Science Fiction's Disturbing Futures

Are we doomed to lose ourselves in the collective?

(c) 2012 by Tom King

There are two basic routes science fiction authors take in developing future utopias/dystopias.


Collectivism/Social Justice/Surrender the Will:

One popular idea is borrowed from Easter Religions like Buddhism and favors an ultimately collectivist penultimate civilization.  This future nirvans take three possible forms - all of them either unlikely or unpalatable.

The first is the "sea of thought" utopia.  This future pictures a world in which, through some machine initiated device all humans are eventually absorbed into a sort of galactic thought-mush where we are vaguely happy being part of the collective consciousness and unhappy should we emerge from the sea of souls to spend even a short time as a lonely individual. I rather prefer being an individual, myself, but then I never saw the point of psychedelic drugs back in the 60s either.

The second collectivist vision is "the machine facist state".  In this cheery scenario, we either become or are replaced by the machines or by vast magical superbrains and all blindly serve the collective. Some believe this will be a machine collective, others an organic one. Either way I want none of it. I've always sort of had a problem with authority anyway.

The third collectivist vision is the most nonsensical - the Star Trek Next Generation universe. In this fantasy, everyone's needs are taken care of somehow - we know not how - and everyone runs around doing his job simply because he or she wants to.  And since their needs are automatically taken care of, they magically become hard-working, creative workers who are fulfilled by their jobs. What these authors portray is the airy socialist nirvana that relies on the myth that ordinary folk just need a certain number of needs met along Maslow's heirarchy to trigger their inner altruism. It's a fantasy which posits a state very like the Christian idea of heaven, but without the bother of having to put up with a pesky God or even the need to submit to some sort of change in nature like conversion or death and rebirth.

It doesn't matter to these cheery optimists that all attempts to create these sorts of workers' paradises have heretofore failed miserably and often violently because inevitably too many people choose to embrace their self-centered wolf-like nature and tend to instead, run about slaughtering all the nice people in order to win power over them all.  Collectivist governments are notoriously vulnerable to megalomaniacs.

Ayn Rand/Hard Capitalist/Free Will:

This vision of the future universe posits either a rough wild-west flavored galaxy like Poul Anderson's Nicholas Van Rinjh Trader to the Stars adventures and Joss Whedon's Firefly or to an alternating descent into self destruction and anarchy followed by a rise to cultural greatness. Usually the no hope stark anarchy dystopias are written by people who favor the magical Star Trek collectivist vision who want to warn people what's in store for them if they don't adopt the collectivist view.  These stories actually should be considered part of the collectivist literary canon as examples of morality tales.  Phillip K. Dick wrote this kind of stufff which even post-modern Hollywood had to cheer up by adding a little mildly happy ending to his dark tales.

Isaac Asimov, something of an intellectual elitist himself, posited a secret society of elite smart people called the Foundation who figure out how to mathematically manipulate history. Even then Asimov, a keen student of history, only allowed his mental supermen to roughly poke and prod history along in a general direction that kept humanity's corrupt leaders from killing too many people in the process. He recognized that human nature tends to overpower central planning in the end.

These more conservative views of the future tend to be held by people with a working knowledge of history and of the ebb and flow between anarchy and regimentation that countries undergo throughout their histories.

The God Is In Charge View:

I favor another view - the idea that there likely is a powerful consciousness, an interdimensional being if you will, who is behind the design and upkeep of this particular universe. I believe He's using the earth as a laboratory in which to grow decent people who have free will, but who choose to reject doing evil because they've seen enough of where that leads.

It makes sense He will aid them in transforming into the people they choose to be and will at some point harvest the product of His vast social experiment, provide them some sort of durable, everlasting housing for their consciousness and then use those trustworthy individuals to create the sort of utopian universe the Trekkies would like to see happen -only without the Borg and where Klingons and Romulans were nice people.

I don't see where that's such a preposterous idea either.

Just one man's opinion.

Tom King

Uncle Tom's Month by Month Prognostications for the New Year

I the great and magnificent Uncle Tom, grand wizard extraordinarious of the most excellent order of wiseacres, the legion of quintagenarians, the most noble cadre of the knights of bloviatistics and prognosticator par excellence do hereby offer up my never-fail "2010 - HEADLINES OF THE FUTURE":

1. January 2010 - Michelle Obama Files for Divorce:  The president's wife packs up the kids and leaves the White House in a snit complaining, "He spends more time with that d!@#$#d teleprompter than he does with me!"  White House sources report that Michelle is staying with good friend Tiger Woods while she discusses plans to force sale of the White House as part of the divorce settlement.

2. February 2010 - The Morning New York Based Talk Show Host Who Broadcasts from Rockefeller Center Fairness Doctrine Passes:  Congress sends The Morning New York Based Talk Show Host Who Broadcasts from Rockefeller Center Fairness Doctrine to President Obama for his signature today. The new law prohibits chubby talk show hosts who broadcasts mornings from Rockefeller Center in New York from "inciting citizens to political rallies, weeping on the air and ratting out Czars, press secretaries and other known communists working for the president of the United States."

3. March 2010 - Nancy Pelosi Released from Hospital After Recent "Checkup":  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, shown here at this morning's press conference says she's ready and rarin' to go for another 6 months after what she calls a "routine checkup". 

4. April 2010:  House Passes Botox Initiative:  The House of Representative pass a massive new new funding initiative supporting research into alternatives to Botox for 'rehabilitative medical procedures'.  House Banking Committee Chairperson, Barney Frank expressed hope that science would provide some eye relief for the families and colleagues of Botox accident victims.

5. May 2010 -  Joe Biden Announces Cinco de Mayo Initiative: Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Al Franken from Minnesota today announced a new senate bill that will, according to the vice-president, provide free jars of mayonnaise to all newly arrived undocumented workers in the United States. "We want to properly welcome newly ensla...., I mean employed workers to our country with a taste of their home country," said Biden. When asked what mayonnaise had to do with Mexico, Biden pointed out that Mexicans have a whole festival about the familiar condiment, called 'Cinco de Mayo'.  "We just want to give them something they can use to get the festivities started," Biden explained. "Think of it as a recognition of the cultural diversity this administration wishes to encourage in America."   When asked how providing jars of mayonnaise to illegal aliens was in any sense a good idea, Franken stated, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and dog-gone it, people like me."

6. June 2010 GE buys Kraft Food:  After 3 months of frantic negotiations, GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt announces the acquisition of Kraft Products, Inc. by the General Electric.  We see a lot of potential for growth in the coming months for Kraft, especially its condiments product lines.  When asked about the apparent rush to complete the merger, Immelt said only that one of the partners apparently "jumped the gun" in announcing a key element of the merger plan. "Apparently two of the partners involved in negotiations found an idea they liked and ran with it before they told the rest of us," said Immelt with some obvious exasperation.

7. July 2010 - President Proclaims July 4 "International Unity Day":  President Barak Obama announces that July 4 will henceforth be known as International Unity Day in recognition of his own administrations massive effort to promote solidarity with the great peoples of Europe, Asia and Africa and to educate the masses about the importance of participating actively in the formation of a future global union. International Unity Day will capture the imagination of those who have for so long misunderstood the peaceful character of the American people and our longing to be reunited with the cultures of our forefathers," said the president in his historic address. "I believe that gestures like these will change world opinion about an America that has for the past decade been seen globally as a powerful and dangerous force in the world."

8.  August 2010 - Man-Made Disaster Incident in New York Harbor Could Have a Positive Effect on International Relations:  When a person of unspecified religious convictions touched off the bomb strapped to his or her chest and toppled the Statue of Liberty face first into New York harbor, he may have done America a favor, says White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs.  "Lets face it, the statue is a hateful symbol of American dominance in many parts of the world.  If we just leave it there on the bottom of the harbor, perhaps they'll forget it was ever there and become our friends."  New York City Officials announced the opening next month of the Statue of Liberty Underwater Adventure, a submarine tour of the wreckage expected to attract 100,000 visitors per month to the now barren Liberty Island.

9.  September 2010 - Stock Market falls Only 200 Points on Latest Employment Numbers:  Clear signs that the economic crisis is coming to a close, slow the stock market slide to a crawl in August on news that 6 out of 10 American workers are now employed by the government in some capacity. News that President Obama's employment goals are within reach sent spasms of joy through the marketplace. The price of tomatoes dropped in response to the announcement to a 3 month low of $75 per pound.

10. October 2010 - California Ketchup Heist Bandits Still at Large:  Witnesses failed to provide clear descriptions of the 25 unidentified robbers who hijacked an entire trainload of tomatoes as it cleared the Sierras on it's way east to the ketchup factories of Ohio and Virginia. Two organizations claimed credit for the raid, The Society for the Liberation of Any Vegetables that are Exploited  (SLAVE) and Al Quaeda's Committee for the Unification of Arabs and Americans.  "Since when have liberal infidels worn burkha's to commit acts of man-made disaster?" demanded Osama Ben Laden in an interview at his Al-Quaeda America offices in downtown Washington, DC.

11. November 2010 - Harry Reid Retires from Senate:  Harry Reid announced his retirement from the senate today citing the need to "spend more time with my family".  Reid announced plans to vacate his Senate offices in January when Nevada Senator-elect Danny Tarkanian is expected to take office.

12. December 2010 - Prominent Prophet Arrested:  Famous prognosticator and blogger Tom King was arrested to day for failing to buy AIG's new semi-public health insurance, life insurance, food insurance, bicycle warranty insurance, spotted owl liability insurance,  and independent political thought insurance. 


Will these prophecies come true?

Hey, I'm just sayin'

"Uncle Tom the Magnificent"