[Supine]

I'll try to keep my rant short and as non offensive as possible... 

Based on you're opinions and life experiences, where is the world heading?

Magic aside, are we heading down the road to Shadowrun, and the age of megacorporations?

In my opinion, yes, we'll most likely see mega-corporations within the next 15- 30 years because wealth equal power, and power accumulates more power.

I have to disagree with you, sir... While corporations and conglomerates are gaining more power, I foresee us heading in to much more of an Orwell 1984 Animal Farm type future. More and more people are buying into having their lives dictated to them by government, it started small with things that seem right and everyone can agree on, but it is still though control. As we progress the rules on how we should live our lives seem to be chosen by smaller and smaller groups and not about things not everyone agrees with, but the groups that are pushing the rules demonize anyone that opposes them. It honestly scares me how many are so willing to give up freedom of choice and the right to live how they choose for supposed security and safety from those who think they know how you should live better than you do...

I'd say that if anything's  apt to happen, it's on the shoulders of both big companies and big government. But then again, I'm writing a cyberpunk-like setting based off of that idea, so I don't want to rant and give you all my ideas.

[RHat]

I'll try to keep my rant short and as non offensive as possible... 

Based on you're opinions and life experiences, where is the world heading?

Magic aside, are we heading down the road to Shadowrun, and the age of megacorporations?

In my opinion, yes, we'll most likely see mega-corporations within the next 15- 30 years because wealth equal power, and power accumulates more power.

I have to disagree with you, sir... While corporations and conglomerates are gaining more power, I foresee us heading in to much more of an Orwell 1984 Animal Farm type future. More and more people are buying into having their lives dictated to them by government, it started small with things that seem right and everyone can agree on, but it is still though control. As we progress the rules on how we should live our lives seem to be chosen by smaller and smaller groups and not about things not everyone agrees with, but the groups that are pushing the rules demonize anyone that opposes them. It honestly scares me how many are so willing to give up freedom of choice and the right to live how they choose for supposed security and safety from those who think they know how you should live better than you do...

Of course, in many of these cases, some might argue that such things are necessary for actual freedom of choice to exist...  Hard to say for certain what instances you're talking about, though.

In the end, I think the way the world goes is based on too many things that move in different and often opposing directions for it to actually go on down the road to dystopia.

[CanRay]

In the end, I think the way the world goes is based on too many things that move in different and often opposing directions for it to actually go on down the road to dystopia.

All it would take is the "Rome Of The Modern Day" to fall...  All empires fall.  When they're great, then the fall will often create a Dark Age...   

[RHat]

In the end, I think the way the world goes is based on too many things that move in different and often opposing directions for it to actually go on down the road to dystopia.

All it would take is the "Rome Of The Modern Day" to fall...  All empires fall.  When they're great, then the fall will often create a Dark Age...   

Chaos and change are inseparable, I'll grant you.  But with the rate of change that exists in the modern day, I don't think it would be as long as you might expect for something else to take its place.

[Necrogigas]

The Dark Ages were caused by the power vacuum left by the Roman Empire and the rise of the feudal system. The social, political, and economic systems in place today make it doubtful that the modern global powers, namely the United States, China, and the E.U., would collapse like Rome. Even if there was a total collapse and massive balkanization of the three regions, this wouldn't lead to a regression in scientific knowledge due to our technology and information storage and distribution capacities.

[Black]

The fall of Rome and the 'dark ages' is pretty much not correct.  Rome declined over a periods on centuries and the eastern half of the empire thrived even longer.  Then you have chalgemain (I know, terrible spelling) with his beucracy. Not as dark as one Wouk imagine, at least not everywhere.

Segway...  I'm pretty happy with how things are going.  Life is good, and most things are going well.  Government could be better, but hats always he case and the best way o change the government is to run for office yourself.., or not and bitch about it forever.  We control the destiny of our lives, not someone else. Nthere is no 'they' and even if here was, they don't give a flying fig about you

Our technology is getting closer to shadowrun tech, corps power continues to fluctuate, but until I see dragons, magic and a concrete dreams recording, nag the real world and shadowrun are pretty different.

[Smileinbob]

Of course, in many of these cases, some might argue that such things are necessary for actual freedom of choice to exist...  Hard to say for certain what instances you're talking about, though.

In the end, I think the way the world goes is based on too many things that move in different and often opposing directions for it to actually go on down the road to dystopia.

It's hard to go into any kind of real detail without taking the conversation to a place that would be better discussed on another forum board. But I do understand the point you are trying to get at, and it comes down to the debate of how much governing do we actually need. Some, like myself, think that government should be as small as possible,(which when you actually sit down and look at what would be needed for a large country, land mass and population wise, like the US or Canada, is still fairly large) while others believe that a government should be larger to help protect people, not only from the dangers other people pose, but from themselves.

Your more than likely right about the road to dystopia, at least I honestly hope so. Some people seem to not realize that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The Dark Ages were caused by the power vacuum left by the Roman Empire and the rise of the feudal system. The social, political, and economic systems in place today make it doubtful that the modern global powers, namely the United States, China, and the E.U., would collapse like Rome. Even if there was a total collapse and massive balkanization of the three regions, this wouldn't lead to a regression in scientific knowledge due to our technology and information storage and distribution capacities.

In the end, I think the way the world goes is based on too many things that move in different and often opposing directions for it to actually go on down the road to dystopia.

All it would take is the "Rome Of The Modern Day" to fall...  All empires fall.  When they're great, then the fall will often create a Dark Age...   

Chaos and change are inseparable, I'll grant you.  But with the rate of change that exists in the modern day, I don't think it would be as long as you might expect for something else to take its place.

From an observers point, It would be interesting to see, (although living it would more than likely suck). The collapse of major governments can go very differently. If you look at when the Soviet Union fell and many of it's sub-states went independent, many of them were racked with hardships such as food and fuel shortages, rampant crime, and abuse of authority. But it could also go the way of Iceland's revolution that was fairly civil in terms of a government change up.

[RHat]

Of course, in many of these cases, some might argue that such things are necessary for actual freedom of choice to exist...  Hard to say for certain what instances you're talking about, though.

In the end, I think the way the world goes is based on too many things that move in different and often opposing directions for it to actually go on down the road to dystopia.

It's hard to go into any kind of real detail without taking the conversation to a place that would be better discussed on another forum board. But I do understand the point you are trying to get at, and it comes down to the debate of how much governing do we actually need. Some, like myself, think that government should be as small as possible,(which when you actually sit down and look at what would be needed for a large country, land mass and population wise, like the US or Canada, is still fairly large) while others believe that a government should be larger to help protect people, not only from the dangers other people pose, but from themselves.

One thing I'll say: I've learned that its a bad idea to ascribe motives to the beliefs that other people hold, and an especially bad idea to do so from the framework of your position on the subject.  Grossly misjudging people is an almost inevitable result - I know because I've made the same mistake myself more than I care to admit.

Actually, it's damned impossible to have this conversation in the thread whilst avoiding dragging it down into politics; perhaps we should take this to PM?

[Wildcard]

[Companero]

The other day I had an extended fever dream in which John Hodgman organised a group of "Boston Noise Bands" to defend Boston from a dragon.

It certainly felt real at the time, which proves two things:

1 ) The world is going the way of Shadowrun,

2 ) There is apparently nothing in my subconscious except roleplaying games and punk rock, which is worrying!

[Supine]

The more I think about this, the more interesting it is. The world didn't need a Crash to make wireless connectivity ubiquitous. It's there already in most of America, at least. And on the same note, the FCC is trying to make a universal free wi-fi network, and the existing ones will only get more robust. To bruteforce crack any 8-character password, all you need these days is a couple thousand dollars in hardware (mostly graphics cards whose GPUs support the right kinds of calculations) and free software, and that's not even using a dictionary attack to make your list of guesses a few hundred times shorter. Botnets made up of computers the average Joe is likely to own can do much more than that. Cell phones these days are a dash of downsizing and a sprinkle of protocol away from a commlink, and touch tablets are a few years away from being honorary Cyberdecks. 3D TV isn't even exciting new technology anymore (just something most of us can't afford).  We can transmit actual electricity with magnetic induction over a distance, without cords. And we can hypothetically use that power to run our cars, trains, and unmanned drones. Which have been made as large as airplanes and smaller than birds, and used to spy on the people of the world, and used to rain Hellfire (missiles, that is) down on the Bad Guys™.  Private corps are getting into a whole new space race. Firearms (with the exception of railguns... oh wait) and body armor have advanced to near Shadowrun levels. And cyberware is looking to be just around the corner as well. It's getting to the point where the advancement of technology would actually have to slow down in order to reach Shadowrun levels by 2050, let alone 2070.

As far as the politics and corporate life goes, well, I started refluffing Ares's full name to be "Ares Armor" when I figured out that that was a real company. And as long as the ability to oppress people is there, people will try to do it. The only thing keeping us from dystopia is ourselves.

[I_V_Saur]

The tech is definitely there, or in our future - RFIDs and Smartlink tech exists, has for a while - so the question, really is 'do we have Megacorps?'

Yes, yes we do.

[Lysanderz]

No, the real question is that other than espionage do we have corporate terrorism?

[CanRay]

No, the real question is that other than espionage do we have corporate terrorism?

What would you call "Fracking"?

[Mara]

No, the real question is that other than espionage do we have corporate terrorism?

What would you call "Fracking"?

A profitable way to get more oil.
No..Corporate Terrorism is the news agencies sabotaging the Deepwater Horizon Oil rig so they could have a story to
cover during a slow news year.