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Thoughts on the future

At a recent discussion between friends - we wondered how the world is changing and how we cannot, ever, predict which way the future will go. (That was quite obvious, was it not).

Will the future belong to technology - as much as the temptation is to say yes, it will - a friend gave a different perspective - of how a coffee costs as much as a well engineered electrical plug and wondered if, as technology automates everything - what will humans contribute in the future? And if technical skill - valued as it is - becomes more and more commoditised what does that mean?

Will the future belong to the arts? Or to science? Or a mix of everything?

Is the future one modeled on consumption the only way to go?

Or is there a more, self sufficient manner of living - like in the ancient times. Where each craftsman worked on her craft, provided for a community and made a living. Where there was no rush to grow, where greed did not fuel the next step, where an increment was not expected next year - and at any rate - that was not the reason to live. And by the way, until the arrival of 'growth' focussed economic systems - this is how humans lived for millenia - without focussing on the bank balances, without focussing on accumulation, but lived for need, satisfaction and not greed.

Perhaps 50 years down the line, our generation (and the previous few) will be laughed at, on the way we lived our lives. 
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