Scariest TV Show

It was Saturday and I made the mistake of tuning in to serious TV shows. I was supposed to spend the weekend watching meaningless shows but somehow got hooked up on an intellectual discussion on the idiot box. Ah the irony; intellectual discussion and idiot in one sentence.

Anyways, the show was titled Prophet of Doom about several intellects talking about the crisis in the US. What got me glued to the screen was how the issues are closely related to us. I mean the US is not that far and it is just a matter of time before it comes crawling to Asia. And, what with Carbon Sunday and everything, the issues presented were very close to us.

First up was the issue of economy. The speaker (well, it is expected of me to forgot his name BUT he is kind of cute. The geeky kind of cute) touched about financial crisis, about the looming danger of sub-prime crisis. Well, if I must say, the usual gig about \'government should not be putting more credit in order to write off loan\' (or something along the line) and effort to kick-start an economy by the government. How Lehman Brothers nearly bring the US down to its knees and such; nothing new. It was almost a recap of the economy back when the latest financial turmoil almost brought the US down to its knees.

And then comes another interesting discussion; water. Yes, this really attracts me. \' We are not a petroleum-based economy, we are water-based economy\'. That line caught my attention.

It was not a secret that more and more countries are looking at what Singapore is doing. The island republic, which recycles almost everything, is recycling sewage water for drinking. Don\'t laugh; this might be the future unless we start looking at water as something very important, a commodity even. What with the erratic weather, it will be such a sin to have people wasting water just because \'we pay for it\'. Are we all aware that at places like Addis Ababa, water is extremely important? People over there have to talk slower and walk slower because they cannot afford to lose water in their body? Scary huh? Don\'t let it happen to us.

The rate of pollution is scary. In the US, there are signs in some places like San Francisco warning people that consumption of certain meals from water source may harm your health (according to the experts on the show). Water; the most important source in our lives have in turn become poisonous.

Next up was *drumrolls petroleum. Ah petroleum, fossil fuel, fuel, gas...yes, call it what you want it is still the same. The US is surviving with 5bn barrels per day production (bpd) these days when it used to be 10bn bpd. As a result, the US has to import fuel from oil producing countries (OPEC) to match the demand for 20bn bpd.

Why was there such high demand in the US when other nations like Switzerland can be a little bit greener? Maybe because of the population, yes, but couldn\'t anything be done about it seeing that fossil fuel is a finite kind of source? Of course, we will find another alternative but let\'s be real; it cannot be the same. Myanmar may be opening more bids for oil and gas blocks but how sure are we that the source can last for about ...say another 300 years (yes, I am being overly optimistic here)? Can\'t? My point exactly.

Next, came the issue of food production. Population is increasing; there are about 7bn people in the world right now and management of scarce resources is becoming immensely important. Would we want to return back to the time when Sweeney Todd was supposed to be around and meat was seriously in high demand? Do we really want to? Thank goodness it has now become a worldwide movement to have people planting food near their places. Rooftop gardens and hydrophonic are now the option for food. It was just a matter of time before I can exchange my chilies for your tomatoes; for example. Well, granted I do get around to planting those chillies.

Artifical intelligence. Minority Report, Eagle Eye bla bla bla. Yes, it is the future. More robots are being created in places like Japan and South Korea, considering the greying society that we are in (not Malaysia, yet). Robots are being placed in nursing wards to help nurses check on the elderly in South Korea. Maybe that was a far-fetched example so just look at your smartphone. It\'s very little that the little computer cannot do these days, short of help me losing weight (but not limited to). For some, the device has become so integrated in their lives that it has been glued to our arms.

Just imagine having a robot in your house that can help with the household chores. Not only that, it might also be able to have a human-like reaction, maybe emotions even. According to Moore\'s Law, integrated circuits will have double the number of transistors every two years. So, imagine having a robot that has near intelligence of a human initially. Every two years, the transistor number will go up again and before we know it, the servant becomes the master.

The processing capacity and time of the robots will far exceed those of humans. What if one day while washing the dishes, the robots think that oxygen needs to be eliminated because it made them rust? Doesn\'t that put us in danger? And of course, how can we exist without oxygen?

Last but not least, the fear of terrorism. I am a big fan of James Bond. Oke fine, I lied. I am a huge fan of Daniel Craig as a James Bond. What was being highlighted in the latest installation of the movie rang true. These days, we can never point out where an attack can come from. It can come from as far as the end of the world or as near as in our backyard. We can be afford to be suspicious to anyone these days. After all, didn\'t the Japs plant a spy who posed as a local Chinese during World War 2?

Not only that, there is a danger of nuclear war. The real concern was not to use the bomb bubt rather keep the bomb from exploding. Since we really don\'t know our real enemies, it is becoming harder to detect who will be stealing the nuclear source and start the war.

Scary isn\'t it?

Like what was highlighted in the show, never did US face so much crisis at one given time. The question looms, which crisis is more serious? IMHO, water. In the US, most of the states will be facing serious water crisis in the near vicinity ( I forgot the number. Must. Remember. To. Jot. Down. Next. Time). This means, most of the states are already facing the problem now.

This has to be one of the scariest tv shows that I\'ve ever seen because of the weight of the issues. It made me think; not enough to make me lose sleep but still, it made me think. I wish I can urge everyone to watch it and maybe make a difference but really, it is our choice. We can preserve the sources that we have now or we just don\'t care about the next generation. We can be selfish, based on the argument we will not live forever, or we can think about our grandchildren in the future.

As for me, I might opt for the greener way. For the sake of my kids\' maybe.