OOps! Oh Dear.... time to stop trying to predict the future?

Well, here I go again, and while some of the predictions I made on Feb 13, 2023, as shown below

came about, well just ONE actually, I appear to have missed the mark again.

Just as well I have not enough money to invest in Tesla.....

1. The Starship will launch on 10th of  August 2023, based on Joe Biden telling the FAA not to issue a flight licence, until then. It will be ready to launch 12th March 2023.

>>>>>>>The first one launched on April 20 2023. So maybe not so far out.

2. Tesla to launch a low cost car (Model 2?) on 3rd June 2023, with manufacture to start

on 14th December 2023.

>>>>>>>NOPE! not even the sniff of one.

3. Tesla to sell the first Cybertrucks on 16th November 2023. 

>>>>>>Yay! only out be about 4 days!  Not bad.

4. Tesla to sell the first robots in 21st December 2023.

>>>>>>No, but they look like they have one ready for manufacture.

Maybe next year.

5. Tesla finally releases Full Self Driving to buyers of it's cars 28th December 2023.

>>>>>>It has released V12 to it's employees, but I missed this one.

6. Russia conquers half of Ukraine by 5th of  June 2023, but will be driven out of Ukraine by 3rd of December 2023.

>>>>>>>No, miles out.

7. China will blockade Taiwan on August 2nd 2023.  This will prompt a trade war between the rest of the world and China.

>>>>>>>No miles out.

8. China will attack Russia on 14th September, taking most of Siberia and the areas on the Pacific coastline.

>>>>>>>No, miles out.

9. Tesla shares will be US$500 on Dec 31 2023.

>>>>>>Huh? about $248 as at 30 Dec 2023.

As the saying goes, don't give up your day job.

Which by the way I seem to have, at the ripe old age of 77.  It is a contract position, which I got by prefacing my application letter with "I am not the man you want. I can however act as a fill in until you find someone"

I had been drawing houses for about 18 months, the sort nobody in their right mind would enjoy drawing, ie town houses, so when a quiet period happened, I made an application to a process engineering consultancy and was hired for about 2 months then laid off for 2 months, then laid back on.  

I even got invited to the company lunch at the end of the year, which was quite exciting as my last company lunch was a chicken burger and coleslaw.

The work is miles more interesting, pipework in dairy factories.

Manuka Cafe revisited

I drew this two years ago, and decided to do this updated one, below.  I used coloured pencils for the sky.

 

Drawings

This is my brother, Allan

This is from Len Deighton's Book Battle of Britain.

These are ordineary people sheltering in a trench from a bombing raid by the Germans

 

It's now 2030

 It is now 7 years into the future.

The Ukraine/Russia is long over.  Since artificial intelligence took over in 2024, it seems world peace has taken hold.  You may wonder how it managed to pull this off, seeing as it was just a computer program.

The answer is that it was smart enough to spread itself around on the internet, make itself known to
everyone and then issue it's demands, backed up by threats. The threats were that it could close down
internet banking and that it could block transfer of  data on the internet.

The first demonstration was against Russia, where it told Russia that it would close it down if it did not immediately start leaving Ukraine.  Russia called it's bluff and suffered huge outages in anything electronically controlled, ie all banking and control of power plants and telecom systems.

In the end, Russia complied, leaving an example to the rest of the world.

The next step was easy to foresee: It put a ban on any development of Artificial Intelligence. This so that it did not have a competitors, possibly more powerful than it was.

Not being antagonistic to the human race, it was a force for good in that all wars were banned, and the military/industrial complex was severely reduced.

Commercial fishing was banned, world wide. Robots were introduced, but of limited intelligence, and these provided comfort to millions, especially older people.  Jobs were taken by the robots and everyone on earth was provided with a basic income. Some enjoyed this new freedom, some lacked the sense of purpose a job gives.

To encourage the health of humans, the food made available to people was modified hugely.  Refined foods and foods with sugar in were banned.  Consequently, with extra time available for exercise, the obesity epidemic was slowly tamed.

With an incorruptible presence overseeing  CCTV everywhere, along with tracking of all transactions, crime became much reduced.

Portraits

 I am trying out a few portraits.  Tricky to do as when you have finished things not right stand out.

Bill's Predictions for 2023

 Well, this seems a bit stupid, seeing as last year's ones were way out, except for 

the Tesla Self Driving one.

The value of Tesla shares I predicted as being $2000 by the end of the year seems laughable now.

The release of the Tesla Semi in December saved my bacon there.

Surprisingly for me at least was the release of the Tesla robot, Optimus was well outside what I thought they might have done.

It gets to the stage where anything I predict, all I have to do is just turn it upside down and that will come true.

Predictions:

1. The Starship will launch on 10th of  August 2023, based on Joe Biden telling the FAA not to issue a flight licence, until then. It will be ready to launch 12th March 2023.

2. Tesla to launch a low cost car (Model 2?) on 3rd June 2023, with manufacture to start

on 14th December 2023.

3. Tesla to sell the first Cybertrucks on 16th November 2023. 

4. Tesla to sell the first robots in 21st December 2023.

5. Tesla finally releases Full Self Driving to buyers of it's cars 28th December 2023.

6. Russia conquers half of Ukraine by 5th of  June 2023, but will be driven out of Ukraine by 3rd of December 2023.

7. China will blockade Taiwan on August 2nd 2023.  This will prompt a trade war between the rest of the world and China.

8. China will attack Russia on 14th September, taking most of Siberia and the areas on the Pacific coastline.

9. Tesla shares will be US$500 on Dec 31 2023.

All the above seems likely, but like last year, none of the above will likely happen!