The Future of Myself and Everything I Witness

I recently turned 17, making me feel extremely old when really 90% of my friends are older than me and will soon be turning 18. Additionally, summer is nearing an end in around a month or so. All of this has recently made me think about my future college, career, and life in general. But instead of talking about how scary it is to think about growing up, a fear almost everyone shares, I will talk about my thoughts on what is next in the world.

I believe trying to predict what trends and topics will be next to make it big is impossible. When it comes to certain types of art such as music I've held this discussion many times before. In the last century music has changed more than ever especially because of globalization. Before music was publicly shared on platforms such as radio, it was exclusive to the elites and middle class who often spent their time of leisure at concerts and theaters, where music could not so easily be distributed. With the introduction of so many melodies through such a short amount of time, the current state of music often involves remixes and samples of already existing music. Rock had its greatest moments around five decades ago, then hip-hop, and now Pop. Whenever I try and think what the next big music genre will be, I'm simply stuck. It seems like everything has already been figured out. What will come next other than a repetition or blend of past trends?

I've thought the same for fashion too. A lot of current trends of streetwear, old money, and Y2K are known for their repetition of old styles. And even when one innovates what they think is a new style, most will comment "Isn't this just ____ with a mix of ___"? Whether this is the appropriate response to trends or not is not something I want to discuss.

When I go back to music I constantly see the people who tend to hold music artists in comparison to one another. As I scroll through TikTok, I constantly see people saying people should check out their music if they are a fan of another artist's music. It's either this or someone creates a song and the comments are full of people saying they're either mixing the style of two artists or that they are simply ripping off another. The most recent with the rising genre of opium which is based of the mumbling style raps of Playboi Carti, who has inspired many to create the same style of music which typically ends in their music sounding like a carbon copy.

Inspiration is a scary thing, as the influence which celebrities and entrepreneurs have on society can change the way they think and act. There is a whole other conversation about political influences however that one simply ends with the fact people are stubborn and stick to the views they believe in. However, in the industry of art and sociality, influence can spark things that continues a person or community's legacy. Whenever someone praises a modern artist, someone tends to mention who began the genre and inspired them, sparking the common phrase "Your favorite rapper's favorite rapper".

I believe that we should allow each person to interpret how much they will allow another person or group to inspire them. If someone were to become a great hit by simply copying another artist, people will always be aware of this and continue to share this information online and to anyone who enjoys their music. History will always exist and is always accessible, unless the world just turns all 1984 and starts messing with our brains.

Straying away from the artistic side of the future, there is also the main talk of today, technology. More specifically, the discussion which has taken over the past 2 years in classrooms and online platforms, Artificial Intelligence. To be honest, the topic of AI itself bores me to death, so I'd rather switch to how all of this will change the workforce and future if at all. I'd like to also put an emphasis on the "if". Wherever you hear about AI it will typically either comfort you that you have nothing to worry about for a long time or actually scare the crap out of you by saying the world will end soon. Personally, I don't care much about world domination of robots as it seems stupid. However, I do believe that technology will greatly effect the majority of jobs which people will be forced to take, as it already has. The world has already begun to invest in workers who know how to navigate the newest of technologies, just go to any top paying jobs and its either engineers or doctors. However, as jobs come to a close, new ones open. I just really hope they aren't all in the technology industry because that would be really boring if everyone had to work in the same field to make any money.

I think the fear of AI taking over jobs is a bit realistic but at the same time it will not be nearly to the extend people say it is. I believe its a natural process in which consumerism continues to take over the world. Although there will always be people condemning the actions of making every single little action in the world automated and easy, its simply the human goal. People have always and may always want to have an easier life. I mention they may always because there is the very real possibility even when life is to become perfect in a sense we don't have to do anything, can do anything, and simply just exist to enjoy ourselves, people will find out they lack a purpose. In the past and currently everything we are trying to figure out right now whether scientifical, political, or medical, we are trying to make life more perfect in a sense. It's hard to say whether this is good or not because it really just depends in what terms we are discussing. Is the ultimate goal to make the most money as fast as possible, become the happiest humans, or some other goal like immortality and all those movie things.

Whatever the goal may be, I believe what will happen in the future is both in our control completely, but also destined to happen. Its as easy to predict as anything else. People will continuously attempt to improve every function which causes any disturbance in anyone's life. As long as there is a sweet spot where challenges are made easier to overcome but humans can continue to have a purpose then I believe there is still so much to be done. Meanwhile, for the next hundreds or thousands of years we will continue to try and evolve and develop. There is also the concern of climate change kind of in our way of being able to continue developing without consequences but if the world is able to just get their priorities set out then I believe it will be a rather short challenge to overcome.