349 dropping some futurism

Where to start? Apparently there are enough human made hormone-disrupting plastics chemicals floating around in our environment that we are, despite the huge size of our population, an endangered species. If sperm counts keep falling the way they are, we might not be able to reproduce after 2045.

This is, in general, maybe not as bad for the planet as it is for us.

In the meantime, the global super-rich have a new savings plan. While Musk insists he owns no stock but Tesla, Gates and Bezos own plenty of stocks... And the most farmland in America. Bezos owns 400k acres of ranchland, and Gates owns 200k acres of prime growing land.

Food, I've argued many times, is the most important asset of any country. People without money are poor, but people without food are going on the war path.

A year into the pandemic, and we're still scratching our heads and wondering what's happening. Hmm. Here's an idea: downtown is over, but the city is not. 

We've been hearing a lot that the city is over. Why live in a city when you can be in the middle of nature and have everything delivered to you?

Well, because living in a city is fun and convenient. Commuting into a city, on the other hand, sucks. So how long will it be before all that empty "work space" downtown is turned into "living space?"

Back in the day, an office allowed people to get together to share work. Skyscrapers allowed more people to get together to share even more work. They were like a multi-core processor, stacking people power on top of people power.

We have, with some obvious shortcomings (zoom fatigue) figured out how to do it without the big buildings now. Or with less, at least. Networking in cyberspace has replaced the old physical networks, that required relocating your body to a new physical location every day to access your co-workers.

So now what? Is it only a of matter of time before all that office space, the thing that turns our regional highways into carbon dioxide spewing frustrated hydras twice a day, or really, all day every day, is it only a matter of time before they become living space? 

Hopeful Blake says yes. And maybe less time than we think.

It's kind of sad and amazing how hard people will work to destroy our planet, if we just get the right gizmos and props along the way to make us feel like we're keeping up with the Joneses. The flip side of that is that we're pretty easily programmable, and maybe just maybe we'll all get motivated to do things differently if we just switch up the messaging.

Petaluma sees the future. Have you been to that Amy's Drive Thru? (Ok, it's in Cotati, but from SF they're close enough.) Hmmm...a vegetarian fast food joint? Let me just line up around the block to check it out.

This development in South Carolina reminded me of the work of Michael E. Arth, as seen in my doc New Urban Cowboy. 

He would beg to differ, there's not the symmetry or thoughtfulness to the pedestrian village. But it has cute little bungalows placed compactly together in a walkable-ish way.

They start at over $300k. In a place where that will buy you a chunk of property. Here's a thing: retiring Boomers don't necessarily want a chunk of property. Many want simple, low maintenance waterfront living. Boom! Village of cottages.

Meh, it's just about as big as a car. But it looks cool.

Peace!