What’s here to stay and what’s going away
We’ve all seen them … lists of what’s “going away for good”, what’s soon to become obsolete, such as :
Landline phones, camcorders, incandescent light bulbs, postage stamps, pennies, paperback books, remote controls, checks, music CD’s …
Wasn’t so very long ago that these were all the things that everyone had and used … but I have the feeling that soon we will be looking back upon them with curiosity. Like it or not, “Out with old and in with the new” seems to rule our futures. So what’s around the next bend in the disappearing act?
Let’s take a look at 5 commonly accepted things that I predict will go the way of the buggy whip …
- GARBAGE DUMPS – Ever think of all that we discard into them? It’s not all poopy diapers and rotting lettuce. “There’s gold in them thar hills!” … or in this case, mountains of garbage. Maybe we can’t see it now, but in 30-50 years landfills will be excavated, like an open pit mine, for cellulose, metals, oil based plastics and who knows what else.And what about “new” garbage – where will it go? Why to an industrial resource mining and recycling facility, of course. Why dig for metal ores, drill for petroleum or manufacture agricultural fertilizers when you can extract it ALL from household garbage brought to a central processing plant!
- STEERING WHEELS – Voice recognition, sensors and computer intelligence will all cause the steering wheel to move INSIDE the dashboard of your car, only to “pop out” and be used in an emergency … kinda like a spare tire in the trunk. Bye bye steering wheel! Your car will soon drive itself, get you to your destination faster … and SAFER too!
- HOSPITALS – Why do we all go to a hospital full of sick people and their germs when we are sick and full of germs … hoping to get well? The Dr. that sees us carries the germs from the last patient to us on his white lab coat, with insurance companies paying for it all. What are we thinking?Someday we will drive by abandoned hospitals, surrounded by yellow caution tape and the same warning signs now found on old lead smelters or uranium processing facilities … medical centers being demolished by workers in moon-suits manning industrial vacuum devices, sucking toxic demolition dust into an incinerator device.
Medical treatment will end up taking place in a sterile disposable POD that will be discarded before patient introduced germs can get a firm hold in it… as they have in today’s brick-and-mortar massive medical facilities. We already have disposable gloves, needles and IV bags … next it will be the entire examination room!
- X-RAYS IN MEDICINE – It’s been long known by all scientists that X-rays are harmful to life, causing cell & chromosomal damage … but apparently Drs. And nurses didn’t pay close attention in their college chemistry classes because they will tell you that “X-rays, in small amounts, are OK for you.”Not true! Small x-ray exposures during your lifetime will accumulate and can add up to a BIG problem later and a possible early trip to The Haven of Rest cemetery.
Fear not, though… I predict that soon non-ionizing imaging devices (like ultrasound and MRI, ) will take the place of ALL X-ray devices and we will look back with disbelief on how dermatologists used to treat acne by exposing the face to X-rays! (No joke, that was done as late as the 1960’s)
- SEWAGE TREATMENT AS WE KNOW IT – The same rationale we are being sold about X-rays is given to us about our water treatment facilities, the outflow of which is typically being put back into many of our drinking water sources (i.e. rivers).
A glass of this is poison but a drop in a glass of water (aka under 1 part per million) is just fine.
The disposal of treated waste waters already has many uses known to us, and more creative ways of recycling it are just ahead … but to disperse it back into waters we use to drink from is akin to drinking from a toilet and then wondering why you keep getting sick. Maybe your dog can get away with it but you can’t!
The old adage that “Nothing is constant in this world except change” seems to rule our lives in our present day world … yet there are some things that seem to be here for good, here to stay.
Consider the way we appreciate good service for a low price, a phone call that’s returned promptly, a caring attitude, a promise kept and a job finished on time. These are the things that ALL of us cherish and that we DON’T WANT TO CHANGE… and these are the things that we here at Red Roof strive to give to all of our customers.
Garbage dumps, steering wheels, hospitals, x-rays and sewage plants shall all pass away, but GOOD OLD CUSTOMER SERVICE is here to stay!