Transcript - “Listening Time” Episode 162

Welcome to the Listening Time podcast. Hey everybody, this is Conner, and
you're listening to Episode 162 of the Listening Time podcast. I hope you're all doing
fantastic today. I'm a little bit tired because I just came back from a run. So hopefully,
I'm not too out of breath to record this episode.
By the way, the phrase “out of breath” refers to when you're having trouble
breathing, because you're really tired. Your lungs are working really hard, like right after
you run, for example. So, I hope I'm not too out of breath, but you might be able to
hear me breathing a little bit harder than normal. But I'm ready for today's episode.
This time, we're going to talk about life in the future. So, I thought it would be a
fun idea to do an episode about some predictions that I'll make about what life might
be like in the future, maybe a few decades from now, or so. And so, these are just
guesses. I'm sure I'll be wrong on a lot of these. But I think it's a fun idea to just
imagine what things will be like if they continue with the way they're going right now, all
the trends that we're seeing.
Remember that a “trend” is like a tendency towards some direction, okay? So
there can be fashion trends. There can be trends in a certain sphere of business, or
whatever. So, I'll predict what things might look like if our current trends continue into
the future. So, this should be a fun one, and I hope you nd it interesting.
And remember that you can sign up for my advanced podcast episodes if you
feel ready to practice with English spoken fast, English spoken at normal speed. So, if
you sign up to become a Listening Time Family Member, you'll receive two new
advanced podcast episodes every month. So, the link to sign up is down below in the
description. That's www.patreon.com/listeningtime
And you can also sign up for my US Conversations podcast if you want to
practice with two people talking instead of just one. I actually just recorded a bonus US
Conversations episode the other day with my dad. So, that was a fun one. And for
those of you that have already signed up, I hope that you enjoyed that special episode
with my dad. And I think that this US Conversations podcast is great practice for those
of you who want to reach that level where you can understand more than one person
talking. So, the link to sign up is also down below. That's www.patreon.com/
USConversations And of course, you have the transcript for this episode down below
as well. Alright, let's get started.
Alright, let's talk about life in the future. What are some things that might happen
in the next few decades or so? Well, the rst thing I want to talk about is globalization.
So, I think that the world is already very globalized, which means that we're very
connected, people in di erent countries, di erent cities, di erent states. They are
connected, even though we're not all living in the same place.
So, the globe, the world, seems like a smaller place now because of this
connection, this globalization. Things are transmitted and go around to di erent
countries very easily. Like, for example, our movies and TV shows here in the US are
watched everywhere, even in the most remote places on the planet. By the way, the
word “remote” refers to something that is far away and isolated. So, even in the most
remote places, people watch our movies and listen to our music and things like that.
And that's part of globalization.
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 And one thing I think will happen is I think that travel will be easier in some ways.
So, I think that there are always projects that are in progress to create new trains and
high speed railways, and new modes of transportation, new ways to get places faster. I
think that that's the trend, right? 50 years ago, we couldn't reach as many places as
we can reach now with the same amount of ease.
When we say the word “ease,” we're referring to something being easy, right?
So, there wasn't the same ease when it came to going to distant places 50 years ago,
or 70 years ago, as there is now. And there are more ways in which di erent cities are
connected, and even di erent countries are connected. So, I think that in the future,
this will continue, and travel will be even easier in that way.
It might be harder in some other ways. Politically speaking, maybe there are
problems with borders, and, you know, wars and political issues and things like that.
But in terms of the mode of transportation, the di erent ways people can get to
di erent places, I think that will be easier.
And I think that more places around the world will be open for tourism, as
countries develop more. So today, there are many countries that can't really receive
many tourists because these countries are very poor, or have major political issues, or
just don't have the infrastructure to receive a lot of tourists. Maybe they don't have
major airports, or whatever it might be. I think that in a few decades, or whatever, some
of these places will have developed enough so that they can receive tourists. So, that
means there will be more places to go to, more travel destinations. People will discover
new places. So, that will also contribute to globalization.
And one thing that is maybe a negative about globalization is everything gets
smaller and closer and more familiar, and I think people tend to start to become more
and more similar to each other. Right? The younger generations today in di erent
countries are probably more similar to one another, then our grandparents’ generations
were in di erent countries.
So, I think as the years go by, and globalization continues, people become more
and more and more similar, and that kind of makes things a little less interesting in
some ways, right? That's not a huge negative, of course, but for someone like me,
who's really interested in seeing di erent and unique things, that can be a little more
boring when everyone seems like they're exactly the same… or not exactly the same,
but they're very similar. That's a little less interesting. But obviously, that's a small
negative.
And another thing related to globalization that I think will de nitely happen is
that English will become a stronger and stronger presence around the world, and minor
languages will start to disappear little by little, and some smaller languages will
completely disappear and will never be spoken again, unfortunately. I don't think this
will happen to other major languages. For example, Spanish is not going to disappear
anytime soon, right? French is not going to disappear anytime soon.
So, I'm not talking about those languages, right? I'm talking about languages
that have a very small group of people that speak them, or even languages that are not
that small, but the people in those countries are starting to speak English more and
more… that will also contribute to those languages kind of dying out over time. But I
think that English will grow stronger every year, and I think that the other major
languages will still have many speakers. And I think that they'll be okay.
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 But English is guaranteed to be the global language, in my opinion. I know some
people have di erent opinions about this. Some people say that it will be Mandarin
Chinese in the future, or some other language. But I disagree. I think that English is
already so embedded all around the world, in di erent industries, the internet, travel…
it’s so important already, that it will be very hard to reverse that, or for another language
to take its place. I'm not saying that that will never happen in the future. It might. But
I'm just thinking a few decades in the future. I think that English is 100% going to be
the global language.
But I think that people will still be learning English. I don't think that a few
decades from now, everyone will speak English, all the young people around the world
will have great English. I don't think that's the case. I think more people will speak
English, and there will be more people who don't need to learn English actively. But I
think that there are many places around the world right now that have a very low
English level. And that's not going to completely change in just a few decades,
because that usually takes time.
And so, I think that people will still be learning English. I'll still have a reason to
make English content, I think. Maybe I'll have to focus more on the countries and the
places that have a lower English level. I don't know. But I'm sure that people will still be
learning English in a few decades. But I think that English will be an even stronger
presence around the world than it is now.
And another thing that I think will happen in the future, is I think that many jobs
will change. I think most people would agree with me about this topic. So, I don't think
there will be as many jobs that are just normal service jobs, where you're just serving a
customer, maybe a cashier or someone who is bringing food to your table, or whatever.
I think that a lot of these jobs will become automated in the future, and maybe robots
will do them. Who knows?
But I don't think that this means that everyone is going to lose their jobs in the
future. I don't want to make it sound like this is the end of work for everyone. I know
that some people push that narrative, but that's not what I'm saying here. By the way,
when someone “pushes a narrative,” this means that they are promoting their idea,
okay, their perspective, their opinion about something. So, I'm not trying to push that
narrative, but I think that many jobs will change, and we won't need the same types of
workers then that we do now.
So, for example, when I go to the grocery store, I almost always try to go to the
self checkout lane, and not the checkout with the cashier. And not everyone does this. I
think that many people will still always prefer to have a cashier, a person. But I think
that a lot of people will change to self checkout, for example. And so, we won't need
as many cashiers, maybe.
So, I'm not saying that that job will completely disappear, but what I'm saying is
that maybe more employees at that store will be needed to help with the computers
and the machines for the self checkout. And there will be problems with those things.
So, maybe the employees will need to focus less on the customer service aspect of the
job and focus more on xing things or maintaining things, and I think you get my point,
right?
So, there will be a lot more jobs related to technology and automated
processes, making sure those are going well. And for example, cybersecurity…that’s a
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huge one. I think that we will need a lot of cybersecurity workers in the future to help
keep things safe and protect things.
But I think that the necessary skilled trades will still exist. I'm sure of this. For
example, when I say a skilled trade, I'm referring to things like plumbers, and
electricians, and mechanics, and people like that. These people will always be needed.
These people will always have business. And I think that these are really important
jobs. So, I don't think those are going anywhere anytime soon. I think that we will need
plenty of plumbers, plenty of electricians, plenty of mechanics, plenty of landscapers,
you know, all those types of professions. Right?
And one other thing that I think will happen in the future… this is just my
prediction, my opinion. I could be wrong. But I think that overall, in general, people's
health will decline and treatments will multiply. So, what am I talking about here? Well, I
think that we have already seen this over many years now, that people's habits have
gotten worse… not in every way of course.
Some things have really gotten much better, for example, like sanitation, and
plumbing and things like that. That extended our lives and made our health better,
drastically. That's probably the greatest invention in terms of human health ever, right,
is clean running water and waste removal and sanitation and plumbing and, you know,
drainage, washing hands and everything related to sanitation. That stu has de nitely
helped our health.
But when it comes to other things, other habits that people have, I think that
things have gotten worse, right? People have gotten worse when it comes to their
posture, sitting down for many hours every day in front of a computer, looking at
screens all day, right, not needing to walk as much and not moving around as much. All
of these types of habits have probably gotten worse all over the world over the years.
And of course, these things lead to poor health outcomes, right? An “outcome” is a
result. Okay? So, there are poor outcomes when you have these bad habits.
And people's diet, the food that people eat, has gotten worse over the years.
Right? If you look at many traditional diets around the world, in communities that are
more isolated and don't have a lot of contact with industrialization, you see that their
diets are much better, and their health is much better than just the average person who
lives in a big city. Right?
And that's because as our cities have developed, our processes have
developed. We’ve made our food worse, and we don't eat the same quality food that
we ate in the past. Right? So, I think that as time goes on, this will probably get worse
in many countries. As many countries, maybe, develop their processes and their
industries more, it will be the same thing everywhere.
We’ll have mass production of food and huge farms, with practices that aren't
the best for our health, right, and preservation techniques that aren't healthy, right?
And ingredients will be added for preservation and avor and di erent things that aren't
healthy. So, I think that this is the trend, and so I think people's health will get worse. I
think that, unfortunately, that will probably happen. I might be wrong, and I hope I'm
wrong. But that's my prediction.
And I think that there will be a lot of medications and treatments that are
invented due to these issues. Right? Some of them might be good, and I'm sure a lot
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 of them might not be good. A lot of them might have a lot of side e ects or whatever.
So, I'm sure there will be a big market for treating our declining health, unfortunately.
And I'm sure that there will be some breakthroughs in curing certain serious
conditions. The word “breakthrough” refers to when there is suddenly this big change
or discovery during some process, and it really helps things move a lot faster, or it
changes things completely. So, I really hope, and I think there will be some
breakthroughs in curing some serious conditions, some serious illnesses.
But I also think that we, as just independent people, will have to put in the e ort
to do the research and nd out about these breakthroughs, these di erent possible
treatments and cures. Because we can already see that with some major diseases, for
example, cancer. A lot of people assume that cancer is a death sentence, which means
that if you have cancer, that means you're going to die. But obviously, that's not true.
Right? Many people have had cancer and haven't died.
And many people have actually cured serious cancers, and you might not ever
hear about this if you don't actually do the research yourself and nd out about these
di erent types of treatments that have been developed, and di erent doctors that are
doing special things that aren't conventional, maybe. And so, there are a number of
promising treatments and doctors who have done great things when it comes to
treating cancer, but these aren't widely known, and there is actually, unfortunately, a lot
of opposition to these types of treatments and doctors. And so, you might never hear
about them, because they're not mainstream, and they're not the accepted practices,
or whatever.
So, I think that the same thing might happen in the future. We might have some
breakthroughs in curing some major diseases. But it won't be that, suddenly, everyone
knows about it and gets this cure if they need it, and then everything is good. It
probably won't be like that, unfortunately, for some diseases. But I'm hopeful that there
will be some breakthroughs in curing some major conditions. But unfortunately, overall,
I think that health will decline around the world. And I hope I'm wrong, but it's what I'm
seeing. So, that's kind of a negative prediction that I have about the future.
But I'll stop there. I talked about a few things, and I'm sure you might agree with
me about some of them and disagree about some of the others. But no one knows,
really. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
And remember that you can sign up for my advanced podcast episodes if you
want to practice with fast English. If you become a Listening Time Family Member,
you’ll get two new advanced episodes every month. The link is down below in the
description.
And if you want my US Conversations podcast to practice listening to two
people talking and not just one, the link to that is also down below in the description.
And you have the transcript for this episode down there as well. Alright, thank you for
listening to this episode, and I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.
*Get my training and advanced episodes: www.patreon.com/listeningtime
*US Conversations Podcast: www.patreon.com/USConversations
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