The Future
As to what will
happen in the years to come is unknown, however there are many fictional and
scientific ideas that have been written on this matter. Some of these written
works include “The Machine Stops” by EM Forster, Naomi Klein’s “This Changes
Everything” and, a short piece from Mother Jones “50 Years From Now, What Will
the World Be Like?” All of these discuss and question as to what the future
will hold.
The fictional
story “The Machine Stops” by EM Forester written in 1909 portrays the earth in
the future. The surface of the earth has now become unbreathable and humans
live beneath it. Human contact has become almost nonexistent, since a machine
runs everything and everybody. Life is
isolated and people rarely leave their room, communication is run through the
machine with a video chat like system. In order to travel to a different side
of the earth people must travel in a flying machine above the surface. Eventually
the machine fails and shuts down destroying the civilization they once live
within. EM Forester portrayal of his dystopian earth is extremely creative and
some of his ideas are accurate.
Forester wrote
“The Machine Stops” in 1909 and created something that closely resembles what
life is like now. The device he created
where people can communicate by seeing each other’s faces is similar to what we
have now with face time or Skype. He also talks about education and how people
stay in their rooms to learn about the past, this is similar as to what we have
now with taking on line classes. One of Foresters main points with the story is
the isolation the people are in which is exactly what is happening right now.
People today only communicate through their phone and if they wanted they can get
a complete education online with out any real contact with people. Forster also
shows how the surface of the earth will become uninhabitable similar as to
Naomi Klein’s article “This Changes Everything”.
In Naomi Klein’s
article she discusses the subject of how the climate is changing and if we
continue on the path that we are on by allowing emissions to rise “major cities
will very likely drown, ancient cultures will be swallowed by the seas, and
there is a very high chance that our children will spend a great deal of their
lives fleeing and recovering from vicious storms and extreme droughts.” She
begins to explain that at first like most people she didn’t really pay
attention to the climate change and that “the science was too complicated and
that the environmentalists were dealing with it”. Her article is trying to
inform people that the only way to stop the earth from changing is if people
come together and take a stand. She touches on that in order for this change to
take place people will need to start to live differently and it will affect
everyone in a positive way.
Klein’s article on
how people should take a stand is very intriguing it makes me think about how
the climate really is changing. The realization that we are not doing anything
is true, and I think that people won’t do anything anytime soon because we do
need the materialistic items that we use everyday. I really like Klein’s statement
“Slavery wasn’t a crisis
for British and American elites until abolitionism turned it into one. Racial
discrimination wasn’t a crisis until the civil rights movement turned it into
one. Sex discrimination wasn’t a crisis until feminism turned it into one.
Apartheid wasn’t a crisis until the anti-apartheid movement turned it into one”
which when thinking about it seems to be true. Klein still thinks that
there is a way to prevent more damage to the earth unlike the short piece from
Mother Jones.
The short piece by
Chip War “50 Years From Now, What Will the World Be Like?” shows how he thinks
that we have already destroyed the earth and wants to apologize to his
grandchildren and their grandchildren. In this piece he write a letter to his
granddaughter apologizing to the fact that we used oil to make everything. He
also explains how we destroyed forests and how we “dumped our poisonous wastes
in the water, and turned it acid and barren” we were too greedy with the items
we bought. Even though he is sorry for what we have done he is still hopeful
that we can correct this issue.
I really liked
this piece it was different than the other two pieces since this one was in the
form of a letter. It was very appealing and Chip War gave a real personal touch
to his ideas. I really liked his point that he makes about the silence and how
there is so much noise in the world due to the machines that we have now. Which
is interesting because it is hard to find silence anywhere today. It is also
interesting that Chip War’s and Klein both mention that it will take everyone
to come together to change the world.
Even though one is
a fictional dystopian earth, and the other or more of a personal opinion as of
what is happening right now they all revolve around the future. They spread
light on questioning as to what will really happen for our future and if we
really should be paying more attention.
Sources:
Forester, EM “The Machine Stops”.
http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/prajlich/forster.html
Klein’s, Naomi “This Changes Everything”
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/06/dont-look-away-now-the-climate-crisis-needs-you
Ward, Chip “50 Years From Now, What Will the World Be Like?”
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/what-will-earth-be-like-50-years
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