This is a great question, prompting me to think in a larger context for 2020-2029. Thank you!

Doing a quick review on 2010-2020 helps me lay out the available paths for 2020-2030, with the courage to commit to one and go for it. Things change along the way, and I move forward with an understanding that side trails to some of the other paths can be found, and/or multiple paths can converge in the future. The trick is being in the Now, all day, every day.

So, 2010-2019 improved over 2000-2009. Last decade started with the culmination of a completely new lifestyle brought on by tragedy during the decade before that. Luckily I bounced instead of staying down. Vestiges and remants of the old life remained, mainly a high stress "career" needed to fund the new life. These vestiges turned out to be in some ways anchors - I admire those who burn the bridges- would have saved me a bunch of mental problems.

Minor heart attack near the end of this decade cleared that shit up pretty quickly, as in " no way going back to that job". Took a couple years to shed parts of old identities in place for 4 decades. Feels good to start a new decade, moving on to a new chapter in the wonderful new life started and developed in this last decade, with ( hopefully and mostly) all the chains to those messy mental anchors cut. Cut a few more chains just last night.

Many of the people on this board seem to be in the first couple of decades of your adult life. I throw my comments out with the hope that it gives you a glimpse at the other end of the spectrum, stepping out of adult into what I call " beginner older person". Live in your Now, and also put aside a little for later ( mental and physical energy, finances, ....) while keeping the idea of what your later means to you. Your later will change, and the vision can help you get through the hard stuff we all will face in some way in the decade ahead. I hope I can still bounce, and wish you the same.

Kinda round-about comments- still getting use to this connected world to get too specific.

Perception-changing articles- thanks!

What will be fascinating in coming years is the evolution of quantum digital engines, where 0/1, on/off states move from electrical to reality states of " here" and " not here" . This technology has the potential to drive innovations across many fields, as well as challenge our current understandings of " realty" .

We're just getting started.

Being new to Hubski, thank you for these insightful deep-dives into many topics like this.

To add a little more , learned from personal experience with both families:

The Clampetts economic conditions relate to much of the North- eastern US. Towns and cities built up by a growing industrial-economic base that imploded in a generation or two. The causes are not complicated, in my limited view:

Citizens consumed more and more lower priced goods manufactured outside the country, produced at labor rates unacceptable to themselves.

Companies took advantage of lower production costs to do what business does: make more profit.

State and local politicians, having build infrastructure and support systems for a good local economy, increased taxes to make up for falling tax revenues ( less businesses and people paying taxes, so increase taxes on those left). This accelerated the flight from the area.

Wholesale deletion of resource-based, rural " only game in town" businesses through national legislation, where compromise and investment in safe production/ consumption might have increased.

We got what we paid for.

The Garcias economic conditions driving their migration are the same as the Clampetts, " on steroids". Maybe we switch to using " economic migration"?

Thier family has lived in the same town for generations, each successive generation building a modest house next to each other, on land thier grandfather or earlier generations purchased. Built with concrete and metal, these buildings last for hundreds of years.

Much of thier country is in the same state as the Clampett's area- the Garcias have no where to go except to migrate to a distant foreign land to feed thier family. The head of the household, and/or other able-bodied family members, make a perilous journey to this land of plenty, as seen on TV.

Once there, if they have working papers, thier qualifications for work in their profession don't apply, so they take any two to three jobs they can get, working 18 hours a day. Being the economic engine for an extended family, they send as much money as they can back home. If they have no working papers, they take what ever work they can get.

The cost of living in this new land of opportunity proved to be shockingly expensive, so they pool their resources with others, live in substandard conditions even when compared to thier home country. This maximizes the amount of money they can send home.

For those that cannot speak the local language, transactions of any form are difficult. Their inability to communicate limits thier options and opportunities.

The Clampetts and the Garcias are the same people, in the same situation. In both cases, the citizens of the country, businesses, and governments could have prevented, and still can reverse, these conditions by making different decisions.

For us, ( sorry- have to add my opinion) , the leadership in our country is too wrapped up in opposing one-another because of economic and ideological conflicts of interests. How do politicians enter public service broke and leave multi-millionaires, on both sides? Lobbyists spend millions of dollars while the Clampetts could do a lot with $100 before the end of the month. $100 goes even further for the Garcias.

Rediscovering Sci-fi reading in retirement, having been reading non-fiction almost exclusively for decades, just to keep up in a technical career.

Classic series like Dune, Foundation, and others are mentioned in other posts. I’m looking for authors and titles I missed in the last 30 treats or so.

Great reads so far:

The Wool / Silo series

Divergent series

Lost Starship series

Enders Game and follow up books

The Black Fleets series: ate these three in three nights.

What others would you suggest?

Thanks!

Name: Tumbamuerta

Location: Central America

Age:60

Current preoccupation: mentally moving into retirement after spending too much of my life on the hamster wheel. It's nice to step out of the maelstrom , shed the stress, and re-form my identity after semi-drinking the kool-aid for so long. Combing through classics and Nuevo philosophies to form a narrative on the entry to this journey.

Pretty exciting! One thing that concerns me is that younger people may opt out before putting in the work nessesary to support a long life. We still need to exist in the world. Building a strong foundation helps ensure the life does not get blown away by the inevitable storms and earth-quake like tragedies that befall us all.