The Future of Britain

SOCIETY
The world around us is changing incredibly rapidly, with new technology being produced virtually
yearly, new discoveries weekly, and with it, the way we, as humans, is having to change.
For instance, as I am writing this, merely this week we have discovered a diamond in space the size of Earth, an
“unfeelability” cloak has been invented, and scientists have simulated time travel using photons. Society as whole
is affected by these developments, and must be incorporated into many different areas – The government must
debate some new ideas and plans, religion is changing and becoming seemingly less influential, and the many of the
things that we do to enjoy ourselves may not have existed this time last century.
Society is one of the few things that people cannot escape. By definition, society involves all the people in a ‘more
or less ordered community’. The things involved are not limited, and indeed there are many controversies that fall
into it, and is where the infamous crossover between religion, science, and politics lies. There may be no right or
wrong answer; it is all up to your own personal opinion. But society will affect you, it is (in my opinion), leading
in the right direction, towards a cleaner, greener, less restricted future. However, I invite you to make up your own
mind about many of the issues discussed herein. As the author Henry David Thoreau summed up, ‘What is the use
of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?’
James Wheeler, Section Editor
Are we too
reliant on the
Internet?
James Wheeler
Nowadays in the world
of smartphones, ipads,
laptops, and many more
other internet-connected
devices, it is difficult
to avoid the use of the
internet virtually daily.
Studies have shown that Brits spend
forty-three hours – almost two whole
days – online every month. Surely this
is too much?
The internet is clea rly a wonderful
invention. Smartphones again have
changed the way we live – now we have
vast amounts of information in our
pockets, whether it be the BBC News and
Wikipedia, or Snapchat and Instagram.
You just need to get on a tube during
rush hour to see how many people are
on their phones at any one time: it is
simply accepted that you cannot have
a conversation with anyone else, as
people are engrossed in their screens.
There are huge benefits to having this
sort of information at your fingertips:
the football can be quickly checked,
any arguments can be (relatively) easily
settled, and you can easily keep in touch
with friends across the world.
However, this comes at a cost – it seems
that real, face to face conversations have
been declining. It is certainly a sad
state of affairs to see a group of people
together, but not actually talking to
each other, prioritising their phones.
The fact that families have had to resort
to banning phones from the dinner table
indicates a serious, widespread problem.
But it’s not just phones. Virtually
everything can be controlled remotely
nowadays, and one thing going wrong,
one experienced hacker, and there can
be catastrophic results. Watchdogs, a
recent game by Ubisoft, has picked up
on this: as Aiden Pearce, the protagonist,
you can control anything connected to
the Chicago ctOS (Central Operating
System), giving you the ability to
control traffic lights, hack ATMs, or
steal all the information you could ever
want about a person. Although only a
game, the developers have made sure
that everything that you can do in the
game can be achieved in real life with
the right equipment, skills, and a bit
of time. It seems like only a matter of
time until someone manages to use the
interconnectivity of, well, everything,
and who can exploit it in any way they
please.
But the benefits of the internet and
interconnectivity of data cannot
be argued against. Productivity has
improved tenfold; jobs have been
created which were previously hadn’t
existed; and globalisation has meant
that businesses, such as Amazon, have
reached sizes which could never have
been even dreamed of before the internet
– Amazon makes $83,000-worth of sales
every minute. Furthermore, information
can be shared virtually instantly to
anyone in the world; the lives of millions
of students worldwide have been easier
due to Google and Wikipedia, and the
days of trawling through pages and
pages of books for a quote are over.
Even simple things such as online
banking have saved time and money, and
have enabled millions of people across
Africa and other third world countries
to set up bank accounts, where the
money they have earned is safe.
In reality, the internet has benefitted
virtually everyone, both in the
developed and developing worlds. It has
revolutionised many, if not most, of the
small daily acts we do, and it is virtually
inescapable in the UK. However, we, as
a society, are in danger of becoming
addicted to our phones (especially
among teenagers) and to the internet,
and we need to realise that phones are
no replacement for actual face-to-face
contact. ƒ
A Changing
Music Industry
Sam Clarke
Guildford is a record
collector’s dream. Dusty
copiers of yesterday’s hits,
misses and just about
everything in between can
be acquired, second hand,
for between 50p and £500.
Ben’s Collectors Records, one such
retailer, is jam-packed every weekend
with enthusiasts of all ages, rummaging
in the boxes for that elusive copy of
Rubber Soul or, in the case of one of
my friends, Marvin Gaye’s Love Songs.
That music has changed over the past
thirty years is a given. Few could have
foreseen the impact of the internet on
an industry that was once dominated
by bloated record companies. The
differences, however, run deeper than
this.
We have not only changed how we
purchase and listen to music but also the
way we react to it, the way we appreciate
it and the way we let it impact our lives.
I’ll begin in East Greenwich, on the
21st June 2014, in block U10 of the O2
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