A libertarian utopia ie anarchist or ultra capitalist.
Plato’s Republic
Gattaca (a genetically engineered state of ubermenschen).
Star Trek
A post apocalyptic society, like Blade Runner or Mad Max.
Something like Total recall/minority report/AI/I-Robot
The Matrix
Other:
We have no future.
0voters
Let’s say any future in some sort of written medium, or in your head or anywhere is possible as a given. What future would you most like to live in, please vote on the poll:
And another question: what future do you think is most likely out of all the futures you can imagine, describe it and why and how you think it will come about, it could be a combination of some or all of the poll options or something far darker like say Stephen Donaldson’s Gap series, there are no limits just your imagination…
I’ve left off 1984, The Time Machine, Planet of the Apes, Farenheit 451, Brave New World and most dystopian futures, except the reasonably cool sci-fi ones but just pick other if you want to live in a state where man worships an unexploded nuclear missile or whatever is your want. I’ve probably forgot hundreds but feel free to post as there were only 10 options.
I’ve gone for a combination of Futurama, Plato’s republic and Star Trek and 1 other, which I would say is the Gap series, because space operas are great even with creepy aliens. But I wont bore you with the details for the moment.
And as a matter of fact, I cannot conceive a single future scenario in which I would ‘like’ to live. Of course that doesn’t change the fact that if such a future could ever occur, there would be nothing I could do to avoid it…
I prefer the one where he’s on a plane and the gremlin is destroying the engine, then he asks why no one will listen to him and it turns out it’s because he’s Hitler* or the one where he’s the last man on earth trapped in a giant library and he breaks his glasses then he goes to read the large font books and his eyes fall out, and then when he goes to read the Brail books his hands fall off.
You are entering a world beyond mind and sight…
Everyone Loves Hypnotoad is riveting and unmissible for some reason though I can never remember much about it…? Still it’s not the no 1 rated show for nothing I suppose.
[size=50]*Where Bender says "meh saw it comin’'. [/size]
What about a future where you are God, and nothing you desire is refused you?
"Insignificant, don’t talk to me about insignificant, even the doors on this ship rank higher than me… I don’t know brain the size of a planet but does anyone ever ask me my opinion? I can do 8^89 trillion calculations per second, but all they have me doing most days is making tea, tea! I mean I wouldn’t mind but the steam corrodes my circuits. I told them but they just told me to cheer up man, cheer up! I mean what would you do if you were me!
…Better go and kill myself I suppose, not that anyone will notice, or care, they once left me in a car park for 20 billion years, no one even knew I was gone until they turned up to park in the same place 20 billion years later for a dinner appointment… I can feel one of my headaches coming on, still it beats being fired into the sun I suppose…"
I think the future will likely be inhabited by a “post-human” or “transhuman” population, in which those people have capabilities far beyond what we have today. Similar to I, Robot, I guess, except in addition to enhanced limbs, there will also be enhanced neurocognitive abilities.
Nick Bostrom has written a number of compelling papers on transhumanism, and he describes the post-human world, in a nutshell, as follows:
Fascinating, if a little disconcerting, to think about.
I don’t think there’s any reason for our mental faculties to increase much beyond what they are now, I would imagine now, most of our efforts will go into augmentation, ie genetic and or computers, perhaps quantum computing. Both of which can only add to our ability to advance without changing us. Also I don’t see why we would reach 1 trillion persons. Given the above intellect of say ~220 IQ being average, surely we would have managed to establish colonies, if not in other solar systems but on Mars and The Moon, if we were that smart. Also with a life expectancy>500 then psychological suffering due to ennui is very likely. A lot of people would become adrenaline junkies to experience something new. That said it sounds like a nice dream.
I’m with Anita. Transhumanism is already on the way. People’s interface with machines is becoming more and more pervasive. Now we have multi-media mobile computers (iPhone, Blackberry), soon we’ll have eyeglass computers, then contact lenses, then retinal implants, and then nano-machines in our brains downloading knowledge from the web. That’s how people will become more intelligent: they will augment themselves.
I put down other above. I’d say my ideal is something like Brave New World with a little bit of Aeon Flux (just the transhumanism bit, not all the other metaphorical nonsense). Brave New World seems distopian, but I think it actually succeeds in creating a world that is productive and successful, and in which people are happy doing the jobs they need to do. It takes what humans are and works with it, stacking the deck so that the most free thing to do is exactly what you’ve been designed to do. And, if anyone is still dissatisfied, they are allowed to escape society. What’s not to love?
Brave New World is scary, drugs to control everyone (keeping them happy or x or y no matter what) Cloning pod people and a caste system. No thanks. I agree that transhumanism is likely though, just don’t agree with the idea that we will all be Tefal heads. I think Cyberpunks augmented humans is more likely than actual physical genius in everyone.
BNW has it’s problems. For one thing, it doesn’t have nearly enough robots. At least every caste below beta could be replaced by robots. But other than that, it’s really just a perfected form of social conditioning, which we do now: we punish kids for lying, stealing, hitting, etc., in order to discourage them from doing so later in life. It treats humand like the animals they are so that they are happiest doing what they should.
(Speaking of conditioning, another great future is B.F. Skinner’s Walden II. But again, not enough robots or transhumans.)
Cyberpunk isn’t likely, because marginalization will become harder and harder as people become more and more wired. We’re already trackable through most of our actions in our jobs, education, finance; there will come a point where living off the grid just won’t be possible. A lot of people see that as 1984-like, but I think that’s a little pollyanna-ish. If you consider the way that privacy has been willingly eroded, and what that has done for us (my bank tracks my purchases, and as a result I know if my credit card’s been stolen; Google tracks my motions online, and as a result I see ads that I might actually consider clicking), it seems certain that we will continue to sacrifice passive invasions of privacy for the sake of security and service.
You mean its a form of social slavery. A caste system, we all know what happens when there is disparity between classes, rebellion. Democracy works because it is damage limitation. Any one can achieve power, and if they are nuts, anyone can be kicked out too. Avoids making joke about B***. I’d rather be an animal and free than a rich and powerful success and not. I empathise with the antagonist in the book. He’s a sort of tragic hero and martyr to freedom without bounds or drug induced conformity. Some people would love the security, like the guy in the Matrix, who doesn’t care if it’s not steak, whether he really is rich and powerful or not, because frankly the difference isn’t enough to matter to him. It’s Alice through the looking glass but from the other side this time.
Well that’s probably why I didn’t choose it, I prefer the combination of elitocracies, governance by the most able, as decided by election of those who want to vote. And the comedy of Futurama, with quirky techs, Soylent Cola, weird aliens and weirder robots, and the fear factor of creepy malevolent aliens set to a conglomeration of corporate owned futures (that is ripe to power plays), to keep us on our toes and innovating when we have no more enemies and Star Trek, it could be nice to think we could become a benevolent empire of like minded alien worlds, if not practical with human nature atm.
Well, it’s a different kind of slavery. It’s a slavery by choice. In that way, it’s not a disparity between classes. People are sort into their castes by their own choice (albeit being created to choose a certain class). The Gammas are thrilled to be elevator operators, because they’ve been bred to love being in a box and having brief and superficial conversations with alphas. There’s no conflict, because everyone is absolutely fulfilled by the class they’re in. And if they aren’t, they can leave!
(Also, as an aside, the guy that wanted back into the matrix is wrong. It is a steak. Every thought he has of a ‘steak’ is a thought of the matrix-steak. It might look like something in the real world, but his experience with it is entirely in the matrix. So, the steak is the realist steak that he can think of. To say it’s not a steak is to speak only from the perspective of someone who wasn’t born in the matrix, and thus to beg the question as to what’s more “real”.)
That’s the whole point of the red pill blue pill choice, it’s not a choice really as such, it’s just saying I know the Matrix is false but do I really want to know what’s real, and I know the Matrix is false and I want to know what real is. Either way you are in the same position your goals have just changed.
As for BNW, I just think the whole thing is my idea of hell, but that’s probably me, some people would enjoy being kine or hooked up to the matrix and little more than food to it.
