The Future: 50 Years from Now
Video (creative class project) produced by Wonder Hiadzi, Veronica Stoiber and Aldean Ellis
The reason for undertaking this project is to explore the extent to which a wide-cross section of individuals thinks about the future that may have any correlation with the thoughts of the future-minded writers and film directors that we studied in the course.
Methodology: For our creative project we chose to interview several people ranging from 10 to 60 years old in different parts of the world. These questions were generated from the texts/filmic works covered in class. These texts include: RUR, “Robbie,” “The Machine Stops,” Dawn, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and Ghost in the Shell (1995). Participants displayed some similarities in their answers but also there were some unique points of view. Also, we have observed that some of the very thoughts that were expressed many years ago by the writers and directors we studied have resurfaced in the participants’ responses.
Below are the three questions we chose for our project:
Question One: You suddenly woke up from a fifty-year long sleep in the year 2069. What do you think would be so different from the world we are living in now?
Question two: If intelligent machines/ robots were able to be perform most of the jobs currently done by humans, what if anything would you be most concerned about?
Question three: Human enhancement technology is any technology to improve the natural abilities of healthy human beings beyond normal levels. If you were to invent a human enhancement technology, what would it be and why?
Participants’ answers for the first question were consistent among individuals for the most part. They mostly imagined a utopic future with similar technologies such as such as self-driving cars, automated supermarkets, modern cities, and technology to compensate for the decrease in functionality or loss of vision or hearing among humans. However, on the social side of things, it was mentioned that people will communicate less and do less bodily exercise. This is reminiscent of topics covered in “The Machine Stops” that deals with the dystopic future of technological interfaces and their impact on corporeal communication.
Regarding question number two that addresses future concerns, participants were worried about the survival of humanity as robots may eventually take over. This resounds with strong sentiments of the Frankenstein complex developed by Isaac Asimov and which is also evident in Capeck’s dramatic work RUR. Respondents also mentioned that our entire economic model would have to be remade as people will be out of jobs due to everything being automated. One participant mentioned the effects on the Criminal Justice system; more societies using credit scores (such as China currently) so if people don’t behave “normal” they will be punished. The participant also added that it is important to understand context of other realities beyond what algorithms show—it will be critical.
As for the last question enquiring about human enhancement technologies, one answer was particularly interesting as it referred to “fixing the DNA” for health purposes. This resounds with the future of gene editing hinted at in Judith Butler’s Dawn where cancer is removed by a extraterrestrial entities (Oankali) to save humanity. Respondents also envision a future with the body having mechanical parts like bionic arms or legs. This speaks volumes to the kind of future envisioned in Ghost in the Shell (1995) with cyborgs and the debates on what it means to be human especially in the face of body modifications. From the eyes of a child respondent, it was envisioned that the future will have people displaying more empathy, just like the future that Phillip Dick envisions where empathy is the defining element of humanity.
