simplyeric comments on New Year's Predictions Thread (2011) - Less Wrong

10 Post author: Kevin 02 January 2011 09:58AM

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Comment author: Hyena 02 January 2011 09:22:34PM *  1 point [-]

Next year:

A virus is discovered affecting Android which will create a small crisis in the mobile phone industry: 17%

A minor crisis in rare earth metals will cause an increase in the number of RE mining projects worldwide, judged by starts and investment activity: 15%

.... is caused by Chinese foreign policy, trade restrictions: 65%

.... is caused by an infrastructure disaster in China, natural or man-made: 30%

One of the largest reinsurance companies, top 10, will collapse because of underestimated basis risk: 6%

The New York art scene will be displaced as the center, process started with clear trajectory: 3%

.... resulted from further dilution of the classical collector pool by collectors driven by current prices: 65%

Next 10 years:

Governments of countries with shrinking or stable populations have shifted to using a measure other than GDP as their primary benchmark of economic growth, 80% of shrinking/stable states: 70%

"Hacker" re 'malicious manipulator of other's networks' will be displaced by "hacker" re 'someone involved in DIY projects and soft, fluffy Frauenfelderism': 67%

Peak travel in the US will lead naturally to changes in urban design as people reduce regular travel to increase leisure travel: 53%

Worker retraining programs are developed which focus on putting people with liberal arts degrees on a trajectory to technical master's degrees, functional in at least 3 of the 15 largest US states: 47%

We reach "peak carbon" in the developed world without a coordinated plan to do so, clear plateau in carbon emissions per person: 40%

Comment author: simplyeric 06 January 2011 06:27:44PM 0 points [-]

"Peak travel in the US will lead naturally to changes in urban design as people reduce regular travel to increase leisure travel: 53%"

Could you elaborate on this some?

There are various processes underway that are already affecting urban, suburban, and exurban design...some of them are "style" and "trend", some of them are result of the cost:benefit experiment that the last 20-30 yrs of housing development has been (always is, to be fair), some a result of fear or gas prices or the viability of the airline industry.

I'm curious what you see coming out of the interplay of regular travel v. liesure travel...