Future Scares

To this day, FUTURISM remains the scariest proposition on the planetary agenda—not due to a fear of the unknown, contrary to what is supposed, it's that we keep advertising progress very enthusiastically, so long as it doesn't disturb our idea of how to make a quid!...

The future is hopeful, despite pessimistic evidence, and beyond a thousand years. Life on any planet depends on its commanding star, and OUR SUN has about 4 billion years to go before changing from the inside. This will modify the physical environment across our solar system, making life increasingly impossible on any planet. Technically, we could safely live here over a billion years—that is, excluding any kind of cataclysm or self-destruction—and if we went nowhere else in the meantime, which is as likely as trees growing arms to hug people every time someone walks by... We are bound for the stars. Where science is at, we may hold back Galactic Travel decades, but not whole centuries.

At a point in technical evolution, much SCIENCE-FICTION becomes natural reality so that we may become Aliens ourselves by 2991 or 2637. Not that we'd call ourselves that.

In other words, if life on earth depended on us, we could make it last all the way until our star's final evolution. As there are billions of suns, this process is a dime a dozen in the physical universe. Some civilisations in space died out when their sun died out, but others were able to migrate before it was too late. None of this will make sense if you don't know how to think in astronomical figures or what a light year is worth in time and distance.

The startling futuristic question is, how will we shape our world in the coming centuries—what would life be like in a million years from now?... When you know how much our world has changed in a short time—from a bicycle ride to a weekend on the Moon—how could trains & trucks be the same design in 800 years from now, how could you be in the year 3120 and not fly your scooter to the office?...

FUTURE SLIM
MECHANICS improve by becoming slimmer, not bulkier. LEAN TECHNOLOGY is the best hope in store, because we learn to be as efficient with less, to survive with light protection, as opposed to thick armour...

It's easy to say that the world has gone raging mad, you also have to see that SOCIAL WISDOM has improved over the centuries—and we owe it to science having given us a lighter way of life!...
Social Wisdom is our only hope, it can be achieved without any cynical undertone, because science will keep backing us up every step on the way!

We make hope for ourselves according as we live today—which comes down to how we use our heads!...

The HUMAN RACE is no weirder than any other species in space. What is wrong with us at this end of the Galaxy, we expect too much or not enough! Other people have other problems. In a nutshell, civilisations can only be more or less primitive, depending on scientific advance. And then there are the two stages of growth: two civilisations could be scientifically equal though one might be mentally younger and the other emotionally mature. From that viewpoint, Aliens are not to be seen as more advanced—they'd be doing just as we do, in the kind of world they are grounded in!

What matters is what you do when you become an advanced civilisation. There is growing danger when science reaches a high level and the population is not mentally prepared accordingly—because the ratio of psychopathic behaviour engendered by this discrepancy will exceed the frequency of social abnormality, regardless of genetic viability.

A Human Person is capable of infinite progress. However, we seldom evolve at the same rate as our creative offspring. This is a universal truism. We program our MACHINES to keep improving towards technological success, regardless of our own failures—and mechanical progress is indeed impeccable, being stronger & more efficient yet always less cumbersome. PHYSICALLY, we are also evolving along these lines. Trouble is, we see MENTAL COMPLEXITY as a sign of evolution...

Actually, some ideologies encourage people to become increasingly entangled in emotional complexity, while other ones promise paradise to those who show restraint. We then have a world for two rival humanities, one which aims at enjoying what's left of life as one rides a horse as long as it goes, and the other which refuses to enjoy anything, for fear of resembling its enemy!...

In a way, TERRORISM is a manifestation out of a JAMES BOND movie in the old days. STERN Eastern & WHIMSICAL Western Block metaphysics used to clash with intent to demonstrate that life works one way and if you are not in that club, you can't win in the end. GENDER WARS revolve about the same argument, where MEN grow STIFF on purpose, to prove that women would drive this planet in all directions, if they were at the commands, while WOMEN deny these biological allegations on the basis that you couldn't call it a world if it had no CHARM to it.

Excluding an EXTERNAL MISHAP, the worst thing that could happen to us—a human society now on the verge of Intergalactic Travel—would be for us to cling to expired notions. FALLACIES can never pose a global threat while people are still going by the oil-lamp—but when you can light up a nuclear candle to go to the stars, any small TABOO soon grows out of size.

WHERE WE STAND, nothing is more lethal to us than to keep promoting MENTAL LETHARGY as a smart New Age product... This rigid nuisance has made history so deplorable, many of us develop addictions just to forget who ran the show. Unfortunately, FEAR of FLEXIBILITY is where the game is still at. Only, we may now duck behind our more genuine emancipations as proof that we are no longer moonwalking... But then again, being so good at justifying ourselves, we end up losing sight of our merit—which explains why self-worth is INSATIABLE. We idealise an aggressive BEN HUR around the track but never seem to know what we have going for ourselves!...

We have splendid technology—but do we have any concise idea what to do with this planet?...

We perform URBAN MIRACLES on a daily basis, but can't handle such primary problems as IRRIGATION without fuss. Today's CIVIL ENGINEERING would be sheer utopia to anyone in the past, yet all hell comes loose when you ask for another dam!...

You could ask for outrageous wages and be heard, but if you want to upset Ministry, ask for water! This liquid must be a neurotic nightmare to politicians... These people will take any insult, but the sound of that word is cruel to them. They won't drink that stuff around the table with the family—not to mention in a conference, where every statesman is provided a jug, but the glass must remain empty. You get the evil eye if you reach out for the jug... Parliament's different, looking thirsty is not seen as vulgar. But the water-service is so far away, by the time the hostess brings your drink, the conversation has shifted to another issue...

DROUGHT has little to do with Left or Right Politics, what matters is whether an issue is able to be seen. FORESIGHT has always been the Jewel in the Crown of Political Art, in that sense.

The Future is OUR CHILDREN'S HOME and the day comes when we must ask ourselves whether we are being generous or practical in handing them out half a continent without water, another half with nothing in it, millions of square miles with 10 large towns, 500 smaller ones, and strictly nothing all around. The list goes on.

SURPOPULATION feels very real in a crammed bus on your way to work—but spend a day in a satellite, see how much waste land is still available everywhere, then worry again over lack of space!...

CITIES grow overpopulated when technology has no practical power over a million acres of nothing in every country. This would be a SCIENTIFIC IRONY, given that we already work miracles in space! Any critical demography in a near future would be a SOCIAL TRAGEDY. As to our grandchildren, they may be puzzled as to why being able to give should take precedence over what it is we give?...