Welcome to the world of the future. It's us. We're here. We'reliving in the improbable year 2004, somewhere in the far-flungfuture of Starship Earth. I don't think anyone, except maybe RobertHeinlein, could have guessed at the strange paths we took to gethere. The theorists of 50 or 60 years ago didn't even come close.If you go hunting, you can still find some of the old Tomorrow'sWorld films that show what scientists and statisticians expectedsociety to be like in the 1970s or 1980s. If their predictions hadbeen right, we'd have flying cars, fusion power, huge intelligentrobots (all of which look like the Tin Man with a glandularcondition) and absolute equality between the sexes. Apparently thetheorists of the 1950s assumed that in the world of the future, allmen would wear suits and ties, all women would wear ankle-lengthdresses, and all service stations, be they gasoline or fusion,would have a friendly Andy Griffith-type attendant with tastefullygrease-stained overalls to pump your fuel for you.
Not very inventive, maybe, but compared to George Orwell'sultra-bleak 1984, it sounded like heaven. The optimist believes heis living in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist isafraid it's true.
So where did we end up? It's hard to say. If society werepersonified as a single entity, I always imagined it would be somepoor idiot savant kid, capable of performing differential calculusin his head, but unable to stop wetting his pants every few hours.Think about it. What have we got, here in the World ofTomorrow?
We have television with 500 channels, $200 millionaction-adventure movies and real-time first person shooters, but weseem to have forgotten about books somewhere down the line.
We have Internet, GPS, hands-free cellular phones, textmessaging and video conferences, but tomorrow we will be going towar against our own species.
We've gone to the moon, perfected artificial insemination andtraveled faster than the speed of sound. We have computers, DVDplayers, inoculations, stereos and air conditioning, but we refuseto let two members of our race marry if they share the same set ofprimary sex characteristics.
In 1964, Nikolai Kardashev identified three high-endcivilizations and defined their basic characteristics. A Type Onecivilization has conquered war, disease, famine and poverty. It cancontrol the weather and has mastered the art of space travel. AType Two civilization has power needs so great, it must harness thepower of a star. It has colonies dotted all about the solar system,and is rapidly expanding beyond. �A Type Three civilizationhas dispersed itself throughout the galaxy. It can withstandanything short of the destruction of the universe, and possessesalmost godlike power.
And where do we stand?
Take a good look around. Next time you step into a bar, goshopping at Wal-Mart or watch the news, take a good, long look. Notat the gadgets and trinkets and devices, but at your fellowcitizens. Your fellow humans. The People of the Future. Ourpeople.
No, constant reader. We are, and will forever remain, a Zerosociety.
Write to Jonathan at
tenement_cellar@msn.com
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