As
the future carves out a new and different world for us to live in, we
will no doubt change our social practices and attitudes. But in what
ways will our customs and attitudes change? Below are a few
possibilities.
Work
Rationing
Work
rationing will be what happens if society discourages people from
working more than a certain number of hours per week. We could easily
see work rationing if advances in automation cause a big increase in
unemployment. Imagine if more and more people are losing their jobs
to computers and robots. There could then be new laws that strongly
discourage people from working for more than a particular number of
hours per week – perhaps 40, perhaps 35, or perhaps 30.
The
simplest way to enact a work rationing program would be to enact wage
laws that would require not just time and a half for overtime, but
double pay or triple pay for overtime. Overtime might be defined as
anything more than 40 hours per week, 35 hours, or 30 hours.
Energy
Rationing
The
last thing anyone wants is to go back to a system like that followed
during World War II, in which everyone was issued coupons that had to be produced in order to buy gas. But a practice like this may come
back, if dire predictions about Peak Oil come true. The practice
could be updated by giving everyone a gas card with a magnetic strip,
one that would have to be produced whenever you buy gas. A more
general energy rationing program would be one that also rationed air
travel. Each citizen might be issued an air travel card entitling him
to no more than a certain number of miles of air travel per year.
Drug
Legalization
We
currently have the huge problem that many millions of Baby Boomers
are nearing retirement without much money saved for retirement. Many
millions won't be able to afford travel or golf during their golden
years. Perhaps the government may deal with the problem by
encouraging drug legalization, and encouraging drug use by the
elderly.
Robot
Wives and Robot Children
One
major problem that may plague the future is overpopulation. We don't
see its effects all that dramatically in the United States, but in
nations such as China one can see the grim effects of overpopulation
in cities that are typically covered in very thick smog.
If
overpopulation worsens, we may see the encouragement of novel social
practices designed to minimize reproduction. We may see a social
acceptance of men living with robot wives rather than real wives. We
may see a social acceptance of married couples living with robot
children designed as substitutes for real children. Perhaps the
government might even give a free robot child to any couple who
promised not to have a real child.
Vegetarianism
as the Norm
Currently
vegetarians are in the minority in countries such as the United
States. But as global warming worsens, and people realize what a
large percent of greenhouse gases are produced in order to support
meat eating, then we could see a reverse of present attitudes. Meat
eaters might then become an ostracized minority, somewhat like
cigarette smokers are today. We can imagine a future in which meat
advertisements are forbidden on television, and meat eaters have to
wait to be seated in the relatively few restaurants that still serve
meat.
Assisted
Suicide
Currently
only three US states have laws allowing physician-assisted suicide:
Washington, Oregon, and Montana. But what if overpopulation problems
worsen, and what if the nation starts to be bankrupted by the
economic costs of supplying retirements benefits and health care for
the very aged? We might then see something like vending machines that
dispense suicide pills. In order to use the machine, you would have to
swipe a credit card. The software in the machine would check that you
are over a particular age, such as 80 or 85. The software might also
be linked with a central medical computer, which might allow anyone
to use the machine if that person had a diagnosis of a fatal disease.
Lawsuits
About Whether Someone is Dead
In
our society death is something with very significant legal
ramifications. Whether you are dead may determine who is the owner of
your house and other investments, and it may determine whether it is
or is not the time for an insurance company to make a payout. But
what if the status of your death is blurred by technology? What if
you have uploaded your mind into a computer or a robot? Are you then
dead, or not dead?
We
can imagine relatives battling out such issues in court. One relative
may argue that dear old Dad is dead, because his body has been
buried; therefore, his will should now be executed. But maybe his
surviving wife argues that Dad is not really dead, because he has had
his mind uploaded into a computer.
A news story of the future
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