What will the Future Bring

All sorts of people have had visions of the future. Notably George Bush with his 'vision' for the middle east. His intellect is beyond mine if he envisioned the Middle East as it stands today after the US imperial reach around.
Also others predict all kinds of applications and roles of technology and globalisation. The rise of unstoppable China. It seems to me, that most visions come straight out of peoples arses. But I'm reading the well researched, no 1 non-fiction book in the world entitled 'The World is Flat' and am thus far... dissapointed. For starters the narrative is like listening to technology explained by my parents, and all the amazing things it does. I do admit though that it is handy in illustrating all the changes happening, courtesy of stuff I never really thought or cared about. Stuff like Wikipedia, I remember my brother recommending it to me one day, I wasn't blown away by it, nor really impressed. I love wikipedia though and today it is almost part of my daily routine.
Other things like the peetration of mobile phones and blogs into the palms of people with nothing of any real importance to say I noticed or participated in self conciously.
But aongs it all, the notion of 'the world being flat' has one gaping hole in it.
It isn't a sugar coated coverage by any accounts, it does address the 'China Price' and 'Too much of a good thing' when looking at Wal-Marts more ruthless practices.
But I just feel it is half the picture. the other half, being the story told by Affluenza.
That is, that in talking about the wonders reaped by big emerging markets, and the ability to conduct business in an organisation anysize and anywhere, it overlooks that the capatalist life, is largely really pointless.
Janice, my beloved by all mother pointed out to me when I was packing my bags to go travelling (the afternoon of my flight no less) that part of the travel experience was realising how little I really need. I thought I packed light, going way under my weight limit and having spare room in my bag, but from day one I've been setting aside things almost constantly to post home, an I think when I hit Europe I should be able to halve my baggage train again.
I don't really miss my wardrobe, and I struggle to remember what it was I did n weekends and with he rest of my money I earned that isn't in my bank account now.
South park tickled my brain though, like a tickler file that organised people use, in their episode that was a take on '300' called 'Lesbos' with a line introducing Xerxes the new Persian owner of club Lesbos 'he wore gold Gucci accessories that only a pesian would find cool' and the horror of te persian invasion all revolves around the persian lack of taste.
Flasback to Asia in this newly flattened world and from Japan through China to Thailand, 'good taste' is not the impression that is left behind. Infact if there is anything truly valuable in travelling asia, it is to hold up a powerful mirror to Australia's consumer society. Whether it is the uniform of Louis Vitton and Burberry in Japan (an image of success the Asian Tigers and China seem desperate to imitate but too proud to admit) to the ridiculous uselessness of Automobiles in Beijing, to the fake rolex's and cheap suit every 15 meters in Thailand.
The point of life in the west (achieve economic growth as expressed by GNP, get a 4 bay garage and 'dream home' with an open kitchen and a second hidden kitchen for cooking messy foods) is pretty pointless.
Infact one of the things to enjoy in Asia is the lack of cars, from Bangkok's Took-tooks to Japan's long time tradition of beautiful godzilla's peddling in high heels without a hint of self consciousness. Indeed I ran into misaki in the Takematu mall being sent by bicycle on a shadow shopping mission.
And I can't help but think, when standing at an intersection in Cambodia, I hope this country doesn't fall into the same car culture trap Australia is in. Tht is the stupidity of watching from a stationary train on a platform a lin 36 vehicles deep of V8 cars al housing one passanger only.
no wonder I sometimes have dark thoughts about cars and their drivers that impatiently get stuck on a railway crossing.
Beijing is a good example of where automobiles drive economic growth by selling a near useless commodity to a large emerging market.
Infact, my biggest worry about globalisation and the flattening of the world is that it went down something like this:

Phil Knight is sitting at the head of a boardroom table infron of the Nike Dunk's design team.

PK: So you're telling me that the market is saturated?

D1: Yes, even with the launch of record numbers of signature limited release shoes, our stores aren't reflecting any growth this quarter. It's like the kids are realising sneakers are pointless.

PK: Well, short of some kind of Godsend we may have to admit that each person only really needs one pair of sneakers.

suddenly we cut to the headquarters of Ford Motors

Presenter: And so as a result of the overall lack of imagination and taste in our car esigns aswell as their poor effiiciency and our governments inhuman penion program, Ford is going to go bust.

Director: And you're sayin there's nothing we can do?

Presenter: Well we could actually try and reengineer the company to compete with Japanese makers, start acknowledging environmental problems and aim for efficiency and withdraw from a price war that has slaughtered our margins, or otherwise we'll just have to pray that some huge new market emerges so we can continue the same shoddy practices for another 10 years.

and so on and so on, all over the world western institutions having to face the growing epidemic of consumer malaise pray that somehow they wll discover some new frontier...

Deng Zhao Ping: To be rich is glorious!

much rejoycing from he incompetent corporations of the western world

That's right what I'm suggesting is that the emergence of China, India and Russia with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the advent of technology that has made the world a much smaller place, hs created ample distraction to forget our problems by exporting them to the world.
Australia provides no clearer example, we have the worlds cheapest dirtiest mos abundant source of coal. Non-renewable and better yet, a big contributer to Global Warming, and whilst the Australian public is fully aware and riled by years of drought into an environmental issue for the first time becoming an election issue, so oo are business analysts praising the resources boom lead by a hungry china. Imagine discovering greater reserves of poison, or asbestos.
So too for the lesser issue of pointless consumerism, a destructive form of financial welfare by selling useless products to increase GDP and simultaneously a concentrated marketing campaign to externalise self esteem, to discover a huge new market is to poison the world wth consumerism.
I like sneakers, bright colours and ipods but there is only so ar I need to take it, I never envision myself in joining the mass tastelessness of wearing Hugo Boss suits, Gucci cufflinks and driving an Aston Martin. Some consumer products are great and an easy way to identify them is by the absence of an association with 'status' a more bullshit concept I have never heard.
I am reminded of a quote about women 'We settled for equality when men themselves are not free' so too is it pointless for developing countries to play catch up when the western world is loaded with errors.
And building on Dr. Beats views on 'the health care system should reflect the economic reality of the nation' I find it upsetting in China's rush job to develope that apartment blocks going up are unimpressive flat grey monstrsities stacked in row after identical row.
All this fantastic dvelopment is creating the worlds biggest Chadstone shopping mall. Which some may think great, but I'm afraid it just aint so.
I am hoping for an army of robot overlords that will come down from outer space and make us all into pets for their amusement.