Future Fashion - Rachel's Post

I found this Youtube video highly entertaining. It is funny to me because some of the predictions of what they think "Futuristic Fashion" will look like is very true. They predict that in the year 2000 the bigger the hair the better, too bad the wrath of oversized hairsprayed hair came quite a bit sooner than they thought. They only make one prediction for the males apparel and this involves always having a phone and of course a pocket to hold "candy for cuties". Sounds like the average male today to me. It is also predicted that women will wear transparent net to attract the men. This is one prediction that should have been seen as a warning instead. Some predictions were not quite as accurate, for example the belt women will wear to adjust to different climates. You must listen carefully at 1:06 for this is my favorite part of the video "oo swish".

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.