Loca Lingo Multicultural

Ok, for the French I can say he will still need some practice, but the way it sounds is definitely there… amazing what tourism can bring… global economy at a street’s level.

It has been a long time since I wanted to write about this movie. Not as serious as the ones I am used to, but witty & clever.

From now on, I want to add a dedicated category about the “future” (”futurism”), already started with previous articles about the Raymond Kurzweil’s theory, or Jacque Fresco’s vision. There are many different theories, visions out there, many schools of thought, many artists, many dreamers. The aim is not to give a political vision in 100, 200 or 500 years time - for this, just turn to history ; there has always been a country powerful enough to impose his cultural hegemony, usually followed by a collapse, and another country more powerful to take over the lead. A big CLASSIC.

The aim is to have an idea about how different living will be from today, how differently we will interact - how cross-cultural we will become (what if we discover life on Mars ?). This section, as you understood won’t be about selling Ipods (Apple is a big marketing scam anyway) or computers like many fellow bloggers do, but to have hints about tomorrows on a much more strategic approach.

The hypothese of “idiocracy” is the following :
“Evolution is not rewarding the most intelligent, but the ones who reproduce the most”.
University educated couples won’t be procreating anymore, education level will disappear, scientists will be so busy working on technologies that directly pay off (plasma TV, hair growing cream,…), and not on fundamental sciences, … in 500 years, the world will be just “dumb” and chaotic (Mad Max influence). In 500 years, being a world wide wrestling champion will be a necessary step to become resident at the white house (this could actually sound credible in a lesser time than 500 years)… but well enjoy the whole movie, it is a good one.

Yes, I am a stupid idealist who hope for a better tomorrow. I’m not only hoping for it, but writing about it. The only thing I can do, since I don’t have a penny to make it actively change…

Amnesty International, thank you for taking care of our freedoms. Reader, just pay a visit to their website - the information there is worthwhile, and probably uncensored. Participate as well to their projects ?

Another great Chinese Love song (the romance side of china),… a classic from Teresa Teng who died 10 years ago. You’d better learn this one by heart - after having listened at it, it will buzz several days long in your head… no matter what.
Chose first your version on either Youtube, Metacafé, and then follow the lyrics. The translation is like for the previous one (yuèliang dàibiǎo wǒ de xīn - 月 亮 代 表 我 的 心) more an interpretation (and not a transliteration (title). Enjoy…

Sometimes informal discussions at a bar on a Saturday night can be very intellectually uplifting. It does not happen that often, and might not in the future, if “Binge-drinking” (drinking lots of alcohol in a very short time) becomes a cultural habit in our societies… no more bar’s discussion, but bar’s puking “mate” atmosphere (happy to not be 20 years-old anymore).

A scientific (apparently a serious one, not linked to any weird cults or so - if not, please let me know), Raymond Kurzweil, has designed that around 2045, the human being could potentially become immortal ; in other words the aging process would be reversed, defeated by medicine progress to lengthen human life cycle. A transgression / transition that would arrive near : “singularity” as he calls it.

It would mean that instead of living maximum 115 years, being 10 000 years-old could be possible, just because medicine allows you that. At first, the idea scared me (life is already so boring,…), but then, I got pretty much excited…

Hereunder is the typical standardized middle-class lifetime in a West-European country

- 0 = Hello World
- 0-6 = Mummy, daddy
- 6-11 = 1st grade school
- 11-18 = teenager, 2nd grade school
- 18-23 = University, college, gap year, girl/boyfriend
- 23-24 = unemployment, first job hunting, girl/boyfriend
- 24-45 = work in a multinational company, family, kids
- 45-65 = work as independent worker (too expensive to the mnc) if lucky, education of the kids
- 66-85 = retirement, kids work and (hopefully) take care of you
- 85 = bye bye world, Kids will mourn you, educate your grandchildren…

Now, this is how it would go, if indeed we live 10 000 years ;

- 0 = Hello World
- 0-6 = Mummy, daddy
- 6-11 = 1st grade school
- 11-18 = teenager, 2nd grade school
- 18-45 = University, college, gap year, girl/boyfriend, 1st family
- 45-9950 = work (as an independent worker, in a multinational company,… every potential jobs), 200 families with 200 different wives and an average of 2 kids/families (exponential result - 400 direct kids who will found families on their side as well - at different period of time of course. A clan that could be counting as much as 80 000 head after 10 000 years) - impossibility to keep track with all the children, grandchildren, Grand grand grand and so on children - everyone is cousin with everyone, with a possibility to have a drink with ancestors part of your own family tree.
Real Estate price skyrocket ; 500 year’s mortgage payback is getting common.
Ocean, sees, and then (when technology will be mastered), space will get colonized (since time is not an issue anymore - a 10 year’s journey, that will be fine)… very needed, because world’s population would be doubling every 20 years. There is no more untouched natural areas on earth. Criminals having been sentenced to jail for a period of 345 years, can walk out free.
Suicide (or “accompanied death”) would become a common feature, people will have the right to chose when to die (if they want to)…
The amount of knowledge will be reaching such a level, that progress will go beyond today’s imagination. Religions will become obsolete - life after death being an “has-been” concept - Philosophies of Life will become the new trend. Quest of Happiness and Progress being the only reason to live…
9950 - … = until an accident occurs (space-car crash vs a meteoroid being common)

So we started with a series of Russian songs, we should now carry on with Chinese ones.
If you plan to start making business in China, there are 2 things you’ll absolutely need to master :
- being able to drink lots of whisky (alcohol in general), and still talk about serious business at the end of the night
- sing, or master a few local karaoke songs.

Hereunder is a (cheezy) classic, known by just a few hundred millions of Chinese… like for the Russian series, chose the version you would enjoy first, and then good luck… Youtube, metacafe and that’s it (Frenchy platforms do not seem interested in Chinese music…).

Unlike Russian, Mandarin Chinese doesn’t have any alphabet (it is a bit more complex, more pictograms/ ideograms…) - it will be pretty user unfriendly to list more than 300000…different words.
Instead, we will put a transliteration in pinyin. If you find the characters hereunder too small, just increase the size of the text with your favorite browser..

Pretty much a “soviet” song (1938)… that entered the local Russian culture.

First, chose your music version, through either Youtube, Dailymotion or Metacafé.
Then, help yourself with the alphabet below, or go straight to the transliteration - try to learn this song with the real alphabet (anyway you’ll need to master it before your journey)… if you want to carry on your immersion, have a look as well to Калинка, Kalinka