{We continue our list in the new year! For the first cycle, click here!}
vi. The climate gets dangerous. While this trend clearly has its roots in this past decade, climate change seems poised to begin some real destruction very soon. Naturally, 2010 was the warmest year on record, much like virtually all of the last ten years before it. This is not only a warming trend, though. It is to be more accurately thought of as general instability, with more energy in the system causing a virtually unpredictable slew of new norms.
vii. The culture improves. While it may not seem like it on the surface, popular culture is rapidly improving. While it may be an entirely subjective measure, it is extremely difficult to contrast lady gaga with britney spears and not feel as though propensity for artistry and artifice has greatly increased over the last decade. Gaga herself has been a large part of this, waving the 'strangeness' banner higher than ever in an explicitly mainstream context. While the commercialization of popular culture is clearly not going anywhere anytime soon, the values that the most commercial artists seem to represent are indeed mutating very quickly, and have come a long way since the naughty schoolgirls and clean-cut boy bands of the late 90s.
iix. Everything bad is good (in moderation). Drugs become much more commonplace, not necessarily in quantity but in role. The younger generation's familiarity with (and cultural digestion of) pharmacons of varying types breeds a shimmering blossom of cultural expression, both echo of and development upon a similar revolution which had it very beginning precisely half a century ago. Obviously, this element is inextricably tied to vii. That late capitalism has its upsides!
ix. A new revolution in transportation. From highways to outer space, in ten years the way that humans move around will be completely different. It had better be--just ask those aussies from vi. The first private orbiting spaceflight a month ago heralded the coming of a new era. Think of it as the Actual Space Age, a time when market forces will actually cause some good in society and make near-earth orbit the norm for rapid travel, tourism, and perhaps even industry. Innovations in distributed networks and robotics will take the fear out of driving, even if we no longer get to (or have to) actually drive. Teenage mortality, as a result, flatlines, and your humble metaculturalist will no longer have to worry about all those miles of highway they drive on (a topic for a future post).
x. The architecture remains awful. In spite of all these changes, The Most Backward Profession will remain obstinately rooted in the 19th century. Building practices will remain the same, and building a house in 2020 will take the same absolutely absurd amounts of time and money as it does now. What little innovation happens will, as always, remain on the fringes. Despite vast improvements in materials science, it will still be extremely likely that your home will be built of the same shit it always has, wood and prejudice.
And that does it for our year-end non-review! I hope you've enjoyed your stay, and please remember to rss if you've been enlightened!
