Hello Reddit!
You may have seen me at the top of
/technology the other day and I got a lot of messages telling me to do an IAMA about this
article on CNBC so here I am!
So I made a bet with my parents that if I turned 18 and was a millionaire, my parents wouldn't force me to go to college. I’m proud to say I won that bet! Thanks to some clever investments, making money from projects, and as is the case with everyone who has any kind of success (or even failure) a little bit of luck.
Here’s the story of how it happened:
When I was 12 years old in May 2011, my older brother showed me this technology that I fell in love with and found fascinating. The technology was called Bitcoin.
At that stage in life I had a $1000 saved up, solely a gift from my Grandma to use for my scholarship fund. It did not go to my scholarship fund. I asked my brother to help me put it into Bitcoin at $12 because I knew it would be huge in someway. At that point I had about a 100 bitcoins.
I continued to do ‘day trading’ buying low and selling high over the coming years as well and reinvesting the money.
Fast forward to when I was 14 in high school I was not enjoying school. I was in a small town in Idaho living on a llama farm. So the quality of the school system, was let’s say, not the highest grade. I found the classes to be boring, valuable to some people, but at least for me boring and teaching me in a way that didn’t make sense to me. Lessons that did not seem applicable in my life.
My teachers would constantly criticize people in the classroom. Especially me.
One teacher told me to drop out and work at McDonald's because that was all I would amount to for the rest of my life.
Another would force us to read other student’s grades out to the rest of the class to shame them for failing.
Another roasted me (me in particular) for the full hour of class. No teaching. It was literally the “Roast of Erik Finman”. Which now seems kind of funny actually but still very bad to do.
I went to a summer program to prepare me for the next year and found the best teacher ever in my life that changed my life who was from the UK. I got an A+ in advanced physics when I got a C- in basic physics the previous year.
With that knowledge. Since I didn’t have access to good teachers in my small town in Idaho. I wanted to fix it. So I learned how to code and created an educational website that would allow you to connect with Tutors/Teachers/Mentors online over video chat to teach you any subject you wanted to learn. You could search for Spanish. And find someone to teach you from Ecuador. You could type in programming and you’d find a CS college student that is trying to pay tuition by doing this on the side. Or a retired expert who is a veteran in his field that just wants to impart his knowledge onto others.
It became very popular in the local community! I told my teachers about it, but they did not like it because it felt like competition. Maybe they thought they might have to do better?
At this point I was 15 and this got some initial traction and I was using it to teach myself.
I asked my parents to let me drop out of High School to focus on this because I was miserable in school.
They agreed and were supportive, but they made a bet with me that I can drop out of High School, but I have to go to college if I don’t make a million dollars by the age 18.
I agreed and I dropped out of High School to work on this. A little bit after I dropped out of High School, and I had traction with my project. Bitcoin was shooting up! It was going big! $800! $900! $1000!!!!
So I sold a lot of my Bitcoins which resulted in me gaining a $100,000.
I used that money to put into my business so I could hire more professional programmers and I moved to Silicon Valley.
I even caught the attention of
Alexis Ohanian of Reddit because his book at the time
Without Their Permission is what got me started. He helped me in many ways!
Fast forward to early 2015. Eventually I found a buyer for the companies code & technology in January 2015. The investor offered either $100,000 or 300 bitcoin, which had dropped in value at that time to a little more than $200 a coin. I took the lower cash value bitcoin deal because I believed it was the next big thing and an official buyout would’ve been very difficult for someone under 18 and it was good tax planning to use Bitcoin. Also continuing to do day trading on a daily basis.
I used some of that money in the coming years to travel the world. Going to London, Dubai, Australia, and more!
I used that to start a VR company using crowdfunding and that did well. I shipped all those out. It was incredible!
Now I’m doing a satellite as part of a NASA award which is launching in November out of New Zealand! I'll probably do another post about this soon because it's so cool.
Elon Musk has always been hero of mine. He's such a talented guy changing the world with Tesla and SpaceX. I'm a great admirer of his and respect him immensely. He's the closest we have yet to a real life Iron Man. But who knows maybe I'll
beat him one day haha ;-) After all we stand on the shoulders of giants right? haha that's a big goal though and I say it as such.
It’s been a fantastic few years! I’ve used that money to learn how to do a business, invest, and learn about the world! I didn’t do investing all the time and I used that money to build things that I thought were important! I haven’t done everything perfectly, no one has! I’ve made some humbling mistakes, but had lots of exciting successes! I’ve really launched my career in exciting ways and have met mentors that help me and advise me along the whole way! Which I’m so thankful for!
I’ve learned so much outside the education system and have been so much happier. Although I’m unique, I’ve met many many people that weren’t satisfied and unhappy — ranging from students with the lowest and highest GPAs. My GPA was a 2.1 in school!
And I’m happy I’m not going to College! College wasn’t for me but it was the ‘life path’ you are supposed to go on and I did not want to go nor felt it would’ve helped me too much in life — especially the $250,000 in debt! Or $249,000 with my scholarship fund if I had not used it on Bitcoin and my projects ;-)
I really believe the education system needs to be reformed and I think technology is the way to do that. I think it’s wonderful how society allows you to be a ‘student’ so that you can learn for many years and that’s your full time job. The infrastructure would just ideally be much better so you could do that without being in sometimes a bad environment and crippling debt.
I can say today that I own 403 bitcoins which is currently valued at $1,092,678.08 with the price per Bitcoin being at $2,711.36 plus some other money invested in other things. Can’t have all your eggs in one basket! So I won the bet!
If you have any questions let me know! And if you want any advice on cryptocurrency or your own educational route, or anything else let me know!
Also on reddit! People have made Pepe memes of me! I feel like I've finally made it:
http://imgur.com/gallery/06dWK If you want to keep updated with everything I’m doing! Follow me on twitter! Proof:
Proof of the bet:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/erik-finman-botangle-after-100k-bitcoin-score-15-year-old-creates-startup/ Travel proof:
http://imgur.com/a/kvlzR Proof: I went through rigorous proof verification and fact checking with CNBC as you can see with this
article. I keep my Bitcoin is super secure places spread out across multiple wallets across multiple machines. I'm so paranoid after all this media attention someone is going to steal it all! haha
Proof of growing up on the llama farm:
http://imgur.com/gallery/6scF5 ---- ASK me about the time the llama came into my house!
Proof of the 100k initially made:
http://mashable.com/2014/06/10/botangle/ Proof it's really me:
http://imgur.com/a/zc3eu Edit: Wow! Thanks for the gold guys!
Edit: Was on for the first few hours of the AMA and had a meeting to go to and I just came back now to see all these great questions! Questions I all have answers to! I will respond to them tomorrow as it's midnight here now.
Edit: That's it for me! A lot of great questions and a lot of great feedback.
I have found a very interesting thread in a forum, I decided to copy and paste all the comments that the author of the post made. The author posted this in 2018, the author also posted another in 2019 about the same subject. But this will be about the 2018 post (part 1)
Here is the link for part 2:
https://www.reddit.com/The2020s/comments/exoexp/copied_and_pasted_a_long_thread_about_the_2020s/ ----------
As I write this thread it is the year 2018, which is only two years away from the 2020s. It wasn't long ago when I felt that the coming decade felt like a distant future, but now it is very near.
I want to try and predict what could happen in the 2020s, I have based my predictions on considering the age of all the generations that will be alive then and deciding their most likely role.
The generations I will include in the overview are as follows: Generation Z, people born from 2002 to current present.
Generation Y, people born from 1981 to 2001.
Generation X, people born from 1965 to 1980.
Baby boomers, people born from 1946 to 1964.
First of all the decade will start off strong with a presidential election, the eldest of Gen Z will be old enough to vote while the majority of voters will be Gen Y and X. The voting trend for authoritarian and socialist candidates will peak during this decade, more people will care about the environment and will be more willing to do something about it.
And yes, Donald Trump could win the next election.
More people will be willing to sacrifice some of their personal freedoms to work for a shared cause, I don't exactly know what that will be but I can guess it would have something to do with climate change or globalism.
Baby boomer power will lose its grip in this decade with Donald Trump being one of the last, Gen X will take their place with Gen Y being the driving force of the implemented changes. I can see Gen Y as becoming a group divided into different hive-minded tribelike groups, each group working hard together to make their ideologies a reality and to make changes.
The internal strife that we are seeing today will continue to worsen in the 2020s, with increasing conflict, upheaval and revolution being the defining themes of the early to mid 2020s.
Internal strife will eventually end by 2030, this could mark the end of Americans position as the worlds superpower with the spotlight to be replaced by a more authoritarian power. In such a scenario our values and lifestyles will change.
After the revolution the world will see an explosion of new technologies, the new technologies will give people hope about our future and will improve our life's but will also be a cause of new dangers and threats that we don't have today.
The new generation after Gen Z will be the first people born into the new world order.
I know this thread was slightly vague but I hope I have put in enough information to let the reader know of what I think could happen in the 2020s.
But what do you think would happen? Do you agree with any of those predictions? Would you like to add anything? If you want to share your thoughts I'd love to read them :-D
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A decline in living standards for the many is definitely something I can see happening, and it will be a big reason why people will fight more and more for change in the coming years.
People will fight for a stronger community that better provides for its citizens, but things will continue to get worse before their protests are answered accordingly.
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It is indeed a shame that people are still apathetic about the current situation, Jeremy Corbyn tried to help but all he got in return was mistreatment and its almost as if they are getting what's coming to them.
With the way the UK is headed I cannot say for sure what will happen, but my gut says that people will coerce the government into leaving the EU, I could be wrong. Do you think the UK will leave or remain in the EU?
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'In short, what you both have described is pretty much the last 50 years, so it will probably continue as it is now.' Its cool you pointed that out because I based the 2020s predictions from the late 1940s.
America 10 years ago was when its stock market crashed which resulted in the 2008 financial crisis, if the UK is 10 years behind we can assume that the UK is headed for an equally severe economic crisis if it hasn't happened already.
'to clarify, declining from now, or from the peak of 'living standards', if so, what year was that do you think?' I meant declining from now, I'd largely blame climate change for the upcoming decline in living standards but for the sake of the thread I will blame economic and social dynamics as they are contributing factors too.
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Thank you for your input :) And indeed 2010s saw the biggest political shift since the mid-1900s and politics will continue to change for a few more years to come (until 2030 max.), some people feel threatened by this new political climate while some embrace it.
'Putin held a press conference where he gloated and bragged that the US was in extreme decline, no longer the major power and how trump took his advice. We sent some umpty-ump there last week and he, supposedly an aggressive man, allowed Putin to insult American symbols and chuckled along.' With the way Donald Trump is headed and the fact that he is friends with Russia and North Korea, it is not farfetched to assume that Donald Trump may do to America what Putin or Kim advices him to do, as Donald Trump is willing to sacrifice American liberty for profit and to maintain peace.
'I am encouraged by the younger generations becoming a political force.' It is unlikely that you will be disappointed by a lack of young voters. It will be the decade where Gen X take over the white house, you could see the first Gen Y candidates and by then Gen Y will already be changing the world. The voice of Gen Z will become more influential too and by the end of the decade many Gen Z's will vote.
We will likely see the first Gen X president after Trump, the president would more likely be less conservative and would more likely deal with things in a sensible way as the president guides America through the next crisis of the mid-to-late 2020s.
Generation Y will most likely be more liberal than Gen X but they will value social and national security more than their parents will. They will likely vote for a liberal or socialist candidate that promises for free healthcare and education.
Generation Z will care the most about the environment, by the end of the 2020s a lot of Gen Z individuals may become green activists.
The 2020s could be summed up as a battle of the generations, with Gen Y and Gen Z growing more tired of reckless consumerism and capitalism, Gen X gladly taking the Baby Boomers place with the remaining Baby Boomers trying to remain in power.
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'more surveillance I bet, secretly going towards George Orwell's vision.' Very likely! Today we can share everything about ourselves (even our genetic code!), the trend of sharing everything about ourselves will continue to grow in the 2020s and could be the defining feature of the upcoming new world order.
Gen Y in particular are known to share everything about themselves online, in the 2020s Gen Y will make up the majority of the workforce which would mean that you are required to share your private information at the interview. This could expand into every area of our life and it will be increasingly difficult to keep your information private, but Gen Y will probably thrive the most in such an environment as they are more likely to give up their privacy. On a more positive note, there will be a decrease in terrorism and crime.
I worry, and this is a bit far fetched I know, what if we get a dictator in power, and turns Britian into a communist country, and then everything I've written and commented on youtube on the conspiracy theories, blaming the government for corruption, and stuff I've said about Trump's hair and Theresa May's dancing - I'd probably be rounded up and put in a prison camp. But don't think it's gonna get that far.
It likely won't get that far, at least not in America/Britain anyway so you should be fine :)
But it probably wouldn't be wise to troll online in the 2020s, trolling (in particular cyber-bullying) might become a criminal offence and it will be much easier to get into trouble and have your identity tracked by law enforcement.
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True, no matter what year it is some things never change, that people in power will always allow human suffering for the pursuit of profit.
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Thread edit:
(Note: This focuses heavily on Gen Z and may seem out of topic.)
Thinking about Gen Z and what year marks the beginning of their generation is yet to be determined today, and I can't see the range of Gen Y and Gen Z to be fully confirmed until by 2030-2035.
When first posting the thread I marked the beginning of Gen Z at the time when 9/11 occurred (as controversial as that is), sure the event triggered the war in Iraq but it did not trigger a change in political leanings like we see today (2018).
Although 2001 is indeed a possible starting point for Gen Z, the most likely year I think is 2008 when the global financial crisis barged in like a rude awakening.
2008 changed the political climate more than 2001 may have done, the western world and many people got deeper into debt. In 2010 the conservatives took over the British parliament when David Cameron promised to improve the economic situation, in 2016 the Americans wanted a leader who would get them out of debt and to stay relevant which resulted in Donald Trumps victory.
2008 was the end of reckless spending, credit card purchases and economic consistency. But marks the beginning of Gen Z, a generation raised by worried parents wrought with uncertainty, growing up in a world that is becoming more authoritarian and to come of age as cautious and conforming citizens of the future new world order.
In the year 2020 the age range of Gen Z would be 0-12 years, in 2025 0?-17 and 2030 0?-22.
Spite their young age Gen Z will still be a political force to be reckoned with, especially by the late 2020s. Although they will likely be too young to vote, they will join inn the activism and will care much more about the environment than the previous generations.
About half of Gen Z's will grow up in the new world order where censorship and security is compulsory. Gen Z will probably look up to Gen X having an idealized view of the 1980s-1990s, a time of rebels, of manliness, of woman power dressing, of excess, and having the freedom and confidence to express oneself and to say what they really think.
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Many new technologies we saw in the 2010s would be commercialised on a larger scale by the 2020s, technologies like virtual reality, 3D printing and robotics with sophisticated AI.
3D printing will become more practical and could become an affordable product for the public by 2030, 3D printing has the potential to revolutionise how a lot of products will be made since the potential of 3D printing is massive.
It is even possible to create synthetic organs using 3D printers, which in itself will revolutionise healthcare.
Virtual reality too will become more practical and affordable for the public, its level of commercial success will affect little of peoples attempt to improve its immersion. In the 2020s virtual reality headsets will likely be downsized into portable wireless glasses/goggles.
Researchers will continue to study robotics and AI. Robots will slowly replace humans in war, humans in factories and humans in data management, this process will not be a fast one and a process which will likely result in unemployment. The rise of Neo-Luddites (which will consist of people who fear technology and people who have lost their jobs to robots) is a real possibility in the 2020s and a movement that may disrupt the robotic movement.
Artificial intelligence will be implemented in the management of data as they are better at mathematics and do not tend to make mistakes, AI may also be implemented in the management of the economy in the hopes of preventing the next stock market crash.
The new technologies that we could see in the 2020s are as follows: Vertical farming. Vertical farms are greenhouses made into skyscrapers, they could revolutionise agriculture for later decades as climate change makes traditional farming more difficult and less productive, it will be a practical solution too as more and more people will be moving into cities.
Vertical farms would likely be self-sustaining as they water their plants with captured rainwater and run on renewable energy.
We will likely see the first vertical farm in the 2020s, and soon after more will appear.
Hypersonic flight. The first hypersonic planes will be in use for the public, especially for the rich. They are the 2020s equivalent of the Concorde from the 1970s, hypersonic airplanes will be much faster and will be able to fly higher in the sky. This technology will expand into hypersonic weaponry, which will be used in missiles and bombs.
5G technology. 5G technology means a faster internet, increased storage capacity, and increased internet connectivity. Gadgets will run much faster and internet delays could even be a thing of the past.
In the 2020s we may see a trend where more and more things will be able to connect to the internet, even mundane items. We could see tables with touchscreens, fridges with touchscreens, doors with touchscreens, we could even see touchscreens on walls.
Smart grids. Smart grids will be used to better manage our use and storage of poweresources, more and more houses will be connected to the smart grid. This will be a gradual process and won't be fully implemented until the 2030s.
Advanced drilling. This technology will likely be used to drill out the remaining sources of oil, gas and coal. It would also reveal more sources of energy that were previously undiscovered, could potentially replace fracking.
Gradual technological projects: Cars will slowly switch to electricity. It is not likely that all cars will be electric by 2030, but we will see a big increase in hybrid vehicles and an increase in electric cars. It will be easier to have an electric car as they become more efficient and power outlets will appear in many petrol stations.
Increasing commitment to renewable energy. More solar energy will be built, more windfarms will be erected, more geothermal plants will be constructed and more hydro-power plants will be installed in our rivers.
Breakthroughs in carbon-capture. In 2015 we have reached a dangerous atmospheric level of carbon dioxide, today some people are working hard to build carbon-capture plants and research a more efficient technology. By the 2020s we could have a more effective way to capture carbon dioxide from the air to store or sell, whether or not we will fully commit to this technology is yet to be seen.
The 2020s will indeed be an interesting age of technological upheaval, I nearly forgot to mention but it will also be an age of space exploration, India will conduct its first space mission and space tourism will be available for the rich.
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I do think that the 2018 November election will indeed have a significant affect on how the beginning of the 2020s will play out.
If the Democrats win Donald Trump would be impeached and his ability to rule over America would be dramatically weakened. More aggressive investigations will be made against Donald Trump, going so far as to attempt to overthrow Trump.
'ATM, Joe Biden is the most popular choice to run in 2020. baby boomer, obviously.' If the Democrats win it will surely make Bidens presidency more likely.
If the Republicans win Donald Trump would likely be in the same situation as before, except for a slight increase of approval for Trump within the office which will give him more power to implement his wishes. With the liberal-democrat movement being on hold.
Either way political division will remain in America as both sides continue to jostle for power, with political violence further increasing. I cannot predict which side will win, especially after the 2016 election where everyone thought that Hillary Clinton will win.
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Thank you, but you have contributed much to this thread, so thank you for that also. :-D
Tea party rule would set us back disastrously.
Without a doubt and would actually add to the list of things to protest against for the liberals. If the Tea Party rule came to be I doubt that many people would allow it to run for long, especially if the majority by then have liberal leanings.
This may seem like a longshot but a republican victory could result in California vouching for independence, I do think that we will see at least one state earning independence at some point in the future, even as early as the 2020s.
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The mid-term election results will make Donald Trumps re-election much less likely and his impeachment or resignation more so, drama within the white house will intensify more and more while Donald Trump remains in office. Such white house drama and the possibility of Trump impeachment will make the majority of American news.
What does the election results mean for the next election? There will be many more prominent Democratic candidates in 2020 and will have better chances of winning in my mind. The fight for the first woman president in 2016 may pale in comparison in 2020, there will be more women democratic candidates who may have more popularity than Hillary Clinton did. I'd be surprised if we do not see the first woman president by 2030 since many democrats are working hard to achieve their progressive milestone.
I'm gonna type in my current prediction of the 2020s, which mainly focuses on the Western world: The Democratic party may further dominate the white house progressively and will eventually look back at Trumpism as a temporary mistake or hiccup, a mistake that they blame Russia for. Relations between Russia and America could turn sour especially if the Republicans win votes even though the American public actually favour the Democratic candidate, Republicans may blame Russia or declare a war against cyber-hacking since voting numbers are very easy to tamper with.
Cyber-security will be heavily funded as a result, the government will hire skilled hackers to protect their voting numbers and other sensitive data from would-be hackers. Not long after more organizations will increase their cyber-security, hacking will become a more sought after talent and will become a valid way to make a lot of money.
However the internet will become more and more security enforced, in my mind it would not be far-fetched to assume that you will need a licence to use the internet and a record free of illegal hacking. The use of the dark web will explode in use, the government would likely make the dark web illegal to use due to the threat that hackers have on society.
I have mentioned that our society will become more strict and authoritarian and in my mind the Democrats will be the ones who will establish the New World Order. This process may begin in earnest in the 2020s, SJW's and feminists may likely have more power to enforce their ideology, many white will allow this to happen since they fear being ostracized for being racist/sexist.
I think the most accurate representation of the upcoming New World Order (which would be at its peak through 2026-2032) is 'Demolition Man', which is a film where a man from 1996 is frozen and thawed in the year 2032.
In the movie everything that is deemed bad is banned or illegal, people are more soft and are less equipped to deal with hard times. People in 2032 see themselves as the most enlightened and most peaceful people in history, and see people from the 20th century as 'savages'. I don't think that the upcoming New World Order would be as extreme as the society seen in Demolition Man, but it would likely share many similarities.
Here is a video link of predictions made by the film that may come true:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exILtC-3c_I ----------
*Democrats may blame Russia or declare a war against cyber-hacking since voting numbers are very easy to tamper with.
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'the number 1 issue among citizens is healthcare. young people are also more ambitious in making education available for all and regulating gun control.' I noticed that young people are already working aggressively on regulating gun control, eventually gun control will be implemented I think which will result in outcry but the majority will approve.
Free or cheap healthcare may likely be implemented too, I can see this happening after the legalization of cannabis and the explosion of profit following the legalization.
Nearly all young people approve of the legalization of cannabis so it may be inevitable as soon as they are able to, cannabis tax will allow America to afford free healthcare which many people by then will be protesting for.
At the moment these events are in the air which is now surely cementing into reality, these events may truly take off when the next democratic president is elected or maybe even before that.
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I cannot say for sure what will likely happen and how or in what order the following predictions will play out, but I think that sooner or later our government will be replaced with something else.
I've noticed lately that some people are not taking our governments seriously anymore and the people who feel that way do not see them as competent leaders, this trend will grow in the 2020s as fast as technology will.
Today the biggest threat to our outdated leaders is the internet, and I can see the government trying to control or censor the internet in a desperate attempt to stay relevant. Technology is advancing much quicker than our outdated leaders can keep up with and our society is moving ever faster, even today we can see that our leaders are not as effective as they once were in the 19th-20th century.
Today there is a British environmental 'Extinction Rebellion' movement who feel that the government has failed to take conservative measures to protect the environment hence threatening the future of our species, the 2020s will see a significant rise of similar groups who feel that their leaders have failed them.
The widespread unrest will spread the idea that todays government is no longer effective and may reach to the point where nobody takes the current government seriously anymore, this could result in a global power vacuum in which a new form of government takes its place.
As for Trumps presidency I cannot say what would happen, if Donald Trump wins the next election in 2020 his influence would more likely cause countries to pull out from the Paris Emission Agreement, the current protests in Paris may be a possible recipe for France itself to postpone or even cancel the Paris Emission Agreement.
If Donald Trump loses the next election or gets impeached then a Democratic candidate would likely take his place. A Democratic president will likely replace Trump at some point in the 2020s, the chances of Democratic dominance will increase as the decade marches on. If not 2020 then much more likely in 2024.
Due to personal bias I cannot see the Conservatives fairing as well as Donald Trump, if a public rebellion were to happen the Conservatives would likely back down and implode due to resignation.
The 2020s will indeed be a time when the current government will gradually crumble as they cannot keep up. The point where the government gives up their power would not happen until probably around 2025-2040, but until then they would likely try to remain in power as long as possible while the public and the internet grow stronger.
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The 2020s would also be a time much like the start of the Industrial revolution, in the 1700s machines took peoples jobs and the rich got richer while the poor got poorer which rhymes a lot with today.
During the peak of the Industrial revolution in the 1800s London was over-populated and many working-class people suffered terrible living and working conditions. The 2020s may not be like 1800s London but at some point in the future it would reach to the point similar to 1800s London, how would this happen?
We are going through a trend where people are seeking for scientific methods to achieve immortality, knowing us this trend will never cease to grow until we actually do achieve immortality. The 2020s will likely see medical breakthroughs and a boom of immortality-based projects, hypochondria and health-obsession becomes normal, people use technology to monitor their own health and strive to live the healthiest longest life possible.
The 2020s will see a boom of personal healthcare which recommends lifestyles medicines and diets best suited for your genetic make-up.
The rich will likely have the most access to the latest cybernetic implants to extend their lifespans as well as the latest medicine, the 2020s would likely be the start of the Transhuman revolution as cyborgs become more common. The first Transhumans would likely be rich people while the poor people fall behind, the Transhuman trend may reach to the point (2035-2100) where we have a society of a powerful minority of elitist cyborgs and a great number of working-class humans who are struggling to survive, working-class humans may not be able to afford cybernetic implants and would likely die of a natural lifespan while cyborgs live longer.
The future Transhumans would likely not allow the majority to have access to life extensions due to the fact that the Earth may not be able to sustain such a high population, hence they believe that many people will have to die for the 'greater good'.
Below I have listed some likely trends of the 2020s for fun :-D
Likely trends: Britain and America continue to decline as global superpowers.
More people move into cities from rural areas.
Cities continue to grow into cosmopolitan centres of civilization while more rural areas become neglected.
The first megacity, likely in Asia.
More people get sick because of pollution.
The middle-east is the wealthiest region.
The first trillionaire, the rich become more rich and the poor poorer.
Unemployment reaches crisis levels as robots take over more jobs.
Neo-Luddite risings.
Environmentalist terrorism and uprisings.
Increase of obesity.
The first water wars, by 2030 water will be the most fought after resource and will become a weapon of war.
Increase of meat consumption.
More and more unemployed people get involved in protests and activism.
A continuous refugee and migrant crisis, in response right-wing and nationalist counties further reinforce their borders while left-wing countries allow the migrants to immigrate.
America accepts more refugees after Donald Trump leaves office.
A higher risk of war including World War III.
China becomes the first technocratic state.
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I think Donald Trump would have to be lucky to remain in office until 2020, his disproval rating is generally one of the highest in Americas history if not the highest. With the way things are at the moment my gut feeling says that Donald Trump would more likely be impeached than remain until 2020.
Elizabeth Warren is a likely candidate that would be the next president after Trump, especially if the Democrats end up taking the majority of the seats in the White House. There would likely be a few Hillary Clinton-esque candidates who will fare better than Hillary Clinton did.
Meat consumption has indeed decreased in the Western World as well as some other developed countries, however meat consumption is on a rapid increase in developing countries.
In terms of meat consumption the developing world is currently in the same situation that American was in at 1950-1970 when it was on the rise, even today American meat consumption continues to increase but I doubt this would carry on for long especially if America implements a meat tax.
Personally I think little would discourage the developing nations from having a taste of what the western world has, unless Veganism becomes strong enough to reverse this trend.
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Got some more predictions for the 2020s :-D
I may end up repeating a number of things I have previously mentioned already in this thread, but I think repeating themes is a way to work out likely outcomes as repeated predictions are a mathematical equivalent of working out the average.
Increasing unrest and stress: The brewing social unrest in the western world will heat up to the point it threatens the system (system being referred to as western society), many social unrests happen because the demands of society exceed the limit of what humans can tolerate.
Because of the technology that we have today, we have provided entertainment and other leisurely pursuits to distract the public from the pressures of day-to-day life and to offer temporarily relief, we also prescribe antidepressants to people who are depressed etc.
We have the technology to enhance the human threshold of tolerance and in our currant situation are prolonging the inevitable reform/revolution.
A reform/revolution: The 2020s will be a time with ever increasing stress, unhappiness and yet more unrest. A sense of powerlessness and a feeling of emptiness may be the primary force behind this trend as well as frustration, an increase of leftism being a primary symptom.
If a reform/revolution were to happen in the western world a leftist movement would likely take lead. The leftist movement would initially promise equality for everyone, that the system will care for every individual and provide free education/healthcare, peace and prosperity, and would also promise to solve unemployment.
Although the leftist reform would initially have good intentions things would likely not turn out as promised, while many leftists are moderate and tolerant the kind of leftists who would be in power will usually be the ones who want absolute power over everything.
Even in the 2020s soon after the reform people will notice that more things are being banned, political correctness would tighten its grip on personal freedom. This trend would set the stage of a socialist America that would eventually wane down in 2035-2065 due to hedonistic tech savvies.
More Technology: In the 2000s a cell phone was only an option because nobody needed a cell phone to be a functioning member of the system, in the 2010s however you are required to have a cell phone to be a functioning member of the system.
Imagine what would happen if implants became an option in the 2020s but became a requirement in the 2030s, it would not be farfetched to assume that you would not be able to do many things without an implant that tracks your health and/or any other information.
As technology advances life in the system will become more complex and stressful, technologies will often bring on problems not foreseen. For our currant civilization to survive it will have to reach a point where people are required to be upgraded so they can keep up and remain functional members of society.
The future leftist party would likely be pro-technology, because initially they believe that technology will solve all of our problems and will benefit humanity.
Worsening economy: The 2020s will be a time of worsening global recession, America would especially suffer from this. The economic crisis of the 2020s will likely be a huge contributing factor for whatever would happen in the 2020s.
The economic crisis could even result in a global shutdown and a global economic reset, it is possible that the reform/revolution would happen during this turbulent time.
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Thank you :-D I'm glad that my predictions make sense and are believable (that's what I was aiming for), and there is nothing wrong with eating meat so don't worry about that, I thought I would try and predict the future trend of meat consumption since I covered many other things too.
Donald Trump sure is making quite a power vacuum which will be released once he leaves office, it is likely that Trump leaving office would start the leftist dominance of American politics.
This could happen as early as 2019 but most likely as soon as the 2020s begins at the 2020 election, however if that happens there may still be a reform/revolution in the 2020s but it would focus more on making America more left as some liberals would feel like not enough progressive action is taken.
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+erikfinman: Hello Reddit!
You may have seen me at the top of
/technology the other day and I got a lot of messages telling me to do an IAMA about this
article on CNBC so here I am!
So I made a bet with my parents that if I turned 18 and was a millionaire, my parents wouldn't force me to go to college. I’m proud to say I won that bet! Thanks to some clever investments, making money from projects, and as is the case with everyone who has any kind of success (or even failure) a little bit of luck.
Here’s the story of how it happened:
When I was 12 years old in May 2011, my older brother showed me this technology that I fell in love with and found fascinating. The technology was called Bitcoin.
At that stage in life I had a $1000 saved up, solely a gift from my Grandma to use for my scholarship fund. It did not go to my scholarship fund. I asked my brother to help me put it into Bitcoin at $12 because I knew it would be huge in someway. At that point I had about a 100 bitcoins.
I continued to do ‘day trading’ buying low and selling high over the coming years as well and reinvesting the money.
Fast forward to when I was 14 in high school I was not enjoying school. I was in a small town in Idaho living on a llama farm. So the quality of the school system, was let’s say, not the highest grade. I found the classes to be boring, valuable to some people, but at least for me boring and teaching me in a way that didn’t make sense to me. Lessons that did not seem applicable in my life.
My teachers would constantly criticize people in the classroom. Especially me.
One teacher told me to drop out and work at McDonald's because that was all I would amount to for the rest of my life.
Another would force us to read other student’s grades out to the rest of the class to shame them for failing.
Another roasted me (me in particular) for the full hour of class. No teaching. It was literally the “Roast of Erik Finman”. Which now seems kind of funny actually but still very bad to do.
I went to a summer program to prepare me for the next year and found the best teacher ever in my life that changed my life who was from the UK. I got an A+ in advanced physics when I got a C- in basic physics the previous year.
With that knowledge. Since I didn’t have access to good teachers in my small town in Idaho. I wanted to fix it. So I learned how to code and created an educational website that would allow you to connect with Tutors/Teachers/Mentors online over video chat to teach you any subject you wanted to learn. You could search for Spanish. And find someone to teach you from Ecuador. You could type in programming and you’d find a CS college student that is trying to pay tuition by doing this on the side. Or a retired expert who is a veteran in his field that just wants to impart his knowledge onto others.
It became very popular in the local community! I told my teachers about it, but they did not like it because it felt like competition. Maybe they thought they might have to do better?
At this point I was 15 and this got some initial traction and I was using it to teach myself.
I asked my parents to let me drop out of High School to focus on this because I was miserable in school.
They agreed and were supportive, but they made a bet with me that I can drop out of High School, but I have to go to college if I don’t make a million dollars by the age 18.
I agreed and I dropped out of High School to work on this. A little bit after I dropped out of High School, and I had traction with my project. Bitcoin was shooting up! It was going big! $800! $900! $1000!!!!
So I sold a lot of my Bitcoins which resulted in me gaining a $100,000.
I used that money to put into my business so I could hire more professional programmers and I moved to Silicon Valley.
I even caught the attention of
Alexis Ohanian of Reddit because his book at the time
Without Their Permission is what got me started. He helped me in many ways!
Fast forward to early 2015. Eventually I found a buyer for the companies code & technology in January 2015. The investor offered either $100,000 or 300 bitcoin, which had dropped in value at that time to a little more than $200 a coin. I took the lower cash value bitcoin deal because I believed it was the next big thing and an official buyout would’ve been very difficult for someone under 18 and it was good tax planning to use Bitcoin. Also continuing to do day trading on a daily basis.
I used some of that money in the coming years to travel the world. Going to London, Dubai, Australia, and more!
I used that to start a VR company using crowdfunding and that did well. I shipped all those out. It was incredible!
Now I’m doing a satellite as part of a NASA award which is launching in November out of New Zealand! I'll probably do another post about this soon because it's so cool.
Elon Musk has always been hero of mine. He's such a talented guy changing the world with Tesla and SpaceX. I'm a great admirer of his and respect him immensely. He's the closest we have yet to a real life Iron Man. But who knows maybe I'll
beat him one day haha ;-) After all we stand on the shoulders of giants right? haha that's a big goal though and I say it as such.
It’s been a fantastic few years! I’ve used that money to learn how to do a business, invest, and learn about the world! I didn’t do investing all the time and I used that money to build things that I thought were important! I haven’t done everything perfectly, no one has! I’ve made some humbling mistakes, but had lots of exciting successes! I’ve really launched my career in exciting ways and have met mentors that help me and advise me along the whole way! Which I’m so thankful for!
I’ve learned so much outside the education system and have been so much happier. Although I’m unique, I’ve met many many people that weren’t satisfied and unhappy — ranging from students with the lowest and highest GPAs. My GPA was a 2.1 in school!
And I’m happy I’m not going to College! College wasn’t for me but it was the ‘life path’ you are supposed to go on and I did not want to go nor felt it would’ve helped me too much in life — especially the $250,000 in debt! Or $249,000 with my scholarship fund if I had not used it on Bitcoin and my projects ;-)
I really believe the education system needs to be reformed and I think technology is the way to do that. I think it’s wonderful how society allows you to be a ‘student’ so that you can learn for many years and that’s your full time job. The infrastructure would just ideally be much better so you could do that without being in sometimes a bad environment and crippling debt.
I can say today that I own 403 bitcoins which is currently valued at $1,092,678.08 with the price per Bitcoin being at $2,711.36 plus some other money invested in other things. Can’t have all your eggs in one basket! So I won the bet!
If you have any questions let me know! And if you want any advice on cryptocurrency or your own educational route, or anything else let me know!
Also on reddit! People have made Pepe memes of me! I feel like I've finally made it:
http://imgur.com/gallery/06dWK If you want to keep updated with everything I’m doing! Follow me on twitter! Proof:
Proof of the bet:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/erik-finman-botangle-after-100k-bitcoin-score-15-year-old-creates-startup/ Travel proof:
http://imgur.com/a/kvlzR Proof: I went through rigorous proof verification and fact checking with CNBC as you can see with this
article. I keep my Bitcoin is super secure places spread out across multiple wallets across multiple machines. I'm so paranoid after all this media attention someone is going to steal it all! haha
Proof of growing up on the llama farm:
http://imgur.com/gallery/6scF5 ---- ASK me about the time the llama came into my house!
Proof of the 100k initially made:
http://mashable.com/2014/06/10/botangle/ Proof it's really me:
http://imgur.com/a/zc3eu Edit: Wow! Thanks for the gold guys!
Edit: Was on for the first few hours of the AMA and had a meeting to go to and I just came back now to see all these great questions! Questions I all have answers to! I will respond to them tomorrow as it's midnight here now.
Edit: That's it for me! A lot of great questions and a lot of great feedback.
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