In the Year 2525 (from 2004)

There is a lot that can be learned by that Zager and Evans song from the late 1960s. Are we going to become the destiny of the lyrics of that song, or will find ways to embrace our past and integrate it with modernity? Will everything we think, do, and act be defined by the pill that we took today? Prozac seems to be bringing us into that society today, and we can only imagine what further psychoactive drugs will do in the future.

It seems like before we know it we will be able to pick our kids from the bottom of long-glass tubes. We already have cloning and in vitro fertilization and the sciences of both are being perfected. 2525 is only 521 years away, and by then the technology certainly will mean we will not need a husband or wife. That is scary to see our words being defined as science fiction.

Shoreline

In 3535 or sooner we won’t need to do anything as we will have machines to do all of our work for us. Machines are already displacing blue collars, and when will it be that a computer will replace us in the future. The possibility is frightening: justice administered not by human but by computer.

The song ends suggesting that man has taken and taken and never given back anything in returns. That certainly reflects the model of man today, in which we continue to consume ridiculous amounts of earth’s natural resources without ever considering the consequences of our actions. Pretty scary, although I believe human nature will have to change as we see our resources being used up in increasing rates.

Today's blast from the past, a decade ago, looks at where an unchecked "technocratic" society can end up taking us.

A Little Hillshade Can Make Choropleth Maps Purty

Somewhat accidentally, I started adding hillshade and then rivers and waterbodies to the choropleth maps I was making up. I was shocked by the simple beauty, and how one could make a map much more attractive by adding these relatively minor and unimportant details to a map.

Greene County 2020 Presidential Election

Field

A little hillshade on a chorpleth map can sure make things a little prettier.