The Shape of Things to Come

 

“Anything possible of being believed,” William Blake proposed, “is an image of truth.”

This is not, I think, an expression of existentialism, not “reality is a function of belief.” Blake is saying that belief is a function of reality. This is Plato’s ideal forms. Blake also said “we are born as a garden already planted.” 

We are all programmed by God, we are given an operating system, and our imaginings are not random. This is why all cultures imagine dragons, and unicorns, and sirens. These do not come from sense experience. They are ideal forms. God is telling us something.

And here’s an interesting possible corollary: any invention we often dream of will probably come to pass. It is like a promise from God that this thing can be done, and indeed a commandment to do so. 

Man has always dreamt of flying. Since Icarus and before; everyone dreams of flying. People thought it was impossible. We still do not understand the physics. But finally, in 1903, we got off the ground with full control. The dream drove us until we did it, and assured us it could be done. 

Man has always dreamt of going to the moon. In 1969, we succeeded. The dream drove us, and finally it was done. 

Science fiction imagined the tablet computer before there were desktop computers--they are seen in 2001: A Space Odyssey. They were inevitable. So Steve Jobs created them.

Chester Gould imagined the cell phone, in effect, in his Dick Tracy comic strip in 1946. Arthur C. Clarke predicted them. So Nokia did it.

Granted, you might suggest this idea is overly materialistic. All these things will after all be possible and achieved in heaven. There would seem therefore no need to predict them on earth. But if they are only about heaven, there is also no need for God to send us these ideas now. At the end of time, the physical world will be redeemed as well. That is what we are here to do. Blessed are the poets, but also, blessed are the engineers.

Mind you, our nightmares are also predictive. Jack Kerouac, in an offhand passage, saw Arabs blowing up Manhattan in On the Road, circa 1949. It was something that was bound to happen. We also have visions of plague, and holocaust, and rivers of blood and fire.

The good news is that our nightmares are less likely to come true than our wishes—because fewer people are inclined to invest great effort into making evil or horrible things a reality. Though some, unfortunately, will.

The futurists commonly say that it is impossible to see beyond the singularity—things become unpredictable once computers are smarter than people. But I think our dreams are a good indicator. It will not be beyond our imaginings; our imaginings are the best guide. What have we been dreaming of?

Flying cars. Everybody has been dreaming about personal flying vehicles, for hundreds of years—arguably, this was always the full flying dream. Not sitting in a jet—flying on your own. That’s bound to come, and soon. 

Humanoid robots. We have been imagining mechanical men since at least Talos in the Argonautica. Realistic robots are almost at the assembly line stage already. Humanoid robots are in part nightmarish, but also of obvious appeal—they can do all the work for us, promising a life of leisure. The drive to create tools, then machines, has always been a dream ending in humanoid robots doing all our chores for us.

The fountain of youth. This dream was hoary by the time of Ponce de Leon. It is everywhere in ancient tales. This is surely coming. Some predict it within five years. “Don’t die within the next five years.”

Turning lead into gold. This was the dream on which ancient alchemy was founded, and modern chemistry was founded on alchemy in turn. The idea of transmuting any one material into any other. This is theoretically feasible with nuclear fusion, and we seem to be getting close to “cold fusion.” A San Francisco company, Marathon Fusion, actually claims they have now managed to turn mercury into gold.

Surely we have dreamt of the Babelfish; as the name suggests, this goes back as far as the Tower of Babel. A possible universal translator, ending the mutual incomprehensibility of languages. This seems extremely close now. Products are on the market that claim to do this. 

The time machine. Since we can dream it, following Blake’s principle, it must be possible. And it is, to me, a more plausible explanation for UAPs/UFOs than the usual one, of touring aliens. UFOs could be visitors from our own future. 

However, our visions of time machines tend to be nightmarish—as in H.G. Wells’s novel. So it is less likely that we will concentrate on creating this. Or use it much.

A cloak of invisibility. We have dreamt of this since the legend of Perseus in Ancient Greece. But there are obvious problems in such a thing being generally available. So it will probably only be developed as a weapon of war. And made illegal for civilian use.

Teleportation—instantaneous movement from point to point in space. This goes back much further than Star Trek. It is the concept of the flying carpet. The dream asserts the possibility. And this is a second plausible explanation for UAPs/UFOs.

Replicators—creating things instantly to order. We’ve been working on this. Plastics are a step along this path--you can mold them into any shape you wished, and tinker with the properties. 3D printers take it to the next level. We are tinkering now with organic materials—creating plants and animals to order. Pet dinosaurs or dragons or miniature mammoths are no doubt coming. And 3D-printed food.

Synthetic women—mechanical companions for men. A vision as old, after all, as the legend of Pygmalion. Arguably as the legend of Eve being made from Adam’s rib. China is hard at work at this now. Nerdy men adept at engineering are bound to see this as a grail. A beautiful synthetic woman to cook and clean, who will never say no, who can talk to them about the things that interest them, and to have sex with as well. 

Yeah; it’s coming. As a synthetic woman will be far less expensive to feed and maintain than flesh and blood, and will never divorce and take everything he owns, men are liable to turn away from women altogether. 

This might seem cruel and unfair to women—but look around. Women can already have synthetic husbands. The government has for years taken over the traditional role of husband as provider and protector. It will step in immediately to support a unmarried woman and her children. Even sex—women have long had robotic sex available; it’s called a dildo. 

And with feminism women have already turned away from men; they have intentionally priced themselves out of the market. Sex with women has become too expensive and dangerous—look at “Me too.” Look at Russell Brand. This is just the second shoe dropping.

What about reproduction? We already have artificial insemination and IVF. Probably soon we will have artificial wombs, so any individual of either sex can choose to have a child.

What else may come? The imagination is the limit...so what can you imagine?