eighties, the

1-04 — elektor january 1980 the • • the eighties Goodbye, seventies! January 1980: the beginning of a new decennium. It"s always interesting to try to guess what will happen in the next few years. Now, especially — so many predictions have already been made for this period, ranging from rosy optimism to the most gloomy pessimism. Every- body has heard of George Orwell"s book "1984" — even if they haven"t actually read it. We don"t expect to have a "Big Brother" within the next ten years, but what about all the other pessimistic prophecies? Are we to be killed by radiation when the ozon layer in the upper atmosphere disappears, or are we to freeze to death when our energy supplies run out just in time for the next Ice Age, or will we be roasted alive due to the "greenhouse effect" of all that CO 2 we"re putting out? It may seem strange, but we just don"t feel like being pessimistic. Technology is developing. The direction it takes is for us to decide; if we"re even half a...