The Fault of Future Fiction
Everytime I watch a science fiction show, I can't help to notice the same silly mistake occurring over and over again. The future is pictured based on the past, not the...future.
For example, when Star Trek was a thing, people thought that we would have more light flashing buttons thus the electrical panels in the show were overwhelmed with flashing buttons. Imagine how silly the cast felt when they had an iphone in their hands. Guns also seem to follow the same handheld design. Apparently even centuries in the future, people are imagined to shoot some kind of projectiles to each other.
I was having a discussion today with a friend and she asked me whether or not we will have flying cars in the future. My reply was a simple no. The reason for this is that I believe people will communicate entirely online with minimal physical presence. Most of the commune routes that we observe today are useless. For example, people go to offices when they can work from home. Materials are transferred from point A to point B, usually accompanied by a human. In the future transportation and construction will coordinated by drones and similar automated machinery rather than human beings. Traveling physically from one point to another will be considered some kind of weird fetish.
Our jobs will be creative. There would be no need for anything that can be executed by an algorithm. Population will drop dramatically as our life expectancy will grow more and more. Nothing of the future will remind us the present. Even TV shows and formal entertainment will be a thing of the past. Stories for our minds will be generated randomly based on a theme — much like the screensaver on our computer screens. Computer screens will also be obsolete along with the things we called "labtops".
Medication will be given from the first day of our birth. The cause of most of our illnesses is due to chemical mistakes. In the future nanobots in our bloodstream will coordinate most of our functions much like our immune system works. Unless a grave injury occurs, there would be no need to visit the doctor.
Schools and universities will also be obsolete since information will be able to be downloaded in our brains. Even the ability to think critically, aka combine different data sets, will be a downloadable feature. The only individual thing that will persist is individual creativity which will be subjective based on a given consensus — much like art works today. In essence it will be pointless.
If people in the past were able to see how people in the future are going to live, they would describe them with one word — boring. The reason for this is because humans always work towards efficiency, cutting off the "magic" or the "middle man". For example, in the past people needed to court each other excessively and follow specific rituals in order to have sex. Today, you flash your finger on the right on Tinder and in 2 hours you are having sex. This very idea from someone in the 1900's would seem grotesque.
Humans are helpless romantics. We like to believe that what we value today will be carried out in the future and will be presented in a much better way because most things in our present define who we are. The truth is that most of the things that we value today will cease to exist. In all likelihood, they will be laughable material from those looking back to our century. The fault of our future fiction is that we overestimate our importance and place in the overall course of human history. This is also the reason why every single generation believes that the world is coming to an end in their lifetime. We handicap the future because we cannot picture our own self in it.
I don't agree that the cause of most illness is chemical mistakes.
The cause of most illness, at least in the US, is unhealthy lifestyles.
p.s. what is this Tinder thing of which you speak?
I suspect that this is mathematically impossible. It certainly is the case that the reverse is what has happened, and while the past may not predict the future, it is the only evidence we have to project the future from.
I wonder why population might be limited, when we are just now preparing to expand the available habitat to other planets?
As for cities, I do not expect cities to no longer present economic benefits. When one wall can form a side to two structures, it makes sense to site those structures so, and this makes cities.
One thing I note about scifi is that it seems to be written by folks that have little practical experience. I cannot remember many characters in scifi carrying knives (except villains using them as weapons), and as phasers can't pry open pill bottles, etc., I cannot envision the lowly pocket knife being omitted from the kit packed by an interstellar explorer.
"The past is history. The future's a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why they call it the present." -Eleanore Roosevelt
I suspect that this is mathematically impossible. It certainly is the case that the reverse is what has happened
actually you are mistaken.
the birthrate of EVERY 'first world' nation is declining.
A high standard of living is the very best birth control.
Despite the dramatic drop in reproductive rate, improved longevity is INCREASING relevant populations.
This is what I meant.
that is no doubt true..
Japan.
getting older...but the kids are having less children.
the population is decreasing.
Same With Eurp...population delcine.
and the Good Old USA...the onliest reason the population has increased is because of peoples coming here from other places.
Given two or three generations of a high standard of living and peepls don't have so many children...if any at all.
Well, perhaps... I can't help but suspect that extant socioeconomic factors are contributing in ineluctable ways to the current decline. Various pressures, like delayed reproduction (extended education and age of consent increasing), economic forces (rising housing and other costs), and population density induced social neuropathology (like lemmings, people get nutty when packed like sardines), all are both strongly exerting negative reproductive influence on affluent populations, and quite temporal, as well as unpredictable.
Feminism, Antifa, and corrupt gummint would make me less prone to passionate breeding.
Hell, Imma become a monk, now.
Edit: I wonder if affluence induced reproductive repression has acted throughout history to weaken empires, making them more vulnerable to barbarian hordes? 0_o
hang on a minit...
I'm looking for a dictionary.
Uh... Oops! XD
Not always. Always is a generalization.
The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
- Albert Einstein
Thank you for the post. I hope it generates a lot of discussion. The future grows from the present. Science fiction writers (of which I am one) are the visionaries of the future. They aren't always right, but the ideas they come up with form the framework of the future. Jules Verne wrote of traveling to the moon in the 19 th century. The airplane hadn't yet been invented, but in the 20th century we did. He also invisioned a boat named the Nautilus that traveled under water powered by a mysterious power X. The first atomic submarine was named the Nautilus. Arthur C. Clark is credited with the idea of communication satellites. Gene Roddenberry named Star Trek's spaceship the Enterprise. The first space shuttle was named the Enterprise in his honor. Captain Kirk had a flip phone. These are some of the good things (maybe). Sadly, George Orwell envisioned 1984 and in 2017 were living it. So be careful what you put out there because for every Gandhi there is a Lex Luther who would use your ideas for evil. Your vision of the future is dystopian to me. I'm no fan of the Borg or the Matrix, Eloy or More locks. No birth meds for my kids and no nanobots in my blood thank you very much. And call girls are as old as civilization itself. Jurassic Park is right on the horizon. Remember, it's not nice to fool Mother Nature.
Great pont my friend, never judge the past with the future...thanks for sharing
it is true this reality. a genius is a system maker. if we are able to build a system, we are not a follower who willingly follows the current
Very interesting perspective on the future, I remember being excited about flying Cars when I saw it in a movie back in the 90s, can't quite remember what the movie is called, probably Startrex. Anyway, we are now in 2017 and they still haven't introduced electric Cars fully, so why would we believe that we will have flying Cars?
Great read and food for thought.
Man this is a great post, I'm a big fan of science fiction. I really enjoy watching a show, to analyze how the thought future will be, I always keep looking at the design of common stuff.
I recently have watched Black mirror, and I think in some points they did a great approach to what could future look like.
I always remember The fifth Element and the flying cars you mention, and also my answer will be NO, we don't need flying cars, we are not gonna be all able to drive them, and it will be so expensive to coast by citizens. Anyway, I always try to imagine what will be the next "big invention" on this new era to get close to the futuristic old sci-fi designs.