Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Non-Petro Discussions Non-petro Discussion and Showcase Ten Things you will lose in the Future

I found this to be an interesting read!

TEN THINGS YOU WILL LOSE IN THE NOT-TOO-DISTANT FUTURE

1. The Post Office
Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.

2. The Check
Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with check by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.

3. The Newspaper
The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper. They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.

4. The Book
You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book.

5. The Land Line Telephone
Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes.

6. Music
This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music purchased today is "catalog items," meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."

7. Television Revenues
To the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they're playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it. It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.

8. The "Things" That You Own
Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in "the cloud." Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services." That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider. In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That's the good news. But, will you actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big "Poof?" Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.

9. Joined Handwriting (Cursive Writing)
Already gone in some schools who no longer teach "joined handwriting" because nearly everything is done now on computers or keyboards of some type (pun not intended)

10. Privacy
If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That's gone. It's been gone for a long time anyway. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, "They" know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits. "They" will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again and again.

All we will have left that which can't be changed.......are our "Memories".

Logic is dead.
Excellence is punished.
Mediocrity is rewarded.
And dependency is to be revered.
This is present day America.
When people rob banks they go to prison.
When they rob the taxpayer they get re-elected.

Sounds like I need to go get my tinfoil hat sized. Interesting stuff

It's very unsettling when we read these types of predictions, more so if you are over thirty or so. Most things that have to do with simple progress I can accept as such and take the slow progression to the new method as it comes with no apprehension. The last three items in the list however are very disturbing to me. While the inability to write in cursive may not seem like a big deal, it ties perfectly in with our complete surrender to the fact that we are safe to rely entirely on someone else to control our life. If everything is "in the cloud" and if the cloud goes away we are left with pretty much nothing except complete dependency on "them". We recently changed our business software and the new system is totally cloud based, a move I resisted for as long as I could but finally had to succumb to the new systems if we wanted to keep up with the times. You just can't do it the old fashioned way anymore and get support from anyone. We are all part of the picture, I wouldn't be writing this from my chair on my iPad and you wouldn't be reading it if we didn't subconsciously approve of the progress we are a part of. I think it's kinda like eating hamburgers and drinking beer....we know it's not really good for us but it tastes too good to put down. Tin hat indeed....lol!...GB

Well a lot is obvious. I disagree with 10, 8, 6 and 4

I will never be without privacy in my home where I am, by the way, President

I have possessions no one will get till I pass

Music I will have just like my soul

I will always have the 'BOOK'



Larry

You're right Larry. Some things we can never really be forced to be without. It's just a little crazy to see how some people will relinquish those things without thinking....and while "books" may become obsolete, THE BOOK will always be with us, that was a promise!...GB.

Right now it is still the law of the land (Federal I think, but maybe just Maryland) that the phone company is required by law to put in a phone line at every new house. Well they do it, but not when the builder requests it. The new homeowner has to request it which mean's instead of cooperating with the electric and cable companies to have the install done all at once, they will be digging up your new yard--and the best part, before they do that, they will leave your phone line laying on top for the longest time first which will make mowing the lawn interesting.

When that law disappears, (as I imagine Verizon and other 'land line' companies are pushing for) it means if you are out of cell phone range, you will have trouble getting a phone that may be needed for calling 911 emergency services at your home.

BTW I also heard that electric lines will disappear, as the electricity in your home will be sent via the air to your electric devices, like radio signals. So yeah OilCanMan you may indeed need that tin foil hat to protect your brain from all that flying electricity.LOL

Interesting read.

Post office isn't going away...the government has no problem running anything at a deficit.

Music...will always be here.

Books...unsure of.

I can see the rest happening in some form.

I have a friend with a pacemaker. He says he has to keep his land line for his pacemaker adjustments. Apparently they can't do that with a cell phone.

After dropping cursive writing several years ago some schools are starting to teach it again.

One of my customers said he heard or read an interview of an engineer from an electronics company. The engineer reportedly said they are (or already had) developed a TV that could send information both directions.

Looks to me like music is doing pretty well. Music stores selling albums, not so well. New artists bypass the establishment by putting their performances on YouTube.com. I have purchased more music in the past 10 years than I did in the previous 10. I like the idea of buying only the songs I want rather than a whole album of mostly songs I don't want.

Broadcast radio stations have more competition than ever for the ears of listeners. Their audience has largely moved to online streaming, satellite and MP3 device listening. It is broadcast radio that is fading away, not music. I love the online music streaming that displays the lyrics. If they offer that feature in cars, nobody will be watching where they are going.

Smart televisions, or TVs with a smart add-on box, can get content from many sources. They can send and receive information, much like a personal computer. Our satellite DVR records all kinds of stuff by our direction and on its own. We watch what we want, when we want, skipping past commercials. That has to catch up with commercial television by making the ad spots less valuable to advertisers.

People allow these thing happen by how they choose to spend their time and money. Interesting that petro enthusiasts will spend $100+ for a print copy of "Illustrated Guide to Gas Pumps" rather than a e-book copy for a mere fraction of that cost. They are willing to pay for what they really want.

I know I'd pay more for a printed version of the gas pump globe guide!

Sadly I agree with number 9. I was the last class in my elementary school to be taught cursive writing. Throughout high school I was the only kid to write in long hand.

My freshman year in college I had a teacher demand I not write cursive as she was never taught to read it. Needless to say I went to the department Dean and to this day continue to write in cursive. My generation is full of instant gratification and it looks like it will sadly continue to be that way.

Amazing that a college teacher could not read cursive!