Rat Champs

Many people like to look at the future with a technological perspective, focusing on the advances that have the propensity to either aid or destroy humanity/civilization. However, there are many other ways to look at the future as well, or at least Peter Ward, Biology Professor at the University of Washington likes to think so. He, as well as a myriad of other evolutionary experts look at the future of mankind in a seemingly unusual way. Instead of predicting the future overrun with technology, they predict creatures of the animal kingdom ruling humanity. Well some retain the idea of “brute force evolution,” or the idea of increased and continued human domination, others foresee rodents and other animals believed to have genetic capabilities that surpass our own as the leaders of the future. An interesting if not inadvertently humorous look at the future.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7118065/

Science Fiction Becoming a Reality

Scientists are now building a new kind of robot capable of self-assembly and doing tasks too difficult or too dangerous for human beings. These robots are an early prototype being made in the UK with the hopes of creating a kind of three-dimensional artificial organism. Eventually, these robots will be able to manage their own hardware and software and heal themselves if damaged. Should we be worried? The scientist interviewed in this clip claims that there is no risk that the robots will take over. However, I think that fear of a robot take-over will only increase when these robots are introduced into society. The prospect of robots interacting and working with human beings isn't such a far-fetched idea anymore. And with a mind of their own, there is no way of predicting how these robots will act. So just in case you thought this clip was alarming, this next video is even more disturbing.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/832721/

A Horribly Pessimistic View of the Future

Since everyone keeps on posting past visions of the future, I decided to “think outside the box” and post some current predictions of the future of mankind or, more precisely, the current predictions of the dismal and hopeless future entailed in the complete eradication of mankind.

http://www.flowthefilm.com/
This documentary covers the very real and very dangerous problem of water scarcity. The status quo has led to an increased unavailability of fresh water. Now, with dramatic privatization of fresh water, water is less available to those who need it and is leading to an unavoidable global crisis. Don’t let my poor delineation of the film affect your willingness to see it: WATCH THE TRAILER.

http://www.climatecrisis.net/
This is the official “An Inconvenient Truth” website. I’m sure you already know about it.

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/supervolcano.html
This slideshow applies directly to the future of America. Through seismic feeds and geological surveys, scientists have discovered that Yellowstone houses the largest volcano in North America. The volcano is referred to as a “super volcano” in accordance to the VEI scale of predicting the magnitude of an eruption. Should the volcano erupt, Professor Bill McGuire of University College London predicts “more than 1,000 sq km of land can be obliterated by pyroclastic ash flows, the surrounding continent is coated in ash and sulphur gases are injected into the atmosphere, making a thin veil of sulphuric acid all around the globe and reflecting back sunlight for years to come. Daytime becomes no brighter than a moonlit night.”

http://www.nautilus.org/gps/scenarios/future.PDF
I don’t think you should read this document. This is probably the scariest report I’ve come across. It brings to light the devastating, and not too unrealistic, possibility of nuclear war and the all out destruction of civilization. It provides information on who has nuclear weapons, who might have them, who might be making them, who might use them, and who might give them to nations who shouldn’t have them. For all of you who have been putting off those plans of building a nuclear bomb shelter for fear of Armageddon, read this paper and get that inspiration you’ve been looking for.

http://armed-services.senate.gov/statemnt/2001/010308tw.pdf
This cite essentially outlines the most crucial threats to American life in particular. The Vice Admiral covers looming threats such as globalization, overpopulation, rapid technological development and proliferation, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, and intelligence threats. Wilson also hones in on American challenges such as with military mobilization, increases in crime, and foreign threats e.g. our old friends: China and Russia.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/apr/14/research.science2
The Guardian looks into the crystal ball and asks scientists to figure out how we’re all going to die in this article. An inference I drew from this article: we should all just give up right now. We have robots, epidemic, asteroids, cosmic rays, black holes, and even our own DNA out to get us. For the most part, this article covers the likelihood of these dangers happening in our life times. Luckily for mankind, most of these threats will come to fruition and kill us all in the next 70 years. At least we don’t have to spend so much time worrying about them ever happening, right?

Some special acknowledgements for our runner-up sources of Armageddon are: zombies, giant rabbits (Night of Lepus), food scarcity, aliens, sterility, the 2008 presidential election, oxygen depletion, mountain lions, eradication of a keystone species (bees and Mark Wahlberg), really bad eggs, gay marriage (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/06/huckabee-gay-marriage-wo_n_75680.html), chlorofluorocarbons, and the Van Buren boys. I apologize for my tasteless sense of humor.

I also apologize for only including these horrible specters of doom in my posting. Much like my generation, I blame the media. I implore you to find as many positive outlooks on the future as there are negative predictions. Other than The Jetsons, the current media tends to envision the future as bleak and apocalyptic. So you should blame the media for all the gloom and doom of my blog post. I know I do.

Reflections on Da Vinci and South Park

Leonardo Da Vinci is revered as one of the most progressive and innovative thinkers of all time. Long before Orville and Wilbur Wright were a twinkle in their parent's (or great-grandparent's for that matter) eye, Da Vinci had visions of human powered flight. Although he sketched and described in some detail early mark ups of a helicopter, tank, parachute, and even a diving suit, few of these resulted in physical models made by Da Vinci himself - much less improved designs. Nonetheless, several centuries passed and other inventors stumbled upon similar ideas, finally bringing them to fruition.

An artist's interpretation of Da Vinci's original airplane design.

At the time of this original rendering, people likely scoffed at Da Vinci's far fetched ideas as we laugh at the floating space metropolis and spandex clad citizens of our projected future. My point being that not every vision of the future has been some glorified sci-fi thriller. Contemporary thinking, ideas unfeasible to the common man, leads to progress. Obviously we do not all possess the genius of Da Vinci. Not everyone who dreams up the impossible can have it lead to something tangible (for instance, under no circumstance will I ever wear spandex...sorry Star Trek). Progressive thinking, however, should not be discouraged. Some have offered very accurate depictions of the future, and intelligent, forward thinking should be refined and honed, not passed off as rubbish.

For example: Trey Parker and Matt Stone!

Parker and Stone, the creators of the hilarious and often times offensive South Park, present us with their portrait of the future. In episode 118 the "Goobacks", or immigrants from the future, arrive in South Park, Colorado via time portal to escape from the suffering economy of 3045. South Park also explores the future in episode 151, as Cartman freezes himself rather than waiting for the Wii to come out. When a freak avalanche happens and Cartman wakes up in 2546, he discovers everyone is run by a communist United Atheist League and that technology has advanced and he still cannot play the Nintendo Wii. Parker and Stone use these two dismal paintings to signal social discrepancies and exaggerated views of what could happen if we allow certain behaviors to continue, not to provide a true description of their dream of the American future (or, at least I hope not).

So creative and inventive glimpses into The Future, whether it is intended for entertainment purposes or actual exploration into possibilities for tomorrow, can give us goals to work toward or show us what kind of fate we should avoid at all costs.

I leave you with a really cool website. Shorpy.com is a collection of really neat historical pictures. If we learn from our past, it seems like this might be a place to look when looking toward the future.

Changing Sexual Mores

“I had sex with my brother but I don’t feel guilty”

Our society’s opinion on different sexual behaviors has changed drastically over the last few decades. For example, before the sexual revolution of the 1960’s, having pre-marital sex with multiple partners was considered a serious moral faux pas. Now this idea is not only acceptable, but popularized in TV shows such as Sex in the City among others. Homosexuality is another topic upon which American opinion has changed; once widely viewed with disapproval, the homosexual lifestyle is now accepted by a larger portion of our society. A few futuristic writers have chosen to discuss sexual attitudes in their books, including Aldous Huxley in his book Brave New World. Huxley describes a society that encourages casual, emotionless sex even among children. While the vast majority of us would all agree that five-year olds having sex is wrong, the book still makes us think about future sexual mores.

The article I am posting is one I found online this summer. I thought it would be nice to write about the social changes of the future as opposed to the technological ones. In this article a woman describes her former incestuous relationship with her brother and begs the readers for acceptance. She states that her relationship was loving and devoid of abuse; therefore, people should not look upon her behavior with repugnance. This article along with the comments directly following it show a degree of acceptance that make me question if incest will one day be tolerated in the American future.

Television, Gentrification and the American City

So, I was just on the internet [finally] and looking up future sort of things and decided to Google: Gentrification of the American inner-city [just because I felt like it], and found FlowTV which is a "critical forum on television and media culture published by the Department of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of Texas at Austin." Random, right? I did not know such a forum existed.

But the main purpose of this post is to share a blog posted by a Tim Gibson guy from George Mason University and his peculiar observation on Television, Gentrification and the American City all culminating from a cast photo promoting Grey's Anatomy.

In brief, this Gibson guy analyzes the course of sitcoms based in the city, from the Reagan era to present, and how the views of the city and its inhabitants--also (or formerly as you'll see from the article) known as the inner-city poor have changed (positively?) over the past two decades to what they are now. Citing shows such as Sex in the City, Friends and even MTV's: The Real World, Gibson claims that such shows attempt to glamorize inner city living and give shape and example to city developers to make cities into real life sets mocking the look and life in these shows to make way for young professionals and move out the un-fabulous natives (inner-city poor).

Overall, I see this blog as a strong view of the future of the American inner city and can even relate it to Houston, or better yet the East End of Houston where I am from and of which is undergoing a slow, subtle gentrification, outwardly seen as a face-lift or “revitalization of a historic neighborhood.”

Radio-powered...everything?

The picture above is a vision of future life from 1922. It depicts an average day in the life of a business man 50 years into the future. The emerging technology of the 1920's was the radio and it is apparent that people believed the radio would be the answer to everything by the year of 1972. The items in the illustration are all powered by the radio and looking at how technology is now, I find it very humorous to know that this is how people many years ago envisioned what the future would be like. These days if someone suggested anything be powered by radio, it would seem pretty ridiculous. The idea of "radio controlled airplanes" and "radio power roller skates" is very laughable today but people back then were amazed at the possibility of these things. I found the "television and automatic radiophone" particularly interesting because the man in the picture is able to operate his "radio business controller" and communicate with his family at the same time. Someone mentioned in class that many of these visions of the future show convenience in every day life and I think this illustrates that idea very well. People in the past envisioned their lives being much more simple with the advancement of technology. Life today is much easier with all the resources available to us but just not in the way they imagined it.


http://www.lessons-from-history.com/Level%202/Visions%20from%20the%20Past.html

This is a link to a larger view of the picture since the larger one would not fit on the page

Disney's Carousel of Progress

Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress was introduced at the 1964 world’s fair held in New York City. The ride begins at the turn of the 20th century. The attraction features the average American family and how they lived during different time periods in history. It shows the progress of electricity and technology through several generations. Each generation considers their time period to be the most advanced and they can’t imagine it getting any better. The Carousel of Progress was considered Walt’s favorite attraction because he loved the idea of progress and how through advances in technology we could better ourselves as a society. This is an example of a utopian-like society where innovations lead to the improvement of mankind.

I AM LEGEND

The film I Am Legend, based off the 1954 novel by Richard Matheson of the same name, envisions an apocalyptic future in which humanity has caused its downfall by becoming too inquisitive and eager to use technology to solve its problems, a theme found in many novels and films which depict portentous visions of the future. In the film, scientists had been conducting research into fighting cancer with viruses. Predictably, the virus gets loose and eventually either kills or mutates the entire global population into vampire-like creatures. The once bustling streets of Manhattan are now desolate ruins, overrun by rampant flora and fauna, a solemn monument to humanity. The protagonist, Robert Neville (played by Will Smith), is a former solider from whose blood the virus was created, is the sole survivor, and the last human on earth. He divides his time between waiting hopelessly for human contact and attempting to use the same technology that created the monsters to try and develop a cure. I Am Legend  warns us that even the best laid plans can always go awry, no matter how smart we think we are, or how technologically advanced we may become in the future. We must be careful and judicious in our actions and consider all possible outcomes and ramifications.