James Martin’s 16 Challenges

In a video, James Martin summarizes his final book, “The Meaning of the 21^st Century.” See:

http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20061003_168&quality=high

Dr. Martin foresees two ways the 21st century may go. One is a “global cocktail of intolerable poverty." A few days ago I stumbled into a video in which he warns of outrageous wealth, starvation, mass terrorism with nuclear/biological weapons, world war, deliberate pandemics and religious insanity.” But secondly: 

He presents an optimistic alternative—in one of his (more than 100) books, his latest and last.

He was a founder of the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford for the alternative of “new concepts, policies, and technologies that will make the future a better place to be.” He died on June 24, 2013, apparently in a swimming accident. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Martin_%28author%29

For more about his final book, See:

http://www.21stcentech.com/identifying-the-problems-of-the-21st-century-a-commentary-on-james-martins-16-challenges/

Several of 2013’s summer films present views of a poisonous global future. They are a wake-up call.

As voters, we need to seek smarter, more-dedicated politicians to create a future that’s as positive as Martin’s optimistic model.  For a bit more on the subject—questions our politicians need to answer— see my e-book at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/My-America-1931-2031-Astonishing-ebook/product-reviews/B00BPD0TUM/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

I believe the United States Congress is an early contributor to Dr. Martin’s list of 16 horrifying challenges to mankind. Our senators and representatives need to search for ways to avoid them. Instead, they seem focused on political and financial gain and appear to be doing less than nothing about the rest of the 21^st century. Good grief.

The problem is that automation is replacing employment here at home and around the planet. Many jobs, perhaps most, figure to disappear in the 18 years that will pass until this year’s newborns are old enough to enter college. To what end? Without jobs, what will they do for money for food, shelter, health care, clothing, and basic transportation?

Will capitalism survive a world filled with desperately poor and angry people seeking lives like those enjoyed by the rich-and-richer 1% of humanity? 

Even now, machines are increasingly taking over jobs from people. Even now, 100,000 new robots are sold annually—robots made by more than 200 companies, with hundreds more start-up companies looking to be added to the list. 

Let’s hope the super-smart, problem-solving robots become a big part of Dr. Martin’s alternate bright and shining future. Clearly, every politician needs one on staff. See:

http://www.about-robots.com/robotics-companies.html