Fixing or Evolving?
I am a big believer that next generations fix the mistakes of the past or one could say make things better that were made in past generations.
As the population grew, we needed to figure out how to feed the masses. Our farms began to become more efficient through better machinery and biotech. We fed the masses but not in a healthy way. This generation is changing this. They are building companies that deal with food waste, non-GMO, organic products and being thoughtful about eating less meat, more vegetables and being kind to our environment.
Plastic
Congestion in our cities and climate
Cannabis once a taboo is going to become one of the biggest economy changers in years to come. Will that make an impact on our jails? What does that look like?
The future fixes the past, or the future makes the past products better. A lot of these topics have been worked on in the past few years but it feels like we are at a turning point on bigger and better use of the next generation of products. Climate change, making our planet and bodies healthy, how we live, how we work, how we communicate, how we pay our bills, how other currencies are making an impact, how medical technology is moving at a rapid pace. It feels like the fork in the road has passed and we are now heading down on a new road where we are beginning to fix the problems of the past. Of course, they will create a new set of problems but that is how it works.
Comments (Archived):
I love your optimism! And viewing it through the framework of “the future generations fix the problems of the past generations” gives a reason for that optimism. I also think it might explain why we seem to be in such upheaval at this point in time—the older generations are lasting longer, perhaps making the transitions harder.The environmental engineers I have been talking to lately are full of enthusiasm. The economics of clean energy are finally at a tipping point (in their view). The one remaining obstacle of “how do we cheaply store the energy we create from solar and wind” is in sight. The rest of the economic chain—cost of materials, energy creation, fixing problems—has already been solved. One guy I know works on software for the largest windmills in the world. He develops the technology to have the machinery be aware of fixes needed, often before something even breaks down, and self fix when possible. He was also explaining to me how it has been found that making the windmills bigger increases the amount of energy production at a much higher rate than the cost of making them bigger. So the economics can continue to scale. That is the kind of news I like to hear when discussing climate change—because we’ve got to get to a tipping point and move away from fossil fuels asap, so we have an environment future generations can actually live in.Now if we can just come up with a profitable way to clean the oceans of all that plastic….L
Older generations living longer is a great point. Many hold on to the past vs thinking about the future.
Exactly. That is what I love about your posts—they help me think of insights I might not have otherwise. Happy New Year!
.Cleaning the oceans is an issue based on accountability. We allow ships to travel from point A to point B without monitoring what they did enroute.Countries allow plastic to flow to the sea and then turn a willful, blind eye to it.The plastic pollution is monumental. It will be solved when somebody figures out to monetize it. We are almost there.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
.The current generation and all prior generations stand on the shoulders of the Greatest Generation.When the world was aflame with evil, when Hitler was trying to remove an entire faith from the planet, when the Japs struck a cowardly blow at Pearl Harbor–American men and women hitched up their pants, grew our 175K military to 13MM and fought and won two wars in two different theaters simultaneously.Along the way, we had a fully employed female work force, the men went off to war, and we learned things like nuclear power and mass production of housing. We saved the world.Future generations need to study our history, to understand what makes us a great country, a great people–the last, best hope for mankind.Future generations only exist because of the work done by prior generations. Future generations will change the world because the prior generations have taught them that lesson. Our country is a continuum of constant improvement.We are blessed.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
I’d like to see them critically think and get behind some policy changes that are really meaningful. For example, the New Deal was mostly a political deal and had no basis in real economics. If we re-did it and turned it into individual choice, we’d spend less money and have more gain. Social Sec, Medicare, the VA, Farm Policy etc. So many places to find common ground and change but the lobbying forces are strong and the “fear” of changing is strong. One good thing about cannibis is that it’s going state by state. Let’s be patient-and let it play out rather than take it to the courts. If I was a benevolent dictator, I’d legalize it all and end the war on drugs completely. But, there would be a lot of additional reforms too-so individuals would have to accept responsibility for their choice.