2016 is here and I’m embarrassed to admit my commitment to writing on this blog more frequently has dropped off. I had a few different articles I considered but never got around to fleshing out. But with a new year, I’m going to commit to changing all that, not so much a new years resolution but more just starting again. Saying that I present my top 4 predictions for the next 20 years. Some of these I believe could be prevented if the right steps are taken but as the world stands today, I don’t see them being avoidable.

#4 The copyright system will be reformed, again!

So back in the late nineties, Mickey Mouse was slipping dangerously close to becoming Public Domain and obviously, the Walt Disney Corporation was hellbent on preventing this. So they and a few other major corporations lobbied Congress to extend the copyright laws and they did, by decades. And to quote Anna from Frozen, “That’s horrible.” To the dismay of many people such as myself, we have not seen a single copyrighted work enter the public domain since then. I believe I heard the last known work to expire was from 1919 and In my opinion, this move by Congress was only a bandage to remedy an immediate situation, as we are due to start seeing copyrighted works enter the public domain once again coming sometime after 2019.

Unfortunately, this is going to put us right back where we started. The Walt Disney Corporation will have to act fast to prevent their precious mouse from going rough. And this is why I don’t just see a simple change happening but possibly an entire reform of what we have come to know as the United States Copyright System and it could be devastating to the entire system. With the likes of already fighting off SOPA or PIPA, we also have an outdated copyright system that predates the internet and this is what’s most troubling. I won’t be the first to admit something needs to be done. Since the invention of the Internet, upholding your right to Fair Use has become ever more difficult. Just take a look at the recent DMCA claim issues on YouTube. Frankly, if the copyright system does get reformed, be ready for the whole mess of lobbying to the process. And I guarantee that smaller creators like us will have very little to no input on the process. The mass corporations could end up influencing the creation of an iron grip type copyright law, laced with mega fines and fees on individuals, that will most likely devastate anyone drawing Steve the kangaroo in their garage on weekends. Okay! Maybe not that but you get my point.

Many people are already complaining about the cost of registering a copyright and I hate to say it but, I can guarantee that the costs will only go up. Plus to make matters worst you need a copyright if you hope to have any legal authenticity going up against a huge corporation for stealing from you. There is also the slight possibility that we will get simply just another bandage on the problem, which I don’t think will be the best solution either. I just hope we have good and honest congressmen on that day who will make the right choices and help develop a system in the favor of giving the average Joe more freedom while allowing the corporations to protect their rights but that’s highly unlikely – right? I’ve always thought the idea of a tier based copyright system would work best, where each copyright tier carries the same level of protection and rights. Individuals will get the until death plus 70 years, we currently to have While corporations will get something slightly longer but with maybe requiring they make filings every ten to twenty years to keep the copyright active. Unforchantly, there is no one fix all answer and it’s beyond the scope of this post.

#3 Intelligence and common sense will continue to decline

This prediction should come as no surprise but I feel it’s worth at least briefly mentioning. In short, we will see a continued decline of intelligence and common sense in the general populous. This will primarily be due to the continued poor schooling methods kids receive these days.

Sadly, I believe the outcome will be a separation of people based on education levels. It’s interesting that evolutionist also has made such theories for many years now; they claim our species will split into two groups based on intelligence. Uneducated people getting dumber (i.e., devolving), while educated people will continue to evolve. I’m unsure if I can believe their predictions that it takes millennia to happen, as well as the prediction that it will actually cause a genetic change – both possible but not within the twenty years I propose. We already see the early stages of this with those who live in the poor ghetto neighborhood. They find themselves uneducated, unemployed, in debt, in trouble with the law, and generally trapped within the system. Where a lot of this stems from is government policy and have no desire to truly fix the problem. I understand we’ve seen issues like this in the past with class warfare but the polarizing issues with race and wealth will be the primary drivers. We could potentially see war raged on the upper-class from those struggling, potentially setting our society back by centuries – think of the movie Idiocracy.

#2 There will be another video game crash

Much like the crash of the early 80s, I believe we will see yet another similar crash very soon. The cause will be very similar in that companies will continue to put out terrible games only to make a quick buck. For the most part, I believe this crash could be mostly isolated to specific gaming platforms; mobile gaming specifically would be the most vulnerable as of today. And it would likely be because people will get fed up with all the micro-transactions that so many free-to-play games love to utilize. As mobile developers keep coming out with more and more crap games, this will just quicken the process.

It’s possible that most other platforms will also have some sort of decline, such as companies like Konami, as they choose to continue to not listen to their gaming fans. But it’s also possible that some titles and/or companies won’t be affected. For example, Nintendo; If they continue to make better choices and continue to deliver timeless title after timeless title, they could escape this. Indie games could also escape the decline as people could end up flocking to the new guy on the block instead. In the end, I do believe this will lead to many better innovations in the video game industry – a revival like we saw after the first crash.

#1 We will all be its!

Playing on a book of a similar title, I predict that if this country (and the world) continues on this path of coming out as trans-everything, we will see a total rewrite of the definition of male and female. My mom joked about this a few years ago. It should be no joke as I believe it could very much happen. By no means will the old definition disappear entirely, instead there we will start to see a shift of removing the male and female label from the social, economic, and business constructs. I believe you will probably see this first within the government and national businesses. We would likely shortly thereafter see a swift shift of the medical institutions using the old gender labels as a medical term for the purpose of precise treatments or the recording of what sex a baby left the womb as. Companies will no longer be allowed to label their employees as male or female. Even the labeling of bathrooms will even become blurred. There would likely still be a men’s and women’s bathroom but they will find ways to label them so not to alienate the other opposite. We could even see a move to implement a third gender of restrooms or co-op, both are possibilities – keep in mind, bathrooms can’t be changed overnight and new constructions/remodels would be the first to change. I’m not saying this will happen everywhere all at once but instead will slowly trickle down from other places. Schools will probably be the earliest to adopt these changes, as children will basically be free to use whatever gendered bathroom they wish. A boy claiming to be on his monthly period won’t raise any questions and it won’t matter if he’s talking figuratively or not. Teachers could receive disciplinary action for implying gender labels on even the most straight of children. Having a hard time believing me? Just look at the sheer number of totally bizarre cases in the news. Also, don’t forget hot topics such as homosexual’s suing over cakes and wedding venues.

Where I believe this really stems from is our government having no desire to fix the problem. They want to see this happen because these type of progressive people make great unquestioning followers. *cough* Such as we’ve already seen in modern politics. (Redacted 08/24/2018) I hear people say they wouldn’t be comfortable having the opposite gender use the same restroom as them but I’m sorry to break it to you but that’s a poor argument when you were raised from a young age that boys do not use the girl’s bathroom, and vice-versa. If children are brain-washed into thinking this is the norm, they will not question it later in life, especially as these children become adults. They will shape society as even less gendered as time goes on. In this new gender-less society those who are disadvantaged will be those who still apply normal gender labels on themselves – basically, the majority will then become the minority. The best way I could put this is it will essentially become a real-life Tumblr. Go browse Tumblr, it’s not hard to find some person complaining about the labels that have been placed on them. However, I want to make it clear that I’m not condemning nor promoting these changes in any way. I think it’s a consequence of an old heavily gender labeled system that needed to change years ago but never kept up with the times. And It’s going to cost those who refused to make the change the most. They will be the ones that got all hot-headed over Target’s toy aisle change or the legalization of gay marriage. We are no longer a Christian nation and it just makes us look foolish to complain, mostly because that seems to be all we can do these days. So, in my opinion, we need to change it not just complain about it.