This is a type of monthly 'calendar' post, with thoughts about some events--some widely-known, some less so--that took place in our world during the month that passed and which could be factors in how the world continues to evolve.
THE AMERICAN ELECTIONS
The U.S. presidential election is already a thing of the past and Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the USA--a development that has left governments and citizens around the world skeptical and even in shock.
In several previous posts, I had predicted he would prevail based on the fact that he represents the phenomenon of the people's devaluation of politics and professional politicians. In those posts I also made projections about what would happen four years from now and talked about the silver lining of Trump's election.
It's too early to judge President Trump from his moves while he's building his cabinet but we are sure of one thing: we have four very interesting years in front of us.
CASTRO
With no doubt, Fidel Castro's death was not only the most historic incident of this past November but of the last few years.
Fidel Castro ruled Cuba continuously for 49 years until he decided to resign so his brother Raul would take over power. Assessments of how he ruled and the result differ dramatically.
His death filled people around the globe with different also emotions. But even his supporters expressed mixed feelings--bittersweet for all of those good things that will be lost forever along with Castro and for all those hopes that were never realized and vanished after all those years.
The Cuban people now face their future without the guardianship of a unique, powerful, and controversial personality.
CRYOGENICS
Castro's death and the results of the U.S. elections may have been the most important events of recent years.
But the ruling by a British court permitting the cryogenic freezing of a fourteen-year-old who died from an incurable disease could be one of the most important stories for humanity's future.
"I have been asked to explain why I want this unusual thing done. I'm only 14 years old and I don't want to die, but I know I am going to. I think being cryo-preserved gives me a chance to be cured and woken up, even in hundreds of years' time. I don't want to be buried underground. I want to live and live longer and I think that in the future they might find a cure for my cancer and wake me up. I want to have this chance. This is my wish"
The teen's statement is an accurate description of the philosophical root for this science. The development of cryogenics will bring to surface and create confrontations on moral, religious, and social levels in subsequent years and decades. How politically correct is to send a teenager to a far away and unknown future? Will this method prove effective over such a length of time? Who decides and based on what criteria who will be the privileged people offered access to those "services"? And how this will affect social inequality? Many similar questions will be created and trouble us in the future.