IEET colleague Dale Carrico has seen fit to tag me with something called the “Futures” meme. The description of this meme, and my response to it, appears below.

So here’s the task: Think about the world of fifteen years hence (2022, if you’re counting along at home). Think about how technology might change, how fashions and pop culture might evolve, how the environment might grab our attention, and so forth. Now, take a sentence or two and answer…

• What do you fear we’ll likely see in fifteen years?
• What do you hope we’ll likely see in fifteen years?
• What do you think you’ll be doing in fifteen years?

There are no wrong answers here — only opportunities to surprise, provoke and amuse.

Here are my answers:

• What do you fear we’ll likely see in fifteen years?

EDIT: Emphasis here is on the word “fear”. This is a lot of gloom and doom, and represents a sort of “worst case scenario” in my mind. It does not represent what I actually think the world is going to look like in fifteen years.

1. Too little progress in terms of improving the health care system — e.g., people still dying of easily-preventable diseases, and no real strides made toward making it possible for people to keep living healthily beyond their eighth or ninth decades.

2. Continued suffering due to malnutrition and lack of proper sanitation, lack of clean water, etc.

3. Even greater disparity between rich and poor persons in the world.

4. The return of deadly epidemic diseases due to vaccine-phobia bordering on fundamentalism.

5. “Science” appearing mainly in the context of something to be disdainfully dismissed in “Creationism 101″ classes across the nation.

6. An even greater move toward authoritative “normalization” and lack of respect for the morphological freedom of all persons (particularly those who are atypical in some way).

7. Continued overuse and inappropriate use of short-sighted utilitarian reasoning, by people who fail to understand that freedom to self-determine is PART of utility, and that any attempt to engineer reality from the “top down” perspective (as if it were some sort of gated community or theme park) is frankly ludicrous.

8. People persisting in endless circular arguments over the existence (or lack thereof) of free will.

• What do you hope we’ll likely see in fifteen years?

1. A more flexible, inclusive society that recognizes the inherent interdependency of sentient life forms and acknowledges the value of diversity.

2. Improvements in the environment; e.g., cleaner air, fewer dangerous emissions, more sustainable agriculture, etc.

3. Some tangible steps made toward effective longevity medicine.

4. Better public transportation.

5. People getting a clue about how to distribute resources effectively, thereby narrowing standard-of-living gaps around the world.

6. Regenerative medicine — e.g., therapies that allow people to grow new organs from their own tissues that will not be rejected by the body.

7. Improvements in education: recognition of multiple learning styles, accessible classrooms, and acknowledgement of bullying as a serious problem rather than just “what kids do”.

8. Free Internet you can access from anywhere.

9. A second season of Firefly. (Yes, I know about the anachronisms. No, I don’t care. I just want to see more of people flying around in a starship making snarky remarks at one another. And fighting space cannibals.)

10. That if anyone does manage to build a self-improving artificial intelligence by that point, it will be of the sort that won’t deconstruct you into your constituent molecules in the service of its quest to fill the universe with Snausages, Pokemon figurines, or whatever the popular representative misguided supergoal is at that point.

• What do you think you’ll be doing in fifteen years?

1. Continuing to research and write about things that I find to be fascinating, important, or both. Hopefully writing a book or two.

2. Living in an actual house (as opposed to a rented apartment). With cats. And solar power.

3. Building cool robotic devices in my workshop.

4. Growing tasty vegetables in a backyard garden.

5. Learning and interacting on whatever incarnation of the Internet exists in 15 years.

6. Spending time with my loved ones: family, friends, aforementioned as-yet-hypothetical cats.

7. Feeding my goldfish, who will no doubt be the size of a beagle in 15 years if he keeps up his current rate of growth.

8. Continuing to participate in key areas of advocacy as I am able to. Regardless of what nifty technologies arrive on the scene, political struggles are likely to continue indefinitely, and I plan to continue at least attempting to pay attention. I imagine that I’ll still be involved in advocating for the “right not to be normal”, as well as the right to be old without people telling you that it’s your duty to kick off (a la “Logan’s Run”).

9. Engaging in a hobby that involves something that probably hasn’t even been invented yet. I mean, I never could have predicted podcasts a mere three years ago…who knows what will come about in fifteen years?

I don’t meme-tag people. But anyone who wants to post their responses (on their own blog or otherwise) is welcome to.

Date posted : July 26th, 2007 by AnneC Last Modified : July 26th, 2007 / Filed under : Feeds / Report a Concern Navigate : Previous post / Next post / Top of Page
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