Why Our Future Is A Book

The shape of our culture/government/society in the future is a hard topic to touch on without sounding like you have either a conspiracy theory or else don't care at all. The line between realistic consideration and dystopian novel writer is obscured by common disagreement about what is actually realistic as well as ever-advancing technology and, with it, ideas people are already familiar with from past fiction or else re-think as things similar to the stories become capable.

Still, with the number of articles about anti-aging technology I've seen in the last few days and the discussion going along with it, coupled with the state of our government and other scientific breakthroughs, it's worth considering more aspects of anti-aging medication than the little I mentioned here.

I had only considered the possibility of immortality on a purely theoretical, or theological - I knew there was a reason for majoring in that! - basis. This article mentions the scientific likelihood of immortality, along with a few of the possible psychological aspects of longer lives, immortal or not.

Another article from a couple days ago mentions some of the scientific breakthroughs that have already been made with mice, although I agree that not many people would stick to a caloric restriction diet, nor, I hope, will we ever fall to breeding human beings in order to achieve longer life. As intent as they are to figure out some answer and with the knowledge of what causes cell breakdown in aging that they already have, it's still certainly possible that our scientists will come up with a medical treatment or pill. It also discusses a few of the ethical, err, "dilemas" that we would face. The idea of having siblings fifty years apart is interesting, however, as is the prospect of having ten generations alive at the same time. The job market would be an issue, but there are solutions. They would take time to implement (even to fully think out) but a population boom of this size won't be an overnight thing either.

This one, complete with quotations from a bioethicist and other.. we'll call them experts.. brings up many more of the possible ethical issues, with sometimes interesting and sometimes disturbing conclusions, including stating that we would have to rethink our stance on suicide and euthinasia if people had to spend a much greater percentage of life in pain.

So to relate back to my original paragraph, how about considering a few books that these issues and others not involved in the aging debate are similar to.

Tracking telephone calls, internet, and our satelite that is watching our own country with a possibility of clear resolution down to three feet (or was it meters?) of any given spot on the ground - vaguely reminiscant of 1984. (Big Brother! Anyone see that movie that involves tight government control while watching people all the time.. it had a really important scene involving a guy in an apartment and a TV.. was that 1984? The pictures from the BBC television show look familiar.. that movie is what this really reminds me of.)

A "designer" baby has already been created, and sperm banks (since they don't seem likely to go away) screen for possible diseases as well as baldness, IQ, height, and even certain non-genetical traits. - The caste system in Brave New World comes to mind, if we put a little more work into it.. and the government started regulating it instead of parents choosing.

Our bioethicist in the third article suggests "generational cleansing" to deal with the overpopulation problem that would eventually happen if people didn't age - Logan's Run, anyone (either book or movie)?

We could certainly take some ideas from Anthem in order to help with the job problem if too many people were competing for the same jobs.

The idea that only the rich would have access is something I am most familiar with from the Worthing Chronicles, though I recognize different interpretations of the results from other sources. In fact, other sources (if only I could remember names) show much starker differences than does this series of stories.

I'm surprised none of the articles mentioned anything similar to the Child Limitation Laws seen in Ender's Game (and, I'm sure, many other places). On the whole it would be a lot harder to control though, what with divorce/remarriages, children with multiple partners, the occasional child death.. who's two children count?

And then there's always the "ship the unwanted population off to different planets/space colonies" idea, something I most recently read in one of the Dorsai books.

Or colonization in general, if we work harder toward setting up a colony on the moon, Mars, or somewhere in orbit, which would provide a place for people to go when Earth does start getting overcrowded - and it's going to take long enough for that to happen that we have plenty of time to get something going. I refuse to name sources here, as I'd have to list nearly every science fiction book ever written.

Imagine how thrilled children who love history might be to have ten generations around at once, though.

If I ever get my own personal solution to the job competition fully outlined, perhaps I'll post it. Or just write a story about it. We'll see.