Manifesto For The Near Future, a story by Tom Ball at Spillwords.com
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Manifesto For The Near Future

Manifesto For The Near Future

written by: Tom Ball

 

Most of the following ideas have been explored in various fictions by Tom Ball.

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I say firstly all governments should enact balance budgets into law. Currently many countries pay 50% or more of their budget to go to interest on their debts. If they want more money, they should print more while holding inflation to zero permanently, thus enriching everyone. This additional money will pay for all the changes below.

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And the stock market stocks should not be allowed to drop only 10% in a month. This at least would prevent catastrophic falls in the stock market and instant recessions.

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And have a government bank support small business with grants.

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And rich countries should send teachers to poor countries to teach them English and all about computers. And all nations’ people should be taught “Future Studies.” And poor countries should increase the minimum wage to be enough to maintain a living standard worthy of a human being.
And there should be a free flow of people from nation to nation. With lots of opportunity in the poor nations to get them to want to stay there. And everyone being rich. Poor nations will catch up fast by printing more money, holding inflation to zero.
Also, people will be encouraged to spend their money as banks will give no interest. Keep the economy going strong. Economic growth will be 50% or more per annum.
Entrepreneurs should have financial incentives to invest in poor countries… And corporations will be taxed at a low rate as there will be plenty of money for everyone and universal social programs like pensions and health care.

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And there should be no more political parties. What we need is statesmen/stateswomen who will do what’s best for their countries. No more left wing, right wing politics. No more soliciting politicians with money. No Lobby groups. And perhaps the leadership will be an oligarchy for the best results. The UN should have more power. Legislators will still exist, but will only have power to do minor policies. Politicians should be required to have an IQ test of at least 140.
And all important government business, such as the budget and foreign affairs should be decided in a referendum. Hold referendums monthly and require all to vote or pay a fine.
People who have new ideas can put it to a referendum if 30% of the legislators agree. People will be highly paid for new ideas that are accepted whether they be local or international.
City states should do most of the governing and state/provincial governments should be eliminated. Federal states will still be powerful, but will give up some powers to the UN.
And no one person should be in charge. Always a group. And referenda. People will be encouraged to vote for the wisest. Oligarchies of philosopher Kings/Queens should be President/Ambassador to the UN.

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Military spending should be curtailed but UN peacekeepers should be moved in for all military crises.
We should destroy nuclear weapon stockpiles. And UN peacekeepers should be utilized more.

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No more personal gun ownership should be tolerated. Hunters could keep their guns at the local government depot when hunting season was over. Government will pay for guns to be turned in. Weapons smuggling should carry a life term in prison. And possession of a gun will mean many years in jail. But since drugs will be cheap and legal, drug gangs will not exist, greatly reducing gun crime.

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All drugs should be legalized just like in Portugal, where drug abuse is treated as a health issue not a criminal one. Rehab should be a priority. New opiates should continue as modern life is very stressful.

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Crime would be greatly reduced if drugs were all legal and cheap.
No death penalty as a number of innocent men on death row have been vindicated. And it is cruel. Let criminals do social work and try to make up for the crimes they have committed.
Cameras everywhere that are invisible to most detectors, and record all things that happen as evidence for the Courts.
And crime could be curtailed by eliminating poverty.
And the news should give local crime statistics, but should focus on good news stories like local people who are successful. News should be an inspiration to humanity.

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Solar power panels should be all over the World’s hot deserts and the energy accumulated could be used partly to desalinize sea water on the coasts and water the World’s hot deserts. This would greatly enhance the standard of living in poor desert countries. This would also combat sea level rising assuming that global warming continues.

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A.I. should go ahead, but scientists should be watched carefully. Automation should continue also, but customer service jobs should be all in the hands of humans. Robots should only be used for drudgery jobs. Like farm work and factory work. Science has gone about as far as we want it to. But key discoveries like mind reading technology (MRT) and eternal youth and cure for diseases and so on have to be invented first. Maybe about the year 2100 new science will be unnecessary.

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Tests of ability in intelligence, EQ, IQ, Wisdom Q, Knowledge Q, Kindness Q, Imaginative Q, Business Acumen and so on. With the peoples’ representatives being very high ability. But they will not decide most important issues, rather referendums. But these ability tests will also determine one’s ranking. People will want to hang out with others who have a similar ranking to themselves. High ranking will result in higher pay and a chance to hobnob with the best.

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Virtual reality should go ahead but should be totally non-violent. Just peaceable sports and video games mostly. And virtual reality sex, but don’t make it too good so that sexual love will cease to exist.

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Art should be 3-D. Fantasies of the future and dreams.
Literature should only be sold if it is deep. Teach people to love ideas and writers should write in an easy to read style. No more action movies or violence.
And people should be encouraged to buy original video fantasy art to adorn the walls of their smart home.
Movies should be deep too.
And create jobs with millions of new movies. There are movies for all. Everyone has a few good anecdotes for their lives and there are so many stories to tell. Famous people will appear in porn videos and will be very popular.
And people in the top 1 million ranks write books leaving a lot of literature/movies out there.
And 1% of the population would rate movies/books as a part time job.

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The population is much higher than previous eras, so there must be dozens and dozens of Da Vinci’s for example. We just need to find them. Many great people are undiscovered and underused but could help humanity if given the chance. We need to increase people’s ambition and get them to want to increase their test performance (i.e. increase ranking).

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Music should be dreamy yet complicated with choruses singing brilliant lyrics.
Inspiration for the Arts could come from space exploration and scientific breakthroughs like eternal youth and MRT (mind reading technology).

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Inspired science could develop better weight loss pills, pills which require less sleep, exercise pills, pills for sex enhancement etc.

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Sex workers should be legalized and tested for diseases and must work for a company. But sex diseases will all be cured and so too other viruses. So why not love the sex workers?
And everyone who hasn’t found love over the last 6 months should be forced to take on a sex worker.
Sex workers should include good lovers for a price all can afford as well as more elitist sex workers. No doubt there will be android love dolls. Who are just machines but can think in a limited way. They will aim to please. But there is a danger they will replace human lovers and so men and women will have no use for one another. MRT with them perhaps will be mind blowing ecstasy and pleasure.
Online dating should be improved to find perfect lovers for the people.
And there will no doubt be multi-sexuals who have new sexual characteristics or just androgynous. Sex tours will be out of hand in places like Thailand once AIDS and Herpes are cured. It will perhaps be out of control.
Abortion should be legal. An unloved child is a curse on humanity.

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Religion is everywhere dying. Let it die. But we don’t want any people to claim they are the messiah or start new religions. But new great works on Gods/Goddesses will inspire the people to worship new Deities who want them to act imaginatively. The Imagination Deities. We want people to live for the day and enjoy free will. No living in the past or in a backwards fashion.

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The intellectuals of the World need to search the world for wave signals carrying brain waves being sent by spies. They can probably do it already. Get in peoples’ heads and read their minds. A brain wave is just like a wave of any other kind and can be interpreted. But the MRT (mind reading technology) should be used by all humanity to make people more honest and feel that they fit in.

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Cloning should be made illegal of both mankind and animals. But the spies will probably develop clones of themselves and just change their faces with DNA genetic therapy/plastic surgery.

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Babies will spend the whole pregnancy in incubators and parents will be given large cash incentives to have children. And the state would educate them, and one would see one’s children once a month. So that they become independent. Most of their education would be on computers with real teachers to guide them.
And people should be encouraged to have children with financial incentives in rich countries. In poor countries people should be convinced not to have many kids.

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The best scientists should no longer be used for military purposes but rather to solve humanities problems. The most pressing problem is eternal youth. We all want it now! Probably they will offer transplanted organs grown from stem cells first and then make cells regenerate giving us eternal youth, if we want it.
And Alzheimer’s and cancer and heart problems must be addressed.

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And people must be warned about the danger of hypnosis and cross-hypnosis. Post hypnotic suggestion is very powerful and can alter one’s behavior dramatically.
Dream stimuli voices in the night enter your dreams. Program the voices before you go to sleep.
And mental health will feature more jobs for psychiatrists. Perhaps force everyone to go to a shrink once a month. And 10% of the population will have part-time jobs as guinea pigs for new drugs.

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GM food is OK, but no new chemicals in the food. Farms and food should be automated.
APM’s (Automatic Production Machines) will comb the land and mine the rock to produce food and goods.
Healthy food should be available for discount prices for the poor. Food should be largely synthetic including stem cell meats cheap and good. Gigantic stomachs without a head will produce the meat. So, no need to be a vegetarian or a vegan.
But agriculture will be automated and delivery of groceries and goods to your home will be valued. Your house robot will take care of it. But actually, cooked food in restaurants will be done by human cooks. Cooking viewed as an art. And unhealthy junk food will be heavily taxed. Home robots will order food to your home, but people will be encouraged to eat out and thus create jobs. So, it will be inexpensive to go to some restaurants.

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Alcohol and marijuana should be cheap. No tax. But online pharmacists will prescribe opiates to the people. But it will be heavily taxed.

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Goods will be produced by APM’s and everyone will be able to afford good quality cars and homes and clothes and jewelry etc. So, all manufacturing will be automated. Food and manufacturing will be automated and cheap.

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Everyone is given a job. But the best people should work much more. If people have more free time they will be happier. Most people don’t want to work hard… But robots should not replace servers and other customer service jobs. The human touch is valued. Retirement should be put off as people are living longer and longer.
Everyone should have to go back to school often to learn new skills and become more informed about life on Earth, and perhaps increase their rank.

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And there should be many more wildlife parks. Let no species be endangered. People should be encouraged to go camping in the parks. But some parks will be for wildlife only and watched on numerous cameras, including infrared. And people will receive generous grants if they move to the cities. The parks could be under the sea for dolphins and whales especially and on land introduce apes to all the warm parks.

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The population will grow to perhaps 12 billion before it levels off…

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And the best architects should just sketch briefly a building’s exterior and leave the details to lesser architects. And the best should make buildings harmonize with one another. They should design a new building every day. The exterior of buildings could be moving picture art as well as being shapely.
Furniture should be futuristic with comfortable chairs like car seats.
Homes should be built for the homeless. They can’t sell their free houses though. With limited rules for their denizens so they will feel free and happy. Life for everyone should be happy and comfortable.
Real estate should be regulated so as not to be driven up by speculators. Indeed, holding inflation to zero would make homes affordable for all.
People will watch their neighbors just like always. In the Global Village of MRT everyone will know about everyone. Green lawns are a waste of space. Homes should have gardens of vegetables and fruit trees. And land will be at a premium so most people will live in skyscrapers.
Nightlife should cater more to specific types of clientele. So too resorts. And all high rises should have a café/bar so the locals can congregate.
And people should be required to go to parties at least once a week. We don’t want any hermits and recluses. We are all part of the whole.
And high rises should be built everywhere on beaches so that everyone could afford a beach home.

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Women should get more plastic surgery to enhance their life. And all women should learn how to put on make up to best advantage.

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And people should be free to cross any border and multiculturalism should be everywhere embraced.

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And scientists should experiment with other planets and moons. Like put fish and sea creatures in the ocean of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. And use nuclear power to fool around with the climate of Venus by turning CO2 into O2 and C. Maybe plant shrubs that can withstand the high pressure of Venus could create O2. Maybe even try to warm up the poles on Earth by bombing far southern and far northern Ocean fissures.
Space explorations should be encouraged with financial grants. Also, it could be considered an essential part of one’s education to go to space. And some rich people will pay for zero gravity sex and a chance to live away from Earth, if only for a short time. A good lottery would involve winning a ticket to space. This would raise money for further exploration, which needs a huge investment to be viable.

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Everyone should be proficient with statistics as we live in the information age. Use mental mathematics/calculators to imagine costs and facts of life.

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The Internet will be safe from hackers as all the best hackers will work for the government/spies for huge salaries.

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Lotteries and gambling should continue as they entertain people and raise money for government programs. It just makes the government even richer.

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Cars will all be programmed and drive on the traffic controller grid. Public transport should be everywhere enhanced. No cars downtown, change the roads to parkland. Build giant parking garages, objects of beauty, on the outskirts of the downtowns. Try to encourage people to live in the city or suburbs. And gasoline will be more heavily taxed whereas batteries powered by wind or solar power will be subsidized.
Air cars will be homes for some, and will have well-stocked bars/drugs. Air cars will be automatic on the grid and will reach any point on Earth in just five minutes. So too drones will be on the grid and accidents will be zero per cent.

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The environment should be cleaned up and fossil fuels should be phased out in favor of solar and wind power everywhere. Changing the atmosphere could cause all kinds of disasters. Even though the World’s climate is always changing, it doesn’t make sense to mass pollute especially when it is not necessary.

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In archaeology, clone Homo Australopithecus and compare them to modern humans. I saw a guy from Portugal who had a brow like Homo Neanderthal and was very clever.

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History will be viewed as cultural development and not so much the leaders who more often than not, were intellectual mediocrities and violent.

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Scientific treatises will be in demand. Scientists are the most important writers.

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MRT will always be two-ways. Not one way. That would be unkind. And we don’t want MRT to be used in Virtual Reality holograms. It would replace living in reality.

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Death. If we have eternal youth, few will die. And upon death everyone’s DNA should be saved and sperm and egg banks should be saved when they are in their prime. They could possibly be cloned or turned into future children.
No one should be buried in a large grave. Everyone should be cremated and their remains buried in a small urn. Old graves should be dug up and the bones cremated and the DNA saved. This would free up land for high rises.

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And teleportation is on the horizon, maybe in 50 years. It will allow us to send goods and people long distances into space. Holograms would make good candidates for teleportation. Just send their signal.
But holograms should be limited and not mass produced.

 

ALTERNATIVE FUTURES

Perhaps people will just live in air cars and dock with one another and cities will disappear.

Perhaps everything will be automatic and there will be no jobs, people just enjoy the time on neo-opiates.

Maybe the elite 1% will control everything and be super rich while most are poor.

Maybe the elite will clone one another and gradually increase their numbers.

Maybe a tyrant will seize control of the USA on a wave of populism. Tyrants will oppress the people and prohibit anything deep. Just entertainment for the masses. Maybe the tyrant will claim to be a philosopher King/Queen. And use his/her populism to eliminate democracy.

Virtual reality will be full of billions of hologram slaves and people will enjoy ruling them. Or maybe the holograms will take over reality.

Science perhaps has gone as far as it can and is no longer needed. Automation takes over. No jobs for the people.

Humans maybe will be turned into slaves for android super compute rulers.

Or maybe the population will soar to 35 billion or more and overcrowding will be everywhere. Countries like Russia and Canada have plenty of room for new immigrants, however.

Or perhaps the World will become a freak show with all sorts of bizarre humans.

Perhaps our leaders will be mediocre who can’t deal with technological change.

Maybe big corporations will control governments and treat the people as slaves.

Maybe the spies will use MRT to control all thinkers.

 

THE END

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