materials. EMP, despite its reputation as a killer of "everything electronic", will not generally kill devices stored in sealed, conductive containers.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Because one is an upswing in values, and the other is a downswing. These situations don't exist in a vacuum; they proceed from the previous state and they have inertia. Such inertia leads to the next state until the system collapses entirely.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
No.
Peak oil is coming. But that just means the peak rate at which we can extract it, you know, x millions barrels / day.
Oil will be around for a long time. So will coal.
Don't worry.
Public schools are a reflection of the surrounding community.
Upper middle class communities usually have good public schools for several reasons:
1. A good tax base. This means good school buildings and equipment, higher paid teachers, extra-cirricula activities.
2. Ususally involved parents. You can't be middle class and be irresponsible, drug addicted, violent, etc...not that there aren't exceptions.
3. Low crime rates. Kids that don't have to worry about getting shot on the way to school usually do better at scool.
Lower class...I mean "economically disadvantaged" communities usually have bad schools for the inverse reasons stated above. However, there are many examples of communities that fall into this category who's public schools are exceptional. This is almost exclusivly because of dediated teachers and parents.
Of course, this issue can only be superficially be discussed in this kind of forum. Hell, you can get a doctorate in this stuff and hundreds of books address it.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Imagine that by chance the Middle East had turned out to be mostly Hindu, and Islam was confined to poor resourceless areas of Africa. Do you still think that Islam would be a problem? Do you think that for some reason those Islamic people in the depths of Africa would have some irrational hatred of the US?
Of course not. We would instead be asking why Hindus hate the west so much. The fact is that there has been so much western meddling in the Middle East over the oil resources that a large number of people there are against the west. Back in the 50s Eisenhower wanted to know why there was a campaign of hatred against the US by the people of the Middle East. He was told that there was a perception that the US was supporting dictators and stifling democracy. He was also told that it was a difficult opinion to counter because it was correct.
Even now, some 50 years after Ike asked the question, we find ourselves occupying Iraq with a million Iraqis on the streets telling us to get out. This was after kicking out a dictator that we had supported for many years in full knowledge of the crimes he was committing. We even supported/encouraged him in his war on Iran as punishment for kicking out the dictator we had installed there. Aside from Iraq (which I'm sure everyone is tired of) we are still supporting a brutal regime in Saudi Arabia. Imagine how the Saudi people feel about the US and UK. We are actively supporting the people who are oppressing them and they are well aware of it. Do you think that for some reason they might be angry with the US and UK? If so, do you think it is because they are Islamic, or because we are supporting their dictators?
Thanks to John Bolton (as much as it pains me to thank him) there is now no doubt why the US kept blocking a ceasefire in the Lebanon conflict last year. While the conflict was going on and the carnage was clear on all our TV screens, the US was resupplying Israel with new weapons via UK airports and blocking any ceasefire so that Israel could "win". Do you think that this will have generated much anger in the region, and will that anger be due to the fact that they are Islamic or rather due to the events that occurred?
My point is that it's not Islam that is the issue, it's really the people of the Middle East, who just happen to be mostly Islamic. It is their anger over the things we have done and the things we continue to do. If you have a whole region that's quite angry at the west, it stands to reason there will be a fair number who are insanely angry with the west. Those are the people we are now (supposedly) fighting and in the process generating more of. If you want to reduce terrorism you have to stop generating so much anger. That means no more invasions, coups, support for brutal dictatorships or other aggressive interference in the Middle East.