Thanks! I started a book last month that's not scifi realated, but am working on a scifi short story. I appreciate the advice on the proces of writing a good story. I've recently started archiving some of my e-mail. I realized a while ago I was using my admittedly long posts as a substitute for what i should be doing: writing. What's your info so that I can IM you?
-----Original Message----- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Astromancer Sent: Friday, August 05, 2005 17:32 To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] What will the future hold? I'll just say this, Keith; everything you just said your reply should be the basis for how you should go about writing your stories...Present you your questions, commentaries and or solutions in story form and allow your readers to ponder them as you do...That's how it works! Also, Each and every one of those scenarios is a story waiting to be written, so why are you asking us? Like I said Keith, working with you on a story would be an absolute joy and honor! You have all you need to do some great stuff as far as I can see...If you can IM me, I'd love to talk with you about it...If you decide to on the weekend, let me know because I am with my son and I need to know if I have to get on his computer... Wayne, a.k.a. Astromancer Keith Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: "...someone's idea of Utopia will be someone else's idea of Hell..." Great point, which makes the idea of a human race reaching harmony in the next century unlikely. Sometimes I still wonder if the only way we'll quickly pull together as a race is due to a threat that almost kills us all. Either a near-apocalyptic war which finally makes us get it, or perhaps an alien invasion scenario that makes us unite. But even then, I doubt it. One, humans, alone among God's creations, can lie to ourselves. Someone would always blame someone else for a nuclear holocaust, and it's possible centuries after healing we'd be at it again, forgetting or denying the realities of what came before. After all, didn't they call WWI "The War to end all wars". Yeah, right. Two, from the scifi angle, I've always been a little uncomfortable with using aliens to unite us. It seems to me that is simply replacing certain existing prejudices--racial, gender, class, religious--with another, that against aliens. I remember how in the original Star Trek, Kirk always bragged of how racism was completely eliminated on Earth. Yet I noted plenty of dislike, even prejudice, against aliens, be it human discomfort with Vulcan Logic, or Kirk's innate repulsion to the reptilian Gorn. The one thing "Enterprise" did right was show how, even though human internal bigotry was all but gone, there was still plenty left over for aliens. Transferring hatred is not the solution. Catastrophic events *can* make us mature as a race, but the downside may not be worth it. Also, as we gain more technology, those events can be worse. The Civil War united many Americans into a stronger Union, but it cost thousands of lives, and Blacks still got screwed. World Wars I and II ultimately created some new, strong alliances, but they also created opposing alliances, killed millions, WWI helped spread a worldwide flu pandemic that killed tens of millions, the impoverished in many countries were even worse off, and some totalitarian governments used the chaos following the wars to establish themselves. The next catastrophic event to make us grow could be devastating due to the power of nuclear or biological weapons likely to be used. Not sure we can afford that. Can Man only grow through this type of suffering? Sometimes I think Scenario Two is the best we can hope for: muddling along slowly, slowly, crawling toward maturity and enlightenment, praying like hell we don't destroy ourselves before we can reach it. -----Original Message----- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Astromancer Sent: Friday, August 05, 2005 00:33 To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] What will the future hold? I think storieswe see usually end or start the way they do because...well, it seems the human tendency is to try to bring order to a universe that tends toward disorder rather than to harmonize with it...Why try to force it into your idea of perfection intead of embracing and working with its uniqueness? Also, all of humanity resists, though unsuccessfully, change. Even the most open-minded of us tend to resist change in some form or another...But for story writers, that's ok...It is conflict that makes the stories interesting. Any one of the scenarios are great to me although Utopia seems the most unrealistic to me...No matter how perfect a world, someone's idea of Utopia will be someone else's idea of Hell, i.e. 'Logan's Run' and 'A Brave New World'...However, I'd love to see a universe where reality shows are outlawed under penalty of death! LOL Keith Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:From a recent conversation. Which scenario seems most likely to you may reflect your current feelings about society, humanity, and the country in which you live: What will the world be like one hundred years from now? Hmmm...let's consult the ol' crystal ball... Scenario one: Utopia. Leaving behind the destructive depencies on fossil fuels and mechanisms, we have returned to Eden. We are one with the Earth, using holistic medicine, eating organic food (much of which is produced from giant kelp farms on the ocean). Solar and wind power provide most of our energy, along with safe, clean fusion. Travel across the world is possible via underground supersonic "tubes"; cars when used are electric, and use vast intelligent networks to drive you to your destination and avoid accidents. Cities are built with a mind to blend with the environment, rather than disrupt it. The rainforests, coral reefs, plankton, and the ozone layer are all on the rebound. Racism and religious intolerance have been replaced with an embrace of diversity. Worldwide cooperation in the life sciences has cured most disease and yielded phenomenal methods to heal injuries. The average human lives to be 110 years old. Luna and Mars have been colonized and are yielding valuable materials which can only be produced in low-G environments. Humanity is exploring the rest of the Solar System in ships which ride the solar winds. Wal-Mart is no more. "American Idol" has been outlawed. Examples: Can't think of a single bloody movie or book at the moment--at least, not one that doesn't end with Satan crawling back into Paradise and ruining things Likelihood: Not sure how likely this future is. I'll ask the Easter Bunny and Santa what they think next time I see them... Scenario two: Status quo. The world goes on much the way it always has. Some good times, some bad. Good leaders, crooked leaders. Rogue states, and cooperative alliances. Lots of wars still being fought, just no world wars, no nuclear exchanges. Terrorism still a problem but the dreaded nuking of a city by fanatics never took place. (Okay, maybe one). Some people prosper, some starve. Some countries are rich, others are still poor. Technological improvements abound in terms of DNA research, AI, curing disease, etc. For many the world's a better place, but it's not Utopia. We go to work, to school, to the movies--which are now holographic--the same as previous decades. Kids learn more thanks to neural hookups that tie their brains directly into their computer ports, and phone calls are made and answered with circuitry implanted in the bones of the skull. None of it is any more out of the ordinary than iPods or PDAs are now. In short, it's more of the same, with humanity crawling slowly forward, with times of regression. It'll be a world much like ours, just with cooler stuff. Examples: "Minority Report" (minus the telepathy angle), "Star Trek", "Century City" Likelihood: Highly probable. If we don't kill ourselves I think humanity will just muddle along... Scenario three: Big Brother as God. Technologically and materially we'll be much like Scenario two above. But socially, politically--ah, there's the rub! A world in which religious and philosphical views dictate our personal lives even more than now. Separation of Church and State is gone, replaced by virtual theocracies in which state views on religion and morality shape everything you do. Need a job? Worship the right god (or in some countries, none at all). Call yourself a Christian? Better be the right kind if you want to avoid harassment. Better watch the right TV shows, read the right books, surf the right Web sites, as the Patriot Act will have expanded to give the government the right to monitor anything you do, anytime they feel like it. School prayer is mandatory, Bible studies enforced as part of the curriculum, evolution not only not taught, but a criminal offense to discuss. Newspapers run by the state, "reporters" little more than hand-picked stooges to filter what info the public receives. In America the two-party system has died off, as only the Constitutional Conservative Christian Party is allowed to field candidates. Behaviour is closely monitored, from the type (and gender) of partner you pick, to the number of kids you can have, how they're raised, and where they go to school. The draft is back, needed to back aggressive policies that often lead to conflict with other countries who don't yet see the Light. Europe in a type of tailspin since the US has broken most ties with it and put unacceptable conditions on the alliances it makes. The loss of US power and support, coupled with the rise of China, threatens the stability of the EU. Other countries, both upset and galvanized by the increasing factionilism and theocratic leaning of the West, see it as an excuse to become even more totalitarian than before. Some become increasingly fanatic about their own religious beliefs, others become more agnostic. Life goes on, technology thrives in some ways. Spiritually it's a wasteland. Examples: Brave New World; the daily news; the current administration Likelihood: Right now, more than fair. Every sentence above takes place in some form somewhere today---even in the US. If we don't watch it... Scenario four: Technology gone wild. Mechanization and industrialization have taken over. The bulk of the world's resoures are used to produce weapons of war and destruction, cars that belch pollution, and monstrous, ungainly skyscrapers where the populace dwells. "Bigger, stronger, and more destructive" is the mantra of the day. Everything is metal and concrete. Miles-long factories produce vehicles, weapons, chemicals, prefab building blocks, synthetic clothing and processed food--often all in the same facility. Farming is almost obsolete, thanks to mass extinction among thousands of plants and animals. The oceans, lakes, and rivers are cesspools of fetid odors and acid.The atmosphere is a choking, toxic, sea of hydrocarbons. Never having controlled fusion, the world is increasingly relying upon unsafe fission plants to supplement the dwindling supplies of coal and oil. The world's economy is ruled by giant megacorps that are for all practical purposes governmental bodies. There is little in the way of greenspace left, and that which remains is the playground of the filthy rich. The average citizen amuses himself by plugging into the virtual gaming and holographic worlds provided by their Playstation Mark 20 and Xbox Iteration XVII. Life is one long, featureless, numbing, soul-crushing ordeal of menial labour and cheerless landscapes. The General Mills Conglomerate is releasing a new power bar to supplement the diet: Soylent Green. Examples: "Metropolis", "Blade Runner", (of course) "Soylent Green" Likelihood: A few more years of these Bush cronies who question the excistence of global warming and scoff at environmentalists, and this ain't as far-fetched as you might think. Scenario five: Post-Apocalypse. (See scenario four as a precursor). Idiots that we are, humans finally give in to our baser nature and nuke ourselves to near oblivion. Like Taylor said in "Planet of the Apes", "You blow it up you bastards!". On the other side emerges a world of total chaos and anarchy. Governments are gone, replaced by at best local feudal states ruled by those lucky and ruthless enough to accumulate whatever tech still works. Disease, death and starvation are rampant, thanks to a decade-long "mild" nuclear winter that affected plant growth. Fully two-thirds of the world's population circa 2010 was wiped out, either as a direct result of war, or in the aftermath. International travel is no more, planes are practically non-existent, communications nil. Computers are things of legend. Electricity possible only in villages large enough to create primitive generators--and strong enough to keep them. It is a bleak, lawless world of roving gangs of thieves and cutthroats, petty dictators, rule by family clans, and savagely predator animals. But deep beneath the mountains of Colorado, the sons and daughters of those who started the war survive. Healthy, well-fed, educated, and utterly devoid of conscience, they wait. In self-contained caverns filled with technology and weapons, they make plans to emerge and re-take the world once again.... Examples: "Mad Max", "Jeremiah", "Thundaar the Barbarian", and a host of films, including any crappy post-apocalyptic movie starring Van Damme or Dolph Lundgren. Likelihood: Hopefully not very likely, at least not on a large scale. Perhaps a limited nuclear exchange will produce conditions like this in local pockets. Scenario six: Silence. From the surface of the Moon, the Earth looks like a jewel. A round, pretty, enticing jewel--that glows with a ghostly light all its own. No buildings. No cities. No technology. Not even those gangs of theives and feudal lords. We nuked ourselves into oblivion, leaving behind a planet that'll remain irradiated for millenia. Man is gone, the Earth--what's left of it--is now the province of roaches and rats. Examples: Can't think of any books or films offhand in which we completely destroy ourselves. Usually they blame it on evil aliens, as if we need the help! Likelihood: ???? [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --------------------------------- YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group "scifinoir2" on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! 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