In one of the Philip K. Dick short stories I read, the premise was that the sci-fi writers are in fact predicting the future, without even knowing it, and people from the future who had a problem, decided to travel back in time, to get the person from the past, to write more of the story, to determine the solution to the problem they were having, that the author had already correctly predicted.
It was kind of a funny idea, and the story is somewhat amusing. As we discussed today even if we discount the idea that people are actually seeing into the future, it may be that science fiction is inspiring people to try to create what they read or see in novels and on tv or in movies.
However, the most interesting futurist on the internet has to be John Titor. Someone sent me his site a few years ago, which details how he is a time traveler from the future, who has come back to our times to apparently make an internet site detailing the world’s demise over the next few years. Not to the credit of my friend who sent it to me, they seemed quite convinced. I have long since lost the initial website, but here is a summary page and the Wikipedia entry.
The internet can create some interesting myths, which would probably otherwise have a lot more difficulty spreading. Beyond John Titor, another category of links people send me ‘secretly’ are posts about the oil peak, which predicts massive oil shortages very soon, due to various factors.
When things develop enough, sometimes these websites create enough momentum they begin to look like legitimate information, and people start to buy it. I wonder how long it will be before we see a religion with its primary texts written electronically? If it could gain a foothold, it would certainly have the potential to spread very rapidly.
So maybe futurist writers have to focus on designing a utopian world where everything is
sustainable in order that things become sustainable. It’s like that saying, if you dream it
you will build it, or something like that. It’s so common for sci fi writers to focus on
space wars, or destruction. Maybe that’s the wrong approach to spark change.
And maybe sci fi movies with good intentions (for the environment) have spurred
consumption…I bet after watching the Silent Running movie, everyone wanted a
circular pool table or some of the other technology that was presented
(and then someone builds it, and it becomes marketable).