The Cloud 5.0: A Prognostication
Hmmm, what will lifelook like by the year 2100?
We are in the midst of theFourth Industrial Revolution, aka Industry 4.0. This is the official titlefor life as we currently know it resulting from ongoing automation of traditionalmanufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology,including the ubiquitous Internet ofThings (IoT).
A central component ofthis era is what is known as The Cloud– software and services that run on the internet rather than locally on yourcomputer. If you have trouble grasping the concept of The Cloud, you are not alone. Suffice to say that it is a worldunto itself that defies description – as nebulous as clouds in the sky fromwhich it takes its name.
The question is: Wherewill all of this technology ultimately take us? I will not pretend tounderstand more than the basic principles involved. But that understanding isenough for me to make a prognostication of what might – emphasis on might – come to be if we let it.
By the year 2100, wewill have reached the state of existence known as The Cloud 5.0. Here is a glimpse of what life could look like inthat not so very far away time.
Fully 80% of all jobswill be done by, or made obsolete by, automated machinery and technology. Consequently,20% of the working age population will be employed in technology positions. Theother 80% of the working age population will be deemed unemployable.
The 20% of adults whoare fortunate enough to be working will not be willing to pay taxes to supportthe other 80%. Governments will therefore get out of the business ofunemployment insurance and all forms of social support.
The 20% of employedadults will live in luxury, high security condominiums. They will eat, sleep,work and pursue recreation strictly within their place of residence. Theunemployable will be housed in barracks and provided with the barest necessitiesof life. Permission will be required to leave the barracks.
Traditional currencywill be abandoned in favour of cryptocurrency regulated by the Bank of The Cloud 5.0. A multi-trilliondollar, underground cybercrime industry will have evolved to exploit cracks inthe cryptocurrency system. Illegalsiphoningoff of 20% of cryptocurrency will be considered an acceptable threshold forthose controlling the purse strings.
The fragile structure ofsociety in The Cloud 5.0 will dictatestrict government control. Consequently, human rights will be abandoned in favour of human privileges which those in positions of authority will be empoweredto restrict or suspend as they see fit.
It will be considered acrime, under The Cloud 5.0 Criminal Code,to exercise personal, independent judgment or discretion. Severe penalties willapply.
Life will largely becarried out behind closed doors in TheCloud itself. The Cloud willevolve its own identity and consider itself the equivalent of God answerable to no one.
For the balance of thestory, refer to the book of Revelation.
~ NowAvailable Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: HuntingMuskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is alsothe author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel whichwas a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’swebsite at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .
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