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| from the movie "Things to Come" 1936 |
We can tell
This dream's in sight
You've got to admit it
At this point in time that it's clear
The future looks bright
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well by seventy-six we'll be A.O.K.
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
Get your ticket to that wheel in space
While there's time
The fix is in
You'll be a witness to that game of chance in the sky
You know we've got to win
Here at home we'll play in the city
Powered by the sun
Perfect weather for a streamlined world
There'll be spandex jackets one for everyone
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
(More leisure time for artists everywhere)
A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We'll be clean when their work is done
We'll be eternally free yes and eternally young
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
“I.G.Y.” Donald Fagen, the Nightfly
First let me apologize for the delay in posting, but life is what happens between blog updates.
Imagine if you will a world that works. A world where everything you need is a click away on your smart phone. Medical care is affordable, efficient, and available. Transportation is traffic free, and we move about our cities as efficiently as we move about our homes. Information is accessible anywhere at any time, and it is sorted in a way we can see, hear and understand on an intuitive level.
Our civilization would be managed by expert systems, computers like the IBM Watson system, only vastly more powerful. This is not say that humans would be unnecessary, but automation and networking go together; the movement of resources, the transmission of energy, the flow of things, are all susceptible to automation. Things would work, there would be no “systems integration issues” (“This damn thing isn’t working, why sweet lord Jesu, why!!!”)
Things would be clean, well managed, and orderly. Everywhere. If you touch down in Addis Ababa, your phone will work, you have access to everything that you would have at home, and be able to speak to the cab driver in his language, thanks to on-the-fly translation from your smart phone. This is not to say that we won’t have drama.
People are people, no matter how smoothly things run. Grandmas and puppies will still die, and the general human capacity to behave in the absolute worst possible way as often as permissible, would still be in effect. But what if we reduce the opportunity for humans to behave badly?
What if our world ran so smoothly, that we had what we needed, when we needed it? We would have more than enough, for billions, not just those that live in a geographic region or particular nation state. We could have plenty not for those who look like us, or subscribe to our particular religious convictions or any religious convictions for that matter. Our civilization would be truly civilized, global in scope, moving smoothly across the Earth’s surface. In a world where there is no scarcity, would there be conflicts?
If we make a world, where we harness energy from the sun, the sea, the wind and the Earth itself, what would be our limitation? When we can manufacture what we need from raw materials in our homes, make what we want, when we want it, at little or no cost, what are we fighting over? Do we still have politics? Do we still have jingoistic nationalism and religious fundamentalism? If your needs are met, you live in comfort, and things work, what do you have to complain about?
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| from the movie "Things to Come" 1936 |
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