Jun 15, 2004 17:41
Science Fiction imagines all sorts of scenarios for our worlds future. We destroy ourselves through war or bad stewardship, we live underground or on a newly terraformed Mars or in a giant space station. We go through worm holes or travel in time machines, we allow ourselves to be aided by a benevolent {or not so kind hearted} alien race-who either wants to help us evolve or wants to eat us for dinner.
So many possibilities-none of them necessarily easy to picture in our current society.
I dont know how many if any are feasible, but I do know that our futures will be different then those of our grandparents and great grandparents. We will not work steadily until we retire, then rent a Winnabego and travel America's beautiful parks until we end up in a condo in Florida playing cards with other retirement community members. Too many discoveries, too many earth changes, too many political changes are shaping the face of our futures as we speak. So what will our aging eyes really encounter? OUr children's? I believe it would take something overwhelmingly profound to bring about the world designed for Star Trek. We are too caught up in accumulating to even chance that sort of lifestyle. Most of America would have a difficult time dealing with an alien invasion, as we have not changed as a whole all that much since the infamous War of the Worlds incident...we still as the masses, panic easily.
People have an easier time with the idea of terraforming Mars...but I dont know how well that scenario will play out either.
We are supposed to live in the present, in the Now...and this I try to do with sincerity and good humor. But the Native Americans have also warned us to live our lives mindful of the effects we will have on those seven generations from now. That, we as a civilization do not do very well. I cannot even imagine what awaits those 7 generations away. I cannot even imagine what awaits us a few years from now. Whatever it is, it is bound to be interesting.
When you look back at the HG Wells' of the world, and see how right they were about many of our inventions, and when you know that scientists have been working on Star Trek and other science fiction based technology...you can imagine that perhaps if those things are true, others are as well. Its a fascinating topic, filled with hope and fear. The future will be different, the true question is...is it out of our hands-predestined- or are we truly "the musicmakers, and the dreamers of the dream"? Only time-the most irritating of Earths inventions in my opinion- will tell.