by yeahbut » Mon 26 May 2008, 22:50:33
Things have been getting bit real out there lately. I need a little break- anyone else?
Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Philip K Dick and other classic sf writers have a lot to answer for, when it comes to where my mind wanders during idle moments. I read those guys all the time as a teenager, and I loved the ideas they came up with for where our species might be heading. They ranged from the extremely far-out and mad, to the (at least at the time of writing) quite plausible. As a consequence, I often find myself idly imagining what kind of world our descendants will find themselves in. Obviously I'm not alone in this, PO.com is full of people who think about just that. However, I guess most of us are thinking about the next 10-50 years. What about 100 years out from now? Many of the hypothetical scenarios discussed here will have been decided conclusively, one way or the other.
So where do you see things going?
AGW has heated the planet to a sticky malaria ridden swamp; the ocean conveyer belt faltered and plunged the earth into another ice age; AGW was arrested in time, ushering in a golden age of universal peace/sinister fascist world govt; AGW was actually a red herring devised by reptilian shapeshifters to distract humanity from their plot to take over the world via the U.N...
Did humanity recognise the problem of peak oil in time and 'power down'? Technology rescued us? Nanotech turned the world into gray goo? A collapse occurred that was so large that we are now hunter gatherers once more/disease ridden gimps sifting thru the detritus of the age of plenty/small groups of enlightened farmers who walk lightly on the earth?
Genetic engineering created a) a class of 'homo sapiens superiour' who have enslaved the masses b) oil cows that are milked for sweet light crude c) a zombie superbug a la "28 days later"...
Mass extinction caused by humans has reduced the biosphere to six species: Grass, corn, tuna, cows, humans and cane toads.
Jack, his life unnaturally extended by milking the bile ducts of third world children, is now the undisputed but benevolent(mostly) all powerful ruler of earth...etc etc.I've got a ton of em- how about you? The more detail the better.