VANCOUVER -- 2001 

Book stores (yes, there still are a few left) are currently promoting works by Li Pak, Tao Fu, To Yeun Ming, Bao Jiang and Mishima in window displays. Vancouver is different than it was way back in 1990.

"The time famine" is visible in a definite speed-up in the walking index (WI) of downtown pedestrians as the city adapts to the dynamic intensity brought about by the increased business activity from a continuing wave of affluent Asian and South Pacific island immigrants. In many ways Vancouver is now an Asian city. Acceleration of life here fits in well with the new IEMU (International Electronic Monetary Units) introduced world-wide in 1999.

Buildings are compact, as smaller but dynamic "sunrise" industries make much more efficient use of office, commercial and industrial space than a decade ago. The new fully-occupied buildings are "smart" (reacting to occupant demands) and fibre-optic wired for the hundreds of communications channels now available. Buildings are designed to accommodate higher temperatures and rising storm tides, expected as planet earth continues its coughing attack.

In contrast to life in the laser lane, the slower pace of changing traffic lights accommodates an aging populace -- even though built-in bionic lenses have restored their vision to 20-20.

In retrospect, the biggest change may have been the complete break-down of urban planning as more and more residential areas blatently continued to provide "illegal" suites for both residential and business use. More than 25 percent of the workforce operates from home.. Required informational, educational and entertainment retraining is readily and cheaply available at home via computerized classes. The brain atlas, a portfolio of PET, MRI and QSI brain scans, has replaced the resume in many job applications.

Beyond-the-classroom study is popular as environment takes on an even more political hue. Rigid concepts necessary in the old industrial age have broken down, and new styles more suitable to faster-moving times have wreaked havoc in other planning sectors. Where once you were "zoned" where to work, live, play or go to school, that planned sterility (which reached a zenith in the mid-1980s in Singapore) has been replaced by effervescent fractility, modeled through fractal mathematics).

Such traditional natural resource industries as lumber and mining, hard hit by ceramic houses, permanent AM (Advanced Materials) materials and molecular engineering and fishing by on-land aquaculture, are continuing to fade from the West Coast scene. The vocal and well-informed environmental minority have become a majority with substantial political power.

There is a renaissance of an oratorical and artistic aristocracy well-versed in electronic media manipulation and they are the new elite.

Some have founded and funded their own media outlets because restrictive government regulations on the now-unlimited electronic media spectrum went through a down-sizing procedure. The mere threat, back in the early 1990s of the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST), did more than any university to turn taxpaying Canadians into creative thinkers.

"Tax by-pass" has replaced the "tax avoidance" phrases of the 20th century. The GST didn't make it, because a nation-wide virus rendered a high percentage of cash registers unserviceable as tax avoidance grew into a national hobby. But a smaller five percent VAT (value-added tax) became standard in North America five years ago. This tax on goods and services created more quality-conscious consumers, and demand for goods with extended and life-long warranties increased dramatically.

Most real estate once occupied by traditional schools has been converted to residential parks. Some are built in the popular hanging grape cluster design that provides almost all condos with a 340 degree panoramic view. Options on both electric/natural gas cars are provided when homes are purchased, as cars are included with condos in the mortgage. Most new cars carry a 15-year guarantee.

With current housing costs running upwards from IEMU =200,000 (old Cdn $300,000) and rents for an urban two-bedroom apartment now IEMU = 1,700, old "rehab" homes are in big demand, in some cases even over newly-constructed residences. Two factors contributed to this demand. Demolition, disposal and transportation costs for waste materials have risen dramatically. And because of ever-increasing taxes, home improvement provides the highest return of any investment.

Recycling has created a growth in "Green Solution Shops", where environmental consciousness reigns. Their slogan is "be part of the solution, not part of the problem." Along with demand for non-chemically treated food is pressure for exotic, geneticallymanipulated fruits and vegetables with a higher nutritional content. Most come from overseas, as laws in North America formerly restricted genetic developments and resulted in the loss of this valuable sunrise industry. Patches and worn clothing have taken on a status role. Many environmentally-conscious individuals and companies are recycling envelopes to save the forests and emphasize a caretaker-of-theuniverse philosophy. Such guaranteed-forever products as some auto parts and Kyocera ceramic knives and scissors also sell on the basis of solving the throw-away problem. Edible packaging, once limited to the ice-cream cone and Vietnamese salad rolls is an integral part of numerous food products. Noodles and rice come in 14 colors and 87 shapes. The economic situation in the early communications age, when 60 percent of the working population were moving ahead and 40 percent were sliding backwards, has swung in the opposite direction. Social problems remain.

Companies are spending up to 20 percent of the payroll dollar on staff retraining as increasing technologies continue to change the workplace. Such cutting-edge companies as Apple Computers and Weyerhaeuser Corporation started the trend more than a decade ago. Retraining is a must for mere survival. Computer illiterates, known as techno-peasants, comprise most of the downscale 60 percent of the population who meke out a living in sub-strata service industries. Conversely, for the top 40 percent of the population working in the laser lane, salaries and income have doubled during the past decade.

Latest scenarios suggest that the rapid acceleration of the 1990s won't start to taper off until 2029. The ever-increasing world-worry today? An earthquake above eight on the Richter Scale. It would destroy Tokyo, now the world banking centre, and cause withdrawal of huge overseas investment funds for restoration at home, effectively bankrupting many Western debtor nations.

Aids, once close to elimination, is now endemic in Africa where more than 25 percent of the population south of the Sahara and north of South Africa has been decimated. Many genetic diseases have been eliminated or altered to minor ailments through current biotechnological gene manipulation.

Highly controversial robot "marriages" are showing up in widely disparate segments of society. Among punk rockers, over-40 suburban matrons and young, upwardly mobile lady executives, the latter termed "Wendys" in honour of the first local girl to walk down this futuristic lane.

The long promised "leisureland" of the future never arrived for those at the cutting edge. Technological developments springing from the minds of a more informed world population of six billion, with millions tied into the 24-hour world ISDN (Intergrated Services Digital Network) Network kept the 24-hour day humming. This, more than anything else, contributed to the lack of leisure time for those with the money to enjoy it and the term "laser lane" for their new route. The techno-peasants, who like those a century earlier had ignored the introduction of the newest technology of their day -pencil and paper and the three "Rs", reading, 'riting and rithmetic -found themselves with an overabundance of time as they were not equipped to handle the vast changes in the working environment. They had time but no money. The new "illiterates" never acquired the new three "Rs" -- Ram, Rom and Run.

A GROWING SEGMENT OF SOCIETY HAS JUMPED AT THE OPPORTUNITY TO JOIN THE "OUTLAW SECT" -- THOSE WHO QUICKLY USE NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO BENEFIT BEFORE LAWS AND REGULATIONS RESTRICT THEIR FAST MOVEMENT. BY THE TIME REGULATIONS ARE IN PLACE THOSE "NEW" TECHNOLOGIES ARE ALREADY ANCIENT.

THE AVERAGE SHELF LIFE OF A CONSUMER ELECTRONIC PRODUCT IN TOKYO IS NOW -- 90 DAYS.

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