Is it cruel to have children when the world is so terrible ? That ’s not a novel question . And when a newspaper columnist in Michigan asked it in 1989 , he came down on the side of no . The public of the future — the world of 2014 , to be exact — was croak to be just wonderful enough that having kids was a bully theme . Was he right ?
modest town columnist Barry Lake wrote about research he had done regarding the future ( look forward 25 years ) in the August 2 , 1989 Marshall Chronicle in Michigan . Lake ’s foretelling read like the most optimist forecasts of the 1950s and 60s . teleworking ? Check . Personal health monitor in every home ? Check.30 - hour work hebdomad ? Check .
https://gizmodo.com/the-late-great-american-promise-of-less-work-1561753129
Lake hang his hat on research done by Forecasting International , Inc. , a inquiry firm out of Connecticut that was perhaps a mo affirmative about the world of 2014 .
From the Marshall Chronicle :
According to Forecasting International Inc. , a business firm that predicts worldly concern trends for major bay window , an mean day in the year 2014 will begin by place your hand on a disk that analyzes your vital signal . Instantly you will receive a substance declaring your wellness status . Then you will walk into a bathing chamber resembling a exhibitioner . In a few seconds , you will be cleanse by ultrasound waves . Your sanitizer will remove bacteria , dandruff , body odor , jock ’s foot , and even the photographic film on your teeth . With your breakfast will be a pill that consumes the cholesterol and eliminate it . Half of the working class will travel to their jobs , some commuting 500 miles . The other one-half will remain at plate and work as full stipendiary employee by way of two - way TV .
A week will average 25 to 30 time of day in length . The need for table service industry and transportation of goodness will lead to less unemployment , even though calculator will mesh many factories . Department of Education will increase to slap-up levels and developing land will seek to train their populace in extraordinary way . doctor will become so abundant that they will make house calls .
Yet , none of these things will dispel the job of AIDS and drug , the environment and a demeaning social system . Instead , the future of our children depends largely on choices and decision . The choices hinge in the minds of tomorrow ’s youth .
Lake worry that rampant drug exercise , sex “ outside of union , ” [ read : premarital sex ] and the AIDS crisis were all thing that humanity would sputter with in the future . But he argues by the end of the pillar that all those awe-inspiring things will be repair if parent simply set a good object lesson for their children .
Lake was really cue to expect the motion from his friend Barney , who ’s mentioned in the article as being concerned about the upcoming decade of the nineties and all the repugnance that it would bestow . Barney , it seems , was childless . Lake had two baby already , and one can guess that these facts shade each human being ’s solvent .
No doubt , people still call for this query today and will continue asking this question until the end of time . Does it make sense to have a kid in a humanity this shitty ? Your answer belike bet at least partly on whether you ’ve already brought kids into the populace .
It ’d be large to find Lake or his children today and enquire them how they feel about the world of 2014 . Or mayhap Barney has an opinion . Is the populace as large or as atrocious as you predicted it might be ? One suspects Lake might be a bit disappointed with our current body politic of matter .
Image : August 25 , 1934 Prize - get ahead Twin at a child show in Gorleston via Getty Images
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