So, we're nearly at the end of one of the most tumultuous years in recent memory. What started out as just another year has ended with us still in the midst of one of the most devastating pandemics ever, but we do at least have a glimmer of light and hope with the advent of the new vaccines.
As this is the end of the second decade of this new century, we thought it might be interesting to see what the next 20 years will bring and have a look at what we might be doing and how we might be living our lives. We also wondered if there would still be a place for candles and wax melts - so let's take a look...
We'll start with society. after all the upheaval of the past 4-5 years, how will people live together? According to Psychology Today, finding full time meaningful work may be difficult for many people. Globalisation and off-shoring would they say, still be issues. However they predict that we may start to develop 'mini-communities' where people not able to keep up with the required skill set of the time can still enjoy a satisfactory lifestyle.
This is what they say: "I envision apartment buildings with tiny apartments, communal, cafeteria-style eating, on-site, nurse-centric health care — not unlike at even prestigious colleges. Those mini-communities would be located in walkable areas and near low-cost mass transit. To reduce the chances of the mini-communities turning into the slum highrises of earlier decades, there would be a rich program of social activities to build cohesion and pleasure in the mini-communities. Such a plan might be affordable with heavy but not eviscerating taxation of corporations, the wealthy, and the middle class."
Well, I guess things could be a lot worse, right? Still seems as though candles and melts are going to be required to aid relaxation and de-stress in this scenario.
According to Factor-Tech, automation is going to be even more of our lives than it is now. They predict computers will have gotten so powerful that we may not have enough energy to run them. They believe most industries will have fully automated everything they can, leaving less for us humans to do
Unless of course you feel like getting down to your nearest rocket launch site and getting on a flight to Mars, where we will be busy creating Earth 2.0. They also believe we will have discovered intelligent alien life too.
This is the bleaker outlook of the two. Either way, it looks like humanity hasn't come up with anything to replace the basic necessity of the naked flame, coupled with magical fragrances that envoke your most amazing memories. Let's hope we have some great memories to remember!
Here's to the future...