News stations, newspapers, talk shows, daily conversation- in almost every aspect of our lives, doubt seems to be sinking in even more so that global warming, raising oil prices, and many other conflicts will not be solved as cleanly as we all had hoped.

But no, it’s not time to break out singing “It’s the End of the Word as We Know It” because, contrary to spreading belief, it’s not the end of the world, and it won’t be anytime soon.

No, I’m not some crazy optimist who ignores the facts. For any of those who have actually been reading my morbid articles on environmental issues and human rights, you can see that I’m not one to stubbornly oppose facts or be so optimistic that it’s blinding, unlike some people I can think of. (Cough cough politicians)

But you think that everything that we’ve been through, it just can’t end in 2012. Why? The answer should be obvious. How far has the human race really come? (The invention of the ipod aside) How much as really changed? Is there still war? Yes. Is there an increase in peace? Hardly. Does our world even slightly resemble the comforting It’s a Small World ride in Disney land with catchy, brainwashing music and cute dolls playing the ukulele, everyone in the world sharing postcards and holding hands? Not even close.

You’re probably wondering what my harsh negativity has to do with anything at all, but it has a big part. How could the world end when animals are treated worse than they have ever been, some countries still don’t even have the basic, most necessary human rights, a world that is so caught up in materialistic things, come to an end now, without resolutions?

I believe in finished endings. I’m a writer; a sensible, conclusive ending is a condolence to whatever tragedy happened. That’s why I like happy endings. They’re more of a better send off, an ending that makes sense, that prepares for whatever happens in the next book. If the world does really have a creator, (which I do believe it does) than I don’t think they would just send it into oblivion without some sort of parting gift, or without everyone realizing that- hey!- we’ve messed up again and again, so many mistakes being repeated like a broken record player.

This isn’t supposed to defer you in any way to stop trying to change the world. Who knows? Maybe if us humans actually learn that killing and violence is a bad thing, our world will not end for thousands and thousands of years to come!

But until we pull out those white earbuds out of our ears and stop trying to block out that pathetic sound of people in need, children hungry, sick and dying, and those poor tortured animals keening in the night, then we will go nowhere.

Trust me on this. It doesn’t take a mind reader that we’re ready for some change, although it’s no change that a president can bring. It’s one that we instill on ourselves. So start humming a happier tune, and start making a difference. No ukuleles, please, those things give me headaches.

-Rika

Due to severe cases of writers block, the absence of most of our staff, and many other excuses that I could come up with right now, The Nearby Future is taking a temporary vacation. But don’t despair! We’ll be back right on in JULY! Now you can still visit, it’s just there won’t be any new content until July.

Here are some of the site projects that are taking place:

• Staff Coordination Videos: A fancy term for the monthly videos made to give the staff ideas on what to write and to keep them motivated.
• The Apocalypse Survival Guide: a witty guide on how to survive the end of the world.
• The Nearby Future Videos: this is an idea in progress- videos about the future.
• More media: more pictures and videos relating to the articles

So come back in July to see fresh new content, ideas, and more!

-Rika

I consider myself a treehugger. Not that I literally run around hugging trees, but when I see a good idea around I silently applaud the object of my appreciation. My recent discovery is treehugger.com. So I’m sifting around and reading these articles and out of nowhere in the ‘Planet Green’ section, I found this really out of place article excerpt.

“Those things that go bump in the night are often my shins whacking into some stray piece of furniture (or even one that’s always been there, but seems so utterly out-of-place at 2 in the morning.)”

The writer, Lynda Fassa, deserves a round of virtual applause. This article was so out of place and goes on later in the article to say-

“Whatever the case, it’s my job–and my pleasure–to banish the banshees and get everyone back to the Land of Nod. Well, my task just got a whole heap easier…. Now there’s a product, all natural and benign, that zaps those monsters and scares them so much, they might not ever come back. It’s the Monster Spray from Seaside Naturals ($7.99 for 4 ounces). Though you may be thinking that this is one of those “unnecessary” purchases that we talk about about when we encourage consumers to buy less, if you’ve ever had a little who knows these monsters well, you’d beg to differ.”

This article left me laughing very hard, not to mention surprised at this sort of wacky style of writing.

Of course, I think that the whole product is a waste. Since when are we going to go around with sprays to get rid of ‘monsters’, even if it is to satisfy our kids? Is this just some sort of expensive air freshener that she’s trying to sell?! I think that there are better places our money should go to, and better ideas to calm our kids.

If you would like to laugh harder, than be my guest and check this random article out.

One question- how in the WORLD does this relate to trees? Or saving them?

-Rika

Oh by the way I KNOW that we have left you poor readers hanging by a moment without an intriguing article coming out every two days recently, but I have been out of town and unable to write any articles (and apparently our staff was being lazy, too!) Ok, ok, to be fair it was Piratical Lord of the Guitar’s birthday on the 13th, so she was not obligated to write anything, plus Jennith is busy and- alright, enough excuses.

Remember to swing by Piratical’s latest article and wish her a happy birthday!

Today we have robots doing many things such as building our cars- but will they eventually remove any human involvement altogether?

Robots have slowly reduced the amount of human workers in the mechanical industry and also have taken on simple jobs inside our homes. Advancements in technology has increased so much that will they one day give the robot there own thought process.

So that you can better understand where I’m coming from here’s an example; You know that one movie- iRobot- well, what if something similar to that really did happen? (Yes I am aware this is my second reference to Will Smith’s movies in the last month but keep focused here people.) All of the things that lead up to the robotic take over is almost identical to our advances in robotics and the role that robots play.

We have the technology to give robots their own artificial intelligence, and we probably will, much to my dissatisfaction. Why, you ask, would it be beneficial? Well if robots could think similarly to a human it could repair things better and adapt itself to situations and deal with them instead of shutting down because it’s not in their programming. But could artificial intelligence lead to problems like, hmmm, a massive takeover?

So many people have jobs that involve repairs, mechanics, cleaning, ect. if robots where to replace these positions the economy would struggle. Yes the robotic industry could possibly boom but what about all those people who lost there jobs to robots? Sure, people need to repair the robots if they break, but robots still would take over more and more jobs. Robots don’t have a house or car payments or even a family to feed! Who should take priority here people?

The technology and everything is there- people like the idea of robots and their benefits, but is it really all that beneficial? Will we have a problem concerning these robots fighting for their rights?

What are your thoughts and opinions of robots? Will we eventually have a robot take over ? How far will the spread of robots go?

-Piratical Lord of the Guitars