This blog alternates between nonfiction
and science fiction postings, and the science fiction here is often
on the gloomy side. For the sake of balance, today I will put on my
rose-colored glasses and look on the sunny side of life. I will look
at the eight luckiest things that could happen in the future.
1. We Find a Way to Stop or Reverse
Global Warming
Global warming is caused by ever
growing amounts of carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere.
This wikipedia article on geoengineering discusses ways in which it
might be possible to reverse global warming through various
techniques. The techniques fall into two main categories: solar
radiation management and carbon dioxide removal. Solar radiation
management attempts to reduce the amount of sunlight that strikes our
planet, through simple techniques such as creating reflective
rooftops, or through much more elaborate techniques such as putting
into the upper atmosphere particles designed to block out some of the
sun's light. Carbon dioxide removal means attempts to reduce the
atmospheric content of carbon dioxide, through techniques such as
biochar, seeding the oceans with iron, or carbon dioxide capture.
We don't know whether such techniques
will work without terrible side effects, but on optimistic days it is
pleasant to imagine that some geoengineering technique will arrive to
remove the specter of global warming that is hanging over man's
future.
2. We Abolish Nuclear Weapons
It is amazing how many people seem to
have the idea that the threat of nuclear warfare ended when the Cold
War ended. The truth is that Russia still has about 1800 active
nuclear warheads (8500 in total), and the United States still has
about 2150 active nuclear weapons (7700 in total). This means the
threat of nuclear war is still very real. If man were ever to abolish
nuclear weapons, or reduce their number to only a handful, it would
be perhaps the greatest triumph of human civilization.
Check out this link
http://www.globalzero.org/demand-zero
to see what you can do about achieving this goal.
3. We Obtain a Galactic Wikipedia By
Radio
Scientists are trying to make radio
contact with advanced civilizations on other planets. If we were to
pick up radio signals from another civilization on another planet,
the civilization might be many thousands or even millions of years
more advanced than ours. That civilization might have had many
thousands or millions of years to communicate with other planets. So
the civilization might have accumulated a storehouse of information
acquired over eons of time, which could include pictures or videos of
many other planets. Such a storehouse of information has been called
an Encyclopedia Galactica. But since many young readers won't
remember what encyclopedias are, it may be better to call such a
storehouse of information a Galactic Wikipedia.
Just imagine the benefit of receiving
such a thing. We might look up the histories of thousands of planets,
and learn from their mistakes. We might browse through images or
videos photographed on thousands of planets. We might receive
detailed instructions on how to make machines powerful beyond our
wildest dreams. We might get the solution to almost any problem that
bothers us.
4. We Invent Robots and Software
Capable of Doing All Unpleasant Work
Most people seem to hate their jobs.
But this may be the last generation where the average person has to
spend most of his life doing things he doesn't enjoy. If advances in
robotics, computer software, and computer hardware continue at the
same rapid rate of progress we have seen in recent decades, in
another forty or fifty years we may well have robots or software
capable of handling almost all unpleasant work.
This will be a great blessing if we use
in an appropriate way all the spare time we will have. If we use our
extra spare time playing violent video games or watching reality TV
shows, the extra time will not be such a blessing. But if we use our
extra free time doing things such as creating art, helping others,
establishing and strengthening personal relationships, pondering
philosophical questions, enriching ourselves spiritually, and
appreciating the greatest works of man and nature, then all the extra
time in our lives will be a great bonanza.
5. We Are Visited By Benevolent
Extraterrestrials
Everyone who has seen the movie
Independence Day knows what happens when malevolent
extraterrestrials arrive in the solar system. Many famous buildings
get blown up, and many people die. But imagine if a spaceship filled
with wise, kind extraterrestrials were to arrive. At the very least
we would have an exciting experience meeting these visitors and
learning about their home world. At best they might decide to share with us
all that they knew about the nature of life, the universe, and other
civilizations in space. They might also decide to give us the
blessings of their advanced technology, bestowing on us a few choice
gifts such as the cure to cancer or the secret of immortality.
6. We Invent Inexpensive Santa
Clause Machines
A Santa Clause machine is a machine
capable of creating almost anything, using simple raw materials it
obtains from the earth. The term was created by Theodore Taylor, who
described it as follows:
It’s possible to imagine a machine that could scoop up material – rocks from the Moon or rocks from asteroids – process them inside and produce just about any product: washing machines or teacups or automobiles or starships. Once such a machine exists it could gather sunlight and materials that it’s sitting on, and produce on call whatever product anybody wants to name, as long as somebody knows how to make it and those instructions can be given to the machine.
If Santa Clause machines were to be
inexpensively manufactured, then the average person would no longer
need to go to the store to buy things. Want a new refrigerator? Just
ask your Santa Clause machine to make it. Need a new car? Just ask
your Santa Clause machine to make it. The idea of such a machine is
thrilling to materialistic consumerists, but not all that thrilling
to those who think that the best things in life are immaterial.
7. We Create an Inexpensive Youth
Serum or Age-Reversing Pill
We can imagine various troublesome ways
of achieving a 300-year lifespan, such as having repeated organ
transplants, uploading your mind into a computer, or having your head
transplanted on to a young body. But the most convenient way to get a
super-long lifespan would just be to have a nice convenient youth
serum you could drink, or an age-reversing pill you could take.
Perhaps the pill or drink would contain
nanobots that would get busy repairing all the damage in your cells,
or lengthening the telomeres in your chromosomes. We can only imagine
the commercials. Before: Betty White. After: Selena Gomez. The only
problem would be feeding all the extra people.
8. We Develop a Combined Happiness
and Benevolence Pill
What good is abolishing nuclear weapons
if the world contains so many people of ill-will who will just look
for other ways to slaughter their fellow men (ways such as biological
warfare)? The ultimate solution might be a pill that makes people
feel nothing but love towards their fellow human beings. It might act
a little like the drug Ecstasy, which supposedly produces benevolent
feelings.
But people would have to have a motive
for taking the pill. “Take your pill so you can be a good boy,”
is insufficient encouragement. The best thing would be a single pill
with two benefits in one: it would make you into feel kind, loving
thoughts towards your fellow humans, and it would also make you feel
euphorically happy. With such a pill, people would have an incentive
to take the pill every day. The result might be a world of peace and
bliss.
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