Nine Things That Will Disapear In Our Lifetime

[JohnnyDos]

Nine (9) Things That Will Disappear In Our Lifetime


Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come.


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 Cheque

Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with cheque by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process cheques. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the cheque. 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 - we're seeing this today

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 - this one too

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 - only keep it for my occasional Fax usage

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, good new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Lack of good taste, 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 "catalogue 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?" (YES)
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. Privacy

Soon there will be no secrets! 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.

 

All we will have left that can't be changed are "Memories".
And then Alzheimers will take that away from you too!

[Phoenix911]

Very good list, however I don't expect TV to die anytime in the foreseeable future. Maybe in the traditional sense of having programming made specifically for TV purposes, however with the internetization of media such as Netflix, we will indeed be streaming more and more. But with TVs becoming more integrated with the internet and 'smart', we will still be streaming TV programming, it will just be made for an online medium and streamed from the cloud as you mentioned vice delivered by 'cable'.

 

As for the post office, I think one of the biggest things that would help the postal system is the privatization of it. The fact that it really isn't designed to make a profit in this day and age and being restricted by the government in how it operates and manages its funds, is indeed leading to its demise. Privatize it, make it into a system symilar to UPS or Fedex, and increase competition and make it profitable once again.

[spinpuppy]

As long as there is still beer in a can....I'm good!

[Phoenix911]

^ Beer should not be in a can, it should be in a bottle or even better on tap.

[eidolonFIRE]

I dont agree with music .... We will alwayse need music.

 

Btw, why would you keep a phoneline for faxs??? The fax machine vanished 10 years ago.

[TBB]

^ Beer should not be in a can, it should be in a bottle or even better on tap.

 

Wrong!!!  Beer should be cold and in your mouth!

[little_old_man]

Nine (9) Things That Will Disappear In Our Lifetime

 

 

Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come.

 

 

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.

 

I doubt if the PO will vanish in our lifetime.  It will be re-vamped, privatized, or any number of things before they do away with the service entirely. Until (and if) we develop teleporter technology there will always be a need to ship something small.

2. The Cheque

 

Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with cheque by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process cheques. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the cheque. 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.

 

Agreed, the check will be going the way of the dodo bird, but at some point so will ATM and credit cards. At some point in the not so distant future we'll all have a unique ID number(s) that will replace the need to carry around cards or checks of any kind. Perhaps even we'll pay for things with a finger print or retinal scan.

 

3. The Newspaper - we're seeing this today

 

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.

 

I still enjoy sitting down with the paper and eating lunch, but rarely do it any more. Practically the first thing I do every morning is turn on my laptop and see what's happening in the world. Magazines have been a waste of time for decades with the dozen or so pages of content and the rest as advertizements.

4. The Book - this one too

 

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.

 

There will always be a niche market for paper books but agreed they are going away quickly.

5. The Land Line Telephone - only keep it for my occasional Fax usage

 

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

 

With the exception of a 911 operator knowing where you are instantly in case of an emergency, there really isn't a need for them any longer. I'm seriously considering doing away with mine.

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, good new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Lack of good taste, 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 "catalogue 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."

 

Somewhat agree that a lot of modern music really sucks, but it doesn't matter what generation you're from that has always been the case. There is still tons of great new music being produced out there and I don't see that going away ever.

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.

 

TV isn't going anywhere, it's simply adapting. Until the major (and cable) networks realize that there is more to entertainment that "reality shows" we won't see much on worth watching. More than 25 years ago restaurants and movie theaters practically closed down on Thursday nights here in the US because the networks had on shows like Cheers, Seinfeld, Wings, Frazier, etc. People actually used to plan their weeks around what nights the good shows were on. Yes they could have recorded them on VHS just like they have Tivo now, but they preferred watching it as it played with everybody else. There are almost no shows like those on today, but I find I still don't do much on Sunday evening when a new episode of the Walking Dead is on.

 

In my opinon movie theaters are in more danger of going away than TV. In the last 10 years I've seen only a couple features that I've felt were worth the price of admission. Hollywood produces a buch of crap that is rarely worth watching in a theater or even when it comes out on your computer. Speaking of watching things on your PC, commercials are become more the norm there and will someday be just as bothersome as they are currently on TV. Half of the Youtube video's that we watch have a commercial and it drives me nuts.

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?" (YES)

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.

 

I don't store pictures or anything important for that matter with a third party company and always have a hard copy back-up of things I want to keep. As we saw over the holidays, no place is safe from hacking and I don't want all of my data lost with no way to retrieve it.

 

9. Privacy

 

Soon there will be no secrets! 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.

 

No argument there. Privacy has been a thing of the past for the last 10 years and will only get worse.

 

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

And then Alzheimers will take that away from you too!

 

I predict that perhaps in our kids lifetimes that all of what is stored in our brains will be broken down into some kind of data that can be downloaded onto a computer. Eventually we'll develop technology that can upload that same data from a computer into a human brain. Basically we'll be able to live forever. Our bodies will get old and die but everything we experienced over our entire life can be transferred into another human brain. Sort of like the Matrix only for real. Add cloning into the mix (which we can already do) and you have the ability to have the same person live forever. Yeah, I fantasize a lot, but I'm pretty sure this one will happen.  

[eidolonFIRE]

.... @@little_old_man. Just use adblock. It blocks those pesky youtube ads.

[DEEJAYKEG]

The premise of this post is flawed because no one is guaranteed tomorrow.

 

On the topic of UK cheques, the assertion that they will disappear by 2018 is incorrect as this has been cancelled:

http://www.paymentscouncil.org.uk/media_centre/press_releases/-/page/1575/

 

The "post office" means different things in different countries.  In the UK, the Post Office is not responsible for the delivery

of mail - that is handled by the recently-privatised Royal Mail.

 

One thing that is certain to disappear would be your savings.  Inflation coupled with record low interest rates means that

not only is your money declining in value but this is not made up by interest earned.  It is likely you are dipping into your

capital just to get by!

 

Another thing that has just about disappeared for the younger generation is any hope of ever owning their own home.

Average house prices in the UK are now £250,000 (US$ 417,343).  Shortage of supply and a failure by government to

impose controls on inflation in this sector mean that only the sons and daughters of the rich will have this privilege.

An absence of effective control on immigration has aggravated this problem (anyone from the EU can come and live here

without permits or permission required.)

 

Long-term contracts are on the way out.  Zero-hours contracts are increasingly the norm and, coupled with minimum wage

remuneration make for an impoverished workforce (another thing aggravated by migrant workers from less well-off EU states.)

 

If you live in the UK, democracy is on the way out.  Increasingly laws are imposed by unelected foreign bureaucrats in Brussels!

(Personally, I hope to see this trend reversed after May 2014 when my party sweeps the board in the country in the elections!!!)

 

If you are a man, it is likely that your hair will fully or partially disappear in your lifetime.

 

If you are a man in your forties with a wife/partner of similar age, make the most of your lovemaking as, come the menopause,

that is another thing that will disappear for good!

 

Otherwise, aside from a lack of doughnuts, all is good.

 

[Stiglits]

eww Beer on tap massive hangover ...Stubbies mate the only way

[Sonovabich]

My Willy is shrinking, i think it will disappear in my lifetime at this rate  

Edited February 19, 2014 by Sonovabich

[Sonovabich]

One thing that will never disappear is that the rich will keep dumping on the poor and  get richer and richer while the poor  will keep getting poorer