There is no question that our generation has already entered a world that used to only exist as science fiction… Social media, online shopping, and smart home products have transformed our daily lives into what authors and screenwriters only dreamed of. Not to mention the unexpected weather changes and natural disasters in 2017, and state-of-the-art genetic technology that raises questions about the nature of our future—the good and the bad.
“The Day After Tomorrow”
Image via Rob Scholte Museum
The recent bouts of unusual weather patterns have an unsettling resemblance to the thermo-map in the movie “The Day After Tomorrow.” The 2012 film was meant to scare people into taking action against climate change, but with the swiftly growing imbalance of our planet’s climate, the scarier weather changes are coming faster than science anticipated.
Designer babies
Image via Explore Biotech
U.S. policy is nowhere near legalizing genetic modification of babies, but it is a topic that still raises lots of concerns. Gene editing technology already exists. At first, disease genes would be eliminated. This is wonderful, of course, and could improve and save millions of lives. But with technological advancement comes the marketing of that technology. Soon markets will be advertising the selection of your child’s eye color, build and even height.
You see how this could get out of hand. Giving rise to a “Bladerunner” paradigm in which classism and social unrest become the largest consequence of genetically modified people could out way the good, like curing diseases. Problems like this already exist in society today (wealth disparity, discrimination), but if these irreversible changes aren’t kept in check, they could eventually change the entire human gene pool.
Automated home? Automated life
Image via Giphy
As one of history’s most beloved sci-fi writers, Ray Bradbury would have been fascinated by Alexa and August home products. Although robotic help is more controversial now than in 1950s, who knows what kind of tech is next for our homes? The day has come, “There Will Come Soft Rains” fans! Let’s just hope we’re past the nuclear fallout part…
No such thing as privacy
Image via The Young Folks
Speaking of personal technology, the timing of the moving “The Circle” couldn’t have been better as our smartphones overstep their boundaries more and more every day. Marketing has taken a liking to manipulating our smartphones into a wormhole, from their end to ours (and vice versa!).
Maybe someone mentioned needing a capo for their guitar to you in your living room. The next day all your ads on Facebook are for capos, and you’ve never even plucked a string. C-r-e-e-p-y. Part of the privilege of being “in the circle” is that the circle always has “eyes on you.”
Be mindful of today’s fast-paced world, and make sure to be informed so you can have a say in decisions! More often then not, the consequences are more complicated then they seem…