The recent thread about stoplight cameras, here
http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=6086.0...got me thinking, and reminded me of an issue I wanted to discuss with all who are willing.
The Discovery Science Channel recently ran a series of shows surrounding what life would be like fifty years from now, entitled "2057".
Too large in scope to be encompassed in one show, it began with "the Body", progressed to "the City", and went on to "the World".
Much of this I found to be really cool stuff, since it was probably (by my estimate) 80% logical extension of current tech, 20% sheer speculation.
However, there was some extremely disturbing, 1984 -ish madness as well.
EMT's could basically put you on ice, not healing you, but placing you in stasis, effectively preventing further damage/death until you could be transported to specialized ER/urgent care facilities.
Once there, you could have organs replaced within 24 hours, after having printed them out using current printer technology gone gonzo.
...that is, IF you had the proper health plan.
If you were caught drinking alcohol to excess by a mandatory p!ss test which your own toilet automatically does, (the example used in the show), your primo health plan was cancelled.
No health coverage?
You're sent to some bone warehouse, to sit in a dark corner in an antiquated wheelchair, waiting to die.
What does this bode for freedom-loving peoples?
In another episode, "the City", a grandfather had an old laptop, and his grandson used it to hack the city's infrastructural operating system, shutting everything down, and releasing a holographic shark/cartoon character that displayed himself mischievously on all of the building-sized electronic billboards scattered ubiquitously across the city.
Their solution?
The police in 2057 had greatly expanded their scope and responsibilities.
They could monitor the activities and movements of every citizen, and it wasn't long before they had narrowed down the source of the hack.
The police chief's reformed-hacker father and her own son.
Lots more to observe and discuss, but this seemed to embrace a very Eurocentric vision of society, a very "Canadian/Hillaric" health care model, and so on.
For those who would desire to use cash, stay off 'the grid', come and go as you please, and so forth, it seemed to marginalize and push these folks to the edges of society, denying them access to the vast majority of 'miraculous advancements' coming forth in the next fifty years.
Anyone else see this series?
Anyone else see Big Brother standing in the wings?
Fig